Government breaks silence as HIGNFY pulled off BBC for Labour error

The UK government has broken its silence after BBC comedy panel show Have I Got News for You was forced to pull its latest episode off streaming service iPlayer due to a factual error. Victoria Coren Mitchell was hosting the popular Friday night programme last night (October 3) when she incorrectly suggested Labour will pay Multiverse to deliver its new digital ID card scheme.

The company is owned by Tony Blair's son Euan, which Coren Mitchell joked was a "happy coincidence". However, it has now been debunked, with the government issuing an official statement. A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology told the Express: "Claims that Multiverse has been chosen to develop the Government's digital ID app are false.

"No decisions have been made on its delivery, but we expect it to be designed, built, and run by in-house Government teams - not outsourced to external suppliers.

"As we said last week, we will launch a public consultation to ensure we get the best possible input on the delivery and design of the scheme."

FullFact also fact-checked the claims, finding them to be false.

The BBC has since offered an apology, explaining that the episode has been removed from iPlayer after the error.

A spokesperson told Express.co.uk: "This week's Have I Got News for You contained an inaccurate story about Euan Blair's company, Multiverse, being chosen to develop the government's contract to produce digital ID cards.

"Multiverse is not a software developer and there is no evidence of any involvement in the proposed digital ID scheme, therefore we have taken the episode off BBC iPlayer while we edit the relevant section out. We apologise for this unintentional editorial oversight."