The government funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is coming under fire for equipping hecklers with microphones and sending them to disrupt a campaign meetings being held by Conservative leader Michael Howard. The Tory party responded by accusing the BBC of "serious misconduct", but the BBC claims their actions were justified.

Last night, the BBC claimed that the exercise was part of a "completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling" and said that other parties' meetings were being "observed". However, The Telegraph has established that none of Tony Blair's meetings was infiltrated or disrupted in similar fashion.