Andrew Neil highlights Ikea boss’s conviction after firm pull its advertising from GB News 

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MPs, free speech campaigners and business leaders today turned on ‘anti-democratic’ IKEA and other ‘hypocritical’ big businesses cancelling advertising on GB News after bowing to ‘bullying’ from ‘sinister’ left-wing pressure groups.  

Nivea, Kopparberg, Grolsch, the Open University, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy and insurer LV have also pulled their adverts from Andrew Neil’s new channel, prompting calls for a boycott of their services for caving in to ‘zealots’.

GB News launched on Sunday promising to be anti-woke, pro-British and cover stories differently to rivals, with prime time shows already enjoying more viewers than BBC News and Sky News. But after just four days on air at least seven big businesses have pulled their adverts after a social media campaign whipped up by Stop Funding Hate.

A website BoycottGBNews.org has also been set up with the help of a business called ‘Ripples Campaigning’, which is run by former BBC senior content producer Louise Wikstrom whose social media posts have previously backed Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay branded the boycott of GB News as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘mad’, pledging to fight back against those businesses. He told MailOnline: ‘I am now putting together a list of beers and household products that I will not be buying. This is all part of the closing down of free speech campaign which I am afraid we are seeing across our society. It must be resisted. It is an absolute abomination’.

He added: ‘Corporates should do what they do – sell things rather than get involved with political debates.’

Fellow Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen said: ‘This epitomises exactly what GB News was set up to counter. The hard woke left wingers are seeking to cancel voices saying things they don’t approve of. Advertisers should do well to look at the viewing figures and remember that those who complain most on social media do not represent the mainstream view’.   

Tory MP Andrew Percy said: ‘It’s completely anti-democratic and an attempt to silence alternative views. The UK has strict media rules which GB News is abiding by. If it’s good enough for the UK regulators, it should be good enough for the advertisers. These advertisers are essentially giving in to bullying by the mob.’

Dragons Den star Duncan Bannatyne told MailOnline he was ‘shocked’ at the hasty decision made by big businesses to pull adverts from GB News – just four days after a very successful launch.

The tycoon said that he would consider advertising his Bannatyne’s health clubs and gyms on the news channel because of its ‘great viewing figures’. Slamming the cancel culture he said: ‘I am just shocked that such big organisations would cancel on a new untested TV news show. Competition is good for all businesses and TV shows need competition, so should be supported’.  He added: ‘I will never shop at IKEA again – oh just a minute, I never did shop there anyway’.

Trade unionist and journalist Paul Embery tweeted: ‘Stop Funding Hate is a sinister group whose ultimate aim is to prevent the dissemination of opinions with which they disagree. Don’t let anyone pretend otherwise’.

GB News chairman Andrew Neil has also hit back at IKEA and its ‘criminal’ former French boss Jean-Louis Baillot. He said: ‘IKEA has decided to boycott GB News because of our alleged values. Here are IKEA’s values — a French CEO who is a criminal with a two year suspended jail sentence for spying on staff’. 

The news also sparked a consumer backlash today, with one viewer writing: ‘I’ve just completed my IKEA shelving unit. It’s a bit shakey, has no real backbone to it and it definitely leans hard to the left. #BoycottIkea for boycotting GB NEWS… many can play at that game!’ 

A second tweeted: ‘To my dear wife, it will delight you to hear that I will no longer subject you to a tour of IKEA. #boycott.’ 

Meanwhile, another Twitter user vowed to boycott all the companies who had withdrawn advertising and slammed Stop Funding Hate, saying that ‘stirring up hatred’ is the group’s ‘raison d’etre’.  It came as the Co-Op refused to cave in to woke zealots, repeating its advertising policy that rules out using financial penalties to manipulate the free press. 

As GB News finds itself at the centre of the UK’s culture war, it also emerged:

• Jennifer Saunders says Absolutely Fabulous wouldn’t be commissioned today in Britain’s ‘woke’ culture as she slams ‘small-mindedness’ for ruining comedy;
• Boris Johnson’s former race adviser accused the Government of stoking a ‘culture war’ he claims will lead to murder on Britain’s streets and risking another Jo Cox or Stephen Lawrence tragedy;
• The Church of England launched investigation into slave trade links of its £9.2billion investment fund that pays Archbishop of Canterbury’s £85,000-a-year wages; 

Andrew Neil also retweeted messages calling the decision ‘pathetic virtue signalling’ and accusing ‘corporations of making fools of themselves’ after Stop Funding Hate challenged advertisers on social media to deprive news outlets it disagrees with of revenue.  

The celebrated broadcaster and editor has pledged to confront cancel culture and expose it on the channel as supporters pointed out IKEA, who said GB News doesn’t align with its ‘humanistic values’ but still runs six stores in Saudi Arabia, where it is illegal to be gay and the state carries out scores of executions for a wide range of crimes.

Last night Swedish furniture giant IKEA said it had ‘not knowingly’ advertised on GB News. It added: ‘We are in the process of investigating how this may have occurred to ensure it won’t happen again in future, and have suspended paid display advertising in the meantime.’

Nivea, Kopparberg and Grolsch, the Open University, Ovo Energy and Octopus Energy have also pulled their adverts prompting a backlash and calls for boycott with many accusing the companies of succumbing to ‘woke zealots’.   

IKEA France was yesterday fined £1million and its former CEO Baillot was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence after the company spied on its employees for three years. 

The Swedish furniture giant was found guilty of setting up an elaborate system to illegally snoop on the private lives of hundreds of current staff and potential new-hires between 2009 and 2012.  

The ruling was less severe than recommended by prosecutors, who accused the furniture company of illicitly carrying out ‘mass surveillance’.

Baillot, IKEA France’s boss between 1996 and 2002, was also fined £43,000 after he was found guilty of ‘receiving personal data by fraudulent means.’ He was cleared of several other charges, including ‘violating professional secrecy.’

Prosecutors claim the illegal practices date back to the early 2000s. Baillot’s lawyer, Francois Saint-Pierre, said the former IKEA boss was ‘shocked’ by the sentence and is now considering an appeal.

A union representative, Adel Amara, who was among a total of 120 plaintiffs, said he was ‘pleased’ with the outcome of the trial, but called the punishments ‘a little too lenient.’

Swedish cider brand Kopparberg was the first to bow to pressure, saying they were broadcast ‘without knowledge or consent’.

The alcohol-brand was tagged in a list of of companies that advertise on the channel on social media. 

Others to pull their adverts include IKEA, Nivea, Grolsch, the Open University and Octopus Energy, prompting a backlash and calls for boycott with many accusing the companies of succumbing to ‘woke zealots’ and ‘cancel culture’.

Advertising sales for GB News are handled by Sky Media and a number of the companies said they were unaware their campaigns would appear on the new channel.

Sky Media spreads ad campaigns across its 130 channels which is normally targeted to certain audience demographics rather than specific channels. 

In a message on Twitter last night Kopparberg, which is based in Bergslagen, Sweden, wrote: ‘Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We want to make it clear to everyone that our ad ran on this channel without our knowledge or consent. 

‘Kopparberg is a drink for everyone and we have immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content.’

Fellow drinks company Grolsch told ‘progressive digital campaigning platform’ Ripples: ‘This advert for Grolsch ran on the GB News channel completely without our knowledge or consent, and we’re in the process of investigating with our media partners why this happened. 

‘Grolsch is a brand that prides itself on core values of inclusion and openness to all people, and we want to be clear that we do not associate ourselves with any platforms or outlets that go against these values. 

‘We will do everything we possibly can to ensure that Grolsch does not appear on this channel again.’

Other companies who have been named online as advertisers but who are yet to respond include Amazon, Google, Facebook, Deliveroo, Kellogg’s, Starbucks and Vodafone.

IKEA said in its statement: ‘IKEA has not knowingly advertised on GB News, and we have safeguards in place to prevent our advertising from appearing on platforms that are not in line with our humanistic values and vision to side with the many people. 

‘We are in the process of investigating how this may have occurred to ensure it won’t happen again in future, and have suspended paid display advertising in the meantime.’

The other companies said they were not aware their campaigns were being broadcast on the new channel and are reviewing their policies and pausing their adverts. 

The move has triggered outrage among many online, with one branding Kopparberg’s decision ‘immature’. 

Comedian and writer Geoff Norcott wrote: ‘Ok, well Kopparberg UK is no longer a drink for me. That’s how knee-jerk b******t works right?

While another commented: ‘Thank you for bringing this to my attention so I won’t buy any of your products again. You obviously mean it’s a drink for ‘everyone’ who prescribes to your way of thinking.’

Another person added: ‘What an outrageous response! I have one bottle of Kopparberg left in my fridge and it will be my last. These vile companies that don’t believe in free speech or freedom of thought do not deserve our custom.’

Meanwhile another person said: ‘I’ve got four bottles of Kopparberg in my fridge. Now getting poured down the sunk! Pandering to woke zealots will do your company harm, I for one won’t be buying or drinking your product again. Great job.’

The move comes as a recently-launched social media campaign calls for more companies, including the AA, Amazon and Boots, to remove their advertisements from the news channel.

On Sunday, journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil pledged his 24-hour news channel would tackle cancel culture and would not be ‘yet another echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset’ as he launched his new channel. 

GB News, which is aiming to reach those who feel ‘unheard’ by the media, launched at 8pm on Sunday, with a special programme titled Welcome To GB News.

It is the first new British news network in 24 years – since BBC News 24 launched in 1997. Although foreign channels have launched in the UK in that time, such as Al Jazeera English, this is the first new network specifically for UK audiences.

It has brought in big names ahead of its launch, including signing Simon McCoy, Sky News anchor Colin Brazier and new MailOnline columnist Dan Wootton.

At 8pm, as the channel launched, Mr Neil gave a five minute introduction to viewers, saying the network would concentrate on ‘the stories that matter to you and that others are neglecting’.

He added: ‘We are committed to covering the people’s agenda, not the media’s agenda.

‘GB News will not be yet another echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset that already dominates so much of the media.

‘We are proud to be British, the clue is in the name, and while we will never hold back from covering our country’s many flaws and problems… we won’t forget what the B stands for in our title.

‘We will puncture the pomposity of our elites… and expose their growing promotion of cancel culture for the threat to free speech and democracy that it is.’    

GB News will feature more than 6,500 hours of content a year, made exclusively for the channel, which has secured broadcasting licences from Ofcom.

It has been founded by media executives Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider. They plan for the channel to reach 96 per cent of British television households via Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media. 

 

Other names to feature on air include former Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher, Darren McCaffrey and Rosie Wright, who will host morning show The Great British Breakfast, while also working on other programmes.

It will be available to watch in HD on Sky channel 515 and Virgin Media’s channel 626, as well as also showing on Freeview and YouView channel 236, Freesat channel 216 and online. 

The news channel, launched as a rival to the news and current affairs offerings on the likes of BBC and Sky, has also signed up businesswoman and former Apprentice winner Michelle Dewberry.  

GB News has also recruited a team of regional reporters to help serve its mission of involving ‘non-metropolitan voices in the national conversation’.

Director of news and programmes John McAndrew said: ‘It’s a huge task to launch even one new programme, never mind a whole channel to run 18 hours a day.

‘The team has been working flat out and of course there’s a sense of nervous excitement, but mostly excitement. We can’t wait to get started now.’

Many viewers have enjoyed the channel, which has admitted to teething problems, especially with sound.

In a light-hearted tweet this afternoon, Simon McCoy, a star hire from the BBC tweeted: ‘I present a ‘Good News’ slot at 5.15pm on #GBNews

‘If your company or business has something to shout about – do let me know. If you have a story that might cheer us all up give me a shout’.

He added: ‘Also… If you make state-of-the-art equipment that sorts out sound problems .. just call me’.

Jennifer Saunders says Absolutely Fabulous wouldn’t be commissioned today in Britain’s ‘woke’ culture as she slams ‘small-mindedness’ for ruining comedy

One of the UK’s biggest hits, Absolutely Fabulous pushed the envelope when it came to edgy comedy in the 1990s.

But Jennifer Saunders thinks that most of the jokes in the classic sitcom wouldn’t be aired today due to cancel culture.

The television star, 62, said that the new ‘woke’ mind-set has changed comedy and people now ‘talk themselves out’ of telling any jokes that might be considered controversial.

‘Yes I think it has changed comedy like what we used to make. I think we would probably talk ourselves out of most of it now,’ she said during a talk at the Garrick Theatre. ‘It would be like, ‘We won’t have a good answer so let’s not do that.’

‘I think people do talk themselves out of stuff now because everything is sensitive in a funny way and what could be made to seem sensitive and it stops a lot of the fun maybe like jokes. I remember jokes. Silly jokes and stuff.’ 

Miss Saunders said that when she first started her comedy act French and Saunders alongside Dawn French, it was a reaction to some of the more old-fashioned comedians who were considered ‘sexist and racist.’

She said: ‘I do think people are more wary of what they say and do now, certainly.

‘And probably some of it is not bad as when we started as alternative comedians it was a sort of a reaction against the mainstream comedians who were considered sexist and racist.

‘There is always a backlash against stuff.’ The writer and actress said that it’s ‘not a crime to have an opinion’ but it is starting to become so in modern society.

She said: ‘What p***** me off? Quite a lot of stuff actually. I get p***** off by people and gentle criticism all the time. This is a modern thing isn’t it?

‘If someone says something it always has to be, ‘Oh, but sorry. You can’t say that.’ I say, ‘Oh f*** off.’ 

‘It’s not a crime to have an opinion or say something. It is always so petty and small mindedness p***** me off, bigotry and small mindedness.’

Ab Fab originally ran on the BBC from 1992 to 1995 and was revived from 2001 to 2004. It has returned for a number of special episodes and Comic Relief sketches.

A big-screen version of the hit sitcom was released in 2016.

Despite its continued popularity and cult following, Miss Saunders said that they are unlikely to make any more anytime soon.

‘I think Ab Fab is unlikely to be honest. We are old. Bed. I mean I suppose it could but it would be a series more than a film. I don’t know,’ she said.

‘And French and Saunders the same. Dawn likes to write books and I like to do my garden. It’s hard to do those things as there is an expectation.’ 

The sitcom’s comedy mostly rode on the fractiousness between Edina and her uptight daughter Saffron, played by Julia Sawalha. Eddy often found herself torn between her best friend Patsy and the disapproving Saffy.

The show also featured Jane Horrocks as PR maven Eddy’s madcap assistant Bubble, and June Whitfield as Eddy’s mother.

June’s last appearance in the franchise was, like the rest of the cast, in the 2016 big screen adaption, in which Eddy and Patsy were forced to flee the country after nearly killing Kate Moss.

June died in December 2018, two years after Jennifer insisted she was ‘done’ with Ab Fab. 

Despite a positive reaction to the film, and rumblings of a sequel, she told the Daily Mail in late 2016: ‘I’m not doing anything more with Ab Fab. That’s it. That. Is. It. I can’t see the point of doing anything else with it, really.’

Yet, in October 2018, she told an audience at Cheltenham Literature Festival that the idea of continuing Ab Fab was ‘always on my mind, always’.

She said: ‘I am thinking at the moment of writing a little something. It has to be age-appropriate otherwise we’d have to be in wheelchairs basically. I think Julia is old enough to be my mother now.’

She also touched upon political correctness at the time, saying: ‘I think it is harder to write what we used to write because there is just always someone tutting in the back of your mind. ‘Oh what do you think? Don’t you think someone might be offended?’ It is very tiring!’ 

Joanna, 75, said at the end of 2020 that the future of Ab Fab was entirely in Jennifer’s hands and to ‘wait and see’.

The show was developed from a sketch Jennifer wrote with her long-term comedy partner Dawn French in 1990, titled Modern Mother And Daughter.

The basis of the sketch became the premise for Ab Fab, which ran for three series until its supposed two-part finale The Last Shout in 1996. However, it was rebooted for a fourth run in 2001 and a fifth season was made in 2004.

Several one-offs followed, with the last TV episode to date airing in the summer of 2012, focusing on Eddy hosting Micheal Douglas at her house for the London Olympics.

The film followed in 2016 and this is, to date, the last fans have had of the franchise.