NEWSNIGHT

Newsnight's "darkest hour"

Steve Messham, whose claims prompted David Cameron to open new inquiries into the north Wales child sex abuse scandal, said he had wrongly named Lord McAlpine as his attacker. On 2 November 2012 BBC News night had falsely accused a Conservative, Lord McAlpine of child abuse. George Entwistle, BBC director general, admits the Newsnight film which wrongly accused a senior Conservative figure of child abuse should never have been broadcast.  The BBC “unreservedly” apologised for broadcasting the child sex abuse allegations, “we also apologise unreservedly for having broadcast this report.”

George Entwistle has recently resigned due to the Newsnight incident lasting only 54 days in the top job at the public broadcaster. BBC Trustee Anthony Fry told the Public Accounts Committee of his "irritation" at having to pay the full sum of £450,000, and not the £225,000 payable for a resignation. Though Alpine’s name was not said on the show there were allegations on the internet that he was a paedophile (Twitter). Lord McAlpine said the BBC had left him with a "legacy" that "can't be repaired". The BBC will pay £185,000 in damages to Lord McAlpine following the Newsnight broadcast. The BBC said it had "agreed terms with Lord McAlpine to settle his claim of libel against the corporation. The settlement is comprehensive and reflects the gravity of the allegations that were wrongly made".

The Tory peer has asked users who posted spiteful claims following the BBC Newsnight investigation, and who have less than 500 followers, to apologise and donate to Children in Need. The 70-year-old is seeking an even larger payment from ITV after ‘This Morning’ host Phillip Schofield confronted the David Cameron with a list of supposed abusers during an interview. Comedian Alan Davies and the Commons Speaker's wife Sally Bercow are among the noticeable figures who have already apologised for linking the peer to child abuse allegations on Twitter. Mrs Bercow posted on November 4: "Why is Lord McAlpine trending?*innocent face*." She appears to have deactivated her account and quit the site on Nov 21^st Lord McAlpine has hired a team of experts who have collated a “very long list” of people and their offending messages, even those that have been deleted. More than 1,000 original tweets and 9,000 retweets have already been identified. His solicitor Andrew Reid said: “We have been watching people who have been taking down what they put on Twitter.