Defence officials condemn skit and claim filming at barracks would have been banned if they’d known about it in advance
POLITICIANS and military top brass last night accused Top Gear’s BBC boss of “extremely poor judgment” over the show’s Cenotaph skit.
Insiders said the buck for the £100,000 stunt should stop with BBC entertainment chief Katie Taylor.
And yesterday defence officials said they would have banned Top Gear filming at an Army barracks if they had known the crew planned stunts at the Cenotaph.
Host Matt LeBlanc and stunt driver Ken Block posed with soldiers at Woolwich Barracks in South East London on Monday.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said of Ms Taylor: “She has shown extremely poor judgment and it raises questions about her future at the BBC.
“Did she realise what they were filming around? Does she even know what the Cenotaph is?
“A huge amount of licence fee payers’ money has been squandered. Her bosses should consider whether her position is tenable.”
General Sir Mike Jackson, former head of the British Army, said: “I can’t help but feel there will be veterans on (Remembrance) parade this November who will be thinking about what happened.”
General Sir Richard Dannatt, another former head of the Army, said: “It is not very clever, and it’s certainly not respectful.” And Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who said the stunt should be “career ending” for whoever gave it the nod, added: “It is a huge error of judgment. They have seriously misjudged public opinion.”