Jeb Bush: BBC 'Biased,' 'Incredibly Rude' to Conservatives

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday blasted the BBC over its political coverage of conservatives, accusing the public broadcaster of bias in a tweet.

"Every time I visit London, I am amazed how biased U.K. political coverage is by the BBC," Bush wrote Tuesday. "Plus, they are incredibly rude to Conservative MPs. All paid for by U.K. taxpayers. I enjoy their world coverage, but why the vitriol when it is about U.K. politics?”

British Labour Party MP David Lammy tweeted in response that tweets like Bush's show "the importance of defending" the BBC.

He wrote:

"Whatever problems we have with the BBC (and I have a few!), Jeb's tweet shows the importance of defending it. It's far from perfect, but the BBC holds politicians from all parties to account. We do not want to end up with the preening, right wing sycophancy of Fox News in the UK."

Conservative politician Nigel Farage, one of the principle supporters of the U.K.'s exit from the European Union, responded to Bush's tweet while at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the U.S., telling LBC that "what the BBC does as the world service is a very important part of the brand of this country," and said, "going out there and doing global news" is "great," but the "BBC covering U.K. politics and taxing us for doing it" is "not great and needs to end."

• UK Government, at Odds With Media, Set to Review BBC Funding
• BBC to Cut an Estimated 450 Jobs in Modernization Plan