BBC’s Robert Peston oversleeps... then ‘busks’ live on Today
BBC business editor Robert Peston slept in for work yesterday. He then compounded his error by confessing on Twitter that it meant he was winging it when talking live on radio about the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Peston had not had time to digest the bank’s results before talking about them on Today on Radio 4.
Writing later on his Twitter feed, Peston, 51, admitted: “OMG. Overslept this morning. Only just made it on to Today. Bit of busking on RBS results. Hope that wasn’t obvious. Cup of tea needed.”
Some critics of the abrasive commentator claimed his performance showed he did not know what he was talking about. “That much was obvious,” one wrote. Another branded him “naive” for admitting that he had gone on air unprepared.
Peston tried later to rescue the situation, penning a full blog about RBS on the BBC website.
He wrote: “It matters to all of us that RBS is returned to health, because we as taxpayers invested more than £45billion in the bank to prevent it going bust, and we are currently sitting on a loss of £20billion on that investment.
OMG. Overslept this morning. Only just made it on to Today
“We’ve got to hope that RBS starts making substantial, sustainable profits again.”