The BBC must get tough on their impartiality rules. Enough is enough.

The Countryside Alliance has launched an online petition, calling on Tim Davie the Director General of the BBC, to enforce impartiality rules among all its presenters or have them face the sack for noncompliance.

It comes after one of the Corporation's most recognisable faces, Chris Packham, sparked outrage after tweeting his support for masked hunt saboteurs.

Impartiality rules at the BBC came under the spotlight in 2020, when Tim Davie was first appointed to his post. He informed staff: "If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC".

On 16 August, hunt saboteurs stopped a shoot, in which Lord Botham was one of the guns, from taking place in the Peak District. A post on the hunt saboteurs' website later that day stated that "Beefy Botham out for a duck as sabs storm Peak District shoots", and the following morning Chris Packham tweeted "Oh dear, what a shame, next . . . More top work by @HuntSabs".

Aggravated trespass is a criminal offence, and individuals can be arrested if they are intentionally obstructing, disrupting, or intimidating others from carrying out lawful activities. The Alliance says those that support their actions on social media are just as guilty as the perpetrators on the ground, and for Chris Packham to be doing so is unacceptable.

The petition states: "In view of Chris Packham's public support of the criminal activities by saboteurs, and the need to ensure the impartiality of all those employed by the BBC irrespective of their employment contract, the Corporation needs to extend its existing rules to all its presenters. Every presenter should be governed by clear rules regardless of their employment status. We therefore need your help in making it clear to Tim Davie that the BBC must either tell Chris Packham to follow its impartiality rules or else stop employing him."

The Countryside Alliance previously complained to the BBC about unacceptable behaviour by Chris Packham in 2015, after he used a comment piece in the BBC Wildlife magazine to dub those engaged in farming, hunting and shooting as the "nasty brigade". However, because of a glaring loophole in BBC impartiality guidelines, the BBC Trust claimed certain presenters, including Chris Packham, are treated as a 'recurrent not regular presenter' rather than BBC employees. This means the current rules relating to impartiality do not apply to presenters like Chris Packham, despite fronting hours of primetime BBC tv coverage including Autumnwatch and most recently, the BBC'S Earth Prom.

Adrian Blackmore, Director of the Campaign for Shooting said: "Clearly the status quo is not fit for purpose. Chris Packham is among one of the most recognisable presenters at the BBC. When people see Mr Packham, they associate him with the BBC, and when he is discussed in the wider media, he is commonly referred to as a BBC presenter. Suggesting he is not to those that rightly say otherwise, is a blatant example of gaslighting. The public does not differentiate between BBC presenters on the basis of their contracts. It's time Tim Davie put his words into action and extended impartiality rules to all BBC presenters. Failure to comply should simply result in not renewing future contracts. Doing so will show genuine commitment to protecting the BBC's standing and integrity among licence fee payers."