BBC sacked Carol Thatcher to get even with Mom' Thatcher

London, Feb.5 (ANI): Carol Thatcher, the journalist daughter of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was fired from the BBC's flagship The One Show because the corporation has a vendetta against her mother.

Tory peer Lord Tebbit said he felt the sacking, which followed Miss Thatcher's use of the word "golliwog" during a private conversation after the show, was just "a way for the BBC to get back at Carol's mother".

According to the Daily Express, the broadcaster's agent has also launched a stinging attack on the BBC, calling for corporation bosses to apologize to Miss Thatcher, 55, and threatening potential legal action for breach of contract.

Lord Tebbit, a senior minister in Margaret Thatcher's government, and a former chairman of the Conservative Party, said he failed to see why a reference to a golliwog should be regarded as offensive.

Carol Thatcher made the remark during an off-camera conversation with The One Show presenter Adrian Chiles.

Although the conversation took place in the green room and not on air, several members of the production team, as well as Chiles, who were described as "shocked", heard her remark.

It is understood the BBC wanted a formal apology from Thatcher but she had declined to do so.

Despite being barred from the show, Thatcher will not be banned from the BBC as a whole.

Thatcher, 55, was one of the programme''s "roving reporters" and was discussing one of the male competitors in the Australian Open last week. The show''s website praised "her dry, self-deprecating wit and tenacious spirit".

A BBC source said: "There were a number of complaints from people in the room about this particular remark, it did cause offence. A number of people were quite taken aback by the language."

A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC considers any language of a racist nature wholly unacceptable. We have raised the issue with the individual concerned and are discussing it as a matter or urgency."

Thatcher's spokesman told The Times that her client never intended to cause any offence and it was "meant as a joke".

"She made a light aside about this tennis player and his similarity to the golliwog on the jampot when she was growing up. There''s no way, obviously, that she would condone any racist comment - we would refute that entirely. It would not be in her nature to do anything like that.It is disgusting that we''ve had a leak of private conversations in the green room - the BBC has more leaks than Thames Water, he said.

Thatcher, a journalist and writer, made a name for herself by winning the ITV reality programme I''m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2005. (ANI)