Have I Got News for You's Steph McGovern issues apology days after BBC pulled show

Have I Got News For You guest host Steph McGovern issued an apology just minutes into the the latest edition of the satirical news programme on Friday (October 10) following a huge factual error. It comes after a comment made by Victoria Coren Mitchell about the proposed government ID cards in the show on Friday October 3saw the episode pulled from BBC iPlayer. However, the show managed to put a humourous spin on their mea culpa.

At the start of the programme, Steph told viewers: "A factual error in last week's show that incorrectly linked Euan Blair's company Multiverse with a government ID cards contract. The Have I Got News For You production team apologise unreservedly and are offered some constructive feedback by the BBC." The show then cut to a black and white clip of a man kicking another in the behind to the delight of the audience who cheered and clapped.

The offending segment saw Victoria asked the teams who would benefit from Keir Starmer's decision to introduce the ID scheme, before telling them: "I was thinking of the company Multiverse, who has been chosen to run the digital ID cards scheme."

She then said the company was founded by Tony Blair's son Euan, joking: "That's a happy coincidence, isn't it?"

The claim was subsequently debunked by fact-checking company FullFact, which stated: "This isn't true, according to both the government and Multiverse, which is an 'upskilling company', not a software developer."

It added: "The government has not announced any partner for the project. It's understood the government expects digital ID to be designed, built and run by an in-house team, not outsourced to external suppliers, although there has been some media speculation about whether the scheme may create opportunities for other tech firms."

Fans of the show were outraged by the mistake, with one posting on social media: "Not just a throwaway quip but part of the script. Someone is getting a massive telling-off for this. (I bet it will be chopped out of the iPlayer edit too)."

A second social media user tweeted: "Oh my god. Have I Got News For You just referred to this completely false claim as a fact!"

Somebody else fumed: "Absolutely astonished, Have I Got News For You just stated that Multiverse will be running the government's digital ID scheme. An incredibly basic failure of fact-checking."

At the time a BBC spokesperson told Express.co.uk: "This week's Have I Got News for You contained an inaccurate story about Euan Blair's company, Multiverse, being chosen to develop the government's contract to produce digital ID cards. Multiverse is not a software developer and there is no evidence of any involvement in the proposed digital ID scheme, therefore we have taken the episode off BBC iPlayer while we edit the relevant section out. We apologise for this unintentional editorial oversight."