The BPC today received a complaint from Mr Dominic Cummings about a poll conducted by YouGov for the CBI.
On receipt, any complaint is initially examined by the three principal officers of the British Polling Council, Prof. John Curtice (President), Mr Nick Moon (secretary) and Mr Simon Atkinson (committee member).
Unfortunately in expressing an initial provisional view about the complaint to his fellow officers Mr Moon copied Mr Cummings in to the relevant email and in so doing used some unnecessarily offensive language. For the latter Mr Moon has apologised unreservedly to Mr Cummings.
However, Mr Cummings appears to have taken the email as the determination of the BPC on his complaint and chosen to make Mr Moon’s provisional views public knowledge. In this Mr Cummings was clearly mistaken. The BPC has not made any determination on the matter, and apologises to YouGov and the CBI for its role in any unnecessary embarrassment that has been caused.
In view of this incident, the initial determination on Mr Cummings complaint will now be made by Prof. Curtice and Mr Atkinson alone.