BBC's copter coverage fails to take off

The BBC has pulled out all the stops today with its coverage of Gordon Brown's battle for his political life, encompassing ministerial resignations, the cabinet reshuffle and his party's clobbering in the council elections. As a mark of the seriousness of the coverage, it has even blown the cobwebs off the BBC news helicopter, which has spent the day hovering over Downing Street zooming in on groups of schoolchildren having their picture taken outside No 10. BBC News bosses have been told to show restraint in their use of the copter at a time of budget cuts and belt tightening, particularly after one incident in which it was used to follow pop singer Michael Jackson from central London to The O2 arena. One BBC insider said that the budget for the chopper is paid, for a certain number of hours, in advance and is shared with ITN, with the commercial organisation paying 25% and the BBC the remaining 75%. Both news organisations get to use the pictures, but the Beeb gets editorial control over what to shoot. What with not much actually happening outside Downing Street, Monkey wonders how long the chopper will actually sit in the sky today before being packed back off to its base.