Huw Edwards’ publicist ridicules Radio 2 star Scott Mills’ BBC sacking declaring ‘this is the world we live in’

Huw Edwards’ new publicist has joked that the BBC probably sacked Scott Mills for calling a junior member of staff ‘love’.

Barry Tomes, who was brought in by the disgraced former BBC newsreader ahead of the Channel 5 docu-drama starring Martin Clunes, said of the decision to fire the DJ from Radio 2: ‘This is the world we live in’.

Mr Tomes has also denied he is representing Mills despite his work for Edwards, declaring: ‘I am not a consultant for ex-BBC employees’.

He then gave his own tongue-in-cheek view of what had happened to Mills.

‘My guess he said “thanks love” when a runner gave him a cup of coffee. That person is now off sick with anxiety. This is the world we live in’, he said. 

The Radio 2 Breakfast Show host was hauled off air last Tuesday and his contract has now been terminated over his ‘personal conduct’. 

The Daily Mirror reports the decision to fire Mills came after a 2016 police investigation into ‘serious sexual offences’ against a teenage boy, aged under 16 at the time.

Scotland Yard has confirmed detectives sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service who rejected the case due to a lack of evidence. The police investigation was closed in 2019. 

Before the Mirror’s report and the police statement, Mr Tomes, who famously represented Deirdre ‘White Dee’ Kelly from Benefits Street, shared a picture of himself with the DJ.

He wrote: ‘Please people stop contacting me I have no idea why Scott Mills was sacked by the BBC. Yes that is me with Mills but I am not a consultant for ex BBC employees’.

One follower replied to say: ‘You could have left it after the first paragraph’, adding that the rest including the joke could end up being ‘enormously regrettable’. 

Another critic set out the allegation before adding: ‘But you just make your jokes’. A third said to Mr Tomes: ‘U don’t know the truth yet so please stop with the amateur sleuthing’.

Defending himself he said ‘anything these days’ can be a sackable offence.

He added: ‘I can’t be sacked. I work for me with people who I choose not the money on offer’.

Mills’s sacking has shocked BBC staff and listeners. 

But the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. The Mirror has alleged his sacking related to the same individual. 

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘In December 2016, the Met began an investigation following a referral from another police force. The investigation related to allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy. These were reported to taken place between 1997 and 2000.

‘As part of these inquiries, a man who was in his 40s at the time of the interview, was questioned by police under caution in July 2018.

‘A full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.’

A representative for Mills declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.

Mills is the latest in a string of stars to lose their jobs at the scandal-ridden BBC. 

His ousting follows the exit of news anchor Huw Edwards, along with MasterChef pair Gregg Wallace and John Torode, in the past two years.

It is believed the unceremonious firing, announced with a curt public statement yesterday morning, was one of the last acts of director-general Tim Davie, who wanted to ‘clear the decks’ before leaving his post on Thursday.

Last week Ed Balls locked horns with Huw Edwards‘s publicist Barry Tomes, accusing him of ‘promoting a paedophile and using bad mental health as an excuse for his crimes’ in a toe-curling Good Morning Britain interview. 

Mr Tomes spoke to the former Labour MP and co-host Susanna Reid about the new Power: The Downfall Of Huw Edwards, which aired on Channel 5 on Tuesday evening. 

TV presenter Edwards, 64, who presented the BBC’s News At Ten for decades and broke some of the biggest stories including the death of Queen Elizabeth II, pled guilty to making indecent images of children in July 2024. 

Mr Tomes approached Edwards and offered to be his publicist without being paid for his services, and explained that six months ago Edwards had told him that he ‘wanted to tell his side of the story’. 

He explained to the presenters: ‘I’m looking for the black box. That’s why I am here. I want to find out why this happened. 

‘He’s not the first famous man to have these issues. There will be more. Unless we can figure out why.’ 

He continued: ‘I am interested in mental health, for all sorts of family reasons. I think that lots of questions are being asked, but nobody seems to ask why does this happen? Why?’ 

Ed said: ‘Can I ask you about your decision, there are lots of ways you could support people with mental health issues to understand. But you’ve chosen in this case, a convicted paedophile, class A images, which he admitted in court, and convicted. 

‘In the case of a lawyer, people have a right to defense in law, that is what defense lawyers do.

‘Sometimes they will do it pro bono, but you aren’t a lawyer, you are a publicist. You have chosen to help and support a convicted paedophile, and I wonder why you would choose Huw Edwards? 

‘It’s your choice, nobody has made you do this.’ 

Barry explained: ‘It’s my choice. I made that clear, I approached him, he never approached me. 

‘Quite simply, I would like to find out why these things happen generally. Why do powerful men do these things.’

Ed pointed out: ‘But you’re not investigating, you’re his publicist. You’re telling his story.’

‘Don’t publicists investigate?’ Barry replied.

‘If you’re his publicist and you turn out to reach conclusions that are very negative to him, are you then going to publicise a story that he doesn’t want told?’ Ed asked him. 

Barry replied: ‘I am going to tell the truth, yeah. 100 per cent, and he is aware of that.’

Ed later told him: ‘The problem is, he is a paedophile and you are his publicist, which means that you are a publicist for a paedophile. 

‘It may be that you have an unusual contract in which you can say what you like independent of what he wants, which is an unusual relationship for a publicist, but Huw Edwards did produce a statement about the documentary, he says his interaction was shameless, reckless and damaging.

‘I mean it was worse than that, and then he goes on to I think use his mental illness as a excuse. He goes on to say he hopes that will explain how he behaved.

‘Were you comfortable with that statement? Normally a publicist would advise somebody putting a statement out.’

Barry responded: ‘I did sit with him.’

Barry also explained that when he chats with Edwards, one of the questions he wants answered is if he is going to give back the £200,000 salary to the BBC. 

‘I wouldn’t pay it back. He had a contract, his contract was terminated and he was paid,’ he told Susanna and Ed.

‘If they think they should have it back, have they started legal proceedings? Not sure. But I personally wouldn’t, no.’

Last week Martin Clunes sent a defiant message to Edwards amid his fury at the ‘punishing’ drama tracking his downfall.

The actor, 64, who has taken on the role of the former BBC presenter in Power: The Downfall Of Huw Edwards, appeared on the GMB sofa on Tuesday to chat to Susanna and Ed about the Channel 5 drama.

The show follows the real-life story of how the former BBC news presenter became the centre of a grooming scandal. 

Edwards has gone on to criticise C5 about fact checking, but Martin said of the upcoming drama: ‘The word power is everything. 

‘There is a weird circulatory [nature] to this, because I appreciate he’s upset by the fact that we’ve made this programme…

‘But he would have reported on other downfalls.

‘Other people’s disgrace, without a second thought, it goes round and round, doesn’t it? The media thing.’