Newsnight's Katie Razzall insists Emily Maitlis was not asked to take night off

Newsnight’s Katie Razzall has insisted Emily Maitlis was not asked by the BBC to take a night off from the show after her comments about Dominic Cummings.

The BBC previously confirmed to Metro.co.uk that Katie will be hosting the episode instead of Emily.

However, after the news prompted backlash from the likes of Piers Morgan, Stacey Dooley and Susanna Reid, Katie tweeted: ‘Just for the record, Emily @maitlis has not been asked by the BBC to take tonight off – and if I thought she had been, I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to present the show @BBCNewsnight.’

Maitlis this week accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Number 10 of ‘blind loyalty’ to Cummings in the ongoing row over the aide’s lockdown trip, in what appeared to many as a breach of the BBC impartiality rules.

At the beginning of her Tuesday night broadcast, she said the PM’s adviser ‘broke the rules’ by taking a controversial 260-mile trip to County Durham with his family in March, when lockdown had been put in place.

She also said his move ‘made those who struggled to keep to the rules feel like fools’.

Following uproar from viewers, the BBC released a statement on Wednesday afternoon that read: ‘The BBC must uphold the highest standards of due impartiality in its news output.

‘We’ve reviewed the entirety of last night’s Newsnight, including the opening section, and while we believe the programme contained fair, reasonable and rigorous journalism, we feel that we should have done more to make clear the introduction was a summary of the questions we would examine, with all the accompanying evidence, in the rest of the programme.

‘As it was, we believe the introduction we broadcast did not meet our standards of due impartiality.

‘Our staff have been reminded of the guidelines.’

Mr Cummings faced widespread backlash after he travelled 260 miles from London to Durham during the UK lockdown.

Cummings has been backed by Boris Johnson and explained that he felt the travel was necessary. He has also said he harbours ‘no regrets’ about driving his son and wife, who were displaying symptoms of COVID-19, to Durham.

Newsnight airs tonight at 10:45pm on BBC Two.