bbc.co.uk

The BBC has rejected Conservative complaints about a programme in which hecklers were encouraged to shout at Michael Howard during a public meeting. The Conservatives claimed the event had been used to disrupt Mr Howard's speech at a meeting near Bolton.

But the BBC insists the programme, to be screened on Monday night, is a legitimate study of political heckling.

Director of News Helen Boaden said it also showed members of the Lib Dems and Labour Party being heckled.

In a letter responding to the Conservatives, she added that the Tories had not been "helpful" by going to the press with their complaints before the BBC had had a chance to reply.

"What happened is considerably less sinister than you fear and than the newspapers have portrayed on the basis of the information you gave them," she said in her letter to Guy Black, the head of Conservative communications .

The Conservatives had demanded an apology after producers of the BBC Three show gave people microphones and encouraged them to shout during Mr Howard's speech in Horwich last week.

Mr Black wrote to the BBC, saying the event was "pre-meditated" and intended to embarrass Mr Howard and disrupt his speech.

He claimed hecklers had shouted out slogans such as "Michael Howard is a liar" and "You can only trust Tony Blair".

He also said staff were in breach of BBC producer guidelines.

But the corporation denied these claims, saying it had been making a legitimate programme about the lost art of heckling in the democratic process.

It said the programme - The Heckler, which includes interviews with Michael Heseltine and Michael Portillo, would be screened as planned.

BBC head of current affairs Peter Horrocks said microphones had simply been provided so the hecklers' voices could be recorded for the programme.

'Astonished'

He told Radio 5 Live: "Most of it is about heckling and there's some very amusing sequences showing heckling down the years.

"There is a small part of the programme which shows how hecklers can perform, what makes a funny heckle and how parties might respond to it - that's the context in which this material is used.

"We provided microphones in order to be able to hear what the hecklers said, but we didn't provide any amplification and we certainly did not disrupt the meeting.

"They did not disrupt, nor were they hostile to Mr Howard or the Conservative party."

He said the heckling had been "light hearted" and the comments "mild" and "jocular".

He also stressed the show featured Liberal Democrat and Labour meetings , and said viewers of the programme would be "astonished" at the level of fuss over it.