Conversely, writing for The Guardian, the left-wing columnist Owen Jones stated "the truth is the BBC is stacked full of rightwingers,"[204] and he cited as an example of bias its employment of "ultra-Thatcherite" Andrew Neil as a politics presenter.[205] Paul Mason, the former Economics Editor of the BBC's Newsnight programme, criticised the BBC as "unionist" in relation to its coverage of the Scottish independence referendum campaign and said its senior employees tended to be of a "neo-liberal" point of view.[206] The BBC has also been characterised as a pro-monarchist institution.[207] A 2018 opinion poll by BMG Research found that 40% of the British public think that the BBC is politically partisan, with a nearly even split between those that believe it leans to the left or right.[208]