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Tony Hall a 'coward' for not challenging John Whittingdale, says Chris Bryant Tony Hall a 'coward' for not challenging John Whittingdale, says Chris Bryant
(about 1 hour later)
Shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant has called BBC director general Tony Hall a “coward” for not publicly challenging minister John Whittingdale over the recent licence fee settlement.Shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant has called BBC director general Tony Hall a “coward” for not publicly challenging minister John Whittingdale over the recent licence fee settlement.
And he said it was “daft” of BBC director of strategy James Purnell to have “bought” a conciliatory speech by Whittingdale about BBC charter renewal and that people should remain “very, very, very wary” .And he said it was “daft” of BBC director of strategy James Purnell to have “bought” a conciliatory speech by Whittingdale about BBC charter renewal and that people should remain “very, very, very wary” .
Asked if he agreed with Purnell that Whittingdale’s speech on Wednesday at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival had changed the “mood” of the debate around the BBC’s charter and the green paper about its future, Bryant said: “John has been appointed specifically to be the nice guy who wanders round conferences saying ‘it’s not going to be so bad, it’s all going to be fine’ and James Purnell’s bought it, daft, ludicrous.”Asked if he agreed with Purnell that Whittingdale’s speech on Wednesday at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival had changed the “mood” of the debate around the BBC’s charter and the green paper about its future, Bryant said: “John has been appointed specifically to be the nice guy who wanders round conferences saying ‘it’s not going to be so bad, it’s all going to be fine’ and James Purnell’s bought it, daft, ludicrous.”
Bryant said the government’s decision to get the BBC to shoulder the £725m cost of free licence fees for the over-75s from 2020/21 as part of its funding deal was “morally offensive” and turned it into “a subset of the Department of Work and Pensions”. He added that Hall should have challenged Whittingdale as the culture select committee under his chairmanship had recommended in 2012 that there should never be a repeat of the 2010 “shotgun” licence fee settlement.Bryant said the government’s decision to get the BBC to shoulder the £725m cost of free licence fees for the over-75s from 2020/21 as part of its funding deal was “morally offensive” and turned it into “a subset of the Department of Work and Pensions”. He added that Hall should have challenged Whittingdale as the culture select committee under his chairmanship had recommended in 2012 that there should never be a repeat of the 2010 “shotgun” licence fee settlement.
“Nobody suggested it [BBC paying for over-75s’ licence fees] in the general election – they have no mandate to take it forward and I think Tony Hall frankly was a coward for not going to the public and saying ‘You, John Whittingdale, publicly said before the general election that you would hate any process that was just a stitch-up overnight’,” Bryant said.“Nobody suggested it [BBC paying for over-75s’ licence fees] in the general election – they have no mandate to take it forward and I think Tony Hall frankly was a coward for not going to the public and saying ‘You, John Whittingdale, publicly said before the general election that you would hate any process that was just a stitch-up overnight’,” Bryant said.
“I think it’s unpatriotic frankly for a Conservative party that is meant to believe in Britain to diminish the greatest British brand that we have.”“I think it’s unpatriotic frankly for a Conservative party that is meant to believe in Britain to diminish the greatest British brand that we have.”
He added: “Just after the general election I started predicting that the government would make the BBC pay for over-75s’ licence fees. Everyone said, ‘No, n , John Whittingdale would never do that and anyway Whittingdale produced a report with Philip Davies and everyone else which said it would be disgraceful to do that kind of overnight deal between the chancellor just after speaking to Rupert Murdoch – sorry, the mysterious M.He added: “Just after the general election I started predicting that the government would make the BBC pay for over-75s’ licence fees. Everyone said, ‘No, n , John Whittingdale would never do that and anyway Whittingdale produced a report with Philip Davies and everyone else which said it would be disgraceful to do that kind of overnight deal between the chancellor just after speaking to Rupert Murdoch – sorry, the mysterious M.
And that’s exactly what happened so I think people should be very, very, very wary.”And that’s exactly what happened so I think people should be very, very, very wary.”
A BBC spokesman said: “As we’ve said before this was a tough deal but in the circumstances it was the right thing to do when the government made significant concessions. We welcome the culture secretary’s positive comments about the BBC this week but like everyone else we’ll judge the government by its actions.”