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| Margaret Hodge seeks to quiz BBC chiefs together over payoffs | Margaret Hodge seeks to quiz BBC chiefs together over payoffs |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| At least six past and present BBC executives will be asked to appear together in front of a committee of MPs to fight it out over who was responsible for agreeing huge severance payments to staff. | At least six past and present BBC executives will be asked to appear together in front of a committee of MPs to fight it out over who was responsible for agreeing huge severance payments to staff. |
| Former BBC director general Mark Thompson and the current chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, have been embroiled in a war of words – described by MPs as a soap opera – with claims and counterclaims over who knew what about the payments. | Former BBC director general Mark Thompson and the current chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, have been embroiled in a war of words – described by MPs as a soap opera – with claims and counterclaims over who knew what about the payments. |
| In a wide-ranging interview in the New Review section, Margaret Hodge tells the Observer that she is determined to get to the truth over who is at fault, and will call Patten and Thompson to appear together in front of the public accounts committee she chairs. It is understood that other executives are expected to be invited to appear at the same time as the two men, including Mark Byford, Thompson's former deputy, who received a redundancy package worth nearly £1m in 2010, and former chairman of the BBC Trust Sir Michael Lyons. | In a wide-ranging interview in the New Review section, Margaret Hodge tells the Observer that she is determined to get to the truth over who is at fault, and will call Patten and Thompson to appear together in front of the public accounts committee she chairs. It is understood that other executives are expected to be invited to appear at the same time as the two men, including Mark Byford, Thompson's former deputy, who received a redundancy package worth nearly £1m in 2010, and former chairman of the BBC Trust Sir Michael Lyons. |
| Others in the frame are the former senior independent director and ex-Barclays boss Marcus Agius, and Caroline Thomson, the former chief operating officer who left after failing to get the BBC director general job, taking a £331,400 redundancy payment and a further £335,000 in lieu of notice, plus £14,000 in legal costs. | Others in the frame are the former senior independent director and ex-Barclays boss Marcus Agius, and Caroline Thomson, the former chief operating officer who left after failing to get the BBC director general job, taking a £331,400 redundancy payment and a further £335,000 in lieu of notice, plus £14,000 in legal costs. |
| The lineup of former and current executives will be unprecedented. Hodge said: "I don't want scalps. What I want is to get at the truth, and I'm fed up with them all blaming each other. I'm going to get them all in front of the committee together because I can't think of any other way of successfully finding out who was responsible for making those crass decisions. Then those responsible will have to think about their positions." | The lineup of former and current executives will be unprecedented. Hodge said: "I don't want scalps. What I want is to get at the truth, and I'm fed up with them all blaming each other. I'm going to get them all in front of the committee together because I can't think of any other way of successfully finding out who was responsible for making those crass decisions. Then those responsible will have to think about their positions." |
| The BBC paid out a total of £60m, adjusted for inflation, to two-thirds of those senior staff who left between 2005 and March this year, in a policy that has been heavily criticised by the National Audit Office (NAO). | The BBC paid out a total of £60m, adjusted for inflation, to two-thirds of those senior staff who left between 2005 and March this year, in a policy that has been heavily criticised by the National Audit Office (NAO). |
| Two weeks ago, former Tory minister Patten told Hodge's public accounts committee that the trust had not been given details of the massive payment to Byford. | Two weeks ago, former Tory minister Patten told Hodge's public accounts committee that the trust had not been given details of the massive payment to Byford. |
| Asked whether he felt the BBC Trust should have been told the details of the deal, Patten said: "Yes, and if you call in due course the previous director general of the BBC, I will be as interested as you are as to why we didn't know." | |
| However, correspondence has emerged showing that Thompson, head of the BBC executive at the time, informed the trust that Byford and his colleague Sharon Baylay, director of marketing, would be given "maximum payments". | However, correspondence has emerged showing that Thompson, head of the BBC executive at the time, informed the trust that Byford and his colleague Sharon Baylay, director of marketing, would be given "maximum payments". |
| An email from his office, dated 8 October 2010, stated that they would not be served formal notice of redundancy until "calendar year 2011", despite being informed of their departure months earlier. | An email from his office, dated 8 October 2010, stated that they would not be served formal notice of redundancy until "calendar year 2011", despite being informed of their departure months earlier. |
| Hodge is understood to believe that forcing the various executives to thrash out the details in public may now be the only way to resolve the latest in a long line of cases highlighting how poorly public money is being spent. She said: "I've been in public service for 40 years, and even I have been taken aback by the extent of it. People feel that they are spending other people's money, and they don't care for it the way they might care for their own." | Hodge is understood to believe that forcing the various executives to thrash out the details in public may now be the only way to resolve the latest in a long line of cases highlighting how poorly public money is being spent. She said: "I've been in public service for 40 years, and even I have been taken aback by the extent of it. People feel that they are spending other people's money, and they don't care for it the way they might care for their own." |
| Hodge also becomes the most high-profile MP to publicly say that she will take the pay rise being offered by the parliamentary authorities. She is critical of those, including Labour leader Ed Miliband, who have said they will not. "It's completely inappropriate to give us a rise at this time," she said. "But equally, I'm not going to do a Dutch auction on pay increases. | Hodge also becomes the most high-profile MP to publicly say that she will take the pay rise being offered by the parliamentary authorities. She is critical of those, including Labour leader Ed Miliband, who have said they will not. "It's completely inappropriate to give us a rise at this time," she said. "But equally, I'm not going to do a Dutch auction on pay increases. |
| "This is really dangerous. Someone in a marginal seat can just say: 'I'll do the job for 30k', and then we're back to the politics of rotten boroughs in the 19th century. So I will stand by my colleagues, and I'm critical of the leaders who have said they won't take it. I think that's wrong, and a slippery road to starting to buy your seat." | "This is really dangerous. Someone in a marginal seat can just say: 'I'll do the job for 30k', and then we're back to the politics of rotten boroughs in the 19th century. So I will stand by my colleagues, and I'm critical of the leaders who have said they won't take it. I think that's wrong, and a slippery road to starting to buy your seat." |
| And in a sign of the times, Hodge becomes the latest MP to openly admit to smoking cannabis when at university. She does this while talking about her close friendship with Tony Blair, a one-time neighbour, whom she admits to not seeing "very much", adding that he lives "in a different world now". | And in a sign of the times, Hodge becomes the latest MP to openly admit to smoking cannabis when at university. She does this while talking about her close friendship with Tony Blair, a one-time neighbour, whom she admits to not seeing "very much", adding that he lives "in a different world now". |