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| 'Lame duck' BBC Trust chair should quit, says Labour's Chris Bryant | 'Lame duck' BBC Trust chair should quit, says Labour's Chris Bryant |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The shadow culture secretary, Chris Bryant, has said the chair of the BBC Trust should resign because the government has turned her into a “lame duck” through its recent secret funding deal with the BBC. | The shadow culture secretary, Chris Bryant, has said the chair of the BBC Trust should resign because the government has turned her into a “lame duck” through its recent secret funding deal with the BBC. |
| The Labour MP said the position of Rona Fairhead at the head of the BBC’s governing body was weakening the corporation as it enters talks with the government over the renewal of its 10-year royal charter. | The Labour MP said the position of Rona Fairhead at the head of the BBC’s governing body was weakening the corporation as it enters talks with the government over the renewal of its 10-year royal charter. |
| “If I had been treated the way she’s been treated, I would have resigned,” Bryant told the Guardian. “And my anxiety is that if [the government] are going to keep on treating the chair of the BBC Trust like this through charter renewal, you’re not going to have a robust discussion, you’re going to have a caving in.” | “If I had been treated the way she’s been treated, I would have resigned,” Bryant told the Guardian. “And my anxiety is that if [the government] are going to keep on treating the chair of the BBC Trust like this through charter renewal, you’re not going to have a robust discussion, you’re going to have a caving in.” |
| On Monday, it emerged that the BBC had agreed to shoulder the £700m cost of providing free TV licences for the over-75s from 2020 – a deal negotiated in secret and subsequently criticised by several former senior BBC figures including the former director general Lord Birt and the former chair Sir Christopher Bland. | On Monday, it emerged that the BBC had agreed to shoulder the £700m cost of providing free TV licences for the over-75s from 2020 – a deal negotiated in secret and subsequently criticised by several former senior BBC figures including the former director general Lord Birt and the former chair Sir Christopher Bland. |
| Fairhead also criticised the way the deal had been negotiated and said that it would inevitably have an impact on BBC services. “We accept this decision is a legitimate one for the government to take, although we cannot endorse the process by which it has been reached,” she said on Monday. | Fairhead also criticised the way the deal had been negotiated and said that it would inevitably have an impact on BBC services. “We accept this decision is a legitimate one for the government to take, although we cannot endorse the process by which it has been reached,” she said on Monday. |
| Bryant, who is due to give a speech on the broadcasting industry on Tuesday, said the “utter shambles” of the past week had underlined the fact that the 10-year-old trust system of governance was unfit for purpose, and said the BBC had been “bullied” by the government. He is expected to outline new plans for BBC governance next week. | Bryant, who is due to give a speech on the broadcasting industry on Tuesday, said the “utter shambles” of the past week had underlined the fact that the 10-year-old trust system of governance was unfit for purpose, and said the BBC had been “bullied” by the government. He is expected to outline new plans for BBC governance next week. |
| “We’re about to go into charter renewal and governance is a big part of that,” he said. “The current structure is not fit for purpose and I think this whole thing shows that. | “We’re about to go into charter renewal and governance is a big part of that,” he said. “The current structure is not fit for purpose and I think this whole thing shows that. |
| “The BBC Trust, and in particular the chairperson, needs to be robust and able to tell the government home truths. The BBC are the embodiment of the independence of the BBC … And I am mystified that nobody has chosen to resign.” | “The BBC Trust, and in particular the chairperson, needs to be robust and able to tell the government home truths. The BBC are the embodiment of the independence of the BBC … And I am mystified that nobody has chosen to resign.” |
| Fairhead said resigning would be a “total dereliction of duty”. Rejecting Bryant’s demand, she added: “I came here to fight on behalf of licence fee payers and that’s what I did. The mitigations that were accepted will allow a strong BBC with a strong financial long-term future.” | Fairhead said resigning would be a “total dereliction of duty”. Rejecting Bryant’s demand, she added: “I came here to fight on behalf of licence fee payers and that’s what I did. The mitigations that were accepted will allow a strong BBC with a strong financial long-term future.” |
| Fairhead, a former executive at Pearson, was appointed BBC Trust chair in 2014 and has since run into a series of controversies that have arguably weakened her position. | Fairhead, a former executive at Pearson, was appointed BBC Trust chair in 2014 and has since run into a series of controversies that have arguably weakened her position. |
| In March this year, she effectively called time on her own job when she joined with vocal critics of the Trust by calling for the BBC’s internal regulator to be abolished. She said there had been a “faultline in blurred accountabilities” between the BBC and the Trust, and the “cleanest form of separation would be to transfer the Trust’s responsibilities for regulation and accountability to an external regulator”. | |
| Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, has defended the licence fee agreement, which also allows for inflation-linked increases in the licence fee if its scale remains unchanged by charter renewal negotiations. However, with a green paper on the BBC expected before 21 July, the government still has to agree the scale, scope and governance of the broadcaster after agreeing the financial arrangements for the next five years. | Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, has defended the licence fee agreement, which also allows for inflation-linked increases in the licence fee if its scale remains unchanged by charter renewal negotiations. However, with a green paper on the BBC expected before 21 July, the government still has to agree the scale, scope and governance of the broadcaster after agreeing the financial arrangements for the next five years. |
| This is not the first time that an influential member of the opposition has called for Fairhead to resign. In the aftermath of the tax avoidance scandal involving HSBC, where Fairhead is a non-executive director, Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, called for her to go. Harriet Harman, the acting leader of the Labour party, has also said BBC Trust independence appears to be lacking. | This is not the first time that an influential member of the opposition has called for Fairhead to resign. In the aftermath of the tax avoidance scandal involving HSBC, where Fairhead is a non-executive director, Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, called for her to go. Harriet Harman, the acting leader of the Labour party, has also said BBC Trust independence appears to be lacking. |
| “The chancellor has turned her into a lame duck but maybe that’s what they want,” said Bryant of the government-appointed BBC Trust chair. He said that by forcing through the backroom deal, the chancellor had made the views of Fairhead, as well as those of the viewers and listeners she is meant to represent, “irrelevant”. “It’s not her behaviour but her lack of behaviour,” he said. | |
| A BBC Trust spokesman said Bryant’s analysis was incorrect. “We don’t agree. This wasn’t a good process, but we did what we could to represent licence fee payers’ interests. It’s now more important than ever that the Trust gives the public a say in the charter review and we’re confident that the government agrees,” the spokesman said. | |
| Under proposals Bryant is due to outline on Tuesday, the Labour party also backs a change to the usual 10-year period of BBC charters, arguing that pushing the next one back a further year would “take the charter out of the ideological heat of battle”. Due in 2028, this would leave three years to do a deal with the BBC after an election, as opposed to the current 18-month process. | |
| He will also argue that the BBC should stop cross-promoting its radio programmes on television. “The BBC need to take the foot off the pedal with that. It introduces a level of unfairness with commercial operations,” he said. | He will also argue that the BBC should stop cross-promoting its radio programmes on television. “The BBC need to take the foot off the pedal with that. It introduces a level of unfairness with commercial operations,” he said. |
| Bryant was critical of his opposite number, John Whittingdale, whom he said should have insisted on “doing it properly” with the sort of open process of licence fee negotiation that he supported in 2010. “He has basically fallen at the first hurdle … the best secretary of states for culture media and sport have not been lapdogs.” | |
| He said: “In the end, Whittingdale and Osborne are ideological Tories who believe that the scale and scope of the BBC has to be cut down to size. I think there’s an element of wanting to pay back the newspapers who supported them during the election campaign. They are small-state Conservatives who believe the commercial world should provide.” | He said: “In the end, Whittingdale and Osborne are ideological Tories who believe that the scale and scope of the BBC has to be cut down to size. I think there’s an element of wanting to pay back the newspapers who supported them during the election campaign. They are small-state Conservatives who believe the commercial world should provide.” |
| Bryant, whose campaign against phone hacking won an award and who has a cartoon of himself as Luke Skywalker slaying the Sith lords Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks on his office wall, also said the rumoured return of Brooks to News UK, if it happened, would be a “massive two fingers to the British public”. | Bryant, whose campaign against phone hacking won an award and who has a cartoon of himself as Luke Skywalker slaying the Sith lords Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks on his office wall, also said the rumoured return of Brooks to News UK, if it happened, would be a “massive two fingers to the British public”. |