Tories take a stand on BBC chairman appointment
Conservative MPs have made it clear that they will not be sitting on a panel to oversee the appointment of a new BBC chairman.
Former corporation head Gavyn Davies resigned after Lord Hutton’s report into the death of Dr David Kelly heavily criticised BBC management.
The Tory stance follows the naming of a team by the BBC’s acting director general to investigate the editorial lessons of the Hutton report.
Ron Neil, a former head of news and current affairs at the BBC, and Richard Tait, former editor-in-chief of ITN, will help acting director general, Mark Byford, decide whether the corporation’s editorial guidelines need to be changed.
Former Conservative Party home secretary Lord Baker has refused to take a seat on a cross-party panel of privy counsellors appointed to scrutinise the appointment of a new chairman because it will not be involved in the final selection.
Lord Baker also questioned a new chairman’s requirement to act as a link between the BBC, the government and Parliament.
In a letter to the commissioner for public appointments, Dame Rennie Fritchie, Lord Baker said the job should not be given to anyone “actively involved” in politics over the past 10 years.
Former Conservative ministers such as Chris Patten and Michael Portillo have been touted as contenders.
However, Tory chairman David Davis endorsed Lord Baker’s letter and said the appointee should not be connected to any political party.
Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, set up the three-member scrutiny panel to assist Dame Rennie in ensuring the appointment of a new BBC chairman would be as transparent and independent as possible.
Relations between the BBC and the government have been severely strained by the fall-out from the Hutton Inquiry and the resignations of Mr Davies and director general Greg Dyke.
