Deadline: Prime Minister “Ought To” Give Up Role In Future BBC Chair Appointment, Says Former Director General Tony Hall

Story from Deadline:

The Prime Minister “ought to” give up their involvement with the hiring of the BBC Chairman in the future following the Richard Sharp scandal, according to former Director General Tony Hall.

Hall urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “say something interesting” about the government’s involvement with the process, which, in Sharp’s case, led to a chain of events surrounding the Boris Johnson loan scandal that has forced the former Goldman Sachs banker and Conservative Party donor to resign.

Hall, who was BBC DG between 2013 and 2020, told the Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV) Conference that the Prime Minister of the day “ought to” give up their involvement in the Chair appointment, which is currently decided by a government committee.

“When you say the Prime Minister appoints the Chairman people tend to respond with a wry grin and question whether that is really independent,” he said.

Hall forecasted that the Prime Minister will “probably not” remove himself from the process in the near future and that this debate could rear its head when the next BBC Charter is drawn up by 2027. He said “anything that helps reinforce” the BBC’s independence is “really important.”

Writing in The Guardian last week, Hall urged two other changes be made to the Chairman appointment process: the makeup of the panel be made public and the BBC Board be asked to approve the proposed candidate alongside MPs on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Sharp will leave next month after he was found to have been in breach of appointment rules by the UK’s Public Appointments Committee following the failure to declare that he had attempted to introduce a Canadian businessman, Sam Blyth, to the UK’s Cabinet Secretary. Blyth went on to guarantee an £800,000 ($1B) loan for former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A BBC report this morning found Sharp had also broken the BBC Board’s Code of Practice due to this failure to declare, although it cleared him of conflict of interest issues during his tenure.

Turning to the BBC’s very existential future, Hall said the organization needs to “go into campaigning mode to lay out the groundwork on why the BBC really matters,” with his remarks coming just a couple of hours after BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore warned that employees face a moment of “great jeopardy” due to funding pressures and fierce competition from U.S. streamers.

As the BBC’s future funding model is fiercely debated both internally and by the government, he urged the BBC to set out “what it wants to do and be beyond 2027” before the future of the license fee is decided upon.

“Rushing towards a decision about the license fee without deciding what is it you want it to do is nuts,” said Hall, who has previously argued for a household tax to replace the license fee. “I think the BBC is best placed to set an agenda otherwise others will set that for you.”

He described the current funding settlement of a cash-flat license fee followed by inflationary rise as “really tough” and reiterated previous calls for the public to be involved in decisions over future funding.

“We need to make the arguments and make them now,” he said. “I believe profoundly that, with some years to go [until the next Charter] and through a general election, this is the time for the voices to be heard of those who really support the BBC and Public Service Broadcasting.”

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