The corporation’s underpinnings – equality, verifiable facts, the rule of law – are under threat as never before
It would be tempting, at this moment of fevered speculation about the next chairman, to cry, “Hands off the BBC!” It is true that Charles Moore – the rightwing commentator and former Telegraph editor rumoured to be Downing Street’s favoured candidate – would be an egregious choice. Leaving aside that recruitment for the post is supposedly an open and fair process, rather than organised through an anonymous newspaper briefing emanating from the general direction of Dominic Cummings, no known previous candidate has so openly voiced hostility to the licence fee – the very underpinning, financially and ideologically, of the corporation.
Nevertheless, “Hands off the BBC!” is an empty injunction, since no government has ever taken their hands off the BBC, nor is there any prospect of their so doing. The level of the licence fee and the broadcaster’s charter are set by the government. Officially, the chair’s appointment is both a process based on open, fair competition, and the result of a final choice made by ministers. The
BBC is, then, embroiled with the government in fundamental ways, and always has been.