Thanks David. There is an interesting story to tell here. All the indications are that the government was making policy on the hoof and either did not understand or were wholly contemptuous of the constitutional independence of the BBC. The BBC, in turn, had been so softened by months of hostile briefings by Hunt et al that it was almost a relief to have a settlement that removed it from the firing line. I’m afraid it was an abject surrender in which the BBC underestimated its own public support and had run out of fight.

 

I’m reliably informed, incidentally, that Osborne was determined to shift the cost of over 75s licence fees to the BBC and that the Trust and Mark Thompson were indeed ready to resign. It was only a late intervention by Don Foster from the Lib Dems that allowed this deal to be cobbled together. In retrospect, a full-scale confrontation may have better protected the public interest, but that’s easy to say when you’re not in the eye of the storm.

 

best wishes

 

Steve