BBC male stars face pay cut

Only one woman among corporation’s nine highest earners Broadcaster warned it has three years to ‘get its house in order’

THE BBC’S highest-paid male stars must take a wage cut to close the corporation’s “shocking” gender salary gap, the Government has warned, amid threats to expose more top earners unless the broadcaster “gets its house in order”.

Karen Bradley, the Culture Secretary, said publication of a list of 96 stars who earn more than £150,000 a year should have a deflationary effect on the wages of presenters such as Chris Evans, who tops the list on £2.2 million.

Women account for just a third of the BBC’S big earners, with only one woman in the top nine – Strictly Come

Dancing’s Claudia Winkleman – who is joint-eighth on the list, while Gary Lineker is paid nine times more than fellow sports presenter Clare Balding.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt that the Government now wants male stars to be forced to take a pay cut of at least 10 per cent. Ms Bradley said stars should be conscious of “how this looks to the public” and urged licence fee payers to say whether they thought such high salaries were “good value”.

The Prime Minister also urged the BBC to close the gender pay gap. Theresa May said the corporation must look at the question of how it paid women and men “for doing the same job”.

She told LBC radio: “I think what has happened today is we have seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job as the men. I want to see women paid equally with men.”

Ministers also accused the corporation of raising the pay of up to six women shortly before the deadline for the list, taking them over the £150,000 threshold and altering the imbalance.

The corporation now faces the threat of legal action for potential breach of laws on equal pay.

One leading talent agent said: “I suspect a number of people are consulting lawyers right now. Apart from anything else, there is a pretty good equalities act that says it is illegal to pay women less for doing the same job.”

A source in the culture department said unless the BBC made “real progress” before its next charter review in three years, the Government would consider forcing it to publish the pay of all those earning more than £100,000, dragging in many more star names.

The publication left a host of BBC stars facing embarrassing questions yesterday, sometimes from their own colleagues.

John Humphrys, who earns more than £600,000, was the first of several to say they were prepared to take a cut. Humphrys, who presents Today on Radio 4 as well as BBC Two’s Mastermind, admitted he was “not worth tuppence ha’penny” compared with “a doctor who saves a child’s life or a fireman who rushes into Grenfell Tower”. Sarah Montague, his Today co-presenter, does not appear on the list, meaning she earns less than £150,000.

Andrew Marr, who earns £400,000, said his salary had already gone down by £139,000 over the past two years and added that he had turned down bigger deals from commercial rivals. Jane Garvey of Radio 4’s Woman’s

Hour, confronted Eddie Mair, the presenter of PM who was listed as earning up to £349,999, and asked if he would take a pay cut. Mair did not answer.

Radio presenters who braved phoneins faced an angry public. One building worker from Glamorgan told the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2: “I see men from the coal industry buckled up from working all their life, doing hard graft, and have nothing to show for it.

“How can you people justify the amount of money you’re earning?”

The Government ordered the BBC to publish the salaries of all stars who earn more than the Prime Minister. Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, had resisted, saying it would stoke wage inflation because it would show commercial rivals what BBC stars get. Lord Grade, one of his predecessors, argued that the list would lead to some envious stars demanding more money.

But their arguments were undermined by employees including Humphrys and Evans, who has previously said: “Just pay us less.”

The BBC’S top seven earners are all men: after Evans come Lineker, Graham Norton, Vine, Humphrys, Huw Edwards and Steve Wright.

While John Mcenroe is paid up to £200,000 for his punditry at Wimbledon and Alex Jones receives up to £450,000 for presenting The One Show, Emily Maitlis of Newsnight does not make the list at all. Maitlis’s agent, Alex Armitage, said he found it “absolutely ----ing astonishing” that she was paid less than some of the other names.

Last night, it was rumoured Maitlis may now quit with sources within the corporation claiming she was currently involved in contract negotiations. That could be the start of an exodus from the BBC over pay disparities. A source told The Sun: “Emily had showdown talks with Newsnight boss Ian Katz ahead of the publication of the salaries.

“They made her an offer and she did not accept it. As it stands, her future hangs in the balance and if a rival wanted her now is their chance.”

One culture department source said the BBC Charter review in 2020 was “the next point” at which it would be expected to show progress. The Government cannot use threats of a reduction in the licence fee as it is fixed until 2022.