Female hosts are better on fashion, says BBC chief

THE editor of the Today programme has risked exacerbating the BBC’S gender row after claiming her female presenters are “better on fashion” while John Humphrys “holds power to account”.

Sarah Sands said Humphrys was “the person you want to hold power to account” in her “first-rate” team of five hosts. Mishal Husain and Martha Kearney, the show’s female presenters, were “on the whole, slightly better on fashion”, she said.

The comments risk further inflaming a dispute over the treatment of women at the BBC, after a gender pay gap led to protests by female employees.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Feedback to defend the Today programme against recent criticism of its tone and content, Sands was played clips from listeners lamenting Humphrys’s contribution.

“What he has particularly is a quality of holding power to account, and in the turbulent times we are in that couldn’t be more important,” she said.

“I think he is, as I say, the person you want when you want to hold power to account. It is called the Today programme. We have five presenters, they all have different strengths.”

Laughing, she continued: “I have said that I think, on the whole, Mishal and Martha might be slightly better on fashion. I will certainly give you that.”

The team as a whole, she said, was “first rate”. Commenting on the interview on Twitter, one listener called it a “stupid, reductive comment about the women presenters”.

“Did I hear correctly?” asked another. “Sarah Sands laughingly admits that her female presenters are better at fashion, but she likes to leave the heavyweight subjects to John Humphreys. “Really??”

A BBC spokesman said: “She was saying that Martha and Mishal are better at covering fashion than John is, nothing more.”