Vine was ‘gifted’ his Radio 2 slot says presenter in equal pay case
PRESENTER SAMIRA Ahmed has claimed Jeremy Vine was “gifted” his Radio 2 lunchtime show as she argues to receive nearly £700,000 from the BBC in an equal pay claim.
The Newswatch presenter is facing the corporation at an employment tribunal this week, questioning why she was paid less than Vine earned while he was presenting Points Of View, a job she says is similar to her own.
The BBC disagrees that the work is comparable, and is arguing the claim should be dismissed because the show she presents is not as popular. In relation to equal pay, Ahmed suggested she deserved to be paid more as her work requires more preparation time than Vine, including time in hair and make-up.
Vine was paid £3,000 per episode for presenting the BBC One programme between 2008 and 2018, which the BBC’s legal team described as “extremely wellknown” in their opening submissions. In comparison, Ahmed was paid £440 per episode for Newswatch, an audience-led critique of BBC News coverage, which airs on what the corporation called “the relatively niche BBC News channel”.
Ahmed said she began her equal pay complaint because she “could not understand how pay for me, a woman, could be so much lower than Jeremy Vine, a man, for presenting very similar programmes and doing very similar work”.
She said she is “one of a number of women” who have complained about equal pay at the broadcaster, and, while outlining what she believes to be discrimination against her as a woman in her written evidence, said was “struck” that Vine was chosen to host his programme.
“I was struck by how Jeremy was gifted the Radio 2 lunchtime show as a successor to Jimmy Young in 2003,” the written statement says. “This was a controversial appointment at the time and led to many complaints.
“Prior to that he had been a news journalist with no experience or profile as an entertainment star.”