We all know the BBC is Leftie. But making a Labour henchman head of radio would be beyond satire
THE BBC is admittedly a Left-leaning organisation with an Establishment bias. For many years it regarded the mildest discussion of immigration as evidence of racism, and could normally be relied upon to depict the European Union in the most favourable light.
But whatever its innate prejudices may have been, the Beeb has jealously defended itself against interfering party politicians. During the 1926 General Strike, its first director-general, Lord Reith, set the tone by resisting efforts by the Tory government to turn the Corporation into a propaganda machine. And so it has gone on.
Eyebrows were therefore raised when in 2013 former Labour Cabinet Minister and ‘smoothie’, James Purnell, was appointed the BBC’s so-called Director of Strategy and Digital, on a whopping salary of £295,000 a year.
The objection wasn’t particularly to do with Mr Purnell’s political leanings. As a lifelong Blairite who had resigned from Gordon Brown’s administration in 2009 in a botched attempt to scupper the then Prime Minister, his views are hardly Left-wing by BBC standards.
No, the reason many people were justifiably upset was that as a Labour member all his adult life, and the more so as a former MP and Cabinet minister, he has allegiances which cannot be separated from the political party he loyally served for so long.
The contrary argument — that he had been hired as a senior executive for his leadership skills, including a thorough knowledge of PR — was not very convincing. But it did at least highlight the fact that in his new job Purnell wouldn’t be in charge of editorial policy.
That defence now appears to have been blown apart. This week we have read the shocking news that James Purnell is being lined up for the key editorial job of Director of BBC Radio when the present incumbent, Helen Boaden, steps down in the autumn.
Such an appointment would be unprecedented in two respects.
So far as I am aware, it would be the first time that a former Cabinet Minister of any political party had filled a major editorial post at the BBC.
Putting Purnell in charge of BBC Radio would also break new ground in another way.
In the early days of the BBC, when few people had broadcasting experience, it was not unheard of to appoint a non-journalist to a senior editorial position. Lord Reith was himself a case in point.
But in more recent times people wielding editorial power have been expected to have a grounding in broadcasting. The outgoing Helen Boaden cut her teeth as a reporter on local BBC radio, and worked her way up the Corporation through a succession of editorial positions.
Purnell, though, has no known editorial experience. From the time he worked for Tony Blair as a student during his university vacations while reading philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxford, he has devoted himself to politics in general and to New Labour in particular. At Balliol he met the future Labour Cabinet minister Yvette Cooper, who was also reading PPE.
As a young man in the midNineties, Purnell worked briefly for the Left-wing Institute for Public Policy Research before doing a stint as head of corporate planning at the Beeb, which, given his already close links to New Labour, was hardly seemly.
He then joined the newly elected Blair in Downing Street as a special adviser on culture, media and sport before becoming an MP in 2001.
In one guise or another his abiding obsession has been politics, and there is no evidence that he has ever wanted to roll up his sleeves to be a broadcaster or journalist.
It is bad enough that this former New Labour henchman should be lined up to run BBC Radio. His lack of editorial knowledge makes him doubly unfitted for the role for which he is reportedly being groomed. Tony Hall, the current director-general, is believed to be groomer-in-chief.
Why is the wholly unsuitable promotion of this suave character even being considered? It appears Purnell is being offered the job by way of a reward for leading recent negotiations on the BBC’s new charter, which were concluded to the general advantage of the Corporation.
In fact, Auntie cleverly exaggerated the extent of the Government’s ambitions, and in particular painted the then Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale (he was sacked last month by Theresa May), as a zealot bent on abolishing the licence fee.
Last summer it emerged that a letter protesting against the Tories’ alleged plans to change the way the Corporation is funded, which had been signed by an array of angry celebrities, had been cooked up by senior BBC executives. This missive had carelessly lifted chunks from a recent speech of Mr Hall’s.
The prime mover behind this thwarted ruse was said to be Danny Cohen, then the BBC’s Director of Television. His reputed co-conspir- ator was none other than our old friend, James Purnell. We should scarcely be surprised.
Purnell imbibed the art of spin doctoring at the knee of Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s sidekick.
One of his closest friends is Tim Allan, now a wealthy PR panjandrum, who once also spun for Blair. Allan, as it happens, was at school at the Royal Grammar in Guildford, Surrey, with Purnell. Also at school in Guildford was Liz Lloyd, who later became Tony Blair’s deputy chief of staff.
One way or another, Purnell has been woven into the very fabric of New Labour, and it is hard to see how he could ever be worked free. (He even played in a football team called Demon Eyes — named after an infamous poster of Blair — along with Allan and the leading party figures Andy Burnham, Ed Balls and David Miliband.)
Not surprisingly, he is very nimble on his feet — both on and off the soccer pitch — as are all the members of that clan.
In 2007, when he was Culture Secretary, Purnell agreed to fake a promotional photograph put out by a Manchester hospital after he had arrived late in his role as a local MP. With his full agreement, his image was subsequently inserted, though he had not been present when the picture was taken. James is some operator.
But whether he conducted himself quite as brilliantly on behalf of the BBC during negotiations with the Government, as is now claimed, may be doubted.
His adversary, Mr Whittingdale, is an emollient man who, despite Purnell-inspired scare stories, never intended to hack the Corporation to pieces. Nonetheless, a grateful Tony Hall apparently wishes to reward his obliging lieutenant by giving him one of the biggest jobs at the Beeb.
There should also be a bit of extra money in it for Purnell, since Helen Boaden is paid £344,000 a year.
Let us imagine that a former Tory Cabinet minister with no journalistic experience were appointed Director of Radio. There would be an almighty hullaballoo, with droves of outraged celebrities signing round-robins, and incandescent leaders in the Left-wing Press. And they would all be right, of course.
Former Cabinet ministers, whether Tory, Labour or Liberal Democrat, should not be given plum editorial jobs at the BBC.
To do so compromises the Corporation’s hard-won reputation for independence from political parties.
It’s perfectly true that as head of radio Purnell would not be in charge of news coverage, though he would oversee programming. But that is not really the point. Even if he were circumspect, and did his utmost to avoid any imputation of pro-Labour bias, which I daresay he would, a precious principle would have been broken.
According to some observers, his promotion to run BBC Radio might lead in due course to his being appointed director-general when Tony Hall, or his successor, throws in the towel. That would be worse still: a former New Labour apparatchik running the BBC!
This must be stopped. It is idiotic of Mr Hall and the powers-that-be at the BBC even to contemplate such an appointment.
I fear it reflects a certain cockiness. After seeing off the Government, and obtaining a new charter, BBC bosses may think they can do as they please.
But they can’t, of course. Though Theresa May would be completely within her rights to express a view about the inadvisability of elevating Purnell, I don’t suppose she will do so as she has a great deal on her plate, and doesn’t want to pick a fight with Auntie just now.
So it is up to the BBC to show good sense and save itself from a decision that would besmirch its good name. I have no doubt there are people in the higher echelons of the Corporation who don’t want Purnell to be exalted.
They must speak out against what would be a disgraceful appointment — not because James Purnell is a Labour man, but because he has been a leading Labour politician.
It appears Purnell is being offered the job as a reward His abiding obsession has been politics