BBC boss: I’ll sack my staff if they break rules on bias

THE BBC’s new director-general has said he is prepared to sack staff who break rules on impartiality as he defended the corporation against allegations of bias.

Tim Davie told a parliamentary committee the BBC was not ‘filled with lefties’ or had people willing to ‘toe the government line’.

And he said guidelines covering the use of Twitter for staff in news, current affairs and beyond were ‘imminent’.

‘We will be able to take people off Twitter,’ he said. ‘I know people want to see hard action on this. I am prepared to take the appropriate disciplinary action, all the way to termination.’

Mr Davie (pictured) clashed with Tory MP Philip Davies, at the digital, culture, media and sport select committee when he said he had been told Conservative-leaning BBC staff felt the need to keep their views quiet.

Mr Davie responded: ‘In 20,000 people, you’ll always get some views. I look with a wry smile at the number of BBC staff who’ve gone on to work for your good party – there’s plenty of them, there’s a load more than a handful. The issue is: you leave your politics at the door – I think we’re better than the cliché.’ Mr Davie also noted outspoken presenter Gary Lineker – who has dismissed suggestions he has been asked to tweet more carefully – had said: ‘I understand I have responsibilities when working at the BBC.’ However, the Match Of The Day host, who has signed a new five-year deal after taking a 23 per cent pay cut to £1.35million, tweeted after news of the guidelines: ‘I think only Twitter can take people off Twitter.’ Asked about the prospect of non-payment of the licence fee being decriminalised, Mr Davie told the committee the current system was ‘logically hard to beat’. The former head of BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial arm, succeeded Lord Hall as director-general this month.