MPS demand BBC fatcats named after £25m payoffs

THE BBC was at the centre of a fresh pay row last night as MPs demanded it name 150 fat cats who pocketed huge payoffs.

It has fought to keep the recipients’ identities secret, citing data protection issues. But the influential Public Accounts Committee is to use its powers to force the broadcaster to hand over the names.

Many of the former staff affected by the move are said to be furious that their payouts could be revealed publicly.

The news comes amid speculation that the BBC Trust – its governing body – could be axed.

Former director-general Mark Thompson and Trust chairman Lord Patten face a grilling by the committee today, with both men blaming each other over who was responsible for lavishing licence payers’ money on the payoffs.

The showdown is expected to result in calls for Lord Patten to quit and for the Trust to be reformed or even scrapped.

Senior BBC managers received a total of £25milion in severance

In a state of near civil war

deals between 2009 and 2012, and nearly £3million was paid over and above what they were entitled to in their contracts in the six years to 2012, a National Audit Office report found.

With the corporation in a state of near civil war, the BBC has written to 150 former managers warning them that their severance arrangements may be made public.

One of the 150 fat cats is thought to be Peter Fincham, the former BBC1 controller who walked away in 2007 with £500,000 after resigning over the so-called Crowngate scandal. Mr Fincham wrongly told the Press at a screening that the Queen walked out of a photoshoot featured in a royal documentary ‘in a huff’.

However, some among the exstaff believe they are being unfairly targeted. One said: ‘A senior manager such as myself, whose redundancy settlement was perfectly in order, will be lumped together with the very small number of senior managers whose deals seem to have been rather more generous.’