BBC executive is shamed into handing back £12k speech fee
ONE of the BBC’s top news bosses has apologised to staff for accepting a £12,000 fee to talk to a banking conference – just days after telling them that hundreds of jobs were being axed.
Kamal Ahmed, the broadcaster’s editorial director, yesterday sent an email to say he would now ‘not be taking any payment’ for his 40-minute appearance at the event last week.
The BBC executive, who is paid up to £209,999, spoke at a conference called Investing for the Future which was hosted by Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI).
But in the email, he said: ‘I realise now that I did not think things through sufficiently at the time of booking and, although I did not break any of the BBC’s guidelines on external speaking, it was a mistake to agree to a fee.
‘I have told ASI this morning that I will not be taking any payment. I wanted to say sorry that a mistake made by me has become a public and internal issue.’
Mr Ahmed, 52, had appeared at the event just eight days after he had been part of the BBC management team that announced savage cuts to its news division.
He had drawn comment for his casual appearance as bosses delivered the bad news to staff, wearing a T-shirt and casual trousers.
Mr Ahmed admitted in his email that as well as comments in the media about the £12,000 appearance fee, ‘several people have raised it internally’.
He said he had accepted the invitation to make the speech ‘some months ago’, adding that he knew the event would have been recorded in the BBC’s Declaration of Personal Interests. But former BBC journalist John Sweeney, who worked on Panorama and Newsnight, said Mr Ahmed should resign.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Kamal Ahmed’s greed is not acceptable for BBC News Editorial Director. Or even the lowliest runner.’
Before joining the BBC as business editor in 2014, Mr Ahmed’s roles included political editor of The Observer and business editor of The Sunday Telegraph.
High-profile and highly paid BBC presenters are among those facing the axe in the cutbacks that will see one in 13 roles cut as part of an £80 million savings programme.
Newsnight, BBC2’s flagship current affairs show, is among the programmes bearing the brunt of the cuts, along with radio stations Radio 5 Live and the World Service, which will lose 50 roles.
‘His greed is not acceptable’