BBC chief does not know if any of his managers backed Brexit

THE director-general of the BBC has no idea if any of his executives voted for Brexit, he has admitted, while insisting that he wants to stamp out “institutional groupthink”.

The BBC was recently caught in a political storm when it hired Jess Brammar, a Left-leaning journalist, as executive news editor.

Tim Davie said he was determined to hire news staff from different backgrounds who would represent a variety of political views. But when challenged by MPS on whether the BBC could offer a counterweight to Ms Brammar’s appointment by citing a senior staff member who supported Brexit, Mr Davie said: “I have no idea. I don’t know where my top team is on Brexit. We don’t talk like that.”

Mr Davie was appearing before a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee where he was questioned about BBC impartiality.

Julian Knight, the Tory chair of the committee, told Mr Davie he appeared to be “in the dark” about the political leanings of his editorial team.

Mr Davie said: “We don’t have a list of questions when we’re interviewing people, saying, ‘Politically, what did you support and what didn’t you support?’ That’s not the criteria.”

However, he said: “I do worry about institutional groupthink. And I think we need to make sure that the groups of people making decisions, the groups of people we attract at the BBC, come from a wide socioeconomic background and have a diverse range of views.”

The corporation is seeking a head of news and current affairs after Fran Unsworth announced that she would be stepping down in January.