Ah! Forget goodwill and Mrs M’s supposed triumphs in Brussels. It’s almost Christmas – almost time for another ritual onslaught on that “statist behemoth” we call the BBC as it drones along oozing “monotonous soft-left bias”. That was the Daily Mail in the summer, but the Sun and Telegraph do their Little Sir Echoes pat on cue. No one on the Brexit right loves the Beeb these days.
But the funny thing, after a double dose of Farage and Mogg on Marr last week, is that nobody on the Remaining left loves much Broadcasting House either. And this time around, the ancient mantras of fairness and balance provide no defence.
Which inevitably raises the question of what poor soul would like to run the BBC newsroom these days. Interviews to find a successor to James Harding, mysteriously departing, begin this week.
Will it be Fran Unsworth, Harding’s diligent deputy and leader of World Service legions? Will one of the front-of-camera stars try to step into the managerial limelight? Nick Robinson’s candidacy is such speculated about (though possibly non-existent). Kamal Ahmed, at the top of the economics tree, also features on many shortlists. Jessica Cecil, once Mark Thompson’s brilliant fixer, is real contender.
But the issue isn’t so much personalities as the job itself. Harding found himself stuck with making cuts, giving inspirational speeches and fending off BBC enemies. No wonder, you may say, that he’s leaving early – especially since all the signs are now that a place on the next rung up the ladder, to director general, won’t come free before 2020. Tony Hall wants to stay put.
So: too little editorial autonomy, too much gritty admin, too few career prospects. The behemoth queue forms on the right.
