Greg Dyke attacks ‘dismal’ Lord Patten during Commons debate
Greg Dyke has issued a withering attack on BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten during a grilling by MPs, accusing him of presiding over a ‘dismal’ 12 months at the broadcaster.
The former director general accused Patten of being invisible during the Jimmy Savile sex scandal and was failing to do his job properly. Wagging his finger of blame further Dyke suggested that Patten had failed to provide support to George Entwistle, during his brief tenure as BBC chief and that oversight of the corporation by the BBC Trust was a ‘fudge’.
Dyke said: “No, I don't think he's doing a good job because I don't know where he was when the crisis happened. You saw the disaster over Jimmy Savile, over the appointment of a director-general, and that was because I don't think anybody was quite clear whose responsibility was what."
Dyke’s testimony took place during a Commons debate into the broadcasters future, at which it was widely acknowledged that the present license fee was ‘unsustainable’ in the face of increasing use of catch-up TV services, opening the door to some form of general taxation.