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BBC Mark Thompson Lord Patten

Thompson and Patten show the skills that got them top jobs at BBC as they face Parliamentary questions

By Chris Boffey

September 9, 2013 | 5 min read

When Mark Thompson, the former director general of the BBC and Lord Patten, the broadcaster’s present chairman, gave evidence to Parliament’s Public Accounts committee, they demonstrated just how they got to the top in their chosen professions.

The committee session took place today

Patten, the former diplomat who negotiated with the Chinese the handover of Hong Kong, was silkily smooth brushing off the questions from MPs and like a large silver-haired Buddha maintained it was not me, I was never there and if I was I was never told about it.

Thompson, all business and with his hands slipping in and out of his files to bring out crucial emails, made sure the members of the committee never laid a glove on him, and for every question had an answer backed up by documents and figures.

He claimed, with some brio, that his redundancy programme had saved the corporation millions, even with the huge payouts.

For those who were wanting the blood of the oily mandarin, and the former BBC executive there was disappointment but red stuff was spilt and lots of it.

For in the maxim enjoyed by every large organisation deputy heads were rolling.

Suffering decapitation at the hands of the committee were the head of HR at the BBC Lucy Adams and Nicholas Kroll, the man who is the conduit between the BBC executive and the board of trustees.

The committee’s aim was to discover who knew what and when about the massive payouts to BBC executives when they were made redundant. They concentrated on the payout to the former Deputy director general Mark Byford who received more than £1m, to slip away without causing any trouble.

Ms Adams, who had previously apologised to the committee for misleading them, received an early slap from the chairman, the steely Margaret Hodge, and looks could have killed when the MP announced that “we will not be having any more lies”.

Two hours later Ms Hodge delivered the coup de grace to Ms Adams blatantly accusing her of changing her evidence once again. Her protestations were brushed aside and she was left gasping, her reputation sunk. And what was left of it disappeared completely after being caught out using the word “sweeteners” to describe extra payments to executives.

She was accused of using the phrase in an email that has been leaked to MP. Clearly there were people working in her department who had no more love for her than the members of the committee.

For poor Mr Kroll, a man who would make the perfect chairman of a village lawn bowls club, the torture was almost unwatchable. This fussy man who had obviously memorised the wording of the BBC Trust statute and was determined to live by it, was reduced to telling the world his salary, £238,000, and then failing to justify it by his lack lustre replies to questions to MPs who like bullies in the playground had gone after the weakest link.

He and Ms Adams were picked off while Thompson, Patten, and Sir Michael Lyons, the former chairman of the trust, and the other sleek BBC high fliers were treated with deference and managed to sidestep any personal blame. Sir Michael came closest to admitting any failings when he conceded that the BBC Trust is "damaged" as a result of the dispute over senior payoffs.

"I am absolutely clear that in the actions I took in seeking to make big reductions in senior management I was focused on the interests of licence fee papers," he said. He conceded that this could have been achieved "more cleverly".

Ms Hodge concluded at the end of the hearing that lasted nearly three hours: “I think all of us round the table really believe and value the BBC ... and that's why this has been a grossly unedifying occasion which can only damage in my view the standing and reputation of the BBC.” She told the BBC men and one woman before her: “We regret that and I hope all of you regret that." Have we got any wiser? At best what we've seen is incompetence, lack of central to control, a failure to communicate for a broadcaster whose job is communicating. At worst we may have seen people covering their backs by being less than open. That is not good.”

That would have been the last word except for Lord Patten who jumped in with Machiavellian timing to praise the work of the accountants KPMG and the National Audit Office, for their fine work and allied himself to the forces of good.

BBC Mark Thompson Lord Patten

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