The Londoner is delighted to see that despite the recent revelation that the BBC has been spying on staff emails, the tip-offs are still coming through thick and fast. An hour before Twitter started buzzing with this morning’s news of Newsnight’s new star presenter, we received a call from yet another BBC Deep Throat, naming the Today programme’s Evan Davis as Jeremy Paxman’s successor.
But, our unknown caller continued, Davis wasn’t the first in line to the throne; initially the spot was offered to Eddie Mair, who decided he was happy with his large and loyal audience on Radio 4’s PM show.
The Londoner quickly fired off emails to Davis, Mair and Newsnight editor Ian Katz, who told us three weeks ago that the rumours about Davis were just a “red herring”. No word came back from them but a farce soon broke out online, with Newsnight staff tweeting about the announcement — “brill appointment… sighs of relief round newsroom #knightinshiningarmour” — before being hurriedly deleted at someone’s command.
The only people who didn’t seem to be in the know? BBC News publicity, who said the appointment “would be news to us”. Davis’s job was confirmed 15 minutes later. Thank God the Beeb’s tipsters work to a faster schedule.
