Why is BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten, and not former director-general Mark Thompson, giving evidence on the pay-offs scandal to the Public Accounts Committee today?
Thompson authorised hundreds of thousands of pounds of payments which breached BBC rules, according to a National Audit Office report.
A letter seen by the Londoner which Thompson, now CEO of the New York Times, wrote to the Public Accounts Committee explains: “In fact I have a long-standing business commitment in the Western United States that runs from the 9th to the 14th July and will be unable to attend the hearing.”
Very convenient. But he seems to have a good case. A committee source says Thompson’s invitation was only issued by Westminster clerks on June 11, giving him less than a month’s notice, so Patten had to step in. Thompson will appear in front of the PAC in November but will BBC pay-offs be such a burning issue by then?
