Auntie’s own goal won’t be the last

The BBC is still considered to make the best radio programmes, but would a budget cut threaten that?

THE speculation once again proved to be wrong, because the largesse of BBC executives’ expenses was underestimated. They varied from the outrageous to the almost laughably ridiculous, as MPs’ expenses had before them and, like the Westminster revelations, they shone a light on a gilded netherworld where opulent privilege has become a right.

At first, the BBC tried to put a gloss on the figures, claiming that releasing them without being compelled to somehow mitigated its executives’ profligate ways. It rarely does its so-called rivals any favours, and Fleet Street was quick to unlace the gloves, swiftly pointing out that, in fact, Auntie was about to be forced under the Freedom of Information Act to reveal its hand, and had already blown £250,000 attempting to prevent it from happening. This may also not be the worst of the revelations, and it certainly won’t be the last: we have the stars’ salaries – Jonathan Ross and the rest of them – to come later in the year.

Disquiet over the way the BBC is administered, and self-congratulatory tone that colours its reporting, have moved from merely matters of media sniping to become a genuine public concern. Some of it is wholly inappropriate – one reporter who had stayed up for 14 hours reporting on Michael Jackson’s death was given fulsome congratulations for his selfless sacrifice on the Six O’ Clock News last Friday. And while reports that grizzled arctic explorer and ex-SAS soldier Ranulph Fiennes was forced to undertake a health and safety lesson in order to operate a camping cooker may not be true, they can be easily believed.

Leaving aside subjective argument over the worth of BBC programming, the real issue for the Corporation is that it has royally shot itself in the foot just at the moment when it looks to have won both the broadcasting and online battle with its commercial rivals.

They are dying on their feet, still too top-heavy to weather the drop in advertising revenue, which have fallen off a cliff. But, at the time when the BBC’s compulsory subscription model appears to be the winner in this brave new media world, it is most under threat. It would be incredible if MPs, still feeling the white heat of public anger over their own trough guzzling, pass up on this opportunity to reform both the licence fee and, by extension, the BBC. Already, Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report, presented to the House of Commons by Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw last month, has advocated using part of the licence fee to support Welsh news on ITV. Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director general, objects. Mr Bradshaw said ministers are to consult on the idea. However, prone to rushes of blood to the head at the best of times, many MPs may see BBC reform as a potential skin-saving idea.

Just as MPs appeared to carry on regardless following their expenses row with a vote to increase pension contributions (it took 11th hour Government intervention to save further Westminster blushes), Auntie compounded its parlous position by sending a brigade to Glastonbury. The Sunday Times reported a presence of 407 personnel, just 32 less than its Olympics team. For Beijing, the BBC produced 3,050 hours of coverage. For Glastonbury, there was 111 hours of television coverage across BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4, with a further 60 hours on 6 Music, Radio 1 and 5 Live. The papers crowed, the Beeb bleated, and charges of plenitude were reinforced.

All of the BBC’s arguments for maintaining the status quo appear to fall apart as soon as they leave Thompson’s lips. His claim that he could earn far greater amounts working for a commercial rival and that competitive rates should be awarded was quickly poo-pooed by those very same rivals, who added that any deficit in salary was more than compensated with gold-plated final salary pensions and far-improved career certainty. You can’t have it both ways, they maintained.

So the Corporation faces an uncertain future as it waits for Parliament to decide whether to punish it for both its own sins and those of the House. It may take cold comfort in the knowledge that it is likely to be joined by almost every public sector organisation in the country. From the smallest local newspaper to News International, it’s open season, a relatively straightforward scoop for sharp-witted editors adept at employing the Freedom of Information Act, whose commissioners in turn are about to disappear under a tsunami of applications, from both members of the public as well as journalists.

This means the Assembly, local authorities, local health authorities, arts bodies (imagine what a trip to the Cannes Film Festival costs), business support agencies, the Forestry Commission, Ystradgynlais Town Council and North Wales Police. Except North Wales Police’s spending has already found its way into the news. Departing chief constable Richard Brunstrom, a controversial figure with the charming tabloid nickname of ‘the mad mullah of the traffic Taliban’, has donated the bard’s chair for this year’s National Eisteddfod – or rather, his force has, at a cost of £3,450 with another £750 given as prize money.

The row ploughed a predictable furrow. When the donation was announced a media request for its total cost was refused on the grounds that it would ‘detract’ from the event. So an FOI application was employed, and local outrage followed. Llandudno businessman Arthur Roberts, of the pressure group People for Proper Policing, told the Daily Mail: “Earning more than £100,000-a-year and picking up a bonus last year of £14,000 he could easily afford it. Police should be fighting crime, not getting involved with chairs.”

His complaint shows that all this attention – on the way that money we have no choice in handing over is spent – could not have come at a worse time. Most people are having to make cuts of all kinds, from second cars to private education to family holidays, and the public sector has committed a grave error in carrying on regardless, only to pout and sulk when it gets caught out. This grave error could cost it dear, as there are now plenty of people prepared to work for less money and perks. They used to work in the private sector until they were made redundant. The recession has made public sector reform a whole lot easier.

The time has also come for individuals like Mark Thompson to stop talking of working in a commercial environment, because they don’t. They don’t lose sleep fearing economic shift. This is because those that fail to pay their licence fee are portrayed as bad as housebreakers. Yes, it is theft, after a fashion, but theft of something that none of us have any choice in paying for, which somewhat changes the game. What both the expenses controversies have demonstrated is that there is rampant disregard for the public purse and a culture of nest feathering. This is not only iniquitous, it’s also bad business, because the country cannot support it forever. Those in the public sector as yet uninvestigated should take note. The days of feast are over.