The BBC Trust did not threaten to resign over the licence fee deal because it feared the move would leave the corporation undefended in its fight over charter renewal, according to the body’s longest-serving member Richard Ayre.
Ayre told a Royal Television Society event featuring shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant on Tuesday: “Yes, I listed the pros and cons. I didn’t [resign] because of the next six months. The BBC Trust and the director general are in a fight, a licence fee battle.
“If the BBC had no trust – it takes [at least] six months to recruit trustees – there would be nobody for the next six months when it is vital to fight for the charter. That is why we stayed. That is what we will do.”
Ayre, reappointed for a second four-year term in August 2014, is the only member of the trust who was there when it threatened to resign over the chancellor’s previous attempt to make the BBC responsible for free licence fees for the over-75s in 2010.
The BBC avoided taking on the costs for the over-75s five years ago in return for taking responsibility for a range of services including the World Service, S4C, fast broadband rollout, and local television technical assistance. This time trust officials have said the BBC had little left to barter.
Ayre said: “Five years ago I said I was willing to resign. We had every indication the coalition would back down.”
He later told the Guardian he had expected the licence fee issue to re-emerge, but only during more orderly charter renewal negotiations.
A former deputy chief executive of BBC News and close colleague of director general Tony Hall, Ayre has been part of the group overseeing the charter preparations over the last year.
These included plans to adapt the BBC to a fully digital world, which implied an increase in the licence fee. In June, BBC director of policy James Heath said: “The BBC’s future will require both radical change and investment. We’ll need to transform what we do and how we work over the next 10 years.”
The trust’s May meeting debated investment plans, but they are now having to be revised by the executive led by Hall in light of the cut in licence fee income, which means the BBC charter response may not be ready until September.
Stewart Purvis, the former chief executive of ITN who is one eight panel members appointed by culture secretary John Whittingdale to advise him on the charter process, told the event: “The key point is wait for the green paper on Thursday. We’ll be in a better position to judge.”
•This article was amended on 15 July 2015 to remove an incorrectly reported statement by Stewart Purvis
