Tony Hall thought he was the DG who’d made a deal with George Osborne and John Whittingdale when he took on paying the licence fees of over-75s last July. He’d won inflation indexing of what was left for the next 10 Royal Charter years plus a few bells and whistles. That meant the BBC knew what money would be coming in and could at least plan rationally for the future.
But here comes Mr Secretary Whittingdale, balancing clauses and sowing confusion. No, the essential fee negotiation hasn’t been settled, he says: the £750m impost was HMG money transferred between budgets. Stand by for more blasting.
Except that neither George nor John made that clear at the time, when Tony and the BBC Trust were reporting to viewers and listeners. Except that to fudge it around now would look like some scam locked in a shambles. Quite enough, you’d hope, for Lord Hall to get his Upper House chums off the red benches and hopping defiance.
