There have been many tributes to Steve Hewlett these past few days. Here’s another – which doesn’t touch on his brilliance as a journalist or his resilience in the face of death. My point is simply that, when you occasionally joined him in the Media Show studio – walk in, sit down, start talking – he was utterly in command. His voice told you so. Politicians go through months of training to try to learn to speak with matter-of-fact honesty. Steve did that instinctively. His honesty was up front, the moment the green light came on.
And that was a boon when the subject for discussion was the BBC itself. Steve knew the corporation inside out. He loved it in his way. But he also bristled when it went to ground in a crisis – when no one from the BBC “was available to talk to us” – as we sat there in the heart of Broadcasting House.
Huff-puff. Steve didn’t have to add any adjectives as he announced that evasion. We heard him; we knew what he thought. And, down the succession line, that is the challenge for those who come after him. On the Beeb, but not of the Beeb.
