So the BBC Trust is getting a new chairman, and it looks like it’s going to be former Tory minister and last Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten. What’s not to like? Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary (note correct order, Reverend) is pleased that Patten has form as a Tory in “Shagger” Major’s cabinet, and Labour are hardly going to kick up a fuss as he wasn’t exactly out on the right.
So Hunt has put Patten’s name forward for Young Dave’s approval, and in the current climate, the PM has better things to do than expend his increasingly valuable time on arguing the toss. So next week the former MP for Bath will be in the Beeb’s hottest seat. What does the Fourth Estate think about this?
The Guardian appears relaxed about the appointment. The Beeb’s own website doesn’t seem up to speed thus far, but the Maily Telegraph is not happy. Although the title has reported the event in a news item, the true editorial view is advanced by the scary looking Damian Thompson, editor of Telegraph Blogs.
Thompson, in a comment piece titled “Chris Patten to be new chairman of the BBC Trust? Oh, for God’s sake”, tells that this is a “wretched failure of political imagination”, that “News and current affairs will carry on slanting their broadcasts in favour of the European Union and the bien pensant consensus”, and that Patten is a “most agreeable supper companion for liberal broadcasters”.
Aw diddums!
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