David Cameron Finds George Entwistle's Pay-Off "Hard to Justify"

David Cameron finds George Entwistle’s pay-off “hard to justify”

Written on:November 13, 2023

George Entwistle…In a fix to take the full pay-off or not

BBC News head Helen Boaden and her deputy Stephen Mitchell were made to step down temporarily, as BBC ex-director general George Entwistle shrugged responsibility for the errors of corporation’s journalists. Apart from taking no responsibility of the BBC Newsnight controversy, George Entwistle also took a pay-off worth £450,000, which came under severe criticism from the government including David Cameron, who called the reward as ”hard to justify”.

The Prime Minister’s intervention made it hard for George Entwistle to accept the pay-off amount. George Entwistle, who resigned on Saturday night after just 54 days in the position, claiming that he had no knowledge of the Newsnight’s controversial episode on Tory politician Lord McAlpine labelling him as a paedophile, has left with a £450,000 lump sum on top of his £877,000 pension pot, giving him a total of £1.3m.

The BBC insists that George Entwistle, who has worked for the broadcaster for decades, is legally entitled to the pay-off. But given that the Prime Minister has the ultimate responsibility for the BBC as a state broadcaster, Cameron’s comments have put George Entwistle in a dilemma whether to accept the full pay-off or not.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Maria Miller, lambasted Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, saying the trust had been “slow off the mark over the scandal and had to “justify” the sums paid to Entwistle.”

Meanwhile, the acting chief executive Tim Davie told Sky News, “We need to rebuild trust and that is what we’re going to do. We have hundreds of people at the top of the BBC of the highest quality.” Earlier, he sent out motivational email to staff saying that BBC management will pull together as one team to tackle the problems surrounding the corporation “head on”.

BBC News head Helen Boaden and her deputy Stephen Mitchell were made to step aside and BBC claims that “stepping aside” does not mean axing them. It said, ”In the circumstances Helen and Stephen will be stepping aside from their normal roles until the Pollard review reports and they expect to then return to their positions.”