As Moira Stuart is axed, BBC boss says the day of the newsreader is over

The BBC director-general has been accused of madness over the decision to drop Moira Stuart.

The veteran newsreader was axed last month from Andrew Marr's Sunday AM programme, leaving her with no regular spot.

Yesterday, Mark Thompson told MPs that the 55-year- old was loved by colleagues and the public alike.

But at the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, Conservative MP Nigel Evans said: "If this is how you treat someone that's much loved I'd hate to see how you treat someone you don't like."

He asked if the BBC Trust, which replaced the board of governors, had anything to say "about the appalling decision to sack Moira Stuart".

"Has anyone telephoned you to say "Are you mad?" Moira Stuart is one of the most popular newsreaders in the BBC. We're reading comments that the BBC is ageist."

Last week Peter Horrocks, BBC head of TV news, said the Corporationwas in talks to give Stuart her old job back.

But Mr Thompson appeared to kill off any hopes of her return, by hailing the death of the traditional newsreader. He suggested that Miss Stuart, Britain's first black female newsreader, was sidelined because of changes in the way news programmes are made.

"BBC News, News 24, the radio networks, have changed over the years and the traditional role of the newsreader, as opposed to a correspondent or presenter, has virtually died out over the services."

He said: "We tend to use journalists across BBC news programmes. . . to read the news headlines."

When it was revealed that Miss Stuart had been axed from Sunday AM, there was criticism from senior news figures including John Humphrys and David Dimbleby, and accusations of ageism and sexism.

The BBC has previously been accused of pensioning off its female newsreaders at an earlier age than their male counterparts.

But Thompson said sexism, racism or ageism had nothing to do with the decision.