Lord Patten faces MP grilling over George Entwistle’s BBC pay-off

 
The new director-general of the BBC Tony Hall (R) poses with Chris Patten (L), the head of the BBC Trust, ahead of a press conference in London on November 22, 2012. Tony Hall, the chief executive of Britain's Royal Opera House, was Thursday named director-general of the BBC after his predecessor quit over the corporation's reporting of child sex abuse. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLISJUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty
27 November 2012
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The chairman of the BBC Trust Lord Patten today faces a grilling from MPs over the corporation's £450,000 pay-off to former director general, George Entwistle.

Lord Patten appears before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee amid continuing anger at Westminster over the award of a full year's salary to Mr Entwistle after he completed just 54 days in the job.

He was finally forced to quit after BBC2's Newsnight wrongly implicated the former Conservative Party treasurer, Lord McAlpine, in a child abuse scandal - leading to a £185,000 pay-out by the corporation to the peer.

Mr Entwistle had been under fire for weeks over what was seen as a slow and unconvincing response to the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal and his decision to continue with tribute programmes to the late DJ last Christmas even though he had known he was the subject of an earlier Newsnight investigation.

There was incredulity among MPs when it emerged last week that Mr Entwistle had insisted on a full 12 months salary before quitting - even though he was contractually entitled to just half that amount.

In addition, he received £35,000 for legal expenses and £10,000 for public relations as well as 12 months private medical cover.

Now some MPs are gunning for Lord Patten arguing that it impossible to justify such large sums to ordinary licence fee payers at a time of economic austerity.

Today's hearing will cover both the dropped Newsnight investigation into Savile and the programme's botched investigation into the North Wales children's home abuse scandal of the 1970s and 1980s.

Lord Patten will appear with acting director general Tim Davie who is leading the corporation until Royal Opera House chief, Lord Hall, takes over as a permanent replacement for Mr Entwistle next March.

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