Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby has said he is considering applying to become the BBC’s new chair.
Dimbleby was speaking to the BBC’s Newscast podcast that he was “horrified” by reports that Charles Moore, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph, was Downing Street’s top choice for the position.
Moore has since ruled himself out of the running.
“I think you need someone with a more open mind,” Dimbleby said. “I still might [apply], depending on who comes forward. Well, we’ll see who the candidates are. Boris Johnson, we know, wants to bring the BBC to heel. We don’t want a chairman who connives in that ambition.
“You want somebody in charge of the BBC who is sympathetic not to the BBC as an institution but to the concept of the BBC as reflecting the whole richness of British life,” he added.
Speaking about the possible appointment of Moore, Dimbleby said he was “horrified” by the report as Moore “hates the BBC. I thought for Johnson to put in post someone who hates the BBC was very dangerous.
“The BBC is not doing its job if the political class in power doesn’t hate it. The BBC is a thorn in the side of government and that is its job,” said Dimbleby.
Since Moore ruled himself out of the running, former Downing Street spin doctor, and former BBC executive, Sir Robbie Gibb has emerged as a possible candidate to take over from David Clementi when he stands down in February.
