Ex-BBC Boss: We Didn't Lose Plot On Pay-Offs

Mark Thompson has told MPs the BBC had not "lost the plot" when it agreed a pay-off of almost £1m for his former deputy.

The former director general is one of seven senior BBC staff - past and present - appearing before the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer MPs' questions about who knew what about golden goodbyes which saw senior executives leave with thousands of pounds more than their contracts demanded.

Several current and former BBC executives are giving evidence to MPs

He said the move, which saw Mark Byford leave the BBC with a total payout of £949,000, was part of a move to axe senior executives which would give the BBC "£19m of savings for every year into the future" and he believed he "had the full support of the BBC Trust" to order it.

The committee's chair, Margaret Hodge, said people were looking at BBC management in "dismay" and asked Mr Thompson if the BBC had, under his management, lost the plot.

He said: "I do not think we lost the plot."

Ms Hodge asked Mr Thompson why Mr Byford needed an extra payment saying: "Why was £500,000, which is for most people mega bucks, not enough?"

Lord Patten has denied misleading the committee

Mr Thompson, who said he did not believe there was any "favouritism" in deciding pay-offs, said the pay-off to Mr Byford was needed so he would remain "focused" on his job and not be distracted.

He said he had inherited a way of doing things at the broadcaster, telling MPs: "I did not loosen the financial controls in this area."

At one point during the tense hearing, BBC human resources boss Lucy Adams apologised for partially inaccurate evidence at an earlier hearing.

Ms Hodge later said: "We will have no more lies this afternoon."

In written evidence published ahead of today's meeting, Mr Thompson accused BBC Trust boss Lord Patten and trustee Anthony Fry of "fundamentally misleading" committee members at a previous hearing.

Mark Byford left the BBC with a pay-off of almost £1m

At their last appearance before the committee, Lord Patten and Mr Fry told MPs members of the Trust were not always included in decision-making.

Lord Patten said he took the charge of misleading the committee "very strongly" and said his induction to the job included no references to severance pay and a media briefing he was given before the publication of the annual report said pay-offs to Mr Byford and former marketing boss Sharon Baylay were "contractual payments".

He said: "I'm in the position in which I'm accused of having misled the committee on something I didn't know and couldn't have been expected to know."

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