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I’m slaughtered by the right for criticising BBC reform at the Baftas – why? I’m slaughtered by the right for criticising BBC reform at the Baftas – why?
(4 months later)
As I sat in the toilets at the Royal Festival Hall with terror clutching at my throat, trying to look over my prepared speech, I found myself hoping that Wolf Hall wouldn’t win the Bafta and I would be spared the need to pontificate in front of my peers. Or that the best drama category would come well down the running order and other colleagues would say what needed to be said before I got to my feet, freeing me to utter the usual pleasurable platitudes – thanking my mother, the broom cupboard, the clement weather.As I sat in the toilets at the Royal Festival Hall with terror clutching at my throat, trying to look over my prepared speech, I found myself hoping that Wolf Hall wouldn’t win the Bafta and I would be spared the need to pontificate in front of my peers. Or that the best drama category would come well down the running order and other colleagues would say what needed to be said before I got to my feet, freeing me to utter the usual pleasurable platitudes – thanking my mother, the broom cupboard, the clement weather.
But no, we were the first award of the night and I had to be served up for the slaughter. And slaughter it has indeed been, at least from some quarters.But no, we were the first award of the night and I had to be served up for the slaughter. And slaughter it has indeed been, at least from some quarters.
My criticism of the secretary of state for proposing to put government placemen and women on the BBC executive board has provoked howls of anger from the zealous right.My criticism of the secretary of state for proposing to put government placemen and women on the BBC executive board has provoked howls of anger from the zealous right.
Related: Peter Kosminsky's Baftas speech backing the BBC – full text
I was part of an orchestrated attack, making lunatic assertions: a tearful “leftie luvvie” with appalling dress sense who had best leave it to the professionals and scurry back into his box.I was part of an orchestrated attack, making lunatic assertions: a tearful “leftie luvvie” with appalling dress sense who had best leave it to the professionals and scurry back into his box.
But there’s something odd about this, isn’t there? The right is traditionally fiercely opposed to big government in all its manifestations, and yet that is from where the derision emanated. What’s going on?But there’s something odd about this, isn’t there? The right is traditionally fiercely opposed to big government in all its manifestations, and yet that is from where the derision emanated. What’s going on?
Imagine one possible future. Jeremy Corbyn is prime minister and, with a compliant parliamentary Labour party behind him, attempts to insert six Labour nominees on to the body responsible for determining the editorial direction of the BBC.Imagine one possible future. Jeremy Corbyn is prime minister and, with a compliant parliamentary Labour party behind him, attempts to insert six Labour nominees on to the body responsible for determining the editorial direction of the BBC.
I think we can imagine the response of her majesty’s opposition, of vast swaths of the press. Proof positive, they would cry, if proof were needed, that Corbyn’s instincts are the time-honoured instincts of the hard left – centralise, propagandise, Stalinise. That his idea of a beacon of freedom remains the defunct Soviet state.I think we can imagine the response of her majesty’s opposition, of vast swaths of the press. Proof positive, they would cry, if proof were needed, that Corbyn’s instincts are the time-honoured instincts of the hard left – centralise, propagandise, Stalinise. That his idea of a beacon of freedom remains the defunct Soviet state.
Apoplectic Conservative MPs would point to the row between the BBC and Alastair Campbell last time Labour was in power, asking us if the issue would even have seen the light of day if Campbell had been able to instruct six board lackeys to undermine the editorial will of the national broadcaster from within.Apoplectic Conservative MPs would point to the row between the BBC and Alastair Campbell last time Labour was in power, asking us if the issue would even have seen the light of day if Campbell had been able to instruct six board lackeys to undermine the editorial will of the national broadcaster from within.
But when I criticise a Conservative government for exactly the same power grab, the right of the party attacks with one voice – and a very personalised attack at that. It makes no sense.But when I criticise a Conservative government for exactly the same power grab, the right of the party attacks with one voice – and a very personalised attack at that. It makes no sense.
Except it does. It’s not the policy, which is deeply unloved on the Tory back benches. It’s not the message, which even Stephen Glover of the Daily Mail grudgingly admits is reasonable. It’s the fact that it’s the BBC, of which they are preternaturally suspicious, and in particular it’s the messenger – or from where he’s assumed to hail.Except it does. It’s not the policy, which is deeply unloved on the Tory back benches. It’s not the message, which even Stephen Glover of the Daily Mail grudgingly admits is reasonable. It’s the fact that it’s the BBC, of which they are preternaturally suspicious, and in particular it’s the messenger – or from where he’s assumed to hail.
But setting aside these petty tribal antipathies, isn’t it true – as evidenced by the reaction of Norman Fowler and Chris Patten – that there is something scarily un-Tory about these proposals?But setting aside these petty tribal antipathies, isn’t it true – as evidenced by the reaction of Norman Fowler and Chris Patten – that there is something scarily un-Tory about these proposals?
Isn’t the attempt to pack the board of a public service broadcaster exactly the kind of attack on free speech, exactly the kind of insidious encroachment of big and centralising government that the right has always wisely opposed when it hails from the left?Isn’t the attempt to pack the board of a public service broadcaster exactly the kind of attack on free speech, exactly the kind of insidious encroachment of big and centralising government that the right has always wisely opposed when it hails from the left?
Isn’t it time to put aside the name-calling and sectarian abuse and call this out for what it is: a deeply authoritarian and undemocratic proposal?Isn’t it time to put aside the name-calling and sectarian abuse and call this out for what it is: a deeply authoritarian and undemocratic proposal?