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BBC chief defends massive expenses as 'reasonable'
26 Jun 2009BBC Director-General Mark Thompson today defended the £350,000 paid out in expenses to the corporation's top executives over the past five years as "reasonable and justified".
Following yesterday's publication of the salaries and expenses of the BBC's 50 top-earning managers, Mr Thompson said it was now the most open organisation in the public sector.
However, he defended the corporation's refusal to release details of the pay of its top stars, warning of a "talent drain" to the commercial sector if the information had to be made public.
Responding to numerous inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act and general calls for greater transparency, the BBC published thousands of claims, revealing that executives spent public money on luxury hotels, vintage champagne, "thank you" dinners, parties and even a private aeroplane.
In a series of television and radio interviews on BBC programmes, Mr Thompson said he believed that every claim had been justified.
"Every one of these expenses in my view was reasonable and was justified," he said. "I don't believe that I've yet seen any evidence that a single one of these line-by-line expenses has been in any way unjustified."
He defended his own claim for £2,236.90 of licence fee-payers' money to fly his family home from a holiday in Italy after he was forced to cut the trip short to deal with the storm over the lewd messages left by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs's answering machine.
He said he had been on a driving holiday in a remote part of Sicily at the time, and cleared the decision with the chairman of BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, and the independent chairman of the BBC audit committee.
"I took the car, drove 150 miles to the airport, abandoning my family without a car in a hotel in Sicily. I think, rather understandably, they felt that, given the circumstances, they should come back too," he said.
Despite the disclosure that 27 executives earned more than the Prime Minister's £195,000 salary - led by Mr Thompson on £647,000 a year - he insisted they were paid significantly less than their private sector counterparts.
"We all accept that we should get paid much less than our equivalents do in the private sector. It is quite reasonable that I should get paid a third of the equivalent in the private sector," he said.
"I'm afraid that people who are making decisions about whether they should become head of television for the BBC or the head of radio aren't comparing themselves with a career choice about becoming Prime Minister."
He said yesterday's disclosures marked a "step change" in the amount of information being made public by the BBC, with a new commitment to the quarterly publication of the expenses of more than 100 executives.
"Unlike the MPs, we have not been in the courts saying our expenses should not be published," he said.
"If you look at what we published yesterday, we haven't redacted it. There is a tiny number of redactions for security or commercial confidentiality.
"We are being as open as we possibly can be. We think we are being more open now than any other public sector organisation currently in this country."
However, he warned that any move to require the publication of the pay of top performers could have a damaging effect on the BBC.
"With freelance artists who work often, not just for the BBC but for others, who work in an industry where there is no tradition at all of disclosing - on the contrary there is a tradition of confidentiality - we worry that, if it turns out you work for the BBC, you get your pay disclosed, if you work for ITV you don't, there will be a talent drain," he said.
Reader views (5)
Time to shut the taxpayer financed gravy train down.
- Trunk, US, 29/06/2009 02:26
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Mark Thompson, in most companies, gifts and tips are not expenses. You pay for it with your own money. You still don't understand general public's sentiment. Making claims within the so call rules does not make it right, because it may not be within the spirit of the rules.
- Max, Isleworth, 28/06/2009 17:12
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I wish he would buy a razor on expenses.
what a terrible example to staff
- Gourmet, Hove England, 28/06/2009 10:15
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I fly to italy 5 times a year, but I only pay about £100 with ryanair. How can you justify £2600 for one way???
Lets ne honest here you have been found out and are talking a lot of ballony.
- C Cusano, Bedford, 27/06/2009 09:15
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In that case I think it is "reasonable" for me to withhold my share of Brucie's champagne, Wogan's knighthood party and the cost of flying Thompson's family home from holiday.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 26/06/2009 11:45
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