Board of Governors of the BBC

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The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the

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. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced by the

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

on 1 January 2007. The governors were independent of the

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

and the rest of the BBC's executive team. They had no direct say in programme-making, but were nevertheless accountable to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and to licence fee payers for the BBC's actions. Although a 'state broadcaster', the BBC is theoretically protected from government interference due to the statutory independence of its governing body. The Governors' role was to appoint the Director-General (and in earlier years, other key BBC staff). They approved strategy and policy, set objectives, oversaw complaints, and produced ''Annual Reports'' that documented the BBC's performance and compliance each year. The role of chairman of the Board of Governors, though a non-executive, was one of the most important positions in British media.

Appointments

Governors were usually appointed from senior positions in various walks of British society. Appointments were part-time positions and lasted for four (formerly five) years. Four governors were given specific responsibilities: for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions. Governors were nominally appointed by the

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

on the advice of ministers. In practice, governors were chosen by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

of the day. This has led to claims of political interference, in particular during the years of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's premiership.

Controversy

The Thatcher government appointed a succession of governors with the apparent intent of bringing the BBC "into line" with government policy.

Marmaduke Hussey Marmaduke James Hussey, Baron Hussey of North Bradley (29 August 1923 – 27 December 2006), known as Duke Hussey, was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1986 to 1996, serving two terms in that role. Education and career The so ...

was appointed chairman of the Board of Governors apparently with the specific agenda of bringing down the then-Director-General

Alasdair Milne Alasdair David Gordon Milne (8 October 19308 January 2013) was a British television producer and executive. He had a long career at the BBC, where he was eventually promoted to Director-General, and was described by ''The Independent'' as "one ...

; this government also broke the tradition of always having a trade union leader on the Board of Governors. BBC director general Mark Thompson said "staff were "quite mystified" by the rise of Margaret Thatcher but that there was "less overt tribalism" among its journalists. It has also been suggested that

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

's appointment of the former Tory minister Lord Hill as chairman of the Board of Governors in 1967 was motivated by a desire to undermine the radical, questioning agenda of Director-General Sir

Hugh Greene Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (15 November 1910 – 19 February 1987) was a British television executive and journalist. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969. After working for newspapers in the 1930s, Greene spent most of his later ...

– ironically Wilson had attacked the appointment of Hill as Chairman of the

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" ( ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA existed from 1954 un ...

by a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

government in 1963. In January 2004 Gavyn Davies, who had been appointed chairman of the Board of Governors by the Labour government in 2001, resigned in the wake of the

Hutton Inquiry The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton, Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour Party (UK), Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Dav ...

. Lord Ryder of Wensum, previously a Conservative Member of Parliament and a member of Margaret Thatcher's personal staff, replaced him as Acting Chairman. It has been claimed that Ryder and other Conservatives on the Board of Governors were effectively responsible for "forcing out" Director-General

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

, who had not initially believed that his offer of resignation would be accepted by the Governors. In May 2004,

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...

took over as permanent chairman. He was to be the last permanent chairman of the Board of Governors.

Chairmen of the Board of Governors

* Lord Gainford (chairman of the

British Broadcasting Company The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British General ...

, before incorporation) (1922) *

Earl of Clarendon Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The family seat is Holywell House, near Swanmore, Hampshire. First creation of the title The title was created for the first time in the Peera ...

(first chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation) (1927) *

John Henry Whitley John Henry Whitley (8 February 1866 – 3 February 1935), often known as J. H. Whitley, was a British politician and Georgist. He was the final Liberal to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, a role he held from 1921 to 1928. Family ...

(1930) *

Viscount Bridgeman Viscount Bridgeman, of Leigh in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the Conservative politician William Bridgeman, who had previously served as Home Secretary and First Lord of ...

(1935) *

Ronald Collet Norman Ronald Collet Norman JP (15 November 1873 – 5 December 1963) was a banker, administrator and politician. He was chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1935 to 1939 and of the London County Council from 1918 to 1919. Biography ...

(1935) * Allan Powell (1940) *

Lord Inman Philip Albert Inman, 1st Baron Inman, PC (12 June 1892 – 26 August 1979) was a British Labour politician. Background and education Inman was the son of Philip Inman (d. 1894), of Knaresborough, Yorkshire, by his wife Hannah Bickerdyke, o ...

(1947) * Lord Simon of Wythenshawe (1947) * Sir Alexander Cadogan (1952) * Sir Arthur fforde (1957) *Sir James Fitzjames Duff (1964) * Lord Normanbrook (1964) * Lord Hill of Luton (1967) * Sir Michael Swann (1973) * Sir George Howard, latterly Lord Howard of Henderskelfe (1980) * Stuart Young (1983) * Sir Marmaduke Hussey, latterly Lord Hussey of North Bradley (1986) * Sir Christopher Bland (1996) * Gavyn Davies (October 2001 – 28 January 2004) * Lord Ryder of Wensum (acting chairman) (28 January 2004 – 17 May 2004) *

(17 May 2004 – 28 November 2006)

The last Board of Governors

The governors as of the board's dissolution on 31 December 2006 were: *

Anthony Salz Sir Anthony Michael Vaughan Salz (born 30 June 1950) is a British solicitor. He sat on the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1 August 2004, after the resignation of the former Vice Chairman, Lord Ryder, and was Acting Chairman in 2006 following ...

(Acting Chairman) * Ranjit Sondhi (Governor for the English regions) * Fabian Monds (National Governor for Northern Ireland) * Merfyn Jones (National Governor for Wales) *

Jeremy Peat Professor Jeremy Alastair Peat (born 20 March 1945) is a member of the Competition Commission and former director of the David Hume Institute. He is a former member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, wh ...

(National Governor for Scotland) *

Deborah Bull Deborah Bull, Baroness Bull, CBE (born 22 March 1963) is an English dancer, writer, and broadcaster and former creative director of the Royal Opera House. She joined King's College London as Director, Cultural Partnerships in 2012. In 2015 she w ...

* Andrew Burns * Dermot Gleeson *

Angela Sarkis Angela Sarkis CBE (born 1955), was the Chief Executive of the Nurture Group Network, a charitable organisation which promotes and supports the development of specialist support for vulnerable children within mainstream education. She is also a bo ...

Richard Tait Richard Graham Tait CBE (born 22 May 1947) is a British journalist and Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University. He had been a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was replaced by Richard ...

* Note:

had left the BBC before the dissolution of the board to take up the position of Executive Chairman at rival broadcaster

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on th ...

References

External links

BBC Annual Reports
{{BBC * * 1927 establishments in the United Kingdom 2007 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1927 Organizations disestablished in 2007