Britannia Radio

Cameron : BBC is Bloated and Left-Wing, But I Appreciate It

Dave writes in the Sun this morning that he wants the BBC to change its ways, crucially however on funding "he would rather stick with a structure that has produced good television and radio programmes, led by an institution — the BBC — that is still respected at home and abroad." Is the BBC really respected in America and Israel? 

Dave is reported elsewhere as telling BBC executives that he is all that stands between them and an angry Conservative Party. Is that his role? To blunt the will of Conservatives?

Poll after poll finds that Conservative supporters strongly feel that the BBC is biased against them. Dave apparently tells Conservative advocates of wholesale BBC reform that "I have an election to win", suggesting he recognises a problem but does not want to risk the repercussions of taking on the BBC's vested interests. He writes this morning that the BBC's funding via the Telly Tax "tends to make the BBC instinctively pro-Big State, distinctly iffy about the free market and sometimes dismissive of a conservative viewpoint." 

Dave seems to be accepting that without a change in the funding model there will be no culture change at the BBC. It will remain a cultural drag on Britain, always wanting government "to do something" and deaf to other solutions. Lets not forget the way the BBC crowds out private sector competition, sucks up technical talent thus stifling innovation and is the primary reason we do not have a vibrant Silicon Valley equivalent. The only way to effect change is to change the funding model in 2013. The BBC does not need to do everything, in fact a larger cultural breathing space for other voices, rather than the current monolithic dominance of the BBC undercutting the competition all the time, would be extremely healthy. It will be interesting to see if the Policy Exchange report on the BBC that is in the pipeline will indicate future policy direction...

UPDATE : The BBC is cutting back the champagne for its huge Obama Victory Party in New York.