Robert Halfon MP

Democracy in the BBC

What is that quote at the end of King Lear?  I think it is something like “the wheel has come full circle”. I felt a sense of that wheel with the announcement by Mr Miliband yesterday that the BBC should be democratised and become some sort of mutual co-operative.

I have been campaigning for democratisation of the BBC licence fee for a while now, first writing about it on ConservativeHome in 2008 and most recently tabling an Early Day Motion, only a couple of weeks ago.

Inevitably a few brickbats were thrown. My idea was loftily dismissed when I suggested it to BBC staff and Danny Finkelstein called it the “worst idea he had ever heard”, after I had dared to propose that licence fee payers should have had the chance to vote on whether Nick Griffin should appear on Question Time.

I am not saying get rid of the licence fee. In fact I am not ashamed to admit that I like much of what the BBC produces, and even think her innate left-wing bias is healthy for Conservatives, as it means that ‘the right’ have to be that much better and sharper when presenting their case on BBC programmes.

But, my central point has always been this: why is it that those who go to such lengths to defend the licence fee, are so opposed to some form of democracy? Why are the BBC hierarchy so against to having some form of genuine input from licence fee payers?  Everyone knows that current so-called consultations are a sham, with most decisions having been decided well in advance.

Mr Miliband says – in a variant of my idea – that the BBC should become some sort of co-operative.

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