Given that John Whittingdale once described the licence fee as ‘worse than the poll tax’, the BBC were reported to be less than thrilled when David Cameron appointed the Tory MP as Culture Secretary ahead of the corporation’s charter renewal next year.
However, should the BBC be concerned about the impending decision, culture minister Ed Vaizey has at least offered an early pointer about the type of programmes the corporation ought to be commissioning. Vaizey took to Twitter to praise his old chum Andrew Roberts on his Napoleon documentary for the BBC.
He says that it is ‘just the kind of programme’ the BBC ‘should be making’:
Furthermore, the ‘great review’ he links to is written by none other than Vaizey’s mother, Marina. After all, we’re all in this together.
However, one man who may be keen to listen to Vaizey is Jeremy Vine.
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To Prime Minister’s Questions, where Sir Keir Starmer has announced that the Labour lot will in fact reverse parts of the controversial winter fuel payment – just weeks after the reds suffered defeat across the country over the policy in the May elections. Addressing the Chamber, Starmer remarked that ‘we want to ensure that as
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