BBC executive is being paid £325,000 to monitor whether the Corporation is impartial

It has emerged that a high ranking BBC executive is being paid £325,000. This salary comes with the responsibility of monitoring whether the BBC is biased. Mr Ken MacQuarrie stepped down as the BBC’s director for nations and regions and has now been given the job title of Executive Sponsor Safeguarding Impartiality, which comes with a £325,000 salary. 

The news comes against the backdrop of the BBC’s new chairman, Richard Sharp telling MPs that the BBC had questions to answer regarding allegations of ‘groupthink’ and a perception that there is a ‘liberal metropolitan view governing editorial decisions’. As an example of his concerns he discussed the BBC1 drama Roadkill which starred Hugh Laurie as a corrupt Tory Minister, as an example of what he described as ‘partial’ broadcasting.

Mr MacQuarrie joined the BBC as a researcher in 1975 and will be training staff and providing education on the ‘impartiality’ standards that are expected of them. However, some have slammed the move and cited concerns that licence-fee payers will be funding such lucrative roles.

John O’Connell from the Taxpayer’s Alliance has said: ‘Bumper pay for BBC backroom bosses flies in the face of ratepayers facing economic ruin. These extraordinary sums are picked from the pockets of pensioners and poor taxpayers, who are fed up of forking out for the licence fee under pain of imprisonment’. 

The BBC has defended the move and has insisted that Mr MacQuarrie’s new role was only temporary. A spokesman for the BBC has added: ‘Ken MacQuarrie will leave the BBC this year after delivering new measures to reaffirm the Corporation’s commitment to impartiality with the director-general and director of editorial policy. He is also working on a number of other key corporate projects and ensuring a smooth transition with the new director of nations’.