Alan Yentob’s crumbling empire

Weeks before the Kids Company scandal erupted, I had a message from someone deep inside New Broadcasting House saying there were ‘Jones-esque fights’ going on ‘inside the BBC’ about a story which was going to be unpopular with managers. He meant ‘me-esque’: it was a reference to my battle with BBC mandarins about the decision not to show the Newsnight film I had made with Liz MacKean exposing Jimmy Savile as a paedophile a year before he died. That error of judgement and the McAlpine scandal which followed eventually led to the resignation of George Entwistle as director-general.

Some involved in the present showdown even feared that, if they persevered, they might be forced to leave the BBC, as Liz and I had done, and the parallels with our battle with management over Savile were obvious. But what was the story about?

Then I heard Alan Yentob had been seen prowling the corridors, leaning on Newsnight, haranguing the reporter Lucy Manning and escorting Camila Batmanghelidjh into the Today studio.