Alan Yentob’s ‘resignation’ only makes him less accountable

The BBC’s spin doctors will be broadly happy at the coverage Alan Yentob’s ‘resignation’ as BBC Creative Director has generated, but licence fee payers should not be so pleased. For, on closer inspection, the whole thing is a gigantic swizz.

Yentob may have relinquished his £183,000 salary, and his executive status, but it is now obvious that he will remain a very well paid fixture at the BBC for some time yet – and an even less accountable one.

Firstly, it is important to note that as the Daily Telegraph reported today, by standing down from this job, Yentob escaped an internal BBC inquiry into allegations that he interfered with BBC News’s reporting of the Kids Company scandal over the summer. The BBC Trust was on the brink of launching the probe – of the highest relevance because Yentob was chairman of Kids Company’s trustees – when he made his surprise decision to resign. It has now been confirmed that this mooted investigation has been shelved. Others