Is Mr Portillo the man to stop the BBC getting any dumber?

Who should be the next chairman of the BBC? Should it be Terry Burns, the former Treasury mandarin and chairman of Abbey National? Or Michael Grade, the former chief executive of Channel 4? Or Michael Portillo? Their names are believed to be among the 79 people who have applied for the chairmanship. A great deal of lobbying is taking place. Two of the candidates set out their stalls last weekend at a conference of British and Italian journalists and politicians held at the Palazzo Labia in Venice.

Lord Burns was not there in person, but was represented by his chief sponsor and supporter on earth, John Birt, director-general of the BBC from 1992 until 2000. The two men are old pals. They have been on walking holidays together — oddly enough in the company of Robin Butler, the chap who is conducting the inquiry into intelligence failures and Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Lords Birt, Burns and Butler last dined together (so it was reported by the London Evening Standard) on 27 February at the high table of University College, Oxford, where Lord Butler is Master. Lord Birt is a ‘strategy adviser’ to the Prime Minister and, although his brief does not include the media, he is doing what he can to advance the cause of his old mate, Lord Burns. He may be pushing on an open door. Tony Blair will chose the next chairman of the BBC partly on the advice of the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell. Quite apart from the support he enjoys from Lord Birt, Lord Burns is probably the favoured candidate of Ms Jowell, having been appointed by her last September to act as an ‘independent adviser’ to the review of the BBC’s charter and licence fee.