The plot to stop James Purnell becoming director-general of the BBC

In case you were in any doubt, the Prime Minister and his chief aide, Dominic Cummings, more than give a damn about who runs the BBC and intend to have a significant influence over the appointment of a new director-general.

The current chairman of the BBC board, David Clementi, showed acute political sensitivity in persuading Tony Hall to stand down as director-general earlier than he would otherwise have done.

The point is that Clementi’s own term of office ends in just over a year. And had Hall stayed in post longer than that, Johnson and Cummings would have selected a new chair to replace Clementi with the express purpose of ensuring that Hall’s successor would not be hostile to their ambitions for wholesale reform of how the BBC is funded and what it does (under the rules, the government chooses the BBC chair, the BBC board chooses the DG).

So Clementi appears to have won a tactical battle over Downing Street by taking control of the process to replace Hall.