George Entwistle quit on Saturday after a controversial Newsnight report led to a former Tory treasurer being wrongly accused as a child abuser. Number 10 sources says the BBC has the capacity to “reform itself”. Lord Patten said a new director general would be chosen within weeks.
He said the BBC had to ensure programmes were being properly managed. Lord Patten said talks about the next director general would begin on Sunday, but in the meantime the acting director general, Tim Davie, would be given full support. Before his departure, Mr Entwistle had commissioned a report from BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie into what happened with the Newsnight investigation. He is expected to report on Sunday. On 2 November Newsnight reported abuse victim Steve Messham’s claims against a leading 1980s Tory politician being an abuser in north Wales, but he withdrew his accusation a week later, saying he had been mistaken. Lord McAlpine, although not named on Newsnight, was identified on the internet as the subject of the allegations. He said the claims were “wholly false and seriously defamatory”. Lord Patten, appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme, said his own job was to show licence fee-payers “that the BBC has a grip, that we get ourselves back on the road”