DEAD ZONE
April 16th, 2004, 04:54 PM
http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2004/04/greg_dyke_and_t.html
Last July, even before David Kelly committed suicide, as Alastair Campbell continued to bombard the BBC with complaints about its war coverage and alleged anti-Government bias, Dyke snapped. In rage and frustration with his former friend Blair, he told other friends that he wanted to put a substantial part of his own private fortune into helping the formation of a new Labour Party that would end Blair's run as leader.In a state of considerable anger, described by one witness as "a rant", Dyke, editorial chief of the most powerful and trusted news organisation in the world, gave vent to his fury.
He told friends he had had enough of Campbell's bullying of BBC news, that Blair was almost certainly behind these attacks, and that he was personally prepared actively to help engineer the removal of Blair by promoting a new political party to which he would donate three million pounds of his own private fortune.
.....
Dyke's unconscionable fury with his former friend seems to support the views of top broadcast executives such as Will Wyatt, former managing director of BBC TV, who was deeply opposed to Dyke's appointment as D-G in the first place. "I thought his politics disqualified him," Wyatt has written, adding that Dyke's gift of £50,000 to Labour and his open support for the party as a cheerleader was potentially dangerous for the editor-in-chief of the BBC, who was traditionally impartial and whose politics were best left unknown. The prospect of a strong-minded, emotional, impulsive and politically active D-G worried not only Wyatt but other people within the BBC news division.
Last July, even before David Kelly committed suicide, as Alastair Campbell continued to bombard the BBC with complaints about its war coverage and alleged anti-Government bias, Dyke snapped. In rage and frustration with his former friend Blair, he told other friends that he wanted to put a substantial part of his own private fortune into helping the formation of a new Labour Party that would end Blair's run as leader.In a state of considerable anger, described by one witness as "a rant", Dyke, editorial chief of the most powerful and trusted news organisation in the world, gave vent to his fury.
He told friends he had had enough of Campbell's bullying of BBC news, that Blair was almost certainly behind these attacks, and that he was personally prepared actively to help engineer the removal of Blair by promoting a new political party to which he would donate three million pounds of his own private fortune.
.....
Dyke's unconscionable fury with his former friend seems to support the views of top broadcast executives such as Will Wyatt, former managing director of BBC TV, who was deeply opposed to Dyke's appointment as D-G in the first place. "I thought his politics disqualified him," Wyatt has written, adding that Dyke's gift of £50,000 to Labour and his open support for the party as a cheerleader was potentially dangerous for the editor-in-chief of the BBC, who was traditionally impartial and whose politics were best left unknown. The prospect of a strong-minded, emotional, impulsive and politically active D-G worried not only Wyatt but other people within the BBC news division.