Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, toured broadcast studios this afternoon in an effort to demonstrate that the BBC is in control of the Savile crisis after cross-party criticism of the performance of the broadcaster's director general in front of MPs on Tuesday morning.
But if anything the peer only seemed to heighten the tension surrounding the corporation, telling ITV News that he would be "not surprised" if there were resignations at the BBC - and telling Sky News that George Entwistle, the director general, and others involved "have legitimate questions to answer".
Deploying colorful language guaranteed to get him a visible airing in the next day's newspapers, Patten told the BBC's World At One that Entwistle, who started in his job in mid September, has been deluged with a "tsunami of filth" which had done "terrible damage" to the standing of the broadcaster.
His surprisingly frank admissions come as Patten is coming under pressure to get a grip on the scandal, now running well into its fourth week, and as the BBC finds itself light on political allies. Criticisms made by Maria Miller on Tuesday and again on Wednesday that the BBC was not in control, are privately echoed by her Labour opposite number Harriet Harman.
Paul Farrelly, a Labour member of the culture media and sport select committee, said that Entwistle "had not demonstrated so far" that "he can take a grip", amid signs that politicians are queuing up to take aim at the broadcaster - although there was some qualified support from Labour leader Ed Miliband who when asked on a visit to Preston yesterday said that he did not think that Entwistle should quit over the crisis.
There are few senior executives at the BBC able to defend the corporation, partly because so many are under fire for their role in the handling of an aborted Newsnight investigation into Savile, and partly because Entwistle's ascent has left the broadcaster with more key roles to fill.
Meanwhile, former senior staff believe that the BBC's new leadership is struggling. One, who asked not to be named, contrasted the situation with the Russell Brand - Jonathan Ross prank calls affair in 2008 - where within a week of public outrage beginning Russell Brand and the controller of Radio 2 Lesley Douglas had both quit. Ross, meanwhile, was forced to serve a period of suspension.
Even Patten himself conceded he was overwhelmed. He said that the situation was nothing like any of those he had experienced before in his long political career, which has encompassed being Conservative party chairman, a cabinet minister and the last British governor of Hong Kong, overseeing its handover to China. "I don't think I've ever before been in one that felt like being washed over by a political reputational tsunami," he told ITV.
Asked specifically if Entwistle would have to resign by ITV News he said: "Steady on. It's difficult enough answering real time questions on this – I'm extremely reluctant to argue too many 'what if' questions but what is undoubtedly the case is the Trust appointed the present DG, he seemed to us to be the best candidate for the job. His appointment was widely praised, not only within BBC."
But for all the doubts about Entwistle, and for all the public anger that Savile was allowed to get away with his sexual abuse for so long, the BBC has not yet seen the kind of political pressure seen at the time of Ross-Brand, where the looming general election and the political muscle of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation created an environment in which lapses in taste were linked to failures in the entire model of BBC governance, its Trust regulator, and the former chairman Sir Michael Lyons.
Lyons, who was a Labour councillor before he became a local government executive, who chose not to stand for a second term, was disliked acutely by the Conservatives, and in particular former culture secretary Jeremy Hunt. But Patten was this government's appointment, giving him some personal insulation, while the BBC is at a relatively secure point in its own administrative cycle because the next royal charter is not due for renewal until 2016 and the next licence fee settlement is not due until a year after.
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