New Labour friend gets to boss the BBC

Tania Branigan, political correspondent at The Guardian 31.03.07

(ED: Welcome to the Tony/Gordon British Broadcasting Corporation. At least I will be able to see England and The F.A. Cup without visiting the P.C. and self admitted anti-christian and anti-conservative so-called media organisation.)

The government's adviser on council tax reforms, Sir Michael Lyons, is expected to take over the chairmanship of the BBC, it has emerged.

The role vacated by Michael Grade's defection to ITV last year has proved surprisingly unpopular despite its £140,000 salary, with a string of high-profile potential contenders ruling themselves out.

But the BBC is expected to announce Sir Michael's appointment shortly, after a selection panel chaired by a senior civil servant picked him from a four-strong shortlist. He must be approved by the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, and then by the Privy Council, which advises the Queen, before the prime minister rubber-stamps the decision.

His closest challenger is thought to have been Chris Powell, a director of advertising agency DDB London, who played an influential role in helping to create New Labour in the 90s and whose brother Jonathan is Tony Blair's chief of staff.

Whitehall insiders speculated that Sir Michael had benefited from Gordon Brown's backing. The chancellor commissioned him to carry out a root and branch review of local government finance, but kicked his proposals into the long grass when the three-year study was finally published earlier this month.