Greg Dyke
Dyke resigned from the BBC on 29 January 2004 (as did Gavyn Davies & Andrew Gilligan), after the publication of the Hutton Report. Hutton described Dyke's approach to checking news stories as "defective"; when Alastair Campbell complained about the story, Dyke had immediately defended it without investigating whether there was any merit to the complaint.
In an email sent to all BBC staff just prior to his resignation Dyke wrote:
- I accept that the BBC made errors of judgement and I've sadly come to the conclusion that it will be hard to draw a line under this whole affair while I am still here. We need closure. We need closure to protect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the benefit of everyone out there. It might sound pompous but I believe the BBC really matters.
It was subsequently established that Dyke had offered his resignation to the BBC's Board of Governors while hoping that they would reject it. However, he was only able to secure the support of about one-third of the Governors.
Some BBC staff felt that their organisation had been given too much blame in the David Kelly affair in the Hutton Report. Groups of staff stood outside Broadcasting House and other BBC centres across the country, protesting at the unfairness. Speaking on GMTV on 30 January Dyke himself questioned the conclusions of the report, saying "We were shocked it was so black and white [...] We knew mistakes had been made but we didn't believe they were only by us." He also claimed that Lord Hutton was "quite clearly wrong" on certain aspects of law relating to the case.
On 11th January 2007, the BBC published minutes of its post Hutton board meetings. It was revealed that Dyke had claimed he had been "mistreated and wanted to be reinstated". [1]
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After the Hutton Enquiry
On 28 November 2003 Greg Dyke was formally appointed by the University of York as its new Chancellor, replacing Dame Janet Baker, who had served in the post since November 1991. There was some controversy regarding his appointment in the midst of the Iraq Dossier scandal. He officially took the post in August 2004. In this role, he is the honorific and ceremonial head of the University, as well as heading the University Development Board. He has also made a personal grant to the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television, to found the Greg Dyke Chair in Film and Television. However, this post will not be filled until the construction of new, specially-designed facilities, intended to open in 2008.
On 6 February 2004 Dyke announced that he had signed a six-figure book contract with HarperCollins. The book ("Inside Story"), subsequently published in September 2004, goes into detail about Dyke's opinion on the relationship between the BBC and the British government, and of the Dr David Kelly affair and Hutton Inquiry. It has had a poor critical reception. At the Cheltenham Literary Festival in October 2004, Dyke accused the government of "trying to kill" Andrew Gilligan.
There are similarities between the enforced resignation of Alasdair Milne over Zircon a few months before the 1987 election and Dyke's resignation over the reporting of military intelligence issues the year before the 2005 election, though Dyke took responsibility for flaws in the control of live broadcasting whereas Milne was 'sacked' for yet to be broadcast investigative research. The departure of Greg Dyke also has echoes of the removal of Hugh Greene in 1969, who fell from the favour of Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson (against a background of the Vietnam War), in part due to Greene's defence of robust reporting, as well as his support for provocative and controversial material.
In July 2004 Dyke was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Sunderland, Middlesex University and in 2006 from The University of Bedfordshire. In his acceptance speech for the latter, he attacked the government over its stance on the Iraq war heavily, and maintained that the Andrew Gilligan story was essentially true, the story government dossier was sexed up and that the government staged a "witch hunt" to deflect from the real issues surrounding the Iraq war.
On 2 May 2005 the former Labour supporter Dyke went public at a Liberal Democrat press conference and said that "Democracy was under threat if Labour was elected for a third term".
Following the appointment of Michael Grade as ITV Chairman in November 2006, it has been speculated that Grade may seek to appoint Dyke as his Chief Executive.
He was appointed Chair of the British Film Institute on February 15, 2008, succeeding Anthony Minghella.
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Brentford Football Club
Dyke is a fan of Brentford Football Club and was appointed as non-executive Chairman of the club on 20 January 2006, following the takeover by the Supporters Trust, Bees United.
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A candidate for London Mayor?
There has been speculation that Dyke was interested in standing against Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral election in 2008 as an Independent, conditional on no opposition from either Liberal Democrat or Conservative candidates. The Liberal Democrats were not prepared to consider the arrangement. The story was quashed in an interview with Dyke on Sky News.[1]
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References
- ^ Ben Dowell and Owen Gibson "How the 'Greg Dyke for London mayor' story snowballed", The Guardian website, 18 April 2007. Retrieved on 18 April 2007.
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External links
- Greg Dyke at the Internet Movie Database
- BBC apologises as Dyke quits from the BBC News
- Video of Installation of Greg Dyke as Chancellor of the University of York
- Video of York Student Television 2005 Greg Dyke Interview
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Director-General of the BBC 2000-Jan 2004 |
Succeeded by Mark Byford (Acting) Jan 2004–June 2004 |
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| Preceded by Dame Janet Baker |
Chancellors of University of York 2005– |
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