Gift horse

Be careful what you wish for. Those inside the BBC eager for the creation of a unitary board now face the prospect of a serious number of non-executives nominated by the Governent at the heart of the business. No more the cry of 'For heaven's sake, don't tell the Governors' or 'OK, but what's the story for the Trust ?'.  A chairman, deputy chairman and NEDs for Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland, will also effectively control the appointment of four other 'skilled' NEDs. 11 to 12 possibly fresh faces will be matched by maybe only three or four BBC directors - likely in the first instance to be Lord Hall, Anne Bulford and James Purnell. The NEDs, many likely to be serial offenders in this style of management, will expect full and detailed sight of the books, the risk registers, the deals, the outsourcing, and a real handle on what BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios are up to. 

Channel 4 has managed to keep its end up quite well with a Chairman and 8 NEDs playing four C4 working execs. But this Clementi solution for the BBC is on a different scale.