Who's sorry now ?

The strangely privileged Media Guardian has been given access to a section of minutes from a BBC Trust meeting, in which, it says, BBC DG Mark Thompson was forced to apologise for not clearing his signature of a letter calling on Vince Cable to stop News International buying the whole of BSkyB.

However, as only the Guardian seems to have access to these fuller notes from October 21, the apology details are incomplete - Thommo "stated his regret" is the phrase we have, after he "acknowledged that he had not discussed the co-signing of the letter directly with the chairman [Lyons] or engaged with trustees".  In their background, the Guardian notes that section 44 of the charter that governs the BBC allows its director-general to express a view on "matters of public policy" in "broadcasting or the provision of online services".

All very unsatisfactory. It's possible that what's riled the Trust is that Thommo went ahead with the letter despite their side of the house advising against it.  And with out-going Trustee Jeremy Peat still unhappy with the way the Executive has handled the pension deficit, the tension between Great Portland Street and the DG's suite in White City remains high.  What will Thommo's mood be at Monday's Executive ?