The merry month of...

The expenses paid to BBC Trustees for the most recent six months have been published - and May 2012 was the busiest month for claims for entertainment and comestibles. Looking back, it was also the month that Ed Richards of Ofcom emerged as a candidate for Director General - and the month that the Daily Mail's Quentin Letts tipped George Entwistle, on the advice of a Cabinet Minister.

Alison Hastings entertained someone internal to dinner in Villandry, at £82.13 on 1 May. Diane Coyle had breakfast there with an internal contact, on 2 May, at £29.25.  Further afield, on 14 May, Welsh Trustee Elan Closs Stephens lashed out £34.35 on an external contact at The Cross Foxes (a Snowdonia retreat);   Scottish Governnor Bill Matthews entertained contacts at The Ferry Boat Inn (Ullapool, Falmouth, Felixstowe, ou quoi, Bill ?) to the tune of £145.90 on 21 May. Director of the Trust, Nicholas Kroll, claimed for nearly half of his 27 various drinks and snacks with contacts in the month of May.

In his only entertainment claim, Lord Patten may have thought "big job done" when he strolled down to Villandry for a £93.04 lunch with an external contact.  It wasn't. The date - 17th September, day one of George Entwistle's brief tenure as DG.