Regulator

To the patient, the spoils. If Dame Patricia Hodgson, the DCMS-anointed candidate, gets past the scrutiny of Whittingdale's Rat Pack on the Culture Select Committee, she'll be Chair of Ofcom from March next year, for a five year-term.

This will see her past the General Election and beyond whatever happens to BBC governance to secure Charter Renewal in 2017. Dame Pat was a thwarted candidate as both chair and deputy chair of the BBC Trust, losing out to Lord Patten and Diane Coyle.

It seems that the woman John Birt once described as a soulmate, may well end up with more control over the Corporation that anyone thought possible, working alongside former little BBC helper and DG-manque Ed Richards.