Chuntering on

An amateur BBC historian has forwarded this precis of the way governance used to work. It was drafted by Reith in 1931, at the request of the Chairman John Whitley, and for the next twenty years the so-called "Whitley Document" was issued to all new Governors. Whitley felt the BBC should appear unified to the outside world, and should never issue separate statements on behalf of the Board of Governors.

The Governors of the BBC act primarily as trustees to safeguard the broadcasting service in the national interest. Their functions are not executive. Their responsibilities are general and not particular. They are not divided up for the purpose of departmental supervision. The suggestion sometimes made that Governors should be appointed as experts or specialists in any of the activities covered by the broadcasting service is not regarded as desirable. The Governors should as far as possible be persons of wide outlook and considerable experience of men and affairs, preferably with previous public service of one kind or another; and there should be included also a person or persons with financial experience.... With the Director General they discuss and then decide on major matters of policy and finance, but they leave the execution of that policy and the general administration of the service in all its branches to the Director General and his competent officers. 

The latest, dull minutes of the BBC Trust show how far its business has become mired in quasi-judicial precedents, protocols and parameters, absolutely driven by the idea that the Trustees know best, and that the BBC Executive is essentially and irredeemably naughty. It might have been under Thommo, but that's no reason to keep on like this...