£40k a year for nowt

The equal pay tribunal hearing Samira Ahmed v The BBC has featured the work of Roger Leatham, a trained solicitor who's been in and out of 'business affairs' roles at the BBC, ITV and C4 since 1994.

Mr Leatham it was who negotiated a package deal for Jeremy Vine in 2007. He's revealed he thought Mr Vine would leave the BBC at one point in the conversations; he advised the Press Office to prepare a line. Spookily, the then DG Mark Thompson joined in, taking the 'unusual' step of calling Jeremy directly to persuade him to stay.

Such was Mr Leatham's freedom to operate that he was able to offer an additional £100k a year to Mr Vine, without identifying what that work would be. Eventually, in 2010, £60k was offset by the Points of View gig. Presumably Mr Vine continued to receive £40k a year for doing nowt until his first salary reduction, nearly ten years later.