Declaration

An oft-repeated piece of HR advice gets another run-out from me. When you apply for a promotion, make sure you don't lose the job you've got in the process.

BBC Editorial Director Kamal Ahmed has damaged his chances of leading the News division, and blown any chance of he may have had of the DG vacancy. He signed up to appear on a panel at a conference run by Aberdeen Standard Investments, at Old Billingsgate, on Thursday 6th February.  The 40-minute session, chaired by former BBC business presenter Steph McGovern, started at 10.40 - Kamal could have led the morning meeting, and still got there in good time by taxi. The Mail on Sunday, which publicised Mr Ahmed's appearance, said he was paid £12k. Eight days earlier Mr Ahmed, in a designer t-shirt, had perched on a bar-stool as senior managers announced that they were looking for at least 450 post closures in News.

The fee is being returned. Mr Ahmed says he made a mistake. He made a partial and misguided defence in an email to other managers in News yesterday. He said he hadn't broken any editorial guidelines, but noted the payment would have appeared in his Declaration of Personal Interests. There's no record of any such payments to any current BBC News manager paid over £150k. Some 'personal interests' are noted (Mr Ahmed, for example, works unpaid for the Media Trust; his declaration doesn't mention his recent appointment at the Society of Editors); other managers indicate they do have personal interests, but they are kept secret under Data Protection legislation. No present manager declares other income, though Sarah Sands notes the gift of a Wimbledon ticket from English fizzmakers, Nyetimber.

Mr Ahmed assumed his role as Editorial Director in November 2018. Since then, he's appeared at book festivals in Wimbledon, Stroud. Hay, Wigtown, Chiswick, Stoke, Dartington and Hexham, promoting his book, The Life and Times of a Very British Man.  He appears, listed as "Editorial Director" on the books of agent Mary Greenham.