Exit interview

Both The Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times say there's been recent contact between outgoing BBC DG Lord Hall and the Prime Minister. The Mail on Sunday thinks Tony has had his 'exit interview'; the ST thinks there's been a phone call, and the face-to-face is still to happen. 

The Mail says Lord Hall urged Mr Johnson to take a less aggressive stance towards his successor, Tim Davie, particularly over possible de-criminalisation of licence-fee non-payment.  

The paper also takes an interesting line over the ending of totally-free licences for the under-75s, noting that "The BBC has said pointedly that the Government ‘sets and controls’ who receives pension credit."   There's a hint that this message is not lost on some Tory MPs. Rufty-tufty Julian Knight, chair of the Culture Select Committee, ruminates further: "I imagine in the coming months the anger amongst our people will be palpable. The question will be does the Government get it in the neck or the BBC?"

In The Sunday Times, Tim Shipman catalogues names of possible candidates for the BBC Chair that have been whispered in his ear - Baroness Morgan, Andrew Neil and Amber Rudd, plus Charles Moore, a name suggested to encourage the acceptance of a downsizer rather than an executioner to sit astride poor Tim Davie.