Murmurings

Rosamund Urwin in The Sunday Times has some gossip, well-sourced, we hope. 

[Mishal] Husain is a presenter on the Today programme, where there is some turmoil behind the scenes. She is understood to be particularly aggrieved by the arrival of Amol Rajan, 39, with talk that the ultra-professional Husain dislikes his more casual approach, including his admission he had drunk rum before his first appearance. While some fans believe Rajan is freshening up the programme, Today insiders say he is cherry-picking appearances and choosing not to travel when the show is hosted outside London. [though he was in Taunton on Thursday]

Rajan’s pay is also raising eyebrows. ITV attempted to poach him to replace Piers Morgan as a host of Good Morning Britain but [Tim] Davie wanted to keep him, with the resulting tussle pushing up his salary to about £600,000, although this sum will not be published.

Next year's transition from Paxman to Rajan at University Challenge was revealed quickly, but may have been sometime in the making. Paxman's health issues aren't a secret,  but salaries delivered by BBC Studios and ITV production companies are. Could Rajan be on £300k for Today, plus his BBC2 interviews, and another £300k via ITV-owned Lifted Productions, who make University Challenge ?  Did Tim Davie tell them to hire Rajan ? Did Rajan ask Davie to fix it ?