Protective ring

There's an interesting cluster of new chums forming a 'lay off Samir' loose grouping, with a view that the Culture Select Committee played too rough. 

"Childish posturing by @CommonsCMS  over Samir Shah’s refusal to play their political games. He is the most impressive proposed BBC chairman for years. I wouldn’t blame him if he walked away from their political poison."    Quentin Letts

"This report on Samir Shah by MPs seems unnecessarily grumpy. A chair-designate of the BBC can't immediately set out a full agenda with everything he thinks about current issues. But I have complete confidence that Samir has the right vision & values"    Roger Mosey

"The Commons committee report on the new BBC Chair, Samir Shah, manages to be both ludicrous and pompous, the product of puffed up MPs, most with their best days behind them, who could never aspire to chair the BBC themselves. It doesn’t sound anything like the hearing I watched. Maybe there is some petty politics going on here. Underestimate Samir Shah at your peril. He is his own man. He will make his own  judgements and do what he thinks right, rather than what individual politicians grinding their own axes might demand."       Andrew Neil