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Rona Fairhead, the government's preferred choice to chair the BBC Trust, is to continue her lucrative non-executive roles at a commercial bank and a US multinational even if appointed to the part-time role as the corporation's chief regulator.
In her first public appearance since she was confirmed as the coalition's favoured candidate, Fairhead supported the licence fee as the best way to fund the BBC but suggested that improvements could be made to the much-maligned BBC Trust governance structure. She also said she would be "very surprised" if the body remained unchanged following the next charter renewal in 2016.
As chair of the Trust, Fairhead is expected to work a three to four day week at an organisation hit in recent years by controversies over executive pay, the scandal over repeated abuse by Jimmy Savile and a costly digital initiative. She told MPs as a pre-selection hearing today that she would continue to sit as a non-executive director of both HSBC and Pepsi.
Saying that she would "prioritise" the BBC, the former executive of media company Pearson said: "I have a large capacity [for work] … my working week can go very happily to seven days … I get up early and I work late … It's been the life I have led for many years, I just get used to sleeping on planes."
Her predecessor Chris Patten stood down due to ill health after a tenure marked by a director general (George Entwistle) who lasted just 54 days, questions over the Trust's role in the £369m payoffs and a failed digital media venture. Fairhead's poised and unruffled demeanour during a two-hour grilling by MPs marked a contrast to the relatively tetchy response of Patten, who remained as chancellor of Oxford University and on a few corporate advisory boards during his time at the BBC.
Criticised almost since its formation, Fairhead admitted that the role of trust chair would not be a "20-year" one. "My role is to help this structure be as effective as it could possibly be … build a governance structure that I think is fit for purpose and that's my position. If it continues in its current for me, that's fine, if it changes – that's fine."
Asked whether the licence fee is "the most appropriate way to fund" the BBC she said yes several times before going on to add that she would be "open to other options".
Although refusing to critique the performance of any predecessors, she said. "I think it's important the voice of the BBC should be the director general, he is the one who is running the BBC. You should expect to see more of the director general as the face of the BBC and I am the face of the trust and governance. That got a little bit blurred in the past."
After graciously denying the suggestion from Philip Davies MP that she was favoured as a candidate because she was a woman (a question which passed over the earlier preferred status of Sebastian Coe) a woman described by the Telegraph as "mother of three poised to run the BBC" said she didn't think gender was important in the decision. Admitting she was "not politically active" she also denied being "on close social terms with the chancellor". She had met George Osborne at business functions and spotted him across the room at parents evening, she said. One of her children is thought to attend Norland Place prep school also attended by the junior Osbornes.
Asked whether more should be done to increase diversity at an organisation dominated by white men, Fairhead said on and off-screen talent should reflect the "universal" nature of the BBC but "not at the expense of programme quality".
Describing her £1.1m payoff from Pearson as "appropriate" Fairhead said she would take "advice" over whether her continued share ownership of the media and education group could constitute a conflict of interest for her new role. Her self-description as "open-minded and without baggage" was slightly tempered by the presence of an HSBC shareholder who has lodged a complaint against the HSBC board, including Fairhead. Michael Mason Mahon, a veteran shareholder activist, accused her of being "complacent" after the meeting.
However, most attending the select committee hearing appeared to agree with Ben Bradshaw MP, the Labour member of the committee and former media secretary, who called Fairhead a "class act".
In his first comments about Fairhead's expected appointment made to the RTS annual television festival, Tony Hall, director general said he thought they would work well together and that there was an "opportunity to be very clear" about the different responsibilities of executive and Trust. "We see eye to eye on many things … I am really happy to be working with and for Rona."
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