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The former senior BBC executive at the centre of the row over executive payoffs has said he was not greedy and will not be paying back any of his £1m redundancy settlement.
Mark Byford, a former BBC deputy director, speaking for the first time since the payoffs row erupted, said on Tuesday that he accepted his payoff was "a lot of money" and that the focus on executive redundancy payments had led to criticism of the BBC.
However, Byford added that he accepted the terms of his 2011 payoff, which were "fair and right" and approved appropriately, in the context of his 32 years' service at the BBC and a policy at the time of reducing senior management numbers by 25%.
"I accept it was a lot of money, I accept it has caused criticism [of the BBC]," he told Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 5 Live. "I absolutely didn't think it was greed on my part. I didn't want to go. I loved my job.
"I have never negotiated my salary. I got what I was given. All I wanted was for the BBC to feel that what I got was fair and correct and approved appropriately."
Byford said the BBC executive board remuneration committee were the ones that approved his payoff. "These terms were fair and right in the context and I accepted them," he added.
Darbyshire asked whether he would be paying back the £474,500 payment in lieu of notice element of the settlement. "I absolutely think I have done nothing wrong," Byford replied, declining to comment further when pressed.
Byford left the BBC in March 2011 after his post was made redundant as part of former director general Mark Thompson's efforts to cut the bill for senior management, with a £949,000 payoff, made up of 12 months' salary worth £474,500, with a further £474,500 pay in lieu of notice, plus £73,000 for holiday he had not used since 2004.
Byford's payoff was the biggest of a number of BBC severance deals totalling £60m over an eight year period, uncovered in a National Audit Office report earlier this year, that have been roundly condemned by MPs on the Commons public accounts and culture, media and sport select committees.
The payoffs also led to an embarrassing public spat between Thompson, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten and other trustees over who knew what and when about the redundancy deals and in particular Byford's settlement.
Pressed repeatedly by Darbyshire about whether he deserved a payoff of just over £1m, or could have accepted less, Byford said it had to be seen in the context that he was number two to Thompson and his 32 years' service at the BBC.
He added that at the time the BBC was seeking to cut the number of senior executives by 25%, which had generated more than £30m in savings to be ploughed back into programming.
Byford said the BBC wanted to announce his departure in October 2010, to help create "momentum" for the management cuts, but asked him to stay on oversee projects including planning coverage of the April 2011 royal wedding and 2012 London Olympics.
Darbyshire asked whether Byford felt insulted that Thompson had argued during internal discussions about his payoff that the amount was necessary to keep him "focused" on his job until he left.
"No I'm not insulted by those words at all," he replied. "I did what the BBC asked me to do. I was focused in order to do a detailed transition and then leave."
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