Paul Dacre explains why he gave up on leading Ofcom…
“Despite pleas from No. 10 and countless senior Tories, I decided that the toxic hatred of Brexit that is so palpable among the people who really run this country meant I would not be able to do justice to myself, or Ofcom or the public it’s meant to serve. I have decided instead to do a job I’m passionate about with a group of newspapers I love. Its staff, who work selflessly round the clock, are rewarded for initiative and shown the door for foot-dragging. And, yes, the Mail’s great campaigns, that really do make a difference, are anything but risk averse. La lutte continue…”
An email from Lord Rothermere has announced Paul Dacre is to return to DMG media as editor-in-chief. Rothermere says “He will not be involved in day-to-day editing” however will take an “active role advising me and the Editors”. Multiple journalists broke the news at once, however the crown goes to The i’s Poppy Wood…
On Friday evening The Times revealed Dacre was pulling out of the race to be next chair of Ofcom. In a letter he slammed the civil service, calling the process an “infelicitous dalliance with the Blob”. That night an in-the-know source told Guido Dacre was right, and “the blob” were very worried about their future jobs in tech firms, with every step of the process being gamed to ensure one of their own got the job instead. Still, great consolation prize for Dacre…
Paul Dacre has pulled out of the race to be next Ofcom chief, explaining his decision in a letter to The Times and calling the process an “infelicitous dalliance with the Blob”:
“To anyone from the private sector, who, God forbid, has convictions, and is thinking of applying for a public appointment, I say the following: The civil service will control (and leak) everything; the process could take a year in which your life will be put on hold; and if you are possessed of an independent mind and are unassociated with the liberal/left, you will have more chance of winning the lottery than getting the job.”
Paul Dacre’s quest to become Ofcom Chairman appears to have been thwarted by none other than the former Deputy Prime Minister. Nick Clegg, who now rakes it in as Facebook’s Vice‑President for Global Affairs and Communications, has reportedly spearheaded the company’s lobbying campaign alongside Google to block Dacre from being offered the job, with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden now wanting to start the selection process “afresh“. Dacre somehow managing to unite the BBC and Big Tech against a mutual threat…
It’s alleged that the panel in charge of vetting candidates turned against Dacre over fears he’d ‘rock the boat‘ with his reforming plans – particularly over the BBC’s financial management – and his criticism of Big Tech’s handling of data privacy. Looks like they’d rather just give the job to a yes-man…
The revelation in The Sunday Times that Boris wants to appoint Charles Moore as BBC Chairman and Paul Dacre to run the media regulator Ofcom, prompted outrage from the chattering metropolitan media class; with the likes of Adam Boulton accusing No. 10 of being an “oligarchy” exhibiting “elite populism run riot”. When Guido pointed out to Boulton that Labour had dominated the quangocracy for over a decade – citing the Independent‘s 1995 discovery of plans to install Blair’s friends in high places – Adam claimed there wasn’t evidence to support that – when Guido asserted with evidence otherwise, Boulton told him “F off” with his lies and smears. It was admittedly very late. Anyway, Guido’s been busy crunching the numbers…
Labour deliberately prioritised getting their allies into high power media positions – including appointing Greg Dyke, who had previously donated £50,000 to Labour, to the role of BBC Director-General. Can you imagine the outrage if the Tories did similar today?
The era of Labour-dominated quangocracies didn’t end with the coalition in 2010, however. In 2011/12, the percentage of Labour-affiliated appointments actually beat Blair’s 1997-98 record at 76.7%. From 2010-2014, 3x more Labour supporters were appointed to top quango jobs than Tories, it was a noticeable blind-spot of the Cameron era…
Since ’97 there have only been 2 years when Tories have got more public appointments than Labour, astounding when you consider the Tories have been in charge for a decade. Guido doesn’t reckon anyone could look at the last 23 years of Labour’s quango domination and credibly complain about this Downing Street initiating a decades-long overdue end to the Blairite dominance of public appointments…
*Source: Public Appointments Commission
See also: Nearly Half of 2019 Public Appointments Support Labour
Tim Shipman is reporting in the Sunday Times that Boris has lined up Paul Dacre, the legendary former editor of the Daily Mail, to run Ofcom and newly ennobled Charles Moore to become chairman of the BBC. The chattering classes are aghast that these jobs could be going to social conservatives. This is not the kind of minority group advancement of which they approve…
Dacre outlined the problems at the BBC in his Cudlipp lecture of 2007. He focused on the problem of BBC bias and the exercising of “cultural Marxism” in which it tries to undermine society. He identified the inherent statist bias of the public sector broadcaster:
“… BBC journalism starts from the premise of left-wing ideology: it is hostile to conservatism and the traditional right, Britain’s past and British values, America, Ulster unionism, Euroscepticism, capitalism and big business, the countryside, Christianity and family values. Conversely, it is sympathetic to Labour, European federalism, the state and state spending, mass immigration, minority rights, multiculturalism, alternative lifestyles, abortion, and progressiveness in the education and the justice systems.”
He predicted that what has happened in America, with Fox News challenging the once dominant liberal media, would eventually take place in Britain. 13 years later it looks likely to come to pass if Andrew Neil is successful…
The speech was a tour de force and well worth reading today to see what Dacre’s agenda would be:
