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No 10 fails to give backing to BBC director-general

The prime minister's spokesman declined an opportunity to throw the government's support behind Tim Davie, caught up in a Glastonbury row

Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC. Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Glastonbury is a great place to go for a weekend away from your troubles – unless you’re the director-general of the BBC. 

The news that Tim Davie was in attendance at the festival, and had been told about the corporation’s transmission of Bob Vylan’s “Kill the IDF” chant on iPlayer has guaranteed the row will lead the headlines for at least another day.

In reality, almost no-one would have known about the chant without the backlash to it – contrary to what many suggest, it was never broadcast on BBC television, but instead on the iPlayer feed of a relatively small stage, to an audience likely to have been miniscule. 

But now the director-general himself is incorporated in the broadcast row, and his problems don’t stop there – as at the lobby briefing today, Number 10 refused to give the BBC director-general their support.

Number 10 might argue that this is because the BBC is independent, and that they’re trying not to give running commentaries on the PM’s support any more – last week they were oddly hesitant to offer Keir Starmer’s backing for his own chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.

But all the same, the prime minister has invited another fresh rounds of headlines and headaches for Davie, a Tory-friendly director-general appointee. Perhaps the prime minister thinks a fresh face at the BBC might lead to fewer headaches for himself?

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