Speaking at The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism on Tuesday 3 May at St Anne’s College (Oxford), Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (and former Chairman of the BBC Trust) spoke on

"The Future of the BBC."


"Conservative party grandee Lord Patten has sharply criticised culture secretary John Whittingdale and accused the government of listening more to the BBC’s commercial rivals than the public."

"When the 192,000 responses to the green paper showed overwhelming support for the BBC, Patten said it “plainly failed to provide the answer Mr Whittingdale wanted”."

More of Lord Patten's comments may be found in a report (by Jane Martinson) in "The Guardian".

Lord Patten's speech may be read, and enjoyed, in full, here in pdf form.

"No-one would invent the BBC today. But thank God our predecessors did. The BBC is one of this country’s greatest institutions......

The BBC is at the cultural heart of this Nation. In fact, it is the cultural heart, and I welcome the measures taken by Tony Hall to forge closer partnerships with the nation's other great cultural institutions....


In my time as Chairman of the BBC I didn't feel overburdened with good luck. No complaints: in public life luck comes and goes. But looking back I can see that at least I arrived after the Government’s first smash-and-grab raid on the licence fee and I left before they tunnelled back in one weekend to grab a few hundred millions more....

Whatever the truth about fiscal policy, in the broadcasting world we are NOT all in it together. Sky isn't in it. ITV isn't in it. The Murdoch press isn't in it. Just the BBC....


Now is the time to speak up for the BBC and its independence before it's too late."