Lord Patten 'did not urge George Entwistle to stay' at BBC

Lord Patten gives evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

Defending the BBC's £450,000 pay-off to George Entwistle, Lord Patten informs MPs how he told the then director general that he wasn't "urging him stay" in the wake of the Lord McAlpine scandal.

Lord Patten defended the BBC's £450,000 pay-off to former director general George Entwistle, saying it had been agreed it was "defensible" and "better than any other course of action".

The BBC Trust chairman appeared before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee amid continuing anger over the award of a full year's salary to Mr Entwistle after completing just 54 days in the job.

But he told MPs the corporation had paid Mr Entwistle less than he originally wanted, and by doing a deal with him had avoided potentially paying out more in constructive dismissal and possibly unfair dismissal claims.

Mr Entwistle was finally forced to quit after BBC2's Newsnight wrongly implicated Lord McAlpine in a child abuse scandal - leading to a £185,000 pay-out to the peer.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9705922/BBCs-Lord-Patten-did-not-urge-George-Entwistle-to-stay.html

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