Huw Edwards: Former Culture Secretary claims ‘director of BBC NEEDS to be held accountable’ for scandal
The former Culture Secretary has claimed that the “director of the BBC needs to be held accountable” for the Huw Edwards scandal.
The disgraced former BBC newsreader pled guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and in a statement the BBC revealed that it has known about the severity of the alleged offences.
Edwards resigned this April, which the BBC said at the time was on “medical advice”.
In a statement on Wednesday, the BBC said he would have been dismissed had he been charged while still employed.
Speaking to GB News Former culture secretary Sir John Whittingdale said: “Well, it’s not the BBC’s fault that it turns out that one of its employees behaved in a way which clearly is appalling and shocking to most people.
“But the way in which it has been handled I think has created real problems with the BBC and the fact that they don’t seem to have been fully transparent about how much was known, what they were told, why they took the decision to go on.
“Not just employing Hugh Edwards but paying him a very large amount of money. These are all questions which I think people want to have much more detailed answers to.”
He added: “The BBC have, as ever, conducted an internal inquiry when these allegations against Hugh Edwards were first made.
“We don’t know what exactly that concluded. I think they need to be much more open. I think the Director General does need to be held publicly to account.”
Edwards was suspended by the BBC in July last year after a report emerged in The Sun that he’d paid a young man for explicit images.
Earlier this month, the BBC confirmed it had paid the broadcaster £475,000-£479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024 – £40,000 more than he was paid the year before.
Two of the images found in a horrific WhatsApp exchange showed boys as young as seven years old and after pleading guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Edwards could face a jail term.
Question marks have been raised about the corporation’s decision to continue paying Edwards his hefty pay packet after learning of the arrest – something director-general Tim Davie defended following the guilty verdict.
Speaking to BBC News on Thursday, Davie said the corporation had taken “difficult decisions in a fair and judicious manner” and explained: “We knew it was serious, we knew no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences.”
BBC bosses were not aware of the ages of the children in the images which were revealed to be as young as seven in some of the material.
Edwards has faced calls to return his BBC pay packet while questions have been raised about whether he can receive his pension.
Davie told BBC News it was “very difficult to claw back, nigh on impossible”, adding: “These are unfortunately the specifics of how it works.
“When it comes to pay, again, legally challenging, but we’ll look at all options.”