The nationally funded broadcaster fought ‘tooth and nail’ to keep the secret.
But in July the salaries of some of the BBC’s most famous presenters were finally published. The top earner was the Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, who pockets £2.2 million per annum, then came Match of the Day frontman Gary Lineker with £1.7 million. Among journalists and interviewers, Jeremy Vine’s annual ‘haul’ is £700,000, while the most highly paid woman Strictly Come was Dancing’s Claudia Winkelman with around £450,000.
The real scandal
It was the pay gap between men and women that hit the headlines. This is indeed unjust. But in some ways isn’t this really a diversion? The greater scandal is surely the scale of all these salaries. Who honestly needs to be paid such ridiculous sums – and this during a time of austerity when many families who pay the licence fee are struggling to make ends meet? Even the Prime Minister, with so much responsibility upon her shoulders, is only paid £150,000 a year.
How big is too big?
During the depths of lockdown I was out walking having a pastoral conversation when we bumped into someone who went …