Jeremy Hunt and his ‘Dangerous Dogs Government’

Raymond Snoddy on Jeremy Hunt: In opposition, there had been a marked tendency to open his mouth to journalists faster than his brain’s ability to catch up… Then Hunt was elected and appointed and it was like BP finally getting a handle on its errant oil well – the flow of nonsense slowed to a trickle.  But just when affairs were heading in a statesmanlike direction and the chances looked good for rational dialogue about the future of the media, everything blew again…

A rational citizen of the media world could have been starting to warm to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt in recent weeks. He was always bright and personable and his closeness to David Cameron and fluency in Japanese didn’t do any harm either.

In opposition there had been a marked tendency to open his mouth to journalists faster than his brain’s ability to catch up.  Saying he would consider tearing up the BBC’s Royal Charter, which has governed the BBC since 1927 was an obvious example.

His attachment to ultra-local television stations on the American model against all logic and financial experience was also touching in its naivety.  Not even the Guardian Media Group could make station M work in Manchester, its traditional heartland. And we now know that some of M’s “output” consisted of live traffic camera coverage.

But opposition is opposition and as the Prime Minister admitted on the Today programme this morning – sometimes you have to be opportunist in opposition just to get noticed.

Then Hunt was elected and appointed and it was like BP finally getting a handle on its errant oil well – the flow of nonsense slowed to a trickle.  But just when affairs were heading in a statesmanlike direction and the chances looked good for rational dialogue about the future of the media, albeit it in difficult economic times, everything blew again.

Once again it was a newspaper interview that breached the booms.  Hunt told the Daily Telegraph that he “absolutely” could see viewers paying less than the current £145.50 licence fee in future and attacked the BBC’s “extraordinary and outrageous” waste.

The tirade was probably just a softening-up kidney blow in advance of next year’s licence fee discussions, but even in the dirty trade of politics there should be some attempt to justify the smears and abuse.

“Extraordinary and outrageous?” If he was talking about Jonathan Ross then that is the past. He’s gone.  If he was talking about Salford, that’s an enormous waste, at least in the short and medium term, but it was mandated by the previous Government as a condition of getting the licence fee renewed.  Executive salaries amount to outrageous waste as did executive bonuses until they were suspended. The BBC Trust has already outlined plans to cut executive salaries by 25% over the next 18 months.

The prospects of a smaller licence fee begs the question – what is it that Jeremy Hunt would be happy to lose if he is serious? He supported the saving of 6 Music after all when BBC managers were trying to make the place smaller.  How about closing down the BBC Symphony Orchestra? Do we really need BBC Four or all those journalists around the world?

His thoughts so far seem to be Daily Mail thoughts or even worse the bar-room pensees of a disgruntled BBC producer – of which there is absolutely no shortage at the moment. The ones disgruntled by years of cuts and been further angered by the planned undermining of their pensions.

Hunt may not have noticed that it is, for example, the BBC, combined with format sales abroad, that has helped keep the independent production sector alive during the recession.

Then Hunt goes on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show and, according to the Daily Mail, announces an internet licence fee.  Except that he didn’t quite, although he tossed the possibility into the ether by suggesting the issue of online viewing would be discussed with the BBC.

Here, for free, is a solution to a problem likely to be made worse with the arrival of Canvas, and one that should be technically possible.

The licence fee could become like a loyalty card that entitles those who have paid to consume all BBC services anywhere in the world, with perhaps extra privileges thrown in. Anyone else, including ex-pats, could watch online for a small fee – either per-programme, per block of programmes or via a monthly subscription.

The “problem” of more and more young people watching television online could ultimately undermine the licence fee and with it the UK production industry unless it is tackled.

However, Hunt really got out of hand this week with the summary execution of the UK Film Council – a move described by Touching The Void director Kevin MacDonald as “willfully destructive”.

The UK Film Council may, or may not, be too bureaucratic, expensive or Luvvie-laden.  But its abolition should be part of a rational process, a discussion, a basic understanding of what may be about to be lost.

Indeed there is an urgent need for the creation of a new quango to discriminate between those quangos that do valuable work and those which do not.  The culture secretary should perhaps read a recent study by the Institute of Government on quangos – or as the Institute calls them Arms Length Government – before actually lighting the bonfire.

From Jeremy Hunt to education secretary Michael Gove, this is starting to look like a Dangerous Dogs Government – knee-jerk reactions, ill-thought out words and actions in the apparent assumption that an economic crisis somehow absolves everything – however foolish and counter-productive.