Commons committee backs Patten as BBC Trust chairman
Saturday, 12 March 2011 12:01 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
An influential Commons committee has backed Chris Patten to become the chairman of the BBC Trust.
The culture, media and sport committee took only one day to make the decision after grilling Mr Patten on Thursday.
The former Hong Kong governor charmed the committee with a combination of honesty and self-deprecation.
Asked about his listening habits he admitted that he only listened to Radio 1 when "trying to get to [Radio] 3 or 4."
That led to laughs in the select committee room but Labour MP David Cairns raised concerns about Mr Patten not having the "passion".
He added: "The only passion you've demonstrated is a passion for Melvyn Bragg."
The Conservative insisted he would hold the BBC to a high standard during the questioning saying the BBC should be biased towards "tolerant, civilised pluralism".
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