Dan Walker, Gary Lineker, Hugh Grant Rip 'Nut Jobs’ of BoJo's Gov’t For Plan to ‘Destroy’ BBC

UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries indicated earlier that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’s licence fee would be abolished in 2027, with funding frozen for the next two years and ultimately replaced by new funding methods.

Star names such as Gary Lineker, Dan Walker, and a host of BBC figures have railed against what they see as a plan to sacrifice the broadcaster to save scandal-plagued Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s premiership.

UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries went on Twitter on Sunday to underscore that it was time to “discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content,” indicating that the BBC licence fee would be abolished in 2027, with funding frozen for the next two years.

This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over.

Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content. https://t.co/sXtK25q27H

— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) January 16, 2022

Dorries had also included a link to a Mail on Sunday report claiming the BBC would have to make £2 billion in cuts over the next six years as a result of the freeze.

The BBC licence fee, introduced in 1946, has risen steadily over the decades and is currently set at £159. It is typically revised every 1 April.

Payment is compulsory for anyone in the UK, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man who owns a television set capable of picking up free-to-air broadcasts.

Failure to pay is a crime, with hundreds of thousands of people prosecuted annually for non-payment. Those found guilty face fines of up to £1,000 and can, in principal, be jailed if they fail to pay.

Part of “operation red meat” - distract from partygate by effectively cutting BBC funding again. This will mean services will have to be cut, staff in news and elsewhere will be lost, more mistakes will be made. Short-sighted doesn’t cover it. pic.twitter.com/zvRIygmXvu

— Rob Burley (@RobBurl) January 16, 2022

Rob Burley, former editor of the BBC’s political programmes, went on Twitter to say that the planned move, still to be confirmed yet by Downing Street, was part of so-called “Operation red Meat," seeking to distract from the “partygate” row.

Warning that this decision would result in “services cut” and “more mistakes made,” he slammed the plan as “short-sighted."

Roger Mosey, former head of BBC TV News, was cited by UK news outlets as saying:

“A licence fee system is far from perfect. But the country needs to work out how to sustain public service broadcasting before it scraps the way it’s been funded for generations. And PSB (public service broadcasting) is more than just British content we can ‘sell.'"

BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker shared an image on Twitter of different TV and radio channels, adding the caption: “43p per day.”

43p per day pic.twitter.com/MudpcnSyzM

— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) January 16, 2022

Former England football star Gary Lineker also responded by tweeting an image from the BBC press office showing content viewers receive after paying the licence fee. He added that the BBC was “revered, respected, and envied around the world.”

The BBC is revered, respected and envied around the world. It should be the most treasured of National treasures. Something true patriots of our country should be proud of. It should never be a voice for those in government whoever is in power. https://t.co/4aR5cmDLI1

— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) January 16, 2022

Actor Hugh Grant shared his thoughts on the reportedly mulled plans, slamming the “insecure, spittle-flecked nut jobs of this government” for ostensibly wanting to “destroy” the BBC.

The BBC is something the whole world admires with envy. It is entirely appropriate that the insecure, spittle-flecked nut jobs of this government want to destroy it.

— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) January 16, 2022

A BBC News source was cited by the i newspaper as saying the government was “throwing us under the bus to distract from the PM’s difficulties.”

Furthermore, a plethora of policy announcements are reportedly in the pipeline to help the Prime Minister save his tenuous position over backlash for a series of alleged parties that took place on Downing Street at a time when the UK was under strict coronavirus restrictions.

A probe is currently underway into the events led by senior civil servant Sue Gray, with Boris Johnson “understood to have shared what he knows" with Gray over the allegations.