Jack Straw has said BBC newsreaders are paid too much and should present the news from a desk.

The Leader of the House of Commons made the comments in response to an MP's questions about the quality of the corporation's news output.

Referring to new presentation methods former Labour minister Chris Mullin said: "the tabloid virus is beginning to infect BBC television news."

"Have you noticed that newscasters increasingly no longer read news to camera, but they walk around the studio like a couple of ham actors emoting?," he asked. "I think it is called news with attitude.

"Do you agree with me that if the BBC can't do better than this it is going to have difficulty justifying its licence fee?"

Straw agreed with most of Mullin' points. He commented: "On the issue of whether newscasters should prance around studios or actually sit at a desk and read the news, which is what it seems to me they are paid for – and too much – personally I prefer the latter to the former."