Jonathan Ross faces calls to pay BBC fine

Jonathan Ross should pay the £150,000 fine imposed on the BBC over the Andrew Sachs phone call controversy, MPs have claimed.

The chatshow host left a series of lewd messages on Sachs's answerphone during an appearance on Russell Brand's Radio 2 show in October. He was later suspended without pay for three months, while Brand decided to resign from the corporation.

Broadcasting regulator Ofcom yesterday announced the record penalty after finding that Ross's behaviour was "gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning".

Critics have now claimed that it would be wrong for programming funding to be cut as a result of Ross's stunt.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Don Foster told the Daily Mail: "This money should come out of Jonathan Ross's salary, so that broadcasting does not suffer as a consequence of this error."

Labour MP Gerald Kaufman added: "If one wants to see justice done, the fine should be directed at those that commit the fault, and in this case those who were responsible for allowing the material to be broadcast."

Meanwhile, Lord Rees Mogg, a former BBC governor, commented: "I think it would be a nice gesture if Jonathan Ross decided to pay the fine, or at least contribute. It is not fair that the BBC has to pay the fine, but they chose to hire him knowing the sort of entertainer he is."

However, a BBC spokesperson has dismissed the suggestion, insisting: "Jonathan Ross has already paid a significant financial penalty through being suspended without pay for three months. Ofcom's ruling is against the whole BBC, not one individual."