BBC Director-General Greg Dyke resigns

The man at the top of the BBC, Director-General Greg Dyke, has announced his resignation this afternoon.

His decision follows that of the chairman of governors, Gavyn Davies, to quit yesterday (Wednesday) after the publication of the Hutton report. Whilst heavily critical of the corporation, the report did not single out Dyke specifically as the main figure at fault.

"My position as Director-General has inevitably been compromised by the criticisms of the BBC management in the Hutton inquiry," Dyke told a media scrum outside broadcasting house this afternoon.

He went on to say that he hoped his resignation would now "draw a line under this whole episode" and give a "new start" to a new team.

The Prime Minister had called upon the BBC to apologise "completely" for broadcasting a "false allegation", the now infamous "sexing up" claims by Today reporter Andrew Gilligan in May of last year.

After the report was published yesterday afternoon, Dyke appeared to issue a statement which apologised for "certain key allegations" by Gilligan in the programme. "We note Lord Hutton's criticisms of the BBC," said Dyke. "Many of these relate to mistakes which the BBC has already acknowledged in its submissions to the inquiry for which we have already expressed regret.

"The BBC does accept that certain key allegations reported by Andrew Gilligan on the Today programme on 29 May last year were wrong and we apologise for them. However we would point out again, that at no stage in the last eight months have we accused the prime minister of lying and have said this publicly on several occasions."

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said that Dyke's apology did "not amount to a considered statement". He added: "We still believe the BBC should apologise for broadcasting a false allegation which was unfounded."

Following Dyke's departure, deputy Director-General Mark Byford will take over as Acting Director-General.

The future of the BBC head of news Richard Sambrook still hangs in the balance, with many expecting that his resignation will follow before the day is out.

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