Seb' Coe - 'Front Runner for Head of BBC Trust'

[Teddy Bear]

It appears that Sebastian Coe is in the lead to take over from Patten as head of BBC Trust.
While Cameron seems to think that he would make a good choice for this position, I have my doubts.
I find his statement when told of the prospect somewhat troubling, certainly smacking of arrogance
Lord Coe told the Telegraph: "I think you will find that whenever any job at the moment comes up I seem to be slated in for it.
"Either the Mayor of London, Fifa, International Olympic Committee.

Reading his Wikipedia profile I find very little, if anything, that suggests he is actually in tune with the average British citizen. Not a lot different than Patten. He's been involved in athletics, in one form or other, for most of his working life, and apart from being a 'personality' doesn't offer much in the way of worldly experience.

He was a Tory MP for a while, also like Patten, but as Wikipedia also tells us:
Coe was elected as Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992, for the Conservative Party,[4][23] but lost his seat in the 1997 general election.
So while his celebrity status may have initially got him the position, the public certainly weren't impressed with his performance.

Frankly, I don't think if he does get the position as head of BBC Trust, that we will be either.
Pity the public can't vote.

Lord Coe: I am flattered to be linked to BBC Trust job
Lord Coe is now the 'front-runner' for the BBC Trust job after reports that he has the support of David Cameron and George Osborne

By Steven Swinford

Lord Coe has told the Telegraph said that he is "flattered" to be named as the front-runner to be the next chairman of the BBC Trust.
David Cameron and George Osborne reportedly support the appointment of Lord Coe after his success as chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

The former runner, who won four Olympic medals, did not deny that he had been approached about the job after the resignation of Lord Patten following heart surgery.

Lord Coe told the Telegraph: "I think you will find that whenever any job at the moment comes up I seem to be slated in for it.
"Either the Mayor of London, Fifa, International Olympic Committee. I'm very flattered, thank you, but I've actually just got off a plane. I have absolutely nothing more to say."

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said that Lord Coe would be a "first rate choice".
He told itv News: "I think it's fantastic news for the BBC and British broadcasting.

"Seb Coe is a great leader, I've worked with him a lot over the last few years and I think he'll demand very high standards of the BBC. I think he'll be exactly in the right tradition of British broadcasting."

The £110,000-a-year, four day a week job has not yet been advertised but the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is drawing up a shortlist.
Other candidates who have been touted for the job include Dame Marjorie Scardino, the former chief executive of the company which owns the Financial Times, and Sir Howard Stringer, the former head of Sony.

Lord Patten, who was appointed three years ago, endured three turbulent years at the BBC following the Jimmy Savile and Lord McAlpine scandals and the furore over pay-offs for senior executives.

He was heavily criticised for his decision to appoint George Entwistle, the corporation's former director-general, who stepped down over his handling of the scandal after just 54 days in the job with a £450,000 pay-off.

His successor will have to lead the BBC Trust through a critical period as the corporation fights to keep the proceeds of the licence fee when the Royal Charter expires in 2016.

Over the next six months Sajid Javid, the new Culture Secretary, will recommend the new appointment with the final position being taken by the Prime Minister.

[Teddy Bear]

Peter Oborne at the Telegraph gives his reasons for why Coe would not be good choice for this position.

Lord Coe failed to instil a culture of honesty at Fifa. Why would he do better at the BBC?

By Peter Oborne

A month has passed since government sources leaked to the political editor of ITN the interesting story that the Tory peer Lord Coe is being considered as next chairman of the BBC Trust. Now comes news that Sajid Javid, the Culture Secretary, has changed the rules of the job, cutting down the time commitment required from three or four days a week to just two. This last minute change makes it much easier for Seb Coe, who seems to be the Government’s preferred candidate, to put his name forward.

Harriet Harman, the Labour Deputy Leader, has just been on Radio 5 Live, rightly pointing out that the BBC chairmanship cannot be carried out on the part-time basis now being envisaged by Javid.

There are, however, further reasons why Lord Coe is an inappropriate appointment. First, he is believed to earn a very substantial amount from his senior executive positions at Chime Communications, where he is executive chairman of the sports division. Chime Communications is an advertising and PR group that enjoyed contracts worth £30 million from the Olympic Games, which Coe ran.

Lord Coe could earn up to £12 million by 2017 from his own contract at Chime. Add to this the fact that he is a special adviser to Nike and a consultant for Chelsea Football Club. The BBC is a major purchaser of sporting rights, and there is no avoiding the fact that Lord Coe would confront an unacceptable conflict of interests were he to chair the BBC Trust. He can run Chime's sports division, or he can chair the BBC. He surely can't do both.

There is also a second problem. This concerns Lord Coe’s record as head of Fifa’s Ethics Committee in 2007. Allegations of Fifa corruption were swirling around even then. BBC Panorama sought to question Lord Coe as to what the ethics committee, which he chaired, was doing about it. He refused to answer or even detail his responsibilities. I urge anybody wishing to assess the suitability of Lord Coe as Chairman of the BBC Trust to watch him avoiding questions about Fifa’s corruption scandal when Panorama's Andrew Jennings door-stepped him.

Had Coe had adopted a more transparent and forceful approach as chair of the ethics committee, Fifa might not be in the mess it is in now. He clearly failed to instill a culture of honesty at Fifa, as the sordid tale of bribery associated with the later Qatari World Cup bid shows.
As the chairman of the BBC Trust, one of Lord Coe’s central obligations would be to set a moral framework at the BBC. His record at Fifa suggests that this would be beyond him. Lord Coe's Conservative backers, who include George Osborne, would be extremely well-advised to withdraw their runner from the race before the starting gun is fired.

[Teddy Bear]

The BBC again pushing Coe for the post of BBC Trust Head, with the apparent collusion of George Osborne.
My favourite would be Dame Colette, quoted below. You can see by what she says, and the fact that she does not want this position, precisely why she would be best.

Please reconsider Dame Colette, you would be the best ever.

Coe a shoo-in to be BBC chairman, says Peston: Economics editor says London 2012 boss is clear favourite

• Double Olympic gold medallist is expected to replace Lord Patten
• Appointment would be popular with Tory MPs as he is a 'true conservative'
• Several candidates are currently being interviewed for the post
• However Robert Peston said Coe was the frontrunner on his blog

By Alasdair Glennie

Olympics boss Sebastian Coe is a ‘virtual shoo-in’ to become the next chairman of the BBC, it was claimed yesterday.

The former track star and head of the London 2012 Games is expected to replace Lord Patten, who stood down after heart surgery in May.

Several candidates are currently being interviewed for the post, including the temporary chair Diane Coyle.

But writing in his online blog, the BBC’s economics editor Robert Peston said he had learned from a ‘senior government source’ that Lord Coe was the clear favourite.

He said: ‘Of course his appointment is not 100 per cent, because there is a formal and slightly cumbersome appointments process.

‘For the Government, which for this sort of thing really means the Prime Minister and Chancellor, Lord Coe is the outstanding candidate. So presumably they will find a way to get him over these many hurdles.’

Some speculated yesterday that Peston’s source was the Chancellor George Osborne. Peston is currently shadowing Osborne’s official trade mission to India, and the Chancellor is known to be a close friend of Lord Coe’s.

Lord Coe’s appointment would be popular with Tory MPs. Unlike Lord Patten – who is now advising the Pope on media relations – he is seen as a ‘true Conservative’, and he served as a Tory MP for five years.

The double Olympic gold medallist has also worked with BBC director general Tony Hall, who sat on the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Lord Coe was first rumoured to be in line for the BBC chairman role in May.

At the time, London Mayor Boris Johnson appeared to inadvertently confirm the story when he said that he would be a ‘first-rate choice’.

Lord Coe has not confirmed or denied the reports, although he has said he would be ‘very flattered’ to be considered a contender.

Yesterday, another contender for the £110,000 job – former Ofcom head Colette Bowe – ruled herself out of contention for the post, saying she felt the current BBC structure was ‘hopelessly confused.’

She said: ‘I think that hopeless confusion has served the BBC and the licence fee payers very ill, despite the enormous efforts of good people to try and make it work. There is no desire or inclination among the powers that be to change the system. I haven’t applied, I don’t intend to apply.’

Dame Colette also called for the BBC to scrap the licence fee and replace it with a subscription model. She said: I have to say it seems to be a no brainer moment to look at conditional access funding. Why not? Why wouldn’t they do it? I haven’t seen a single argument that persuaded me that some kind of conditional access wouldn’t be a good thing.’

Her comments were echoed by Channel 4 chairman Lord Burns, who also said he did not want the BBC chairman post.

He said: ‘Can you really imagine in 30 years’ time there will be a licence fee? In the long term you have to get to a position where people who don’t pay can’t watch it. That is subscription. The BBC would be a not for profit company, it would still have a charter, it would still have various privileges, but it would have to persuade people to pay for it.’

[Teddy Bear]

It appears that following consideration by Seb' Coe for the position of head of BBC Trust, he has decided that he would rather remain a popular public figure and declined that 'can of worms'.

I still am hoping the position won't be necessary because the government will decide to privatise the BBC. For them not to is a sure and clear sign that this country will further decline with corruption and propaganda being the main forces dragging it ever downward.

One thing for sure about anybody who might be finally picked, there is no chance that they will tackle the issues that surround the BBC. Those that decide they want the BBC to continue do so because they want to use the inherent corruption, not end it.

COE PULLS OUT OF BBC TRUST RACE

By Press Association

Sebastian Coe has signalled he has pulled out of the race to become the next chairman of the BBC Trust.

The London 2012 supremo, who is chairman of the British Olympic Association, was reportedly the Government's preferred candidate for the role but told the Daily Mail he did not have the "capacity" for the job.

The 1980 and 1984 1500-metre Olympic champion said: "I did allow my name to go forward to give myself time to properly analyse whether I had enough time to do the job to the best of my abilities.

"On reflection, I haven't the capacity and I now want to concentrate on my current commitments and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) election.

"As everyone knows, athletics is in my DNA."

In an interview with the BBC last month Lord Coe said he was "not sure" about the job.

Other names mentioned in relation to the role at the BBC's governing body include Dame Marjorie Scardino, the former chief executive of the company behind the Financial Times, and Channel 4 chairman Lord Burns.

Lord Patten stood down in May for health reasons after a turbulent three years in the job.

Former BBC executive Roger Mosey, who masterminded the corporation's Olympics coverage, welcomed the news when the Tory peer emerged as a possible replacement but said reform was needed.

Mr Mosey, whose career at the BBC included stints as editor of the Today programme, controller of Radio 5 live and head of television news, said: ''Seb Coe would be a great choice as BBC chairman. But the Trust role as now constituted is undoable: can't be both regulator and cheerleader.''

The BBC Trust, as governing body of the corporation, upholds standards and controls licence fee revenue.