UPDATE 2 August: In light of calls from MPs to publish the salaries of BBC stars out-earning the Prime Minister, it seems apt to point out that Heat Street has already done much of the legwork here.
However, this list is the tip of the iceberg. Our list includes only broadcast journalists – scores more people receive enormous salaries from the Corporation for other programmes that have nothing to do with the news.
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UPDATE 19 May: I am grateful to BBC sources who have told me that BBC newsreaders Tim Willcox and Simon McCoy should both be on this list as well. McCoy’s salary is understood to be £190,000. The total now stands at 42.
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Today, Heat Street publishes the names of 40 BBC radio and TV presenters whose pay is greater than the prime minister’s salary of £149,440.
These names were supplied by helpful BBC insiders who believe making this information more widely known is in the public interest.
Everybody included is either a freelancer, on staff, paid through a service company or by a production company.
All, ultimately, are paid with TV licence fee money.
There are others. We will endeavour to name them in due course.
Earlier this year week the BBC won a battle with then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale to keep these names secret. The compromise Whittingdale and the Corporation reached is that it will in future only have to identify those paid £450,000 or more.
However, there is a significantly sized group in the bracket below that, who are paid between £150,000 and £449,000. Insiders say this group is so large, BBC bosses are terrified of the public outrage it would unleash if it were ever formally revealed.
It is inexplicable that any six-figure publicly-funded salaries should be allowed to stay in the shadows with government approval.
In every other walk of publicly-funded life – from the NHS to the Armed Forces, parliament and the education sector – salaries are published as a matter of routine.
And the BBC itself has for years published the salaries of its own executives, which is how we know that BBC chief Tony Hall takes home £450,000 per year.
Yet for some reason, the government has made an exception for BBC “talent” and some journalists.
So, we are allowed to know what the Prime Minister is paid for running the country – but not what Huw Edwards receives for reading the news.
In May, Heat Street reported that Radio 4 PM presenter Eddie Mair is paid £425,000 per year.
The BBC refused to deny this, as its policy is not to discuss salaries. It now says this sum is “inaccurate”.
But if it will not disclose what Mair is paid, how can we be certain it is telling the truth?
After all, not that long ago the BBC wasted £100 million on the failed Digital Media Initiative computer project.
Having dismissed BBC executive John Linwood over this stunning fiasco, it then secretly spent £415,000 plus VAT on legal fees fighting Linwood’s claim of unfair dismissal – a case it lost.
Amazingly, before that case went to court, Linwood had offered to settle with the BBC for £50,000.
This one example shows how cavalier the BBC is with its unearned, guaranteed £3.7 billion per year income.
The BBC has a ridiculous new catchphrase: “For all of us”. It rings incredibly hollow when it refuses to tell the public how their money is being spent.
The list:
Graham Norton – Radio 2/Graham Norton show
Chris Evans – Radio 2/(former) Top Gear
Gary Lineker – Match of the Day
David Dimbleby – Question Time
Huw Edwards – News presenter
Fiona Bruce – News presenter/various TV programmes
Steve Wright – Radio 2
Jeremy Vine – Radio 2/various TV programmes
Andrew Marr – Andrew Marr show/Radio 4 work
Matt LeBlanc – Top Gear
Mishal Husain – Radio 4 Today
Nick Robinson – Radio 4 Today
John Humphrys – Radio 4 Today
Justin Webb – Radio 4 Today
Sarah Montague – Radio 4 Today
Jim Naughtie – Radio 4 Today/Bookclub
Alan Yentob – Imagine
Evan Davis – Newsnight
Emily Maitlis – Newsnight
Kirsty Wark – Newsnight
Nicky Campbell – Radio 5 Live Breakfast Show/ The Big Questions BBC1
Clive Myrie – News presenter
Gavin Esler – News presenter
George Alagiah – News presenter
Simon Mayo – Radio 2 presenter
Ken Bruce – Radio 2 presenter
Claudia Winkleman – Radio 2/Strictly Come Dancing/The Film Programme
Tess Daly – Strictly Come Dancing
Laura Kuenssberg – Political editor
John Simpson – World Affairs editor
Sophie Raworth – News/current affairs presenter
Martha Kearney – Radio 4 presenter
Will Gompertz – Arts editor
Kamal Ahmed – Economics editor
James Landale – Diplomatic Correspondent
Reeta Chakrabarti – News presenter
Andrew Neil – Daily Politics/This Week presenter
Jane Hill – News presenter
Jon Sopel – North America editor
Eddie Mair – Radio 4 PM
Tim Willcox – TV newsreader
Simon McCoy – TV newsreader
If any of those listed honestly believes they are not paid more than the Prime Minister through their BBC activities and requests the removal of their name from this list, we will happily amend it.
A BBC spokesman said: “Given Heat Street has previously published wildly inaccurate claims on BBC pay despite being told it’s inaccurate, we’d suggest any further claims are taken with a large heap of salt. It is well known we pay less than other broadcasters – plenty of people have left us to earn more elsewhere. The BBC publishes data on the number and salaries of talent in news, radio, television and digital by broad bands in its annual report.”
miles.goslett@dowjones.com