I have only just alighted on this thread. There is an enormous amount of recycling of personal assumptions in this thread and relatively little sign of careful and balanced thought. I will make two comments:

John MacKenzie claimed that no politician resigns when he gets it wrong. Tell that to Peter Mandelson, Estelle Morris and many others in between. Anyone is entitled to be dissatisfied with a politician and complain if he/she doesn't resign - but you cannot honestly ignore the fact that quite a few (out of a group of only twenty in the cabinet at any time) are wrong, know it and resign.

Obnig Hrobgog asks "now quis custodiet ipsos custodios?" in the thread. Well one thing is absolutely incontrivertible after Hutton - the Beeb management structure totally failed to fulfil that role internally. Even if Hutton was over-generous about the government, it was very revealing of an internal Beeb culture that could not be bothered to undertake an editorial responsibility.