Raw and real, Boris calls for Tory to run statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and Leftist BBC

By Tim Montgomerie
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Boris Johnson - the man who has already given up on the Today programme - is in blistering form about the BBC in his Telegraph column:

"The prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the Left... Eurosceptic views are still treated as if they were vaguely mad and unpleasant, even though the Eurosceptic analysis has been proved overwhelmingly right."

He also attacks the Corporation's relentless coverage of Rupert Murdoch:

"In all its lavish coverage of Murdoch, hacking and BSkyB, the BBC never properly explains the reasons why other media organisations – including the BBC – want to shaft a free-market competitor*... The non-Murdoch media have their guns trained on Murdoch, while the Beeb continues to destroy the business case of its private sector rivals with taxpayer-funded websites and electronic media of all kinds."

London's Mayor goes on to express his deep frustration at the obsessions of the BBC. Why, he asks, does the Corporation never cover the dizzying variety of business start-ups across Britain and particularly in London? "Fully 75 per cent of the London economy is private sector," he writes, "and yet it is almost completely ignored by our state broadcaster."

Boris has a solution:

"Well, folks, we have a potential solution. In a short while we must appoint a new director-general, to succeed Mark Thompson. If we are really going ahead with Lords reform (why?), then the Lib Dems should allow the Government to appoint someone to run the BBC who is free-market, pro-business and understands the depths of the problems this country faces. We need someone who knows about the work ethic, and cutting costs. We need a Tory, and no mucking around. If we can’t change the Beeb, we can’t change the country."

A Conservative DG would certainly be good but a dynamic Eurosceptic businessman might work just as well. Specifics aside today's Boris column is another reason why he is the Heineken Tory. It's not just what he says it's also clear this article came from deep inside him. It's real and raw in an age when few politicians are.

* My analysis last year of why the BBC is the real threat to media diversity.