Cheers reportedly rang through the BBC newsroom yesterday when human resources director Lucy Adams was given a dressing down by Margaret Hodge MP.
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Hodge said to her yesterday: “You’re developing a habit of changing your evidence.” She also told her: “I’m not having any more lies this afternoon.”
During the committee hearing, BBC media correspondent Nick Higham tweeted: “There was an audible cheer in the BBC newsroom when Margaret Hodge accused BBC HR director Lucy Adams of lying to the PAC.”
It emerged at the end of last month that Adams was to step down from her BBC role in which she is paid a salary of £320,000.
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The day after it was announced she was leaving, the National Union of Journalists announced that it “welcomes” her resignation.
The union went on to make a string of accusations against Adams, which it claims were based on the testimony of a whistleblower.
The NUJ took the accusations down from its website after the BBC claimed that the accusations “cannot be substantiated”.
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A statement from the BBC said: “BBC management remains committed to working with the NUJ but today's actions make that significantly harder and that benefits no one."
The corporation also put a statement out on behalf of Adams. It said: “I totally reject the claims that have been made against me by the NUJ today. There is no truth in them whatsoever and they are highly defamatory. This is an unwarranted and very personal attack and I have instructed a lawyer to take matters further.”
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