The preferred candidate to take over from Lord Patten as head of the BBC Trust defended the licence fee during a hearing with MPs.

Businesswoman Rona Fairhead told MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee she was not "an establishment figure" and shrugged off reports she was offered the job because the Government wanted a woman in the role.

She said she had been approached by head-hunters and had not discussed her application with anyone in the Government, saying: "I felt the process was, for my mind, a standard process."