Tension at BBC as Birt blocks Dyke

THE OUTGOING director general of the BBC, Sir John Birt, is rushing through a review of the corporation's performance, rather than let it be handled by his successor, Greg Dyke.

It means that Sir John will sit in judgement on his own final year. The alternative would have been a very public critique of Sir John's BBC by Mr Dyke. The move also highlights the tension that is surfacing between the two men. Mr Dyke has been frustrated by the high degree of control over the corporation being maintained by Sir John.

An associate of Mr Dyke said: "Greg will go mad if John is this controlling, right up to the end of March [when Sir John steps down as director general]."

Performance Review is the BBC's key annual self- assessment process. It culminates in the Director General's Review which, alongside an appraisal of the BBC by the governors, is published in the corporation's annual report. Performance Review normally takes place during March and April, but next year it will start about one month early, allowing it to be completed before Mr Dyke takes over.

The BBC defended the move, claiming it was "fair enough that John conducts Performance Review". A spokesman added: "Greg will be at all the important meetings, and will take a key role in setting objectives for next year."

While Mr Dyke himself is being highly diplomatic, maintaining the appearance of a good relationship with Sir John, there have been signs of tensions within the BBC. Insiders say they have observed Sir John's staff approaching Mr Dyke after he has listened to BBC programme bosses at informal meetings, to ask what had been under discussion.

One BBC source added: "When Greg has asked a television executive for a few notes in writing on a subject, John's people have homed in on him a few seconds later, as soon as Greg is out of earshot, and insisted that the notes go to John first." The two men have a long history of working and socialising together, and both play football. But they have very different personal and management styles.

Sir John is keen on new management systems and, working closely with the management consultants McKinsey, set up the Performance Review process in 1993. It required that every small unit of the BBC write a self- assessment document.

The process prompted hundreds of worried programme-makers to compose long documents in praise of their own achievements, rather than working on programmes. Greg Dyke, by contrast, has expressed a profound dislike of such paperwork, and will probably get rid of the cur- rent version of Performance Review.

A former colleague said: "At Pearson [the independent television company], he would never allow long documents about anything that happened in the past. And anything about future proposals would have to be expressed on one sheet of A4."

BBC staff are now waiting to see how Mr Dyke's management style will affect the 22,000-strong organisation - notably through the appointment of key managers who will put his ideas into practice.

A vital job is that of chief executive, broadcast, currently occupied by Will Wyatt, who retires at the end of this year. Mr Dyke gets on well with the former controller of BBC 2, Mark Thompson, who is seen as a strong contender - along with Mr Dyke's old friend, Clive Jones, now chief executive at Carlton Television.

Mr Dyke may also want to appoint his own head of strategy. Tony Cohen, an old LWT colleague who runs Pearson Television in America, is a front-runner.