Cool Ryder will relish the BBC maelstrom

If anyone can staunch the blood haemorrhaging from the BBC, Lord Ryder of Wensum, the new acting chairman of the governors, may be the man. Taking over from Gavyn Davies, whom he served as vice-chairman, Richard Ryder has the unenviable task of mending fences with Downing Street while restoring the BBC's shattered reputation.

His experience as Tory chief whip a decade ago will have been the best training ground for the chaos in which the corporation now finds itself. I served as one of his junior whips during the worst days of John Major's government after the exchange rate mechanism debacle and during the the backbench revolt over the passage of the legislation to enact the Maastricht Treaty.

Lord Ryder is a natural conciliator and fixer. Although he is the classic insider, and long-standing establishment figure, his understanding of the need to massage the egos of politicians gives him a better than outside chance of cleaning up the mess bequeathed to him.

As chief whip he presided over a fractious Conservative government where knife-edge votes, such as this week's tuition fees rebellion, were almost daily events. He regarded his sole task as pulling the chestnuts out of the Downing Street fire and he revelled in the excitement of tense divisions. I never saw him lose his temper or raise his voice.

No one ever had a conversation with him without feeling that they had secured his understanding - although his attention span faded if you failed to make your point concisely.

In his Westminster diaries, Gyles Brandreth recalls a typical dinner, with Seb Coe, at the chief whip's table in the MPs' Commons dining room: "Richard was quietly charming and the evening wasn't enjoyable. He wasn't interested in Seb's ideas and with the likes of us he only gossips guardedly."

The weekly whips' meeting in 12 Downing Street were delightful occasions as our chatter, anecdotes and gossip about our backbench colleagues gave him new leads on how to apply pressure on them in the event of threats to vote against the government.

Conciliation was his method of doing business. But if that failed he was extraordinarily decisive, becoming the only Tory chief whip in modern times to activate the ultimate sanction of withdrawing the whip from eight dissident MPs during the Maastricht legislation. Hindsight might suggest that, with barely an overall majority, this was a reckless move. But he seemed to find new energy during crises and revelled in danger, which is why he will be relishing every minute of the maelstrom at the BBC.

Lord Ryder entered Parliament in 1983, and served in Downing Street as Margaret Thatcher's political secretary. His finest hour was when he ran Mr Major's leadership campaign against Michael Heseltine and Douglas Hurd with inspirational efficiency. Nobody was surprised when he was rewarded with the chief whip's job - "the only job I want in cabinet", he told me.

He will be aware of just how far the BBC can go in resisting the Government's demands for apologies and sackcloth and ashes. His quiet diplomacy and understanding of the back channels within Downing Street will end this feud. He knows what further personnel sacrifices may have to be made, and he may even be eyeing the new opportunities for his temporary position to be made permanent. Tony Blair should grasp this lifeline.

CANDIDATES FOR CHAIRMAN

MICHAEL PORTILLO

A grandee who is not too grand to watch television - and even appear on it - the new touchy-feely Portillo, who is about to leave Parliament, has experience running large government departments, and arguing his position in cabinet. He has recently revealed himself to be a protector of the BBC, and his Tory past would act as proof of the corporation's independence from government interference.

SIR MAX HASTINGS

Perhaps the best - certainly the best-known - ex-broadsheet editor in Britain, Sir Max, who ran The Daily Telegraph from 1986 to 1995, is enough of a troublemaker to run an interesting BBC but enough of a player to be able to knock on an open door to government, A million miles from his "Hitler Hastings" Private Eye persona, he is popular with staff and a known as a good motivator.

GERRY ROBINSON

The former chairman and chief executive of Granada knows how to bring success to a big organisation. He is praised for turning the ITV company around, managing its transformation into one of the two commercial TV giants. As the head of the Arts Council, he knows about more than mere balance sheets. But insiders wonder whether he would take the job.