Scandal!

What would Sunday be without a little scandal? 

The Great BBC Expenses Scandal rolls on. According to The Sunday Times:

THE BBC spent £2,400 of licence-fee money paying for friends of Alan Yentob, a senior executive, to attend a private function at which he was being given an award.

Details released under the Freedom of Information Act show the BBC paid for 16 of Yentob’s associates to attend the party, where he received the 2014 Media Society Award.

The event, held at the Millennium Hotel in central London on December 9, featured film tributes to Yentob, who earns £330,000 a year, from Mick Jagger, Mel Brooks and Harry Enfield. Among Yentob’s guests were BBC senior manager Janice Hadlow and BBC non-executive director Sir Howard Stringer, the former boss of Sony.

Last night the Tory MP Andrew Bridgen [surprise, surprise!] said: “This shows the contempt that Alan Yentob has for licence fee payers who have no control over how their money is spent.”

The BBC said it had “hosted a small number of guests while staff liaised with the large number of national journalists in attendance. The BBC has clear policies to ensure spending on hospitality is proportionate.”