Jeremy Clarkson has slammed the BBC’s Director General Tim Davie after he claimed it would be “very difficult” for the BBC to ask Huw Edwards for the money back that he was still receiving despite being suspended.
After his guilty plea last Wednesday, Edwards has been urged to hand back a hefty sum of his pay packet which he received from the BBC at the time he was arrested in November 2023.
His three guilty pleas heard Edwards received 41 pictures from 25-year-old sex offender Alex Williams – two of which were found in a horrific WhatsApp exchange, showing boys as young as seven years old.
The 62-year-old – who could face a jail term – was suspended by the BBC in July last year after a report emerged in The Sun that he’d paid a teenager for explicit images.
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the BBC had paid the broadcaster £475,000-£479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024 – £40,000 more than he was paid the year before.
Davie has since been under a huge amount of pressure, with Secretary Lisa Nandy joining a chorus of voices on Friday calling for Edwards to return the taxpayer-funded sum.
Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts
PA
She expressed that the way the BBC continued his salary was “wrong” and “not a good use of taxpayers’ money”, before adding that she felt most of the country would agree with her.
In an interview for BBC News on Thursday, August 1, Davie said of the demand: “When it comes to pay, again, [it’s] legally challenging [to recover], but we’ll look at all options. We were very shocked, no one knew about the specifics.”
When questioned whether Edwards’ would still receive his pension, Davie said it was “very difficult to claw back, nigh on impossible”, adding: “These are unfortunately the specifics of how it works.”
Former Top Gear presenter Clarkson has slammed Davie’s words and wrote in his The Sun column on Sunday: “There seems to be some discussion about how we can get our hands on the £200,000 of our money that was paid to Huw Edwards by the BBC after his arrest last year.
Huw was still receiving his full salary whilst no longer working for the BBC after his arrest in 2023
PA
“According to Tim Davie, the Director-General of the Beeb, it’s fraught with difficulties. But is it? Why not have a quiet word with the judge who sentences Edwards and suggests that, in addition to whatever punishment he has in mind, a fine might be in order?
“A fine of ooh, let’s think – £200,000?”
Clarkson isn’t the only one who feels Edwards needs to pay the BBC back, as Jennie Bond – who worked with Edwards at BBC News before she left in 2003 – claimed that if he had “any dignity left” then he would pay some of the money back.
Whilst discussing the issue with Jeremy Vine on his Channel 5 talk show, she exclaimed: “Frankly, if Huw has any dignity left then he would hand some of the money back, certainly the £200,000 he has made since his arrest.
Jennie Bond was in agreement that Huw Edwards should pay some of the money back
GB NEWS
“I think it would be gracious of him to do that. I don’t think there is any legal recourse for the BBC. I think we have to remember that the BBC as a whole is being tarnished and reputationally this is very damaging.
“But I think you and I both know Jeremy that the newsroom is – quite rightfully – separate from the corporation itself. I know it’s quite a hard decision to make but we in the news without fear or favour question the bosses at the BBC and that’s entirely right.
“So in the newsroom itself, they were kept in the dark right until this week which is extraordinary.”