BBC boss Dyke quits post

BBC chief Greg Dyke bowed to demands for his resignation today at a crisis meeting of the corporation's governors.

He gave up a fight to save his job as pressure mounted from Labour MPs and allies of Tony Blair for heads to roll.

Facing the cameras outside the BBC headquarters, he shrugged and said: "That's life."

Mr Dyke, 56, appealed for other executives criticised in Lord Hutton's devastating report to be allowed to stay. He said his resignation and that of chairman Gavyn Davies should be enough for "a fresh start".

"My position as director-general was inevitably compromised by the criticism of BBC managementin the Hutton Report," he said. "With the departure of Gavyn and myself and the apology I made on behalf of the BBC yesterday, I hope a line can be drawn under this episode."

Mr Dyke became emotional as he read from emails sent to him from staff begging him not to resign.

One supportive message read: "No matter what the future brings, please know you have made us proud to be part of the BBC and we will support you whatever you do."

His move came less than a day after he enraged the Government by making only a partial apology for the corporation's role in the David Kelly affair.

Facing the cameras outside the BBC HQ Mr Dyke revealed he offered his resignation to the governors last night - but it was unclear whether he had expected his offer to be accepted.

He was appointed in 2000 by Tony Blair and his appointment earned controversy because of his past support for Labour.

It was put to him that his departure would not help the Corporation recover from the savaging by Lord Hutton, but Mr Dyke said he hoped his resignation would bring an end to "an unpleasant and difficult time".

Mr Dyke said: "I am proud of what we have achieved together over the last four years.

"Throughout this affair my sole aim as director general of the BBC has been to defend our editorial independence and to act in the public interest."

Mr Dyke, who is editor in chief of the BBC as well as its Director General, appeared at the doors of Broadcasting House after being locked away for a full three and a half hours with governors of the Corporation.

He made a short, five minute statement confirming his departure before being ushered back into the building by security staff.

Mark Byford, 45, has been appointed acting director general of the BBC in the wake of the resignation. Earlier new documents today revealed how the BBC wriggled to the very end to deflect Lord Hutton from castigating its senior management.

Lawyers for the corporation sent a 70-page dossier in an attempt to save Mr Dyke and its governors from severe criticism.

They argued that Mr Dyke was blameless for the "defective" system of checks which failed to expose the mistakes made by reporter Andrew Gilligan.

Mr Dyke, they argued, had a long list of extra responsibilities, from "motivating staff" to handling budgets and could not have been expected to check Mr Gilligan's story which alleged that the Government inserted bogus material into the Iraq dossier.

Although editors traditionally accepted responsibility for their journalists' shortcomings, that did not mean Mr Dyke "could or should" have had a clue about the inaccuracies in the story.

The submission said the governors did not have "direct management responsibility", although they did take "ultimate responsibility for the BBC in everything it does".

And it argued, astonishingly, that the governors were never asked to treat the deluge of demands for an apology made by Alastair Campbell or the Government as "a formal complaint".

Meanwhile, in a separate legal submission, Gilligan attempted to claim that reporters should be allowed "a margin of error" to make mistakes.

His 47-page document argued it was unfair to focus on his errors alone, saying: "Particular words and phrases should not be picked out from a transcript for detailed forensic examination that distorts the effect of the words at the time."

The documents, which were kept secret during the inquiry, were published for the first time today.