BBC broke rules on programme approval

THE BBC breached its own editorial guidelines over the Jonathan Ross phone affair, the Standard can reveal.

Radio 2 managers failed to follow a strict rule that David Jordan, the controller of BBC editorial policy, had to approve the broadcast of the obscene phone calls made and broadcast by Ross and Russell Brand.

Sources told the Standard that Mr Jordan's department "knew nothing" of the show before it went on air.

The BBC's editorial guidelines says that independently produced programmes on Radio 2, such as Brand's show, must be submitted with a strict compliance form, (see left), that has to go to Julian Grundy, the manager responsible for commissioning at the station.

As the offending broadcast contained offensive language, sexual content and a possible breach of privacy, the programme would then have to be referred to the BBC's editorial policy chief, Mr Jordan. But this did not happen and the inquiry has sought to determine whether it was Mr Grundy or Radio 2's head of compliance Dave Barber who failed to follow the rules.

BBC sources said that both names have been mooted as the possible "senior" managers who face carrying the can for the row, which has triggered an unprecedented 30,500 complaints.

They are also closely examining the form completed by Nic Philps, the show's producer, who is not a BBC employee but works for Brand's independent production company, Vanity Projects.