BBC staff walk out in Dyke protest

Hundreds of BBC staff walked out today in a protest over the enforced departure of director-general Greg Dyke and political pressure on the corporation.

All 25,000 BBC staff across Britain were urged to join unprecedented protests outside their workplaces between noon and 2pm. In the event, small but vocal groups did so. Outside Broadcasting House on Portland Place, more than 100 employees chanted "Hands off the BBC". The slogan is the name of their campaign in protest at "interference and pressure from politicians in the wake of the Hutton Report".

TV and radio comedian Mark Steel said: "People are really annoyed about this. Now there will be pressure on the BBC, whenever they are being critical of the Government, to think, 'We'd better be careful,' - especially with the threat of the licence fee renewal." Jacqueline Cook, a liaison assistant at Broadcasting House, said: "Public broadcasting is essential to the democratic process. The Government should let us get on with our job."

Greg Dyke said today he would go back to his old job if he was asked. He said he was planning a book that would cover the David Kelly affair and the Hutton report, which last week led to his resignation. He told Broadcast magazine: "I loved working for the BBC and I loved the people there. I was overwhelmed by the response of the staff but also from the general public.

"Obviously in certain circumstances, if I was asked to go back of course I would. But I think it's very unlikely." A Broadcast poll of 200 people in the TV industry found 77 per cent thought he should have stayed.

Acting director-general Mark Byford is to lead a review into the conduct of BBC staff involved in the Kelly affair. A separate report will look into the BBC's editorial systems.