There are institutions so deeply stitched into the national fabric that we forget they were ever built at all. The BBC is one of them. It did not simply appear as a natural feature of British life; it was constructed — deliberately, ambitiously — as a civic project rooted in the belief that a nation deserves a shared space where truth, culture, and common experience are not reduced to commodities. For a century it has acted as a kind of secular commons, a place where Britain meets itself. And yet, in 2026, this institution finds itself under sustained and often hostile attack, particularly from sections of the political right who have convinced themselves that the BBC is not a public inheritance but an adversary.
Spend time with the Radio Times special issue published on 20 June 2026 and a different picture emerges entirely. Across its pages — testimony, argument, affection, frustration, pride — you hear a country speaking back to itself. What comes through is not nostalgia but a kind of civic clarity: the BBC making the public case for its own existence, not as a relic but as a living constitutional instrument. The voices gathered there are varied yet strikingly aligned. They remind us that the BBC is not merely a broadcaster but a democratic habit, a cultural meeting‑place, a national memory. In their collective insistence, you sense something patriotic in the best and broadest sense: a belief that Britain is diminished without a shared public realm.
One reader calls the BBC “still a national treasure.” Another describes it as “a safe house for truth.” Sir Simon Schama, reflecting on his Bafta‑winning documentary, argues that in an age of online lies, the BBC’s role is nothing less than “to hold the line for truth.” Peter Kosminsky warns that without a strong public broadcaster, “the space for serious, challenging drama shrinks.”
These are not sentimental flourishes. They are statements of civic reality and hope.
Why the Right Is Attacking the BBC
To understand the current hostility, you have to understand the political psychology of the modern British right — a coalition increasingly shaped by grievance, market dogma, and a deep suspicion of institutions it cannot control. The BBC has become a lightning rod for these anxieties. The attacks fall into three overlapping categories, each revealing more about the critics than about the Corporation itself.
• The BBC is a mirror — and some don’t like the reflection. A broadcaster that refuses to flatter the government of the day is too easily cast as an opponent rather than an independent institution doing its job. When journalism holds power to account, those in power often cry bias. The discomfort is political, not evidential; it is the reaction of those who expect deference and resent scrutiny.
• Culture‑war opportunism. The BBC has been drafted into the culture wars as a symbolic enemy — a convenient vessel into which every grievance about “wokeness” can be poured. This caricature is built largely on selective outrage about comedy or news coverage, ignoring the breadth of the BBC’s output. The attack is not about content; it is about mobilising resentment.
• Market fundamentalism. A faction of the right genuinely believes that commercial markets can replace public broadcasting. They cannot. Markets do not fund unprofitable genres, regional journalism, children’s programming, or the kind of investigative reporting that serves the public rather than shareholders. The belief that the market will fill the gap is ideological fantasy, not media policy.
Taken together, these attacks form a political project, not a principled critique. They tell us far more about the insecurities of the modern right than about the BBC itself.To understand the current hostility, you have to understand the political psychology of the modern British right. The BBC is being attacked for three overlapping reasons — none of which withstand serious scrutiny.
Why the Right Should Think Again
If the right truly believes in national sovereignty, cultural confidence, and democratic resilience, then it should be the BBC’s fiercest defender.If the right truly believes in national sovereignty, cultural confidence, and democratic resilience, then it should be the BBC’s fiercest defender. A nation that values its independence cannot afford to hollow out one of the few institutions that still binds the country together and speaks to it without fear or favour.
• A sovereign nation needs sovereign media. Handing Britain’s cultural infrastructure over to global streaming giants is not sovereignty — it is dependency. A country that cannot tell its own stories on its own terms is not in control of its cultural destiny.
• Patriotism requires institutions that bind us together. The BBC remains one of the last places where Britain meets itself: in its accents, its regions, its shared rituals, its collective memory. It is not just a broadcaster but a national archive of who we are and who we have been.
• The right’s own voters rely on the BBC. Local radio, regional news, emergency broadcasting — these are lifelines for older, rural, and working‑class audiences. Undermining the BBC weakens the very communities the right claims to champion.
• A strong BBC strengthens the whole media ecosystem. The BBC is the R&D lab of British media, the place where talent is developed, innovation is tested, and standards are set. Weaken it, and the entire industry becomes thinner, cheaper, and more derivative.
The right’s attack is not only misguided — it is self‑defeating. It erodes the very pillars of national life that conservatives once understood instinctively: continuity, shared culture, and institutional independence.
I know these views will be unpopular with some, but I take a long view of what the BBC is and what it could be. I defend it not out of sentimentality but out of a belief in its civic purpose. And I argue for mutualisation because it offers a way to renew the BBC’s connection to the nation while protecting it from both privatisation and political capture. It is the constructive path — the patriotic path — for those who want a BBC that truly belongs to the people..
How Mutualisation Could Work in Practice
Mutualisation is not a slogan. It is a constitutional settlement — a deliberate act of democratic redesign that would place the BBC beyond the reach of day‑to‑day political interference while keeping it securely in public hands. At its core lies a simple but radical proposition: that a national broadcaster should belong to the nation itself, not to ministers, markets, or media barons.
This idea is not new. Media reform advocates — most notably the Media Reform Coalition, whose detailed proposals call for transforming the BBC into a democratic mutual organisation owned and run by the public — have long argued that the Corporation’s current governance model leaves it vulnerable to political pressure. John McDonnell, during his time as Shadow Chancellor, also championed a mutual or co‑operative model for the BBC, arguing that democratic public ownership was the only way to guarantee genuine independence and rebuild trust. Their shared concern is clear: the BBC’s legitimacy and editorial freedom cannot rest on the goodwill of whichever government happens to be in office.
Mutualisation offers a modern constitutional home for an institution that has always been more than just a broadcaster. It protects independence, strengthens accountability, and renews the BBC’s connection to the people who fund it. In this sense, it is not a rupture but the next logical step in the Corporation’s evolution — a way of securing its civic purpose for the next century.
Here is how it could work.
1. A New Legal Form: The BBC as a Public Interest Mutual
The BBC would be transformed into a public interest mutual, similar to a building society or a civic co‑operative, but with statutory protections.
• Ownership: Every licence fee payer becomes a member.
• Purpose: Enshrined in law — public service, universality, independence.
• Profit: Reinvested entirely in programming and journalism.
This model protects the BBC from privatisation and from state capture.
2. A Democratic, Representative Governing Council
The current BBC Board — appointed largely by ministers — would be replaced by a member‑elected Governing Council.
Representation could be structured as:
• One‑third elected by licence fee payers
• One‑third elected by BBC staff
• One‑third representing the nations and regions
This ensures accountability without politicisation.
3. A Charter That Cannot Be Weaponised
The BBC Charter would be replaced with a Constitutional Settlement requiring:
• A supermajority in Parliament to amend
• A public referendum for major structural changes
• A 10‑year stability period for funding and remit
This ends the cycle of governments using the Charter review as leverage.
4. Funding: Still Universal, Still Public, But Member‑Controlled
The licence fee (or its successor) would remain universal, but its level would be set by:
• An Independent Funding Commission, insulated from government
• Ratified by the member body of licence fee payers
This prevents Treasury pressure from undermining editorial independence.
5. Editorial Independence Guaranteed in Law
Mutualisation would enshrine:
• No ministerial appointments
• No political interference in editorial decisions
• A statutory firewall between government and journalism
This is the heart of the model: independence as a constitutional right.
6. Nations and Regions at the Centre
Mutualisation allows for a federal BBC, with devolved boards for:
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• English regions
Each with control over local commissioning and budgets.
This strengthens the BBC’s role as a genuinely national institution.
7. A Public Stake in the Digital Future
Members would have a say in:
• Data ethics
• Algorithmic transparency
• Digital archives
• Public access to BBC content
The BBC becomes not just a broadcaster but a digital civic institution.
A National Treasure Worth Fighting For
The BBC is not perfect. No institution is. But it remains one of the few places where Britain can still recognise itself — in all its contradictions, complexities, accents, regions, and shared humanity. It is a rare civic space in a fragmented age: a place where the country gathers not as consumers, tribes, or demographics, but as a public.
To dismantle it would be an act of cultural vandalism. To privatise it would be an act of national self‑harm — the surrender of a century of shared memory, public purpose, and democratic trust. But to mutualise it would be something else entirely: an act of democratic renewal, a conscious decision to take an institution built for the nation and return it to the nation in a form that protects it for generations to come.
The BBC is a house we built together — brick by brick, broadcast by broadcast, decade by decade. It has carried our stories, our crises, our triumphs, and our contradictions. It has been the soundtrack to national life and the archive of who we have been. If we want it to endure, we must not simply defend it; we must take ownership of it — literally and constitutionally — so that it can continue to serve the public without fear, favour, or interference.
A national treasure is worth fighting for. And this one is worth rebuilding so that it truly belongs to the people who rely on it.
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