Sir Michael Lyons has been named as the new chairman of the BBC Trust, Downing Street has announced. Sir Michael will take up his post as head of the BBC’s governing body on May 1, replacing Michael Grade, who defected from the corporation to join ITV.
“It is a great privilege to be appointed Chairman of the BBC Trust,” Sir Michael said. “As the BBC’s sovereign body, our duty is to ensure the public who pay for the BBC retain overall control of their BBC. As Chairman I will never lose sight of the public’s core expectations of editorial independence and quality programmes across television, radio and the internet which inform, educate and entertain.”
Sir Michael is a former deputy chairman and acting chairman of the Audit Commission. He was knighted in January 2000 for services to local government having served as chief executive of three major local authorities. He is a former non-executive director of Central Television and until recently was chairman of the Regional Advisory Council for ITV.
