The much-delayed process to find a new chair for the UK regulator Ofcom seems likely to run into next year, after it emerged the government had only just engaged headhunters.
It follows the rejection by an independent panel of Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate, after former Daily Mail editor and Paul Dacre. The panel had questioned the impartiality of Dacre, a critic of both tech companies and the BBC.
The panel, made up of civil servants and outside executives approved three candidates, Lord Vaizey of Didcot, the former digital minister, Ofcom’s current interim chairwoman Maggie Carver, and Sir Tom Winsor, chief inspector of constabulary from an original field of ten, Dacre was said to be “not appointable”.
The Sunday Times reported a government tender for the headhunter contract indicated work on the project should begin next month.