David Dimbleby may bid to be BBC chairman

David Dimbleby is considering a bid to become the next chairman of the BBC when Sir David Clementi stands down in 2021.

The former Question Time host said he was "horrified" by reports Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted to give the job to The Daily Telegraph's ex-editor Charles Moore.

That appointment would have been "a malign intervention," the veteran broadcaster told the BBC's Newscast podcast.

"I think you need someone with a more open mind," he said, citing Moore's newspaper and magazine columns on gay marriage and race.

Moore has since confirmed he is not applying for the role, but Dimbleby is keeping his options open in case another candidate emerges who he deems a threat to the corporation.

"I still might [apply], depending on who comes forward," he said.

"Boris Johnson, we know, wants to bring the BBC to heel. We don't want a chairman who connives in that ambition."

The 81-year-old would be a reluctant entrant to the race, but he has previously expressed an interest in joining the BBC's management.

He applied to be director general in the 1980s and was linked with the chairmanship in the early 2000s.

There has been much press speculation about who will be the next BBC chairman

The chair leads the BBC's independent board, which sets the organisation's overall direction, manages its performance and oversees the system for handling complaints.

Moore did not comment when approached by Newscast.

A government spokesperson said: "We will launch the application process for the new chair of the BBC shortly. It is an open recruitment process and all public appointments are subject to a robust and fair selection criteria."

Dimbleby, who also used to host the BBC's election night programmes, is now working on his new podcast The Fault Line, which investigates the build-up to the war in Iraq in 2003.

His next might look at the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Question Time's audience is currently a thing of the past

He also confirmed he still has not watched an edition of Question Time since Fiona Bruce took over the programme in 2019.

He believes the coronavirus pandemic has robbed the show of its most important ingredient - its live audience.

In lieu of this, he mooted a political spin-off from Channel Four's Gogglebox, where a 100-strong regular cast of locked-down voters could give their views from home.

Newscast is available on BBC Sounds