EXCLUSIVEFury as BBC director-general Tim Davie spent nearly a month at plush London hotel instead of commuting back to his £4m Oxfordshire home
The BBC’s director-general had stays totalling nearly a month at a plush central London hotel last year to avoid commuting back to his £4m Oxfordshire home.
Licence fee payers have picked up the tab for his repeated stays at the four-star hotel, as well as other overnight accommodation in the capital.
In total, Tim Davie spent more than 30 nights staying in hotels in London in the previous financial year, the majority of which were at the same one.
Mr Davie, who is paid £525,000 by the BBC, is thought to have spent more than £3,000 on stays at the luxury hotel, which the Mail has chosen not to name, booked through the BBC’s ‘central bookings system’.
Analysis of published documents suggests he spent 26 nights at this hotel throughout the 2023-24 financial year, including some two-night stays.
His main office is Broadcasting house, near Oxford Street in London’s West End. He is known to live near Henley-on-Thames, about an hour’s drive from his office in central London.
It has also emerged that the corporation’s £310,000-a-year chief financial officer, Alan Dickson, who oversees the BBC’s expenditure, spent about 65 nights staying in London hotels in the 2023-24 financial year.
This included 12 nights in the same hotel which was Mr Davie’s favourite.
Tim Davie (pictured) spent more than 30 nights staying in hotels in London in the previous financial year, the majority of which were at the same one
Chief financial officer, Alan Dickson, who oversees the BBC’s expenditure, spent about 65 nights staying in London hotels in the 2023-24 financial year
Mr Davie, who is paid £525,000 by the BBC, is thought to have spent more than £3,000 on stays at the luxury hotel
Mr Dickson is understood to be based in Glasgow, despite the fact that the corporation’s main base is in London.
Former leader of the Conservative Party, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, branded the amount of overnight stays as ‘astonishing’ for someone who lives in ‘striking distance’ of London.
He said: ‘This is simply intolerable. There ought to a serious inquiry by the BBC internally into the money they haemorrhage through these type of costs.
‘You pay people salaries and you expect them to do things, so as I say if someone lives within striking distance of London you would think there would be little or no argument that they should go back home in the evening and get up early and either come in early by train or by car.’
He said Mr Davie ‘must set an example’, adding: ‘Every company that I know is already tightening their belts. The BBC should be doing the same. Expense levels at that point are just unacceptable.’
Mr Duncan Smith also called for both a parliamentary committee and the BBC itself to carry out inquiries into this spending.
He said: ‘The licence fee payers who already baulk at the cost of the licence won’t want to know their licence is paying for bureaucratic costs in the BBC.’
Analysis of BBC expenses data from the earlier financial year, 2022-23, reveals Mr Davie spent even more time at the hotel he frequented most - more than 30 days, in that period. His overall London hotel stays were also higher.
Former Conservative Party leader, Sir Iain Duncan Smith (pictured), branded the amount of overnight stays as ‘astonishing’
BBC chief Tim Davie is known to live near Henley-on-Thames, about an hour’s drive from his office in central London
Mr Dickson, the BBC’s chief financial officer, racked up a bill of £1,600 in just over a month at the hotel where Mr Davie stayed most
Mr Dickson, the BBC’s chief financial officer, racked up a bill of £1,600 in just over a month at the hotel where Mr Davie stayed most. He spent 12 nights there across March and April 2024. This was made up of four three-night stints at the hotel.
Mr Dickson in November 2023 had spent five nights at a Marble Arch hotel, costing £600, followed by a four-night stay in Shepherds Bush later in the month, for an economical £57.50 a night.
There was a four-night stint at a hotel in Piccadilly, which cost £460, while in September there were three nights not far from Oxford Street, costing £345.
Mr Dickson spent about 65 nights staying in London hotels in the financial year, totalling nearly £8,000.
The director-general has regularly claimed the BBC is struggling against a tough financial climate. He recently told a committee of MPs that the BBC was ‘woefully underfunded’ even though it receives about £3.6bn a year from licence fee income.
Among the director-general’s other expenses and central bookings was £3,545 return flight to Nairobi in Kenya in April 2024.
A source at the corporation claimed it had policies in place to ensure spending was ‘proportionate’ and ‘appropriate’ and added that all stays were within BBC expenses policy.
They added that the director-general was ‘occasionally required to stay late to attend business-related events and/or start early’ which made it ‘more economical’ to stay in London in these circumstances.
The source said Mr Dickson was based in Glasgow and his role provided financial leadership across the whole BBC group and that he uses hotels when travelling to London.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Like any media organisation, staff are sometimes required to use hotels and we always keep costs to a minimum.’
