Never again

It is everything to do with finance – and nothing about the long-suffering licence fee payers who subsidised the career of the chat show host so he could continue insulting people like Andrew Sachs, the much-loved actor on the receiving end of a torrent of personally insulting prank phone calls masquerading as "entertainment".

If Mr Ross was so critical to the BBC's future plans, the Corporation would have offered him a new contract after tolerating such gaffes.

Yet the BBC knows that they were in no position to renew Mr Ross's existing contract which was reportedly worth 18m over three years.

And, despite the denials of yesterday, Mr Ross knows that he cannot be expected to be rewarded so handsomely again – especially by a publicly-funded organisation.

As such, the only lesson to be drawn from this expensive and sorry saga is that the BBC never again pays performers, however talented, such over-bloated salaries. For no one in showbusiness merits a 6m annual salary from the public purse.