Entwistle demanded pay-off, Patten tells MPs

The BBC Trust chairman told MPs on the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, the settlement was “better than any other course of action” amid fears of an unfair dismissal claim.

Mr Entwistle was forced to quit after just 54 days in the job after BBC2’s Newsnight wrongly implicated Lord McAlpine in a child abuse scandal – leading to a £185,000 payout.

He had fallen under fire for the Corporation’s response to the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal, including his own decision to run tribute programmes to the late DJ last Christmas even though he knew he was the subject of an earlier Newsnight investigation.

Last week it emerged Mr Entwistle insisted on a full 12 months’ salary as he left, as well as receiving £35,000 for legal expenses, £10,000 for public relations and 12 months’ private medical cover.

Describing their last phone conversation, Lord Patten said he told him: “We are not urging you to go but we are not urging you to stay.”

“I then got a call that evening from him and from the head of human resources, that he wanted to go and wanted to go with 12 months or more.”

He went to New Broadcasting House and was told Mr Entwistle “would not accept departure on six months and wanted to go on 12 months or more,” he said.

Constructive dismissal was “implied” in all negotiations, Lord Patten said, adding: “If we wanted him to go quickly without a fuss in a way that was co-operative then those were the terms and otherwise employment legislation may take effect.”

Lord Patten also told MPs the BBC will have to “bear the costs” of inquiries ordered in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, “however much they are”.