The BBC has defended the £267,000 salary of its three-day-a-week Director of Creative Diversity.
Quite what qualifies television presenter June Sarpong for the role remains a mystery, but she did once appear on a Lilly Savage TV show and has presented the MOBO Awards.
Sarpong was appointed as the BBC's first Director of Creative Diversity from 1st November 2019.
According to the recently published BBC Annual Report and Accounts for 2020-21, she received a salary of £75,000 for the financial year 2019-20 (the equivalent of £15,000 per month) and £267,000 for the financial year 2020-21 (the equivalent of £22,250 per month).
When she was appointed, the BBC very graciously allowed Sarpong to work a three day week.
A BBC press release at the time said: "June will continue with her other commitments. She will work for the BBC three days a week, whilst continuing her work as a broadcaster and thought leader on the media's creative diversity agenda outside this time."
Thought leader? You what?
The Express has observed that if you worked out Sarpong's daily rate of pay (around £1,700) it would surpass that of the BBC Director General, Tim Davie (around £1,650).
Of course 44-year-old Sarpong has the additional advantage of being able to rake in thousands more from her non-BBC work, which includes sitting on the board of luxury fashion house Burberry, writing and public speaking engagements for her woke target audience.
Conservative MPs Iain Duncan-Smith and Tom Hunt criticised Sarpong's bloated BBC salary.
"How can anyone be worth paying £267,000 for working three days a week?" pondered Mr Duncan-Smith.
"Once again the BBC has scored an own goal.
"There must be thousands of perfectly qualified people who would do this job for less."
Mr Hunt added: "This is an outrageous salary which dwarfs what the Prime Minister gets (around £158,000).
"I just cannot see how £267,000 for a three-day week can be justified."
A BBC spokesperson said: "Audiences from all backgrounds and communities must see themselves represented in our programmes.
"This is an absolute priority for the BBC.
"June is delivering the BBC's first creative diversity strategy and has overseen our most significant financial investment in diverse content on and off-air.
"She brings extensive experience and knowledge to the BBC Executive Committee in an area we are committed to improving.
"More broadly on pay, our recent annual report shows that the BBC has reduced senior leader numbers by five percent and top talent pay is down ten percent on last year."
Despite slashing its workforce in an attempt to balance the books, the BBC has earmarked £100 million for creative diversity over the next three years.
By 2023/24 it wants every newly commissioned programme to achieve a 20 percent diversity target.
Expect a big increase in the proportion of the BBC's on-screen "talent" employed more for their ability to tick a box than actually do the job.
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