FORMER chair of British media regulator Ofcom, Lord Michael Grade, recently declared himself “free of the shackles” of his previous appointment.

A none-too onerous gig, given the three days a week he was expected to turn up Ofcom’s Southbank HQ and the £142,500 yearly salary, which no doubt nicely topped up his other income streams and investments.

This was allied with his seeming inability to follow Ofcom’s remit, which resulted in giving Reform Party propaganda broadcaster GB News pretty much a free rein during his four-year tenure (May 2022 to April 2026).

Back in February 2022 I wrote of my apprehension that Grade was the wrong choice for the role, given his declared Tory allegiance, advancing age, extensive media enemies list (Greg Dyke, Chris Morris, Dawn Airey, John Birt etc), arrogance, restless but ultimately meaningless desire to collect prestigious media job titles, and colossal opinion of his own abilities.

Subversion from within?

My worst fears were realised in Grade’s failure to enforce the rules in relation to GB News, as drafted by the writers and architects of Ofcom’s broadcasting code.

A House of Lords report accused the regulator of “bending over backwards” to accommodate the channel regarding impartiality, and the use of right-wing politicians as presenters, including Nigel Farage, Matthew Goodwin and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

In July 2022, a few months after Grade rocked up as chairman, a report strongly hinted that GB News regarded Ofcom as largely toothless: “At first GB News regularly booked left-leaning guests for discussions to ensure they could meet this due impartiality standard. But staff at the station said they did this less once they realised Ofcom was not going to press on the issue. Although GB News has attracted a steady stream of Ofcom complaints about its output, very few have progressed to the stage of formal investigations, and the channel has yet to be found in breach of the broadcasting code. Instead, presenters prefer to regularly mention Ofcom on air as a bogeyman that is coming for the channel.”

Bumptious bullshit

The sad thing is that many who should know better still buy into Grade’s particular brand of bumptious bullshit and are happy to fawn over the now-unfiltered know-it-all.

Case in point — broadcasting veterans Jimmy Mulville and Peter Fincham, who engaged in a shameless bootlicking exercise of the now-unleashed ex-Ofcom chair on their recent TV Insiders Podcast.

Truly pathetic, especially considering the duo’s usual willingness to stick it to industry figures.

Others, such as former BBC director-general Greg Dyke, had the measure of the man years ago; proclaiming Grade’s strategy when he suddenly jumped from chairing the BBC ship to lead ITV to be “completely the wrong one.” Grade hasn’t forgotten that slight; he was visibly bristling at the mere mention of his name on the Mulville/Fincham podcast.

I was at ITV in the 2000s when Grade became “executive chairman” of the then beleaguered broadcaster. Under his tenure, ITV’s share price plummeted to just 22p (from 148p in 2004), ad revenue declined by 20 per cent, profits slumped by 41 per cent, while jobs and production budgets were slashed.

Those who greeted the appearance of His Lordship at ITV HQ as a potential saviour were soon to be rudely awakened regarding Grade’s actual ability.

Grade goes full populist

Still, as always, Grade did all right for himself, and after his ITV debacle, he resurfaced in other roles and eventually Ofcom, with his reputation seemingly intact.

His willingness to go the extra mile for GB News and its nationalist views do make one wonder what kind of game Grade is really playing.

He actively allied himself with the populist stance of GB News in saying the channel “speaks to the agenda of the majority — if you look at the polls, a large swathe of the voting population, who have no voice on the BBC. Immigration, Brexit, these are all issues that don’t get the weight on the BBC, or haven’t been able to, that GB News will give, so what’s the problem?”

One also should remember that the “anti-woke,” free speech champion Grade also whined about the “gleeful and disrespectful” BBC coverage of disgraced former PM Boris Johnson’s “Partygate” antics.

Has Grade become increasingly right-wing as he has aged? Probably. Does he enjoy sticking it to his former employer, the BBC? Definitely. Is he enjoying the attention provided to once again air his views and bloviate on the nation’s airwaves? Most assuredly.

But, after all is said and done, with exception of bringing Morecambe & Wise to the BBC (pissing off his Uncle Lew, who wanted to keep the duo at Associated Television) and providing a brief hike in ratings to BBC1 when channel controller, I suspect Michael Grade’s legacy to be one of extremely thin gruel, warmed by gusts of self-love.