Family politics of BBC frontrunner’s family politics

A few weeks ago I did a blog on the political connections of the various front-runners for the job of Director-General of the BBC.

Since then, in a couple of cases, their political links have got even stronger.

Caroline Thomson has seen promotion for two of her relatives.  First, her husband, the Labour peer, Lord (Roger) Liddle, has just been promoted to Labour’s foreign affairs spokesman in the Lords.  But second (and for balance perhaps?) her brother-in-law has just become one of the 20 Liberal Democrat ministers and whips on the payroll of the Coalition government.  Unnoticed by most people, Lord (Dick) Newby, who is married to Thomson’s sister, has just become the government’s deputy chief whip in the Lords.  Newby, incidentally, replaces Lord (David) Shutt, the only man I know who in his past life fought what was more-or-less the same constituency seven times, and lost all seven elections. 

Meanwhile, Helen Boaden’s brother Mike is now officially on the shortlist of two men to be chosen as Labour’s candidate for the police and crime commisioner election in Cumbria this autumn.

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