Justin Webb, Dan Walker and Emily Maitlis have earned at least £5000 each this year
Top BBC talent including Justin Webb, Dan Walker and Emily Maitlis have earned at least £5,000 each for speaking work this year, as the corporation unveils its first external events register.
Today presenter Webb topped the list for the three months to 31 March with four separate speaking engagements for which he was paid at least £20,000 overall, while Walker received at least £10,000 and the likes of Maitlis, Kirsty Wark, Clive Myrie, Mishal Husain and Andrew Marr picked up a minimum of £5,000.
Since 1 January, all BBC staff have had to seek written approval from a head of department for external speaking, hosting or chairing. The list breaks the arrangements down between those worth less than £5,000 and more than £5,000.
According to the BBC, 85% of speaking engagements featured on the list were for less than £5,000, and 50% were below £1,000.
The move is part of DG Tim Davie’s clampdown on ‘moonlighting’, the practice of presenters picking up additional funds for speaking at events not connected with the BBC.
BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty was warned about conflicts of interest last year after appearing in a corporate PR video for Aston Martin, while former editorial director Kamal Ahmed, whose role has been made redundant, was criticised for being paid £12,000 to address hedge fund managers shortly after telling 450 BBC News staff they would be losing their jobs.
BBC external events register: Q1
- Justin Webb: £20,000 (minimum)
- Dan Walker: £10,000 (minimum)
- Emily Maitlis: £5,000 (minimum)
- Kirsty Wark: £5,000 (minimum)
- Clive Myrie: £5,000 (minimum)
- Nicholas Watt: £5,000 (minimum)
- Louise Minchin: £5,000 (minimum)
- Mark Easton: £5,000 (minimum)
- Andrew Marr: £5,000 (minimum)
- Mishal Husain: £5,000 (minimum)
- Spencer Kelly: £5,000 (minimum)
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