Why A Campaign For Abolition Is Necessary

We are the only campaign group that is calling for the abolition of the BBC – that is to say, our goal is that the BBC should cease to exist.  All other campaigns demand something less than this, normally one or a combination of the following:

1. that the BBC’s funding should be reformed through ending the TV licence;

2. that the Royal Charter should be revoked and the Corporation should be commercialised; or,

3. that the BBC should somehow stop being biased.

Starting with 3, we do not believe it is possible for any media organisation to be unbiased.  The goal is unrealistic.  The BBC is biased, but this is perfectly understandable: it reflects the people who work for it.  The BBC has to be defended somewhat on this point because once it tries to become ‘unbiased’, it will be playing a fool’s game in which it can’t please anybody.  We do criticise BBC bias, indeed it is at the centre of our concerns, but only on the basis that it reveals the shallowness of the Corporation’s notional goal of impartiality.  The Corporation has been set an impossible public mission that looks more and more chimeric as the technical and commercial realities of the digital age move apace.

Regarding 2, this is the subject of the latest anti-BBC petition (link - The Tim Price Petition). We have already made it clear that we do not believe this Petition goes far enough. Merely revoking the Royal Charter still leaves us with the BBC as a going concern, and the problems and potential dangers we cover below in relation to 1 also apply to this option.  Nevertheless, we are actively giving this Petition our support as a step in the right direction.  Should the Petition gain sufficient signatures for government attention or even be considered for parliamentary debate, we will be putting the case for abolition very strongly.

Turning to 1, we oppose the TV licence and we support and sympathise with all non-payers.  We believe passive resistance in particular is crucial to the eventual abolition of the BBC, but our point is that there needs to be an overarching strategic alliance for abolition, otherwise all that will happen is that the BBC will be reformed in a way that favours the elites: the worse-case scenario is a Corporation funded out of general taxation, the best-case is a commercialised Corporation funded by advertising or subscriptions, or both.  

Either 'reformist' funding scenario fails to solve the real problems.  The Corporation would be entrenched in British public life under a reformed structure, leaving us in a worse position than before.  In some ways, a fully-commercial BBC would be the worst of all outcomes because a revitalised Corporation could easily attract investment and unfairly dominate commercial broadcasting as an entirely profit-making enterprise.  This would be on the back of investments made over decades by the taxpayer, more or less at the point of a gun.

We come back, then, to the real problems, which are that:

(i). the BBC manifestly cannot fulfil its public mission;

(ii). the BBC is a subversive organisation that is undermining the country; 

(iii). the BBC is an archaic monolith, modelled on social-democratic era institutions and unresponsive to its putative market; and,

(iv). the BBC is too large and dominant.  

The 'reformers' who complain about the TV licence or BBC bias do have a point, and we are not trying to start an argument with them, but our aim shouldn't be to help the BBC by reforming it to make it run better and thereby cause even more damage to the country.  The BBC is an enemy bureaucracy and a waste of money.  Wouldn't it be better and fairer to dismantle the BBC and return the money recovered and saved to the public?  We think so.

Is abolition a realistic goal?  Emphatically yes!  We have seen with Brexit that populist campaigns can work.  Our aim is to persuade a major political party to adopt complete abolition of the BBC as its policy.  This in turn can only be achieved by creating a popular momentum in favour of abolition.

What Must Be Done Must Be Done: How To Abolish The BBC

Our objective is the abolition of the BBC.

To achieve our objective, it is likely we will have to persuade a major political party to adopt the abolition of the BBC as policy.

The BBC can be abolished.  Here we set out the relevant steps.  In fact, the legal process is fairly straightforward, but the government that carries out the following must be made up of strong-willed and strong-minded politicians who will need to stand firm in the face of immense pressure and opprobrium from across the political spectrum, not just from the Left but also from the putative political Right as well - much of it of the type we have seen from Remainers during and after the Brexit referendum.

The political reaction

As soon as abolition of the BBC becomes a realistic prospect, the defenders and apologists of the BBC, not to mention staff at the BBC itself, will scream, shriek and issue slander.  They will be rage-filled and psychotic because they know very well what abolition of the BBC signifies.  It is, truly, a revolutionary act.  But even many conservative-minded people will oppose the abolition of the BBC - for sentimental reasons. 

There will be appeals to patriotism from the sworn enemies of this country.  There will be appeals to tradition from people who sneer at tradition.  The Left and the unions will oppose abolition for obvious reasons and will push all the emotional buttons of their supporters.  What about the poor BBC staff?  We’re living in a fascist police state!  Look at this nice cuddly dog.  Etc., etc., and so on and so on. 

The hardest part will be facing down certain parts of the business community, whose self-appointed representatives will claim that the BBC can’t be abolished because that will harm the economy.  These people must be faced-down and told: NO!

The BBC themselves will pledge that they can change and are willing to reform.  The more savvy and sophisticated elements of both camps, the Left and the Right, will also try to push the case for reform and may unite and work together to lobby for this, using especially their contacts in the Senior Civil Service in an effort to frustrate and stymie political initiative.  Again, study anti-Brexit shenanigans for clues.  Some of these reformists’ efforts will be quite clever and subtle, and there will be people who were in the ‘abolition’ camp who will suddenly start talking about the need for slow and gradual reform instead and how abolishing the BBC would be ‘stupid’ or ‘too radical’: that’s the Fifth Column tendency, and for an analogous example of the type, look at the Flexciters and soft Brexiters who have worked cleverly to undermine Brexit. 

We will be condescended-to, ridiculed and slandered

Some of the more obvious tricks will be deployed too: those of us who insist on abolition will be portrayed as thick, ignorant white working class men, etc., etc. – the usual.  We will be assured that the metropolitan sophisticates with degrees and posh accents are really working in the interests of the country and are the only people who can run things and deal with these ‘terribly complicated’ problems, and we should hand the responsibility over to them.  You know the script. 

Our resolve must be iron

These deceptive and dishonest pleas must be coldly ignored.  Our resolve must be iron.  For the good of Britain and the British people, the BBC must be destroyed.

We are all sentimentally-attached to the BBC – this is difficult for all of us – but you don’t keep a leg inflicted with gangrene, you cut it off.  What must be done must be done.  That is that.

How To Abolish The BBC: step-by-step

1. The Royal Charter can technically be revoked by a government minister under Crown prerogative, but parliamentary pre-approval will be advisable in order to pre-empt any basis for a legal challenge.

2. Once the Charter has been formally revoked, the BBC should be taken off the air immediately and all staff should be ordered off BBC premises.  That means all television and radio broadcasts cease at a pre-determined time.  There may be resistance from some of the more militant BBC staff for political reasons: if necessary, the Army should be deployed to force shutdown of all stations and to remove staff from BBC property.

3. An Act of Parliament will then be needed to dissolve the statutory Corporation and appoint private sector receivers to break-up the Corporation and, variously, sell and lease its assets on the commercial market. 

4. Receivers should also ensure that any contractual salary and pension obligations to BBC staff are honoured, including any statutory redundancy rights arising, and this should be underpinned by the state - but only to the extent required under general law and contract.