The craven attacks on the BBC by Tory politicians will have a chilling effect on its journalism

Never let a good crisis go to waste,” is a well-worn slogan, and one that isn’t itself being wasted in what has been described as the “seismic” events of the last day or so for the BBC.

The dignified but forceful reactions of Prince William and Prince Harry to the revelations about the way Martin Bashir secured his Panorama interview with their mother in 1995 have galvanised public opinion in a way that no political intervention could. But ministers have been very happy to jump into the slipstream. The culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, and the justice secretary, Rob Buckland (usually a commendably cautious figure), are openly promoting further reforms to the BBC’s structures, even as its newish director general, Tim Davie, and chair, Richard Sharp, in effect appointed by Boris Johnson, are settling into their new roles.

There is talk of a new editorial standards board, comprised of outsiders, and of the inadequate governance of the corporation, and its culture, though all have changed markedly in recent years, let alone the quarter of a century since Bashir’s interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

And, of course, there is the distinct possibility that Paul Dacre, former editor-in-chief of the Mail titles, will be appointed the head of Ofcom, which regulates the BBC’s content. Mr Dacre’s views on the BBC are well known. He is said to be Boris Johnson’s pick for the role.

The BBC, then, is in peril, and it’s time to get real about a few things.

First, no amount of regulation, no plethora of committees and no code of conduct will protect any organisation from a rogue individual. There have been in the last decade or so high-profile national scandals in banking, hospitals, the churches, social services, newspapers, politics, aid charities, lobbying and the rest, and there always will be. Sometimes the problems are cultural, some more isolated than others, but in every case the honourable and honest majority have their reputations trashed and their organisations damaged by the actions of the unscrupulous and dishonest.

Every organisation, large or small, from families to vast transnational organisations, has a tendency to close ranks and cover things up when they go wrong. If the whips in the Commons find out about a dodgy MP, they’ll tend to play it down publicly and find a way to deal with it internally, for fear of political damage. The BBC, in other words, is not unique in its attempts to cover up wrongdoing.

Every so often in such circumstances, there’s a committee or inquiry set up, or a judge-led commission and lots of debates, and things get fixed, for a while, but sooner or later some new scandal arises. That’s no reason to do nothing; but it’s as well to be realistic about what such reforms are capable of, and to place the wrongdoing into perspective.

Second, a false narrative seems to be developing whereby the BBC is portrayed as a “liberal”, “left-leaning”, institutionally biased organisation infused with “woke” values and hell-bent on pursuing its own “agenda”, and stopping at nothing, including subterfuge, to attack institutions it dislikes, such as the monarchy. Thus, in this warped mindset, the BBC needs to be controlled and restrained, because it cannot ever be trusted to do straight reporting and balanced commentary and analysis of important issues. That is a deeply corrosive and dangerous idea. If the Bashir-Diana interview is discredited, should we now think the same of Emily Maitlis’s questioning of Prince Andrew?

It is absurd, and of course those who peddle it are self-serving and bent on “whacking” the BBC because of what they take to be its anti-Brexit and anti-Conservative biases. Johnson himself has called the BBC “the Brexit Bashing Corporation”.

They are using the Bashir scandal to fight and win another battle in their culture wars, and neuter an organisation powerful and respected enough to hold them to account. The BBC-bashing will have a chilling effect on BBC correspondents and editors as they go about their work, and at worst the “reforms” will weaken the BBC and journalism irretrievably. It is sad to see.