LORD Patten has stood down from his role as chairman of the BBC Trust for health reasons after a turbulent three years in the job.
The former Cabinet minister's stint at the top of the BBC's governing body, which started in 2011 and was due to end next April, has seen him work with three different director-generals and weather scandals including excessive executive pay and the corporation's disastrous Diamond Jubilee coverage.
Lord Patten, who had heart surgery seven years ago, said he underwent further surgery last month after being admitted to hospital in London with "serious chest pains".
He paid tribute to the medical staff who treated him, saying: "On the advice of my doctors, however, and having consulted my family and friends, I have concluded that I cannot continue to work at the same full pace as I have done to date, and that I should reduce the range of roles I undertake.
"On this basis I have decided with great regret to step down from the most demanding of my roles - that of chairman of the BBC Trust.
His departure comes as the BBC faces further fallout from the Dame Janet Smith review into the corporation's "culture and practices" while disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile worked there. That scandal and the BBC's reaction led to the resignation of director-general George Entwistle - seen as a close ally of Lord Patten.
In a statement, Lord Patten said: "It has been a privilege to have served as chairman of the BBC Trust. Like the NHS, the BBC is a huge national asset which is part of the everyday fabric of our lives.
"It is not perfect - what institution is? It always needs to challenge itself to improve. But it is a precious and wonderful thing, a hugely positive influence which benefits greatly from the creativity and dedication of its staff."
One of Lord Patten's most fierce critics Philip Davies MP, said: "Always wanted to see Lord Patten leave the BBC Trust but not in these circumstances. I wish him well with his recovery... "
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article