A public inquiry may be needed into the BBC’s handling of an alleged sex scandal, a cabinet minister has said.
The BBC has called the police to investigate allegations that one of its presenters, now retired from the air, paid a 17-year-old boy £35,000 in exchange for sexually explicit images.
Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, is facing questions about why the presenter stayed on the air for around seven weeks since May 19, when the station first received a complaint from the alleged victim’s mother.
Alex Chalk, the attorney general, was asked Monday how he would feel as a parent in the same situation.
Chalk told Sky News: “These are very serious and worrying allegations. If you ask me as a parent, I would be extremely concerned about that.
“I think, to be fair, I don’t know precisely what was said at what point, but you would certainly expect allegations of that nature to be dealt with very firmly and promptly.
“And I think what we are seeing today is that I understand that there will be a meeting with the police, and that is absolutely correct. And it may be, Kay, that in the fullness of time it will be necessary to investigate how this allegation was handled. That is very possible.
