Jowell denies helping oust Dyke

Ms Jowell said she had been "extremely fond" of Greg Dyke

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said any suggestion she put pressure on the BBC to force out its director general were "complete and utter rubbish".

Minutes of a crucial BBC governors' meeting, after which they effectively sacked Greg Dyke, reveal concerns over his "poor" relationship with Ms Jowell.

He told the BBC: "You shouldn't get rid of the director general because the secretary of state does not like him."

But Ms Jowell said she had been "extremely fond" of Mr Dyke.

Mr Dyke resigned in 2004, after criticism of the BBC's reporting in the Hutton report into the death of Dr David Kelly, a government scientist who killed himself after being named as the possible source of a BBC story on the government's Iraq dossier.

Position 'unsustainable'

Both Mr Dyke and Gavyn Davies, the chairman of the board of governors, resigned following the report.

But secret minutes released by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, show board members felt Mr Dyke's position was "unsustainable" and it was decided that he should go.

I don't think the job of the director-general is to be loved and respected by the culture secretary Greg Dyke Papers reveal Dyke drama

The minutes of one board meeting stated: "Greg's stock in Whitehall was very low and his relationship with the Secretary of State is very poor."

Mr Dyke, who felt "shattered" to be forced out of his job, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday: "I don't think the job of the director-general is to be loved and respected by the culture secretary."

He said Ms Jowell had "a lot of questions that should be answered".

But Ms Jowell telephoned the programme to say it was "rubbish" to suggest "that I didn't like Greg Dyke ... and in some way that was material in the governors' decision to sack him," she said.

She said it would have been "entirely improper" for her to have played a part.

But she added: "Even if the governors or anybody else feel that they were under pressure, their job is to resist it and to focus, then and now, on the best interests of the BBC."