Meanwhile Defund the BBC, the campaigning organisation which is pushing for the licence fee to be scrapped, has suggested the corporation is “like the Titanic heading towards the iceberg”. Ken MacQuarrie, formerly the BBC’s director for nations and regions until he stepped down at the end of 2020, has been handed the role of Executive Sponsor Safeguarding Impartiality, retaining his salary in the process.

Mr Lowe told Express.co.uk: “It is absolute nonsense. I think it is a very good example of why the BBC needs to be defunded.

“Because at the end of the day all this nonsense is just misleading people as to what is real and what is not real.

“It is an example of how central planning distorts reality.

“Most people in this country, if you told them about this, would not know what his job was. I am relatively well-versed in life and I don’t.

“The Government criticises the private sector for the amount of money they pay and then they allow this to happen.

“Quite frankly Richard Sharp needs to pull his bloody finger out and sort it out.”

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To continue the EU analogy, it’s like when Nigel Farage said to Herman van Rompuy: ‘Who are you?

“Who is this fellow? I have never heard of him before.”

Rebecca Ryan, Campaign Director of Defund the BBC, told Express.co.uk: “Ken will be paid £325k per year out of licence fee payers’ pockets to tell us what we already know – that the BBC is incapable of adhering to its Charter obligations to represent all of the UK and deliver impartial programming.

“The BBC is plummeting in the polls but again we are seeing PR and crisis management over substance.

“Are we expected to believe that a man who has worked his entire adult life for the BBC and was responsible for, and failed to deliver, regional representation will suddenly be able to steer the Titanic away from the iceberg? We all know the answer to that one.

In a statement issued today, a BBC spokeswoman emphasised Mr MacQuarrie’s tenure was limited.

She added: “As announced in September, Ken MacQuarrie will leave the BBC this year after delivering new measures to reaffirm the Corporation’s commitment to impartiality with the Director General and Director of Editorial Policy.

“He is also working on a number of other key corporate projects and ensuring a smooth transition with the new Director of Nations.”

Mr MacQuarrie, who has been with the BBC for 45 years, is overseeing impartiality training for more than 20,000 staff.