Rupert Murdoch Told PM He MUST Get Rid Of The BBC

Boris Johnson's sister has claimed that Rupert Murdoch told him to 'get rid of the BBC' during a visit to the Prime Minister's country house. 

The Daily Mail reports Rachel Johnson claimed the media mogul 'dandled' Mr Johnson's son Wilfred on his knee at Chequers as he made the case for scrapping the license fee-funded broadcaster.

Miss Johnson, 56, a presenter for the LBC radio station, told an industry event this week the long-term future of the BBC was going to be an 'increasing struggle' amid competition from streaming and subscription services.

'But it is going to be an increasing struggle when the whole of the television story is about streaming and subscription, to have the BBC which costs £4billion to run, which gets £3billion in from the licence fee, to have that entity as a competitor.

'Especially when you have got people like Rupert Murdoch going to Chequers and saying 'Boris you've got to get rid of the BBC, it's eating my lunch, they got a website, they're a publisher, it's not competitive'. You can see that there are pressures from all sides.'

It was reported earlier this year that Mr Murdoch has met Mr Johnson, whose youngest son was born in April 2020, three times since he became PM. According to transparency data released by the Government, the pair met on September 18 last year for a 'general discussion'.

Murdoch's UK empire includes The Sun, The Times and the Sunday Times as well as the Wireless Group, which operates radio stations including Virgin Radio and Talkradio, and the publisher HarperCollins.