The paper’s ‘Londoner’s Diary’ column had speculated that the new World Service director job, advertised internally, was being kept open for the BBC’s News Director Richard Sambrook, allegedly annoying ‘ex-BBC types’.

Sambrook was quick to correct it on his own blog: “I’m not a candidate for the job, because … it reports to me and I will be deciding who gets it.”

The Londoner subsequently corrected it like this, omitting to mention where the ‘fears’ had originated:

“There were also fears that the BBC’s Director of Global News, Richard Sambrook, was said to be eyeing up the post himself and how he would have been a shoo in for the job. The BBC press office hotly denied my suggestion that the post was being kept open for Sambrook, claiming that as Director of Global News, the new Director of World Service would report to him and that Sambrook will be involved in appointing someone to the job himself.”