HC Deb 15 February 1949 vol 461 cc943-4
47. Major Lloyd

asked the Lord President of the Council what are the duties and powers of the Chairman of the Governors and of the Director of the British Film Institute, respectively.

Mr. H. Morrison

The British Film Institute is a body constituted under the Companies Act, 1948, as a company limited by guarantee. The powers and duties of the Governors (of whom the Chairman is one) and of the Director are set out in the Articles of Association, of which I am sending the hon. and gallant Member a copy.

Major Lloyd

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there are a number of people connected with this institute and its work who are concerned with the fact that the newly-appointed Chairman is a director of the "Daily Mirror" and "Sunday Pictorial," and will he say what qualification that gives him for the particular job? Is he also aware that there is deep concern over the fact that one of his first actions was to get rid of the existing director who happens to differ from him politically?

Mr. Morrison

That question seems to me to be full of bias from beginning to end. The hon. and gallant Gentleman is perfectly entitled to like or dislike certain newspapers. I selected Mr. King because he was a competent business man. In my judgment, this organisation needed a competent business man in the chair, and I thought that it would be a good thing, although the previous chairman was an admirable chairman. There is nothing like having a change when changes happen. [HON. MEMBERS; "Oh."] That is what the country thought in 1945. With regard to the resignation of the Director, that was a decision reached by the governors as a whole.