BBC chairman reiterates call for Huw Edwards to return £200,000 salary

Carla Feric, Press Association Entertainment Reporter

BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah has reiterated his call for disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards to pay back his £200,000 salary.

The veteran TV executive, 74, was speaking as he appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for its inquiry into the future of the national broadcaster.

The BBC has previously urged Edwards to return the salary he received in the five months after his arrest during which he remained employed by the broadcaster.

Speaking to MPs on Wednesday, Dr Shah said the corporation had “not abandoned hope” that Edwards – who was one of the BBC’s highest paid newsreaders – would return the money.

He said: “I’ve already said that I think Huw Edwards ought to return the money, he hasn’t done so. I read that he’s seeking some kind of redemption.

“I think one very good step in that, if he has an ounce of moral rectitude, he would return the money. He hasn’t done so, I think he should.”

Dr Shah added that the “serious amount of money… belongs to the licence payer”.

“He really should give it back, and we will keep pushing him to do so. I would think the licence payer would want us to do that,” he added.

Edwards was best known for presenting the BBC’s News At Ten for decades, delivering some of the biggest stories to the British public including Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

His downfall came after a report by The Sun in July 2023 alleged that a “top BBC star” had paid a teenager for sexual pictures, and days later his wife named him as the presenter at the centre of the scandal.

Edwards resigned in April 2024 and was charged in June 2024 after a Metropolitan Police investigation.

A month later, he admitted making indecent images of children and having 41 photographs on WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type.

He was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.