Harriet Harman: BBC beware, I love you but you need to shape up fast

As a feminist BBC devotee, it’s torture for me that the BBC is under a cloud of equal pay shame. The latest revelation that Sarah Montague was underpaid is no surprise but it’s so disappointing. First off, all respect to Samira Ahmed , Carrie Gracie and Sarah Montague and all the other women questing for equal pay at the BBC. It’s never easy to take an equal pay case. But it’s even harder when you love where you work, when your employer is a revered national institution, and when the men you’re comparing yourself with are broadcasting icons. So, well done to them for exposing the reality. Sex discrimination is alive and well at the BBC and whoever follows on from Tony Hall as director general

Tony Hall to step down as BBC director-general must make sorting unequal pay a priority.

We’re finding out about it now and the BBC women are furious. Pay discrimination is about even more than the money, it’s a daily insult to women at work. It’s about management airily concluding that men are worth more. They aren’t! It’s only when that pay difference is revealed, and when brave women take up the cudgels, that it’s exposed for the disgrace that it is. I hope that the BBC is not going to seek revenge on Samira by some back-door freeze-out. I will not be the only one who will be watching like a hawk. Samira, we’ve got your back!

But why did the BBC fight these cases? They were in the wrong by discriminating and then dug themselves further into disrepute by marshalling their massive, publicly funded legal resources in an attempt to squash the women who were challenging them. And Samira’s case is not the first time the courts have slapped down the BBC on unequal pay. The BBC’s former China editor, the brilliant Carrie Gracie had to take her case to court. All this is deeply depressing to the many legions, of whom I am one, who are passionate believers in the vital role of the BBC for its news reporting, for its centrality to our cultural life and for the fact that David Attenborough is saving the planet. Unlike purely commercial broadcasters who just need to make a profit, the BBC must maintain the support of the public. People who are paying the license fee, many of whom struggle to make ends meet feel entitled to scrutinise what’s going on there.

So the BBC needs to get itself sorted right now and that means not just tackling unequal pay but also ending excessive pay particularly at the top of management. How on earth did Lord Hall think that he could justify making the license fee payers give him £400,000 a year? The new DG must not take this megapay, or even the love of Strictly might not be enough to save the BBC from its enemies whipping up public anger about pay excess at the top.

There are loud voices in government who are totally opposed to the very notion of a public service broadcaster and who want to abolish the licence fee which is vital to its independence.

BBC beware! Not everyone shares my devotion to you.