THE BBC has to address the gender and diversity imbalance that has been revealed by yesterday’s announcement of its stars’ pay.

One wonders if it is just coincidence that on Sunday it gained the right sort of headlines by promoting a woman into the role of a regenerated Doctor Who and on Wednesday it got the wrong sort of headlines by being exposed as a sexist employer.

Men and women should be paid the same for doing the same job, and there should be as many female stars as there are male.

So perhaps the Government was right to force the BBC to reveal its pay scales as the publicity may ensure greater fairness.

But it was not the Government’s intention to shine a light on gender and ethnic issues. In fact, it is hard to see what the Government’s true intentions were.

Yes, it is immoral that Gary Lineker should earn nearly £2m – but outrage can always be generated about the inequity of footballers, popstars and filmstars earning ridiculous amounts when nurses and teachers get a fraction. If the Government wants to address this, it’ll have to support Jeremy Corbyn’s pay cap.

But the BBC doesn’t appear to be paying over the odds for its top names – for instance, Sky is reported to pay its biggest football name, Gary Neville, £1.5m, and he has none of the impish charm of Mr Lineker – and any cap would force them to join the Top Gear boys in seeking riches from other employers.

The worry is that these figures will be seized upon by the BBC’s many enemies who wish to undermine it. The BBC is a behemoth, and it could do to have its wings clipped, but for all its faults it is preferable to having all of our national news brought to us by sources owned by right-wing multi-millionaires.