Auntie's bloomer! Arrogance of the BBC fatcats.

Byline: TONY ARNER

BBC boss ALAN Yentob is an angry man.

The pounds 340,000-per-year creative executive has told ministers to butt out over the controversial sacking of Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips - who is being replaced by the much younger Alesha Dixon.

All in all, a seemingly trivial spat. Yet there's something far greater at stake here than a clash over ageism.

The BBC is fighting for its creative independence and the right to retain all of its TV licence fee.

It is a fight that is likely to get far dirtier and I think public opinion will eventually decide its outcome.

So is the BBC worth the pounds 142.50 price of a colour licence, or should it be sharing it out among other struggling TV companies? At first glance, it appears hard to knock the corporation.

The BBC boasts numerous TV and digital channels, has radio stations aplenty as well as a huge presence on the internet.

An enormous and growing portfolio.

But then the Beeb has an annual pounds 3.4 billion income provided compulsorily by the taxpayer - and I'd argue much of it is not being spent wisely.

The BBC prides itself on its journalism, yet, like most TV news broadcasters, it often just follows the lead of newspapers and rarely breaks the big exclusives.

So when the Daily Telegraph ran its se-rieof excellent exposs on MPs and their expenses, the Beeb simply offered opinion and insight but not much more.

Yet a big exclusive was right there under its nose.

Because it was later revealed that 30 highly-paid BBC executives made their own eyebrow-raising expense claims of pounds 410,000 in three years - including splashing out on gifts for their TV and radio stars.

Great defender Mr Yentob has claimed MPs were spending their questionable expenses on themselves, while the holierthan-thou BBC only spent our money 'in pursuit of work'.

Really? Generous BBC One controller Jay Hunt claimed pounds 900 for toiletry gifts, as well as pounds 50 on two pairs of cashmere socks and pounds 60 for a biscuit jar.

Jane Tranter, former Drama boss, spent pounds 3,000 over the three years on flowers for luvvie actors, including Doctor Who stars David Tennant and John Barrowman.

Mr Yentob himself claimed pounds 1,600 for a Christmas dinner for 27 colleagues and their partners at a pizzeria. He defended the bill but now admits that times are changing at the Beeb.

He said: ''It was a Christmas dinner for the executive and directors and their wives. If you work it out, it's pounds 50 a head. If you ask me if we'll be doing it this year, I think it's unlikely.'' Great to hear as I can't see how any of these gifts could have improved the service provided to the public by the BBC.

Then there's the huge amount of money the corporation is spending on its bigname stars. I'd love to tell you how much they earn but the media giant refuses to reveal their wages, citing confidentiality.

Obscenely Yet leaks to newspapers have previously claimed Jonathan Ross was pocketing pounds 6 million a year, BBC Two star Terry Wogan banked pounds 800,000, while Radio One DJ Chris Moyles earned pounds 630,000.

They are among BBC stars now facing pay-cuts of up to 40 per cent after their bosses finally woke up to what most of us realised long ago - these stars are being obscenely overpaid.

But the problem at the heart of the BBC is not generous expense accounts, frivolous gifts, or over-rated presenters.

It is arrogance.

The organisation has for too long believed it can spend our money how it wants, when it wants, on what it wants.

The largely autonomous nature of the BBC means there are few checks in place to keep spending under proper control.

And, of course, while these unimaginable sums of our money are being splashed around, the BBC continues to relentlessly pursue people refusing or unable to pay their licence fee. This tax on the poor has long been a national disgrace.

It is too much to hope that this, or the next, Government will eventually go with my preferred option and scrap the licence fee altogether, opening the BBC up to advertising like every other channel.

But at the very least our political leaders should ensure the Beeb has to account for every penny it spends in our name, just like those shamed MPs.

Mr Yentob has pledged the corporation will be 'tougher and meaner' in the future when it comes to expenses and pay.

But if spending does not come under control then it really is time to scale back funding and axe the stars and the fatcats.

Back in the days of just a few terrestrial channels, the BBC attracted the kindly nickname of Auntie because of the affection felt for it by viewers.

Nowadays, it resembles the kind of aged, cantankerous and bloated old aunt you try to avoid at family Christmas parties.