Video: BBC defends £450,000 payout to former director-general George Entwistle BBC Trustee Anthony Fry told MPs that the then-BBC director general had made clear that he wanted a full year's salary as a condition of resigning after just 54 days in the job - twice as much as he was entitled to under his contract and the same as he would have got for being sacked. Mr Entwistle was forced to resign earlier this month after he appeared to fail to grasp the gravity of the fallout from the Newsnight programme which linked Lord McAlpine to false allegations of child abuse. Mr Fry said the BBC Trust was faced with the decision of whether to draw a line under the issue immediately or face a protracted legal wrangle which lawyers warned could result in Mr Entwistle receiving an additional £80,000. He told the committee that he had decided - and Trust chairman Lord Patten agreed - it was better to accept the offer of resignation on November 10.