Noel Edmonds has launched a fiery attack on the BBC, accusing the "terminally ill" broadcaster of causing its own downfall and speculating it would not survive past 2021.
The Noel’s House Party star launched a stinging tirade against the corporation while talking on BBC 5 Live.
He said: "I do not want Auntie to fail and this messing about round a terminally ill corpse is going to guarantee that she does not get the Telegram from the Queen in 2022.
"It’s not going to happen at the moment."
Edmonds also slammed those who suggested that the BBC shouldn’t have to compete.
He said: “We get these left-wingers saying ‘the BBC shouldn’t compete’.
"These are the people who destroyed children’s lives by saying sports day was about taking part simply because a fat kid didn’t make it over the finish line.”
He also claimed that the corporation had been financially mismanaged, saying: "We have seen absolutely shocking financial government, straight out of the Sir Phillip Green school of running a business and it’s made it possible for the politicians to sharpen their knives.”
Edmonds has previously said that the BBC should be "pared down and fit for people" - and even said he intended to try to buy it.
In a raft of changes announced in Thursday’s White Paper, the government announced that BBC stars earning over £450,000 will be forced to reveal their salaries but the corporation won’t be required to adjust its schedules or ‘top slice’ the licence fee to other broadcasters.
There are also plans to increase the licence fee and charge people to watch programmes on iPlayer.
Governing body the BBC Trust will be abolished and replaced by a new committee to run day-to-day matters, while Ofcom will become its external regulator.
Recipes were also rumoured to face the axe from the BBC’s website, after Chancellor George Osborne said the size of the online cooking section was a reflection of the broadcaster overreaching.
Only recipes linked to recently broadcast shows will remain, the paper said.
The paper quoted a speech by BBC Trust member Richard Ayre, who said the BBC should ditch "the magazine content, the celebrity gossip, the skateboarding ducks, the games and the puzzles to other providers, who frankly can do it just as well, or better”.
He said: "The people who are supposed to safeguard the editorial independence of the BBC – to safeguard it from, among other things, government interference – are going to be appointed by the same government that they are supposed to be protecting the BBC from."
