BBC reporter tells Labour pol what she earns - on air

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock - until four years ago plain George Foulkes - is such a diehard Labour man that he even approves of ID cards. So when he went on BBC News 24 today to defend his fellow Scot Michael Martin, the embattled Speaker of the Commons, he was never going to be a pushover.

Martin was facing calls this morning to step down after he had defended MPs over their expenses claims and, despite the public mood, insisted on calling in the police to find the culprit who leaked the expenses details to the Daily Telegraph.

Foulkes, a member of the House of Lords and the Scottish Parliament, was already on feisty form when the BBC anchor Carrie Gracie asked him whether he thought it would be difficult for the public to take seriously MPs who talk about belt-tightening when they themselves are submitting extravagant expense claims.

She was speaking a "lot of nonsense", said Foulkes, who first entered Parliament in 1979. She then interrupted to ask whether he thought MPs should pay back the money awarded for the more dubious expenses claims.
 
At this point, the 67-year-old Scot had had enough. "How much are you paid for coming onto television... harassing Members of Parliament?" he asked. "How much are you being paid out of the licence fee?... Freedom of information: what is it?"

"My salary is £92,000," answered Gracie, quick as a flash.

BBC colleagues will not be surprised by Gracie's straight-bat response. In October last year she won the inaugural Nick Clarke Award for her radio interview on the World Service with Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondent kidnapped for almost four months in 2007.

The award was set up as a tribute to Clarke, the former presenter of BBC Radio 4's The World at One, who died in November 2006. Gracie's prize was 12 bottles of claret, Clarke's favourite tipple. If there's any left, she should open a bottle tonight. ·