David Cameron and the BBC were at loggerheads yesterday after the Prime Minister named a hard-line critic of the corporation as the new Culture Secretary

Tory MP John Whittingdale, who has produced a string of damning reports on the BBC as chair of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee over the last decade, was called to Downing Street yesterday morning in the most surprising announcement of the Cabinet reshuffle.

But the appointment of Mr Whittingdale, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher who has described the licence fee as 'worse than the poll tax', is likely to spark concern at the BBC.

The corporation's press office retweeted - and then quickly deleted - a message slamming Mr Whittingdale's voting record on gay rights, the hunting ban and a host of other unrelated issues to his new brief as Culture Secretary.

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New Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has produced a string of reports slamming the BBC as chair of the influential Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee

The BBC's press office retweeted - and then quickly deleted - a message posted online slamming Mr Whittingdale's voting record on gay rights, the hunting ban and a host of other unrelated issues to his new brief as Culture Secretary

One Tory source said Mr Whittingdale would ‘sort out the BBC’, whose election coverage and attitude during negotiations over the TV debates infuriated Mr Cameron. Another said the move was designed to ‘spook’ the corporation.

Ministers are furious with the BBC’s election coverage, accusing the corporation privately of pro-Labour bias.

A Tory source claimed the corporation had run a string of uncritical reports about Labour policy announcements, while running wall-to-wall reports on Michael Fallon’s controversial claim that Ed Miliband would ‘stab the country in the back’. Mr Cameron is also said to have been enraged by the BBC’s attitude during protracted negotiations on the TV debates.

Mr Whittingdale's appointment comes as negotiations are set to start over the renewal of the next BBC charter, which is set to expire in December 2016.

The charter sets out how the corporation will be funded – throwing the future of the licence fee into doubt.

Mr Whittingdale appointment was the biggest surprise of the Prime Minister's first Cabinet reshuffle following last week's shock election triumph.

He replaces Sajid Javid, who is handed the key role of Business Secretary left vacant after Vince Cable was swept out in the Lib Dem bloodbath.

The Prime Minister kept a host of his most senior ministers in place, including the Chancellor George Osborne and the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

But he announced that Boris Johnson will get a seat at the Cabinet table. The Prime Minister announced the London Mayor will 'be attending my political Cabinet'.

Chris Bryant, Labour's new shadow culture secretary, criticised Mr Cameron's appointment could backfire.

He said: 'His record is quite ideologically right-wing. If this is meant to be some kind of declaration of war on the BBC I think it is fundamentally ill-conceived.

'The BBC is Britain's best-loved cultural institution, raises money for us overseas and is respected around the world.

'Anybody who wants to dismantle that needs his head examining.'

David Cameron, pictured walking out of Number 10 yesterday morning, took aim at the BBC after naming a hard-line critic of the corporation the new Culture Secretary

The Prime Minister left Downing Street to address a group of Conservative MP in Westminster after winning an unexpected majority last week

WHITTINGDALE'S HISTORY OF SPATS WITH THE BBC (AND CHANNEL 4) John Whittingdale is Parliament's pre-eminent media expert - having twice served as shadow culture secretary before taking over the powerful committee responsible for scrutinising the BBC. As chair of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, the 55-year-old former aide to Margaret Thatcher has released a string of damning reports on the BBC. In October, he described the licence fee as 'worse than poll tax'. He said the £145.50 compulsory annual charge was 'unsustainable' in the long term. In February, Mr Whittingdale's select committee called for the abolition of the BBC Trust - the corporation's regulator. He has also called for the National Audit Office to be given unrestricted access to the BBC's accounts. Mr Whittingdale has suggested other radical proposals to the media industry. In 1996, the Tory MP tabled an amendment to a bill to privatise Channel 4. Advertisement

Amber Rudd is named Energy Secretary and Priti Patel becomes Employment Minister in the first of the promotions for women.

Mr Whittingdale's appointment will be seen as a shot across the bows at the BBC ahead of the charter renewal.

He previously said the licence fee was 'unsustainable' and needed to be brought up to date with how people now watched TV.

The Tory veteran suggested that the licence fee could be added on to people's council tax to make it cheaper for the poor.

A BBC spokesman yesterday morning insisted the corporation was 'looking forward to working with the new Secretary of State'.

He also insisted that the re-tweet of the critical message had been a mistake which did not reflect the BBC's view.

The spokesman said: 'The tweet referred to was tweeted at the BBC and not produced by us but it was inadvertently retweeted – that was never the intention and it was immediately deleted.'

The licence fee currently costs £145.50 per year for every household where people watch or record live TV.

A TV licence is not required to watch catch-up TV, using services such as the BBC iPlayer.

One option to replace the licence fee would be to make some BBC services available by subscription.

But the committee said choosing which programmes remained available subscription-free would require careful thought.

Speaking last year, the new Culture Secretary said: 'I think in the long term it's unsustainable. I think most people, almost everybody, accepts that the licence fee as it currently stands need some tweaking to sort out anomalies.

'People's viewing habits have changed and it needs to reflect that. That's a very simple change and I think people see that.

'You then have the question of whether or not it should remain a flat poll tax, collected through some fairly draconian measures, and whether it should still be criminally enforceable.'

Mr Whittingdale added: ' Government has already announced consultation on decriminalisation. I've been looking at other countries and I think there's quite an attractive option of linking it to a specific household tax - maybe council tax.

'I think in the longer term we are potentially looking at reducing at least a proportion of the licence fee that is compulsory and offering choice.'

On the up: (left to right) Amber Rudd becomes Energy Secretary, John Whittingdale is the new Culture Secretary, Priti Patel attends Cabinet as Employment Minister and Sajid Javid becomes Business Secretary

Robert Halfon becomes deputy chairman of the Conservative Party after holding his ultra-marginal seat of Harlow and successfully campaigning for fuel duty cuts

George Osborne (left) remains as Chancellor and has been given the additional title of First Secretary of State. Nicky Morgan (second left) stays as Education Secretary, Chris Grayling moves from Justice Secretary to become Leader of the Commons and Tina Stowell remains as Leader of the Lords but is promoted

He added: 'It's a question of introducing choice. I'm not saying I wouldn't pay the licence fee - I would go on paying the licence fee.

'It is a poll tax. It's actually worse than a poll tax because under the poll tax, if you were on a very low income you would get a considerable subsidy.

'The BBC licence fee, there is no means-tested element whatsoever; it doesn't matter how poor you are, you pay £145.50 and go to prison if you don't pay it.'

He added the era when 'everybody either watched or listened to the BBC' was becoming 'less true', in the face of catch-up services, online streaming, and more choice.