Beeb pays Prescott and Reid

According to that perennial BBC hater the Daily Mail,the corporation paid John Prescott and John Reid to appear on their coverage of Gordon Brown's conference speach on Monday afternoon

Says the paper

After years on six-figure salaries as cabinet ministers, John Prescott and John Reid should hardly be short of a bob or two.
But yesterday it was revealed that both had pocketed about £250 from the BBC to give their views on Monday's proceedings at Bournemouth.
A source at another broadcaster also claimed that Mr Reid had asked to be paid for a five-minute chat, so the interview was cancelled.
Rival politicians described the BBC's behaviour as "outrageous" claiming it should not be using licence-fee-payers' money to pay for party political propaganda.