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One of the UK's first openly gay senior executives seems set to run the country's biggest terrestrial commercial TV channel
Sir Michael Bishop
Gay businessman is frontrunner to head ITV
One of the UK's first openly gay senior executives seems set to run the country's biggest terrestrial commercial TV channel
Sir Michael Bishop, the gay businessman who owned and ran Britain's second biggest airline, BMI, emerged last night as the frontrunner to replace Michael Grade as chairman of ITV.
Bishop, who was the chairman of Channel 4 from 1993 to 1997, is believed to have had preliminary discussions with ITV's nominations committee and is thought to lead the field of candidates, which includes Sir Christopher Bland, the former chairman of the BBC and BT, and ex-Unilever chief executive Niall Fitzgerald.
One of Britain's first openly gay senior executives, Sir Michael has said that he got on in business despite being openly gay because he owned and managed the company and was not beholden to anyone. "That was the only reason why I could do it," he told the BBC's Robert Peston in August. But he added that although the careers of openly gay business people could still be ruined, the situation had improved in the last 10 years.
He ran BMI for 37 years until he sold his shareholding to Lufthansa a few months ago, and said that despite the prejudice he had faced during his career he had no qualms about having been publicly honest about his sexuality. "It's obviously an issue for some people, but I think it's better to square up to these things than not to.
"I just think that it has been a difficult issue for people in public life, or in business and industry, and thankfully, due to a lot things that have happened in the last 10 years, it's considerably easier for young people who want to get on."
