Paul Dacre and Charles Moore are no fans of the BBC. Hiring them could be kill or cure

The metaphors have been apocalyptic. Appointing Charles Moore to be the next chairman of the BBC was, one insider said, “the nuclear option”; another dubbed it “the corporation’s Stalingrad”, while Conservative MP called it “incendiary”.

Throw in the prospect of Paul Dacre as chairman of the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, they argued, and an “all-out war” was being waged on the broadcaster by the government, “the most concerted attack it has ever faced”.

Allies of both men, however, insisted that the appointments could prove inspired — and help save the corporation from extinction as it grapples with the streaming giants Amazon and Netflix.

Moore, a former Spectator and Telegraph editor, and Dacre, who edited the Daily Mail, are understood to be the government’s picks for