BBC director-general Mark Thompson today launches a vigorous defence of the broadcaster as the chorus of criticism aimed at the corporation reaches almost unprecedented levels.

In a series of answers to questions posed by Western Morning News readers, and in response to growing criticism from Culture Secretary and Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw, Mr Thompson speaks up strongly on behalf of the BBC and its staff.

He is taken to task by angry WMN readers on everything from news coverage allegedly biased in favour of the European Union to the decision to show Strictly Come Dancing so that it clashes with rival ITV talent show the X Factor.

But he strongly defends the BBC's management and its programme makers and is particularly scathing in his comments about attacks from Mr Bradshaw and the Labour Government.

The latest of those attacks from Mr Bradshaw, made in Saturday's edition of the Times, came after the replies to WMN readers had been penned.

In it, the Culture Secretary strongly suggests BBC bosses are showing bias towards the Conservatives in the run-up to a General Election that the Tories look poised to win.

Mr Bradshaw told the Times that Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, appeared to be far less concerned about radical Conservative proposals to cap the payments made to top BBC employees, but was very sensitive about Labour calls for the corporation to share some of its £3.6 billion in licence fee receipts.

"It would not be sensible for any organisation to give the impression that they are presuming the outcome of the next election," said Mr Bradshaw, on the eve of the Labour Party conference, which opened yesterday in Brighton.

The Culture Secretary, himself a former BBC employee, has been a regular critic of the BBC since taking up his Cabinet post in Gordon Brown's last reshuffle.

But at a time when the corporation is coming under attack from a number of quarters, including the Government, some parts of the commercial media sector and some licence fee payers, Mr Thompson shows little sign of conceding any ground to his critics.

Mr Bradshaw comes under fire from the director-general for his previous attacks on the BBC Trust and for suggesting the licence fee should be "top-sliced" to support other media organisations.

In answer to a question from WMN reader Helen Palmer of Liskeard, Mr Thompson chides the Culture Secretary for recently suggesting the abolition of the BBC Trust.

He writes: "The trouble with independent governing bodies is that they can be, well, independent.

"Threatening them with abolition when they take a different view from you is not in keeping with the tradition of political independence on which the whole of British public service broadcasting is based."

And he points out it was Mr Bradshaw's own Labour Government that set up the BBC Trust just three years ago.

Mr Thompson also speaks out against top-slicing the licence fee – another suggestion put forward by Mr Bradshaw – to help fund rival news organisations that would provide a different voice to that of the BBC.

The director-general says such a move would "erode the BBC's independence from the Government of the day" because it would turn the licence fee into something more akin to general taxation.

But he adds that just because the corporation does not want to share the licence fee does not mean it is opposed to sharing resources with other news organisations.

WMN readers put their questions to Mr Thompson after a request from the BBC for an opportunity to get more feedback from viewers and listeners.

The move is seen is part of a strategy of greater engagement by the broadcaster at a time when the media is at a time of great change and questions about the legitimacy of the licence fee has seldom been greater.

A number of questions put to Mr Thompson by WMN readers concerned the corporation's alleged bias in favour of the European Union and its failure to properly reflect anti-EU sentiment.

The director-general rejects the claim, pointing out that it was the BBC's Ten o'Clock News which had originally revealed fraud in the EU's accounts.

And he insists air time was given to political organisations in line with their level of representation among the electorate and that the United Kingdom Independence Party received fair exposure on TV and radio.

Mr Thompson does, however, concede there is some inconsistency in the BBC's use of metric and imperial measures in TV bulletins, partly because the matter is left to individual programme makers.

He tells David Challice of Newton Abbot: "I realise this is something that can irritate some viewers and listeners and we keep an eye on it. But on the whole, I think we do use miles rather more than we do kilometres on air."