BBC chiefs have shown such “wrong headed” leadership over moves to share licence fee revenue with rival broadcasters that they have lost the confidence of many of their senior staff, the culture secretary has told the Financial Times.

In one of the most robust government broadsides against the broadcaster in recent years, Ben Bradshaw said it was misguided and “ultimately self-defeating” for Mark Thompson, the corporation’s director-general, and Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC Trust, to oppose government plans to reallocate some fee revenue to others.