The buck stops at the top.

That is the tough message from Herne Bay MP Roger Gale, who has laid the blame for the BBC phone fiasco at the door of director general Mark Thompson.

Mr Gale was speaking after it was revealed comic Russell Brand and TV presenter Jonathan Ross bombarded actor Andrew Sachs with phone calls as part of a radio show.

Mr Sachs, who played Manuel in Fawlty Towers, complained after the pair suggested Russell Brand had had sex with Mr Sachs's granddaughter.

Now Mr Gale has said the responsibility for the programmes that have caused public outrage should stop right at the top.

The former radio and television producer and director said the BBC should not be allowed to get away with making a scapegoat of the Brand/Ross escapades producer, or even of the "stars", but should instead accept responsibility for a failure of editorial control.

"The tone of any organisation is set by the man or the woman in the driving seat" says the MP.

"In the case of the BBC that means the DG. It is not only this episode but many other programmes and aspects of the management of the BBC that need to be called into question.

"The corporation spends huge sums from the proceeds of the "broadcasting tax" (the licence fee) and people are entitled to expect genuine public service in return.

"I believe that the BBC management has squandered a huge reservoir of residual public support and affection and that the time has come when either the trustees must show their mettle or parliament must, reluctantly, intervene.

"We cannot allow over-priced vulgarity to continue to be a sustitute for talent and creativity."