BBC under threat politically under Conservatives, says Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan at a literature festival in Cologne, Germany, in March. Photograph: Ying Tang/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

The BBC is “under threat, politically,” the novelist Ian McEwan has said, as he compared sections of the Conservative party to the populist right in Hungary.

The author of Amsterdam, On Chesil Beach and Atonement recently collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for an evening of words and music at the Barbican. The event came as the BBC’s classical music performing groups faced “catastrophic” cuts, and the corporation’s high-profile presenters including Gary Lineker clashed with the government over its policies.