[1] On 28 January 2004 he announced that he was resigning his BBC post following the publication of the Hutton Inquiry report which heavily criticised the organisation.

His suggestions – to sell off a portion of BBC Worldwide (the corporation's commercial wing) and to raise the television licence fee by around 20% in order to fund new digital channels – were swiftly rejected by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

[4] In January 2004, he resigned from the board after the publication of the Hutton Inquiry which heavily criticised the BBC's news reporting, for which Davies had pledged support.

His appointment as BBC chairman sparked allegations of cronyism from Opposition political parties – Davies' wife Sue Nye was a private secretary of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the pair are known to be good friends.

It has been suggested that the behaviour of Davies and Greg Dyke during the David Kelly affair was in part due to a wish to demonstrate their independence of government.