The BBC could be facing sexual discrimination lawsuits from its top female stars after the corporation revealed the list of its highest earning talent, with the seven biggest earners all men.

The Common culture, media and sport committee is preparing to grill BBC director general Tony Hall and chairman Sir David Clementi over the gender pay gap at the corporation.

Of the 96 highest earners at the BBC only a third were women. Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans, the top earning man picked up around £2.2m in the last financial year dwarfing the pay of the highest earning female, Strictly’s Claudia Winkelman, who earned between £450k and £499k.

Today programme presenter John Humphrys was revealed to earn between £600k and £649k with his colleague Mishal Husain earning between £200k and 249k.

 Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, said: "At the moment, of the talent earning over £150,000, two thirds are men and one third are women. We’ve set a clear target for 2020: we want all our lead and presenting roles to be equally divided between men and women. And it’s already having an impact. If you look at those on the list who we have hired or promoted in the last three years, 60% are women and nearly a fifth come from a BAME background.

The list of top earners only includes fees paid to those who work on shows made by the BBC. Fees paid to talent employed on an indie production were not included on the list.

Staff Reporter

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