The BBC is to provide political analysis for every schoolchild, in a controversial web venture. Mark Thompson, the Director-General, announced the plan during a speech on trust, in which he also defended the “rottweiler” interview techniques of Jeremy Paxman.

Mr Thompson promised to “transform the way the BBC connects with British democracy”. This would be achieved by establishing “the world’s most creative multimedia portal which will offer comprehensive political coverage and analysis to every secondary school in the UK”.

The portal will give children the BBC’s analysis of issues such as the European Union Treaty, asking whether it involves a significant transfer of powers from Britain.

But the new venture, which remains uncosted, comes as BBC staff threaten industrial action over thousands of job cuts, prompted by a reduced licence fee settlement.

The BBC scrapped a previous online educational service called BBC Jam, which cost £76 million to set up, after rivals complained to European authorities that it was anti-competitive.

Iain Dale, who publishes an influential political blog, said: “This is yet another attempt by the BBC to dominate a new market sector. It is an attack on commercial publishers of educational political content.”

Mr Dale also expressed concern about the tone of the BBC’s content. “Not all of us want children emerging from the educational system with a BBC-engendered outlook.”

Mr Thompson said the BBC’s political coverage strived to be fair and balanced. However, an internal report criticised the BBC for plugging political campaigns such as African debt relief in programmes.

Mr Thompson said the BBC was the right body to bring politics to children. Despite a series of phone competition scandals, he quoted surveys showing that public trust in the BBC is “stronger today than it was five years ago”.

The web portal will include blogs from BBC star correspondents such as Nick Robinson as well as analyses of MPs, “how they vote, what they stand for, how you can contact them”.

Mr Thompson said the BBC would link with other services and was not seeking to drive them out of business. The BBC considers the portal a public service contribution to citizenship.

In his speech, Mr Thompson offered politicians a new deal. They will get more time to explain policies as long as they submit to tough interviews.

“We should create more space in news reports and in interviews for politicians to set out their own thoughts. Then let the analysis and the cross-examination begin,” he said.

He rejected the view that “if only people like John Humphrys and Nick Robinson and Jeremy Paxman were less aggressive, the public’s confidence in politics and politicians would be restored and their cynicism would evaporate. I don’t believe that the public want to see less rigour in our questioning of politicians and other public figures: if anything, they want more.”

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