The Conservatives have warned BBC chiefs that they should prepare for a cut in the licence fee and the closure of little-watched television channels.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, said the public broadcaster could be dramatically slimmed down under a Tory government.

Following the disclosure last week that 37 managers earned more than Gordon Brown’s salary of £194,250, Hunt warned that the BBC’s bureaucratic waste had become an “absolute nightmare”.

Hunt said that it had been “obscene” of the BBC to demand an inflation-busting licence fee increase despite the squeeze on family incomes. “The BBC should have waived its increase this year,” said Hunt. “Why did it have a £68m inflationary rise when there is no inflation?”

Hunt, 43, was elected in 2005 as MP for South West Surrey, and quickly became one of the Conservatives’ rising stars. Educated at Charterhouse, he has been tipped to be promoted to one of the senior cabinet jobs under a David Cameron administration.

Some admirers even believe Hunt, who married his girlfriend Lucia this year, could eventually become Tory leader.

However, Hunt’s immediate prospects depend on how he handles the BBC.

With the Tories committed to reducing the size of the public sector, he has to persuade the BBC to make cuts, while at the same time not undermining the corporation’s traditional “arm’s length” independence from government.

The licence fee settlement comes up for renegotiation in 2012 and Hunt said he would be driving a hard bargain.

“If we win the next election we will have to have discussions with the BBC about the appropriate level,” he said. “We think in the current climate it would be very hard to argue for any increase in the licence fee.”

Asked whether he might seek a reduction, he said: “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

The shadow culture secretary said he was an admirer of popular BBC programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, Little Britain and Life, the nature documentary presented by Sir David Attenborough.

He also said it was important that the BBC continued to champion high culture such as the Proms.

However, he expressed scepticism about the value of the niche television channels BBC Three and BBC Four, as well as digital radio stations such as 1Xtra, 6 Music and Radio 7. Collectively these new ventures cost hundreds of millions of pounds out of a total BBC budget of £4.6 billion.

Hunt said: “The BBC needs to make a better case for investment in some of its new digital channels which have very low audiences but do cost a lot of money.

“If we win the election there will be discussions we will be having with the BBC.”

Hunt is awaiting a report on the future of the creative industries from Greg Dyke, the former BBC director general, which will also look at the licence fee, currently £142.50. Hunt says it could be replaced by a new type of charge as more and more people watch television through their computers.

“We are committed to the principle of the licence fee but we recognise that the way that operates in practice will have to change as technology develops,” he said.

He said the BBC had “dragged its feet” on executive pay and criticised Mark Thompson, the director-general, for publishing salary details only of selected highly-paid managers.

He said: “It is very reasonable to say that the public should know about everyone who is paid more than £100,000. The point about transparency, as we in Westminster have learnt, is that it it makes you more careful about how you spend the public’s money.”

Hunt said he regretted his previous outspoken demand that the BBC should recruit more Tories, but insisted that the corporation suffered an “innate liberal bias”.

“On the whole, the kind of people who want to go to work for the BBC tend to lean more in one direction than another,” he said.

What does Hunt settle down to in the evening?

“I would like to watch a lot more television than I actually do,” he said, adding: “I have been watching The X Factor.” He said he had been furious at Simon Cowell’s decision last week to save the Irish twins “Jedward” and revealed he was supporting the teenager Joe McElderry to win.

The BBC will not be the only area of cultural life to face cuts under the Tories. Hunt will tomorrow announce £186m of savings for the National Lottery.

The proposed cuts will include the abolition of the National Lottery Commission watchdog, the scrapping of the public relations and marketing budgets for the lottery funds, and reducing administrative costs by £120m.

Hunt said the lottery had been “Labourised” over the past 12 years and promised to return it to its original mission, devised by John Major in 1994.

There will be an end to lottery funds handing out money to projects which would normally be backed by central or local governments. “Why should the lottery pay for children’s playgrounds?” he said.

He expressed concern that recent applications to restore Exeter cathedral and Colchester castle had been rejected. Under the Conservatives, the lottery would be able to do more to help Britain’s fragile heritage.

Times Recommends

• Children who front atheist ads are evangelicals
• Killer heels? No, purring kittens
• My Week: Belle de Jour