That this House deplores the sacking of Edward Stourton as a presenter of the Today programme; calls upon the Chairman of the BBC Trust, who represents the licence fee payer, to investigate how his sacking came to be notified to him by a journalist from the Independent on Sunday; notes that Mr Stourton commands huge respect for the undoubted impartiality and intellectual rigour he brings to the Today programme; further notes that Jonathan Ross has been retained by the same BBC management team that has dispensed with Mr Stourton; and calls on the BBC to reinstate Mr Stourton as a presenter on the Today programme forthwith.