BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead steps down after Theresa May said she'd need to reapply for the role

Rona Fairhead, the current chair of the BBC Trust, has said she will not continue in that role when the Trust is replaced by a unitary board in 2017. 

Back in May of this year, then-Prime Minister David Cameron had decided that Fairhead would move automatically into the same position on the new board - an arrangement that received a fair amount of criticism. 

However, new PM Theresa May overturned that decision today, telling Fairhead she would have to reapply for the chair.

In a statement to the Financial Times, Fairhead said that, although May had "strongly encouraged" her to take part in the reapplication process, she'd decided it would "be better to have a clean break".

"I took on leadership of the Trust to help stabilise, strengthen and develop the BBC following a very difficult period in its history and through Charter Review," the statement read.

"I am proud of what I and my colleagues, both at the Trust and the BBC, have accomplished during the past two years.

"The prime minister strongly encouraged me to take part in the new appointment process, for what would be a new four-year term as BBC chairman.

"However, after much thought I have come to the conclusion that I should not do so. It is my belief that it will be better to have a clean break and for the government to appoint someone new."

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC, playing a pivotal role in decisions such as whether to close the iPlayer loophole. 

The Trust will be scrapped and replaced by a unitary board in 2017, and Fairhead will stay on as chair until that switch is made.

The BBC's had a difficult week, losing one of its biggest success stories of recent times, The Great British Bake Off. 

Channel 4 is said to have paid a huge £25 million to take over airing the series - a sum that's looking considerably less like value for money now that Mel and Sue have announced they're standing down.