ANGUS Robertson has congratulated Muriel Gray on her appointment as the BBC board's nation member for Scotland.

The Scottish Culture Secretary said he expected her to promote the country's "specific and distinctive" interests and a "fairer level of investment" when she takes up the four year role in January.

“I congratulate Muriel Gray on her appointment as the next BBC Board Member for Scotland.

"We expect her to promote and champion Scotland’s specific and distinctive interests to help ensure that the BBC can deliver a more diverse and representative service in and for Scotland," Robertson said in a statement to The National.

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“It is essential that Scotland’s representative on the BBC Board supports and drives forward the improvement of outcomes for our creative sector and audiences, including more representative content across all BBC outputs.

"This includes a fairer level of investment in Scotland and a more decentralised structure that redistributes editorial and commissioning decisions to Scotland.”  

Gray, who stood down as the chairwoman of Glasgow School of Art earlier this year, was described as a “brave choice” by former BBC reporter Kenneth Macdonald.

She is a veteran writer and broadcaster and a prominent Unionist opposed to Scottish independence.

The National:

Her appointment, which was made by UK ministers in consultation with their Scottish counterparts, comes just four months after she quit her Glasgow School of Art post, following two disastrous fires at its historic building.

Macdonald, a recently retired senior BBC journalist, told The Times on Monday: “This is a brave and interesting choice but not one that is without risk. It could blow up in the BBC’s face. The BBC is often accused of being bland. Well, I don’t think anybody could accuse Gray of being bland.”

READ MORE: Muriel Gray appointed to role representing Scotland at the BBC

Gray, 63, rose to fame in the early 1980s as an interviewer on the Channel 4 music show The Tube and has decades of experience both in front of the camera and behind it.

However, her new role at the BBC will be strategic and supervisory rather than hands-on. She will be paid £33,000 a year for working the equivalent of two days a week, plus another £5000 for chairing the board’s Scotland committee.

BBC Scotland has been accused of bias from both supporters and opponents of independence in recent years. 

An official job description says Gray will support the BBC to meet its aims as an impartial and high-quality public broadcaster, have strong knowledge of Scottish culture and politics, and be an “ambassador” for the corporation to key stakeholders, such as the UK and Scottish governments.

However, a board member must also be firmly be independent of the BBC.