WHEN BBC director general Tony Hall said of Jeremy Clarkson: “There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another,” did no one think to tell him that at the same time, Jonathan Ross was standing in for Steve Wright on Radio 2.

Whatever you think about Clarkson, Lord Hall’s remarks are incredulous. Wossy’s too. When asked about Jezza’s upper-cut the other day, he pronounced: “If you’re abusive to someone at work, no, that can’t be allowed.”

Pardon?

You may remember, back in 2008, Mr Ross and his sidekick Russell Brand thought it deeply amusing to leave disparaging messages on actor Andrew Sachs’ answer machine during a BBC radio show.

After 40,000 complaints, the corporation eventually sacked the easy-to-ditch Brand, while, unbelievably, their star turn, Ross, was only suspended, What was that about ‘there cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another’?

This despite a spokesman admitting the pair’s remarks were ‘grossly offensive’ and a ‘serious breach of editorial standards’.

Indeed they were, but did you know the programme had been pre-recorded? What were the producers thinking? Scapegoats, horses and stable bolts spring to mind, which makes Lord Hall’s insistence that the Beeb is run on some sort of ‘holier than thou’ code ring rather hollow, don’t you think?

But this is not a tirade against Auntie. Most of the time it rightly remains the envy of the world and thank God for BBC Four, not to mention Six Music. No, after this latest debacle, the issue is: will the corporation finally learn how to manage edgy stars with huge egos in a less cack-handed manner? Because when people are allowed to think they are beyond reproach, it always ends in tears.

With no advertisers to pander to, one of the BBC’s greatest strengths is in encouraging comedians not to toe the line, but to sidle along a thoroughly dangerous one. When it works, the results are astonishing – Monty Python, League of Gentlemen and have you seen the dark-as-a-winter’s-night Inside No 9?

But their writers knew how far to stray across that line, whether on air or off, and that’s how we have mercifully avoided a world full of Michael MacIntyre-alikes. Perish such a thought.

How to deal with those who are tempted to stray, before they do so, is the vexed question. Perhaps Lord Hall should hire Sir Alex Ferguson for a day. Sir Alex had a simple maxim: if anyone stepped out of his control, ‘that’s them dead.’ No room for misinterpretation there then.

Crucially, he also knew how to get the best out of precocious talent. In a lecture at Harvard University, Sir Alex revealed all, telling academics: “You have to accept that there is a certain flaw that is counterbalanced by all the great things a player can do.”

Unless that deficiency is a lack of self control. Sir Alex added: “If they can no longer bring the discipline that we ask for, they are out.”

Which is precisely why Jeremy Clarkson had to go. His job may be to act like an oaf; that’s the point and it’s why so many people tune in to Top Gear. Quite rightly, his comedy has also been encouraged to be a hair’s breadth away from that all important knuckle.

But even Jezza can’t do as he pleases, no matter how valuable he may be for the BBC’s coffers. The straw-that-broke-the camel’s back incident leaves in its wake many lessons for the corporation to learn, not to mention it’s edgy stars with their huge egos.