Is the BBC noble or craven defending Campbell?

Stephen Glover in the Independent today says Downing Street was silly to have refused to field a Cabinet minister for last week's Question Time because Alastair Campbell was on the panel.
But, he also says it is fascinating to see the way the BBC has defended Campbell even though he had "bullied" the BBC and journalists when he was in Downing Street.
Glover writes: "It is fascinating to see the corporation bowing and scraping before the man who declared war on it after Andrew Gilligan's revelations about the "dodgy dossier" and New Labour's lies over Iraq. I can't work out whether the BBC is being noble or craven in constantly paying court to the monster who tried to destroy it."