Channel 4 is planning to announce former Member of Parliament Oona King as its new head of diversity, AIM magazine can exclusively reveal.

Two executives close to the decision independently confirmed that Ms King, formerly the MP for the east London constituency Bethnal Bow and Green, was soon to take over.

The decision has potentially big ramifications because, as one source said, it was a very political move.

“Ms King obviously has good political contacts, having been close to Tony Blair’s government. I’m pretty sure that was a big factor in the decision. Diversity is moving up the political agenda.”

But others say it is an attempt by Channel 4 to use diversity as a way to attract public money. The broadcaster is expecting to face a cash crisis in coming years and is trying hard to win political opinion so it can be saved by public money.

The decision to hire Oona King, who was a high profile MP before she lost to George Galloway in 2005 in a bitter fight, is being seen by some as a way to leverage its position amongst key decision makers regarding its future.

Last year Channel 4 made major announcements to push diversity in its programming and recruitment.

It said it wanted to: “extend our ability to reflect all kinds of social diversity including ethnicity, disability, nationality, regionality, age, gender and beyond.”

It announced it would appoint a separate editor, later revealed as Aaqil Ahmed, with responsibilities for commissioning multicultural programmes during peak-time hours.

It has ring-fenced £2 million to commission more multicultural programmes for the 9pm – 10pm slot.

It will also double funding for the existing diversity-placement scheme within commissioning and roll out a similar scheme across all departments.

The decision to hire Ms Oona Kind as head of diversity at senior executive level was part of the original plan.

Another senior source told AIM magazine that the broadcaster was planning to announce the decision in January, but had made up its mind months ago. The delay had been down to Ms King’s committments.

“They were ready to go months ago, but she asked them to delay it. Now the announcement is imminent.”