Trump-BBC live: Labour minister says ‘national meltdown’ not necessary despite $1bn legal threat – UK Times

The Independent’s political correspondent Caitlin Doherty reports…

The UK should not have a “national meltdown” about the BBC, a minister has said.

Alison McGovern, who serves as local government minister, told Times Radio that the “question I have is, has there been bad editing here? Has there been issues?”

She told the station: “If there has, the answer to that is to get better editing and to invest in quality journalism and sort the problems out.

“I don’t think we need to have a national meltdown about this.

“I think we need to make sure that the BBC, one of our most trusted media organisations, invests in quality journalism and tells the stories that we all want to hear.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:

BBC chairman Samir Shah’s apologetic letter to the Commons culture, media and sport select committee seems unlikely to satisfy members.

The Independent understands that there had been concerns that he had not already offered to address them before Tim Davies’ resignation as director-general.

Now the committee is set to meet in private before hearing evidence from Michael Prescott, the author of the memo that plunged the BBC into this scandal.

Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage has told The Independent that the committee will “discuss next steps”.

But that is set to include demands that Dr Shah and other senior figures from the corporation give an account of what has happened, including claims that Mr Davie was the victim of an internal coup.

BBC chairman Samir Shah has said he “did not want to lose” former director-general Tim Davie, who resigned on Sunday.

Mr Davie’s departure came after a report by Michael Prescott found that a speech by Donald Trump for BBC documentary series Panorama had been selectively edited, and came alongside the resignation of BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.

Speaking on BBC News, Mr Shah, 73, said: “I did not want to lose Tim Davie, I think Tim Davie has been an outstanding director-general, and may I say, nor did any member of the board.

“We were upset by the decision, I do understand it at a very human level, Tim has gone through a lot of attacks, it’s been relentless.

“It’s also a very, very difficult job to join, the BBC is a huge, massive enterprise, and asks a lot of the director-general in terms of just his physical resilience and also emotional, and I do think it’s a characteristic, I would say, that we really do enjoy beating people up.

“And you’ve got to remember that these people are human, they have families, they have emotions, and you can’t consistently do that just because you want to give somebody a kicking, it’s not fair.

“It wasn’t fair on Tim, I’ve got to know Tim very well over the last 15 months, and I have huge admiration for what he’s done, and it’s an admiration shared by the board.”

Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby has said the BBC’s culture “needs attention and always has done” following the weekend resignations of director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, the former Question Time host described the ongoing controversy as “ridiculous” and said the corporation must address its internal culture amid accusations of left-wing bias.

Dimbleby said: “I have no idea why that wasn’t addressed as soon as it was spotted, because it’s obviously a disgrace and should have been. It should have been corrected at the time, and the editor of Panorama should have been fired if he knew it was done.”

Asked about alleged political bias at the BBC, Dimbleby said: “I don’t think you can conclude that simply because people have been to university and are middle class and educated, they should have some particular political bias.”

He also commented on Sir Robbie Gibb’s role on the BBC board, saying he should be more transparent about his views: “You can’t just get rid of people like Robbie Gibb… but the board of governors can’t allow a conspiracy within the board.”

Sir Robbie Gibb’s position on the BBC board is being called into question amid bias accusations at the broadcaster.

Sir Robbie served as director of communications for Theresa May when she was in Downing Street as Conservative prime minister before his appointment to the broadcaster’s board.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said his position fuelled doubt and debate about BBC independence and impartiality.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Sir Robbie should be removed from the board immediately.

SNP leader Mr Swinney told LBC: “Robbie Gibb is a very clearly affiliated party political figure on the board of the BBC.

“If the BBC wants to be viewed as an impartial organisation that’s authoritative, that reflects the independence of commentary, then I think Robbie Gibb’s position is untenable.”

In The Guardian, Sir Ed wrote that Sir Robbie should not have a say in choosing the BBC’s next director-general.

Supporters of the BBC, including journalists at The Guardian and The Financial Times, and some BBC staff, believe there was an orchestrated right-wing campaign to undermine the corporation, according to statements they’ve made.

“This is a crisis created by political and commercial opponents to public service broadcasting and the BBC,” said Diane Coyle, an economist and vice-chair of a former BBC governing body.

The supporters say daily leaks of criticism from the memo ramped up pressure, while high-profile figures such as former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson fuelled the controversy.

Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian who now heads Prospect magazine, said many on the BBC board came from a background of finance or business, or had not worked in journalism for a long time. He said as well as a new director-general, the corporation needed stronger governance.

“The board itself is not really well placed to make fine editorial judgements,” he said.

“Any director-general coming in would want to know who’s got their back and whether there are people who can make the judgements and defend the journalism when it needs to be defended, or reach sophisticated judgements on when it needs to be corrected or apologised for.”

The BBC’s media correspondent, Katie Razzall, and political presenter Nick Robinson both said they had been told there was a clash with the board, with news executives wanting to publish an apology and the board preventing it.

The controversy arose because the corporation was “not willing” to listen to “the recommendations of their own internal system for checking bias”, a former presenter claims.

Mark Urban, former diplomatic editor of Newsnight, told Sky News: “This crisis has come about because the BBC, including Deborah Turness, were not willing to listen to and act sufficiently energetically upon the recommendations of their own internal system for checking bias.”

He highlighted reporting of gender issues, race and Gaza.

“And I think when you put all those things collectively together, we understand, and if you’ve been in meetings, as I have for many years, you’ve seen the BBC change in recent years, I think, in common with many other news organisations and many other publicly funded organisations, but you’ve seen that much more – for want of a better word – woke tendency among younger members of staff, and the tension between young and old.

“And of course that’s what’s burst out here.”