The BBC should “grovel” to Donald Trump over the Panorama documentary scandal, the Tories warned. The US President has threatened billion-dollar legal action over the furore, which has sparked the resignation of two top bosses.
It comes after concerns were raised in a report that the broadcaster had selectively edited a speech Mr Trump made before the US Capitol riots in 2021. Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston said: “If you look at the complaint he’s got, the TV programme, the Panorama programme, he probably has legitimate claims to say, look, this was wrong and definitely requires and demands an apology.
“So I would advise the BBC to grovel here. They need to make sure that they communicate very clearly that they got this wrong and that they apologise.
“And then I think probably we need to all appeal to Donald Trump to make it clear that it’s licensed payers, it’s taxpayers that would suffer then because of the bad and poor decisions made by a bunch of left-wing journalists and anti-Trump journalists and make it clear that they should be the ones held to account. And please don’t penalise the rest of the British public. And Donald Trump does like the UK. He likes Britons. And I hope that that expression would work.”
Mr Huddleston also suggested that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should call Mr Trump.
He told Times Radio: “The BBC does so many other things incredibly well. But the news and current affairs have got real problems and in particular have not been upholding their own duty on impartiality. And I think that needs explaining to Donald Trump.”
Outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie, who quit alongside BBC News CEO Deborah Turness, yesterday [TUES] told staff the corporation has to “stand up for our journalism” as he warned of “enemies” of the broadcaster.
Mr Davie said: “We have to be very clear and stand up for our journalism.
“We are a unique and precious organisation, and I see the free press under pressure, I see the weaponisation. I think we’ve got to fight for our journalism.
“I’m really proud of our work, and the amazing work locally, globally, that we’re doing is utterly precious.”
He added: “We have made some mistakes that have cost us, but we need to fight for that. And I’m fiercely proud of that, and don’t let anyone stop you from thinking that we are doing a fantastic job.”
Mr Davie told staff: “We will thrive and this narrative will not just be given by our enemies: It’s our narrative.”
Downing Street declined to comment on Mr Trump’s threat to sue the BBC, saying: “This is a matter for the BBC.”
A Number 10 spokesman added: “It’s clearly not for the Government to comment on any ongoing legal matters.”
The spokesman indicated that Sir Keir has not spoken to Mr Trump about his threatened legal action.
The row erupted when a report from Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, raised concerns about the way clips of Mr Trump’s speech were spliced together to make it appear he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.
A legal letter, from Trump counsel Alejandro Brito, has demanded that “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” made about Mr Trump be retracted immediately.
The letter says if the BBC “does not comply” Mr Trump will be “left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than 1,000,000,000 dollars in damages”.
