BBC chair expected to make statement after director general and news CEO resign

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5 hours ago

Tim Davie and Deborah Turness have resigned from the BBC under mounting pressure (Picture: PA/REX/Getty)

A combination image with Tim Davie, and Deborah Turness. — Tim Davie and Deborah Turness have resigned from the BBC under mounting pressure (Picture: PA/REX/Getty)

The broadcaster’s chair, Samir Shah, is set to apologise in parliament today after the resignations of BBC top brass.

The BBC continues to be under pressure after accusations of editing Donald Trump’s speech shown in a Panorama documentary to make it appear as if the US president incited violence.

Tim Davie, the BBC director general, announced his resignation yesterday evening after five years at the helm, which had seen him face accusations of bias and controversies.

Sunday night also saw the departure of the CEO of News, Deborah Turness.

Donald Trump has taken aim at the BBC after accusations that a Panorama clip of his speech was altered (Picture: AP)

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Davie said that as the director general, he has to ‘take the ultimate responsibility,’ while Turness admitted that ‘the buck stops with me.’

All eyes are now on the broadcaster’s chair, Shah, who is expected to make his statement today and offer an apology.

He said yesterday it was a ‘sad day’ for the BBC, while the BBC committee chairwoman, Dame Caroline Dinenage, described Davie’s resignation as ‘regrettable’ but that ‘restoring trust in the corporation must come first.’

Shah, 73, a TV and radio executive, has worked with the BBC on and off since the late 1980s.

His role includes ‘upholding and protecting the independence of the BBC.’

Samir Shah, the BBC board’s chair, has been left to mop up the mess following the Trump speech scandal (Picture: Reuters)

What has Donald Trump said?

The US president took to his Truth Social platform yesterday to criticise the BBC, accusing its top chiefs of ‘doctoring’ his speech on the January 6 beore the Capitol riot.

Trump said: The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th.’

Davie said he takes ‘the ultimate responsibility’ after the controversy (Picture: Reuters)

In his rambling post, he went on to thank The Telegraph, which leaked an internal BBC memo last week, for ‘exposing these corrupt “journalists.”‘

He continued: ‘These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!

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