Tim Davie resigns live: Trump slams ‘dishonest’ BBC after director general and news CEO Deborah Turness quit

Tim Davie, who resigned as BBC director general, was once the corporation’s highest-paid executive.

In 2019, while leading BBC Studios, he earned £642,000 a year, more than his predecessor Tony Hall’s £475,000.

When Davie took over as director general in 2020, he initially accepted Hall’s salary before it was raised to £525,000 in 2021.

Philippa Childs, head of Bectu which represents workers in broadcasting and digital media, said: “Tim Davie has steered the BBC through some difficult times, and I thank him for his work to defend the corporation and support staff in a time of declining budgets, especially his work on the BBC’s Culture Review.

“This is a critical moment for the BBC as we head into a charter renewal process, and it is essential that this post is quickly filled with someone similarly committed to public service broadcasting who can champion the BBC’s mission, values and political independence.

“The BBC is a central pillar of our cultural ecosystem, the new director-general will have a huge role not only in leading the corporation and its many talented staff, but in driving forwards the wider creative industries which benefit from a strong and bold BBC.”

lEd Davey has criticised the White House after it claimed responsibility for Tim Davie’s resignation.

“I had my disagreements with the BBC under Tim Davie but he was a decent man doing a difficult job,” Mr Davey said in response to a post by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt which referenced President Trump’s recent criticism of the broadcaster.

“To see Trump’s White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all,” he added.

The White House press secretary has mocked the BBC following Tim Davie’s resignation as director-general.

Mr Davie resigned on Sunday evening, along with CEO of News Deborah Turness, following criticism that a BBC Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by US president Donald Trump.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted screenshots of two news articles, one showing Trump criticising the BBC, captioned “shot”, and another regarding Tim Davie’s resignation, captioned “chaser”.

The BBC had been expected to apologise on Monday following concerns about impartiality, including how a speech by US president Donald Trump was edited in an episode of Panorama.

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Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has thanked Tim Davie for “his service to public broadcasting over many years.

In a statement on X, she said he had led the BBC through a “period of significant change and helped the organisation to grip the challenges it has faced in recent years”.

It adds: “Now more than ever, the need for trusted news and high quality programming is essential to our democratic and cultural life, and our place in the world.

“As a government, we will support the Board as it manages this transition and ensure that the Charter Review is the catalyst that helps the BBC to adapt to this new era and secures its role at the heart of national life for decades to come.”

Nigel Farage has said the resignation of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness must be “the start of wholesale change”.

The Reform UK leader said: “Davie and Turness going must be the start of wholesale change.

“The Government need to appoint somebody with a record of coming in and turning companies and their cultures around. Preferably it would be someone coming in from the private sector who has run a forward-facing business and understands PR.

“This is the BBC’s last chance. If they don’t get this right, there will be vast numbers of people refusing to pay the licence fee.”

BBC chairman Samir Shah has [paid tribute to Tim Davie as he reflects on a “sad day” for the broadcaster.

“Tim has been an outstanding director-general for the last five years,” Mr Shah said. “He has propelled the BBC forward with determination, single-mindedness and foresight.

“He has had the full support of me and the board throughout. However, I understand the continued pressure on him, personally and professionally, which has led him to take this decision today. The whole board respects the decision and the reasons for it.

“Tim has given 20 years of his life to the BBC. He is a devoted and inspirational leader and an absolute believer in the BBC and public service broadcasting. He has achieved a great deal. Foremost, under his tenure, the transformation of the BBC to meet the challenges in a world of unprecedented change and competition is well under way.

“Personally, I will miss his stamina, good humour and resilience and I will miss working with him. I wish him and his family the very best for the future.”

The director-general will be appointed by the BBC Board, led by chair Samir Shah who is one of 10 non-executive members plus four executive members – including the director-general.

Four of the non-executive members are appointed as members for each of the UK nations.

The process will be led by the BBC Board’s nominations committee, and it will be made under the terms of the BBC’s Charter, which is drawn up by the government.

Mr Davie’s successor will be the 18th director-general in 103 years of the BBC’s existence.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has warned that Donald Trump must not be allowed to “destroy” the BBC.

“It’s easy to see why Trump wants to destroy the world’s number one news source. We can’t let him,” Sir Ed wrote in a post on X, in response to Trump describing BBC journalists as “very dishonest people” after Mr Davie’s resignation.

“The BBC belongs to all of us here in the UK,” Sir Ed continued.

“The Prime Minister and leaders from across the political spectrum should be united in telling Trump to keep his hands off it.”

Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger writes in The Independent:

The latest squall has arisen over a “dossier” apparently compiled by one Michael Prescott, a former journalist who worked for Rupert Murdoch, who had something of a ringside seat at the BBC for three years. He has questioned the editing of a Panorama programme on Donald Trump – which elides separate quotes to make it look like Trump said he would march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” with his supporters.

Prescott also has concerns about what he regards as an anti-Israel bias within the corporation, as well as its coverage of certain transgender issues.

Two of Prescott’s complaints seem particularly questionable. The first is that the Panorama editing was “completely misleading”. Prescott argues that the fact that Trump did not explicitly exhort supporters to fight at the Capitol was one of the reasons he wasn’t prosecuted.

But the Congressional committee that examined the day’s events in detail recommended criminal charges on the basis that Trump did indeed incite the attack on Congress – a verdict backed by the only federal district judge to consider the case. The Senate voted by 57 to 43 to impeach the former president, with seven Republicans backing the motion. So, while the way the film was edited was wrong, it’s not clear it was “misleading” in the way that Prescott argues.

Secondly, Prescott seems to have believed that an “equally aggressive” look at Kamala Harris should have been commissioned. He found it “shocking and alarming” that the aberrant behaviour of Trump should be singled out for especial scrutiny. But that suggests a bizarre notion of editorial equivalence. The deputy head of news, Jonathan Munro, was surely right to have dismissed Prescott’s idea of “due impartiality”.

Similarly, with criticism of the BBC over its coverage of Israel, there have been plausible and detailed critiques that suggest that the BBC is, contrary to Prescott’s own belief, actually biased in favour of Israel. But such analyses tend to sink without trace. Is this, in itself, a form of bias?