Ed Davey calls for Robbie Gibb to be ousted from BBC board
Sir Ed Davey has called for Sir Robbie Gibb to be removed from the BBC board.
The Liberal Democrat leader said Mr Gibb, who served as Theresa May’s communications director, should have “no role in the appointment of the new chief executive” following the departure of Tim Davie.
IT following claims Mr Gibb was said to have “led the charge” in allegations of systemic bias at the company, which was followed by the resignation of Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness.
Writing in the Guardian, the Liberal Democrat leader said that “to ensure the BBC’s independence, impartiality and trust, Gibb should have no role in the appointment of the new director-general.”
He wrote: “The government should immediately remove him from the board and completely end the practice of political appointments that has so badly undermined the BBC.”
Mr Gibb, appointed to the board by Boris Johnson and endorsed by Rishi Sunak, described himself as a “quintessential Thatcherite Conservative”. Writing for Alan Rusbridger IndependentHe detailed how Mr Gibb led mysterious consortium to buy Jewish Chronicle On behalf of a secret supporter whose identity has never been revealed. His management of this newspaper saw it mired in its own ethical and editorial problems. failures.
Room He was reportedly a friend of Michael Prescott. The former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee wrote the bombshell report that spliced together clips of Donald Trump’s speech to appear to tell his supporters he would march on the US Capitol to “fight like hell” with them.
Davie and Turness, Trump: A Second Chance? They resigned on Sunday evening amid the scandal surrounding the Panorama programme. With long-awaited consultations on the BBC’s new charter expected to begin in the coming weeks, the corporation and ministers are coming under pressure over the issue.
In the same Guardian article, Sir Ed said: “The disturbing escalation of attacks on the BBC should be incredibly worrying for anyone who cares about truth, accountability and democracy.
“Trump and his friends are trying to destroy one of our most valuable British institutions and we must act quickly to stop them.”
He said the company was “not perfect” but claimed critics were “taking a single mistake in a BBC program as an excuse to undermine the entire organisation”.
“We absolutely cannot let this happen.”
Trump threatened $1 billion in legal action against the broadcaster over its Panorama program. The BBC has until Friday to respond to Mr. Trump’s legal threat, which it plans to air under Florida law.
Meanwhile, a minister said the country should not suffer a “national collapse” because of this saga.
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday, local government minister Alison McGovern said the BBC needed to invest in “quality journalism”.
He told the station: My question is: Was there bad editing here? Were there problems?
“The answer, if any, is to do better editing, invest in quality journalism and solve problems.
“I don’t think we need to have a national crisis on this issue.
“I think we need to make sure the BBC, one of our most trusted media organisations, invests in quality journalism and tells the stories we all want to hear.”
