‘Heads should roll!’: BBC boss Tim Davie left fighting for his job over ‘shocking’ impartiality row – as corporation accused of ‘pushing Hamas lies around the world’

BBC bosses face ‘serious questions’ over how to handle an internal report on impartiality as the BBC is accused of ‘spreading Hamas lies around the world’.

The report, sent to BBC director general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah last month, plunged the company into a new crisis, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch arguing ‘heads should roll’.

Pressure was mounting for Mr Davie to fall to his sword last night after a former senior BBC executive called on the top boss to pursue “three scandals too many”.

The note on neutrality states that the BBC chose to “minimise Israeli suffering” in the war in Gaza and “portray Israel as the aggressor” during the conflict.

It was stated that the company’s staff ‘rushed to the air’ to make allegations against Israel without adequate checks, and it was claimed that there was a ‘desire to always believe the worst about Israel’.

The report also found that BBC Arabic, which is part of the World Service, provided a platform for journalists who made extreme anti-Semitic comments.

A man who said ‘Jews should be burned like Hitler did’ was a guest on BBC Arabic 244 times in 18 months. Another, describing Israelis as less than human and Jews as ‘evil’, appeared 522 times in the same period.

The report was written by Michael Prescott, who spent three years as an advisor to the broadcaster’s Broadcasting Guidelines and Standards Committee and sent the 19-page document to the BBC Board, arguing there were ‘shocking’ breaches of impartiality.

Pressure was mounting on Davie to fall to his sword last night after a former senior BBC executive called on the top boss to pursue “three scandals too many”.

The report, sent to BBC director general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah last month, plunged the company into a new crisis, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch arguing ‘heads should roll’.

Prescott said: ‘Errors are coming thick and fast with eyewitness accounts from locals who sometimes tweeted praising the October 7 murders and worse.

‘The BBC needs to admit it has systemic problems with broadcasting. Only then can the process begin to properly resolve the problem.’

In his memo, Mr Prescott said BBC Arabic had failed to provide impartial news coverage.

He said its content was ‘quite different’ to the BBC’s main website, even though it should reflect the same values.

In a leak of the report seen by The Daily Telegraph on Monday, Mr Prescott also claimed the BBC had ‘altered’ a speech the US President made in an episode of Panorama to make it look like he had encouraged the 2021 Capitol Hill riots.

The memo alleged that senior executives and the BBC’s chief executive ignored and dismissed a number of serious complaints raised by the corporation’s own standards watchdog.

Mr Prescott said he was forced to speak out because of his despair. [the BBC’s] inaction when problems arise.

Downing Street confirmed that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had a copy of the report and had been “reassured” that they were investigating the issues raised by the BBC.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said it was vital that the BBC upheld the highest standards of reporting and impartiality to maintain the trust of viewers.

He added: ‘We take any criticism of the BBC’s editorial standards very seriously. The culture secretary expects the company to report news accurately and impartially and to thoroughly examine questions about editorial standards.’

Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition also got in line. Ms Badenoch told GB News: ‘This is absolutely shocking. This is fake news, it actually tries to make something look different than it actually is by combining different things together. And I think heads should roll.’

Former BBC Television executive Danny Cohen, who has long been a critic of Tim Davie, called for the BBC boss to resign last night.

Former BBC Television director Danny Cohen has long criticized Tim Davie and called for the BBC boss’s resignation

Downing Street confirmed that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had a copy of the report and had been “assured” by the BBC that the issues raised in the report were being investigated.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘I think three scandals is too many when it comes to Tim Davie. I think eventually someone has to take responsibility. The BBC needs to show that it takes these issues seriously and will take steps to rebuild trust.’

‘If he buries his head in the sand and tries to ignore a report by an independent consultant who has access to what’s going on at the BBC, he’s lost credibility.’

He added: ‘It can no longer be doubted that the BBC helped spread Hamas’s lies around the world and fueled antisemitism at home.’

‘So I think we need change at the top and we need significant reforms within the organization to deal with this.’

The report left the BBC facing questions of trust, while Ms Nandy and broadcast regulator Ofcom faced growing calls for an investigation into alleged BBC bias.

The all-party culture, media and sports committee will also write to Mr Shah on a number of questions raised by the report.

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the committee, said: ‘The BBC has serious questions that need to be answered, both about its editorial standards and the way concerns were handled by senior management.’

‘The company needs to set the standard for accurate and fair reporting, especially in a media environment where it is all too easy to find news presented in an unbiased manner.’

‘The committee needs to be reassured that the BBC’s most senior executives treat these matters with the seriousness they deserve and are taking decisive action to protect the corporation’s reputation for integrity and public trust.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.

‘Regarding BBC News Arabic, wherever mistakes were made or errors occurred, we acknowledged them in a timely manner and took action.

‘We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not be used and have improved our processes to prevent this from happening again.’