Boris Johnson trying to undermine BBC leadership, insiders fear after leak | Boris Johnson
There are fears Boris Johnson and people linked to him are seeking to undermine the BBC’s leadership after a memo criticizing the BBC’s coverage of Donald Trump, trans rights and Gaza was leaked.
The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and other senior editorial staff are under pressure following criticism of the document by Michael Prescott, the former independent external adviser to the broadcasting codes and standards committee (EGSC).
Parliament’s culture, media and sport committee wanted to know the BBC’s response to the statement and set Monday as a deadline. The BBC’s board is compiling its response.
But insiders believe the leak of the memo to the Daily Telegraph and the criticism from Johnson are part of a planned attempt to undermine the organisation, which is in key talks with the government over renewing its charter.
Johnson told the Telegraph that Davie “must either explain or resign” over the allegations in the memo. He said the BBC had been “caught red-handed in multiple acts of left-wing bias”.
Concerns have previously been raised about the role of Robbie Gibb, who joined the BBC board while Johnson was at Downing Street.
Gibb was Theresa May’s director of communications during her time as prime minister and helped launch the right-wing news channel GB News.
Sources told the Guardian that Gibb was instrumental in Prescott’s appointment as an advisor to EGSC. They have been reported before as a friend. Prescott left his consultancy role at the BBC in the summer.
Johnson said the idea that there was an effort to undermine the BBC’s leadership was “complete nonsense”.
“I didn’t talk to either of them [Gibb or Prescott] “I first heard about Michael Prescott’s report when I saw it on the Telegraph website,” he said. The fabrication of a panorama is scandalous. Why not try to determine how and why this happened instead of making up more leftist nonsense?
Gibb was approached for comment but referred the Guardian to the BBC. A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC board consists of 13 members, five of whom are appointed by the government, including Sir Robbie Gibb. The editorial and standards committee does not deal with day-to-day output. It looks at post-broadcast editorial matters, including complaints.”
“[The editorial adviser roles] “The external advertisement was advertised as part of the BBC’s open and fair competition process and Michael Prescott was interviewed by a panel of board members who made the collective decision to appoint him.”
Gibb was part of the four-person panel that interviewed Prescott for the role.
Prescott has also been contacted for comment.
According to the Telegraph, Prescott said in his note: “I have never been a member of any political party and do not hold strong or rigid views on matters such as American politics or conflicts in the Middle East. My views on the BBC’s approach to the issues discussed below do not come with any political agenda.”
Prescott is now set to appear before the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee soon.
Rupa Huq, one of the MPs on the committee, said that such an appearance was not normal. He tweeted that he was. “quite unusual for one-man panelsespecially when they are partisan figures.”.
Much will now depend on the response of the BBC board, of which Gibb is a member. There is some concern among people close to the BBC that the board was set up to boost the BBC’s commercial activities rather than being experts on editorial matters.
Some people concerned about the criticisms of the BBC believe they are linked to attempts to pull the media to the right, dating back to Johnson’s time in office.
Prescott’s memo has already sparked criticism from senior Conservatives. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said “heads should be rolling” at the company. Johnson posted on social media last week: “Is there anyone at the BBC who will take responsibility and resign?”
The main criticism of Prescott’s memo focused on an edition of Panorama published a week before the US election. He accused the BBC of selectively editing Donald Trump’s speech to make it clearer that he encouraged the US Capitol attack.
An added clip suggests Trump telling the crowd: “We’re going to march to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we’re going to fight. We’re fighting like hell.” The quotes were taken from parts of his speech almost an hour apart.
Prescott also expressed concerns about BBC Arabic. A review by BBC correspondent David Grossman claimed it highlighted “systemic problems within BBC Arabic” representing anti-Israel bias. He added that not enough action was taken following Grossman’s report.
This is controversial. minute EGSC meeting in MarchDiscussing the findings of Grossman’s report, the report states that “significant structural and management changes have recently been made in the oversight of World Service operations, including BBC Arabic. A number of additional actions have been implemented in response to the report.”
A BBC spokesman said: “In relation to BBC News Arabic, errors were made or occurred and we acknowledged and acted on them in a timely manner. We also acknowledged that some previous contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to prevent this from happening again.”
The BBC said it had now stopped broadcasting people who Prescott was said to have expressed antisemitic views.
In 2021, the Johnson government was accused of creating a conflict of interest after appointing Prescott to help choose the next chairman of Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator. He was appointed as the senior external negotiator for this role. The Johnson government had been pressing for the Ofcom job to be given to former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre.
A government spokesman responded on Prescott’s behalf at the time, saying: “The recruitment process for the Ofcom chairman was fair and open and there was no conflict of interest. Mr Prescott’s role on the panel was approved by the independent commissioner for public appointments.”
Gibb had previously been accused of trying to block the appointment of a senior editor on political grounds. He was accused of trying to prevent Jess Brammar, the former editor of HuffPost UK and deputy editor of BBC Newsnight, from being sacked from her role overseeing the BBC’s news channels.
A BBC spokesman said at the time: “As a general principle, board members were allowed to discuss matters with other board members or senior managers. These principles were adhered to.”
