BBC humiliation branded 'inside job' after Tim Davie's shock resignation

The resignations of the BBC's director-general and its head of news was "a coup", a former newspaper editor has said. David Yelland, who edited The Sun from 1998 to 2003, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the departure of director-general Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, was "an inside job".

He said: "It was a coup, and worse than that, it was an inside job.

"There were people inside the BBC, very close to the board, very close to the, on the board, who have systematically undermined Tim Davie and his senior team over a period of (time) and this has been going on for a long time. What happened yesterday didn't just happen in isolation."

He also described Mr Davie's resignation as "a failure of governance".

"What has happened here is there was a failure of governance," he said. "I don't blame the chairman (Samir Shah) as an individual, but the job of the chair of any organisation, a company - including the BBC - is to keep their CEO, their top man or woman, in post or fire them.

"And that has not happened, because Tim Davie was not fired. He walked and so there was, that is the definition of a failure of governance."

BBC chairman Samir Shah is expected to apologise for the way a speech by Donald Trump was edited for Panorama after several days of pressure on the broadcaster prompted the resignation of director-general Tim Davie.

The chief executive of BBC News, Deborah Turness, also announced her resignation on Sunday after the corporation was accused of misleading the public following claims that the speech had been selectively edited in the documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?

A memo by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC's editorial standards committee, raised concerns in the summer about the way clips of the US president's speech on January 6 2021 were spliced together in Trump: A Second Chance? to make it appear he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to "fight like hell".

Critics said the documentary, broadcast by the BBC the week before last year's US election, was misleading and removed a section where the US president said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Mr Trump welcomed the resignations and claimed there had been an attempt to "step on the scales of a presidential election", adding: "What a terrible thing for Democracy!"

Mr Shah is expected to apologise and provide further details on the Panorama episode on Monday in his response to the Culture Media and Sport Committee which asked how he would address the concerns.

Mr Shah said Sunday was a "sad day" for the BBC while committee chairwoman Dame Caroline Dinenage said Mr Davie's resignation was "regrettable" but "restoring trust in the corporation must come first".

Mr Davie said his departure will not be immediate and that he is "working through" timings to ensure an "orderly transition" over the coming months, while Ms Turness said controversy around the Panorama edit had "reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC - an institution that I love".

In a statement sent to staff, Mr Davie said his resignation was "entirely" his decision and he was "thankful" to the chairman and board for their "unswerving and unanimous support" during his tenure.

He said: "Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable."

The Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy thanked Mr Davie for his "service to public service broadcasting" and for leading the BBC through a period of "significant change".

She said the Government will support the BBC board through the transition and the upcoming charter review will help the corporation to adapt to a new era that "secures its role at the heart of national life for decades to come".

The BBC's Royal Charter, which expires at the end of 2027, sets out the corporation's mission, public purposes and funding.

Ms Nandy said in November last year that the Government would use the review of the charter to consider alternative ways of funding the corporation but ruled out the licence fee being replaced by general taxation.

Ms Turness, who has been in the role since 2022, said that she had offered her resignation to Mr Davie on Saturday night adding that, despite mistakes being made, the "recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong".

In a message sent to staff, she said she was "proud" of the work they had done adding: "The ongoing controversy around the Panorama on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC - an institution that I love.

"In public life leaders need to be fully accountable, and that is why I am stepping down."

The BBC has been criticised for a number of failings in recent months which include breaching its own accuracy editorial guidelines, livestreaming the controversial Bob Vylan Glastonbury set, as well as misconduct allegations surrounding former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace.

Leading politicians have said the BBC must change to rebuild its reputation.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the corporation needs "to turn a new leaf" while Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for "top-to-bottom" reform.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said it was the BBC's "last chance", adding: "I don't want to abolish the BBC, I make that very clear, but we cannot have the BBC being seen to be our main national news broadcaster if it cannot perform in a straightforward, simple, unbiased way."