Union demands removal of Sir Robbie Gibb from BBC board

Creative industries union Bectu has demanded the removal of Sir Robbie Gibb from the BBC board in the wake of the crisis which led to boss Tim Davie’s resignation.

In a letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and BBC board chairman Samir Shah, Bectu, which is the biggest union in the BBC, warned Sir Robbie’s position was “a distraction and is untenable”.

“We simply do not see how staff can have faith in the BBC’s leadership while a crucial position on the board is filled by someone perceived by many staff and external commentators as sympathetic to, or actively part of, a campaign to undermine the BBC and influence its political impartiality,” the letter said.

Sir Robbie served as director of communications for Theresa May when she was prime minister and his appointment to the BBC board in 2021 was met with criticism.

Earlier on Friday, Ms Nandy said political appointments on the board had “damaged confidence and trust” in the corporation as it deals with the fallout for editing a speech by US President Donald Trump.

The corporation said the splicing of the speech which appeared on Panorama in 2024 was an “error of judgment”, with Mr Trump’s lawyers threatening to sue the BBC for one billion dollars in damages unless a retraction and apology was published.

The BBC is now awaiting a response from Mr Trump after apologising, but has rejected his demands for compensation.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether Sir Robbie had overstepped his remit and weighed in on politics, Ms Nandy said: “I think that in particular is a question for the board and for the chairman of the board.

“What I can say to you is that … I think there is a real concern, which I share, that political appointments to the board of the BBC damaged confidence and trust in the BBC’s impartiality.

“That’s something that we will be looking at as part of the charter review, which sets the terms for the BBC for the next decade, and which this Government is about to kick off.”

The letter from Bectu said BBC staff were “concerned about the forthcoming charter review amid open speculation about the future funding model”.

It added: “They are unsurprisingly anxious about entering this process with a vacuum of leadership and without a new director-general in place.

“And they are concerned about the BBC’s ability to resist partisan political pressure and uphold the integrity of its journalism.”

Sir Robbie declined to comment on the matter when contacted by PA.

Earlier in the week Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox News that the BBC had “defrauded the public” over the edit, which made it appear as if he was explicitly urging people to attack the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

Mr Shah has sent a personal letter to the White House to apologise for the editing and lawyers for the corporation have written to the president’s legal team, a BBC spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”

The broadcaster said it will not air the Panorama episode Trump: A Second Chance? again and published a retraction on the show’s webpage on Thursday.

On Friday, Ms Nandy also said she is confident the BBC is dealing with the threat of legal action from Mr Trump with “the seriousness that it demands”.

The Culture Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “The BBC, as you know, is independent of Government and so they are having those direct discussions with the US administration and with their own lawyers, but I have been speaking daily to the chair of the board, the director-general and other senior leadership within the BBC.

“I am confident that they’re gripping this with the seriousness that it demands.”

Ms Nandy added: “They’ve consulted lawyers and they believe that there is no grounds for defamation, not least because the programme was not aired in the United States, because there were other voices on the programme that spoke in support of the president, and because he went on to win that election during which the programme was aired.

“Nevertheless, the senior leadership at the highest levels believed that this was a really serious editorial failing. That is the basis on which they have apologised to the president, and apologised to Parliament and the public as well.”

On Thursday, reports said the BBC faced accusations of misleading viewers about Mr Trump’s US Capitol speech more than two years before the controversial Panorama edit aired.

In an episode broadcast in June 2022, Newsnight reportedly played an edit of his speech which was similar to the one used in the Panorama programme.

A BBC spokesperson said about the fresh claims, reported by The Telegraph’s Daily T podcast: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”

The Panorama scandal has seen two of the BBC’s most senior executives, Mr Davie and news chief Deborah Turness, quit in response.

The programme, which was broadcast a week before the results of the US election in 2024, splices two clips together so that Mr Trump is seen telling the crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

Responding to a letter from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Mr Shah said there had been more than 500 complaints since the publication of the Michael Prescott memo, which raised concerns about the Panorama episode.

A report from Mr Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, raised concerns that a speech made by Mr Trump before the attack on the US Capitol had been selectively edited by the BBC.

Mr Shah added: “We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.”

The BBC has been contacted for comment.