BBC board member Shumeet Banerji resigns

A member of the BBC’s board has resigned, the corporation has confirmed.

Shumeet Banerji announced he would be leaving on Friday, less than two weeks after Tim Davie resigned from his role as the BBC’s director general along with Deborah Turness as BBC News chief executive.

A BBC spokesman said: “Shumeet Banerji today notified the BBC board of his resignation.

“Mr Banerji’s term on the board as a non-executive director was due to end at the end of December and we thank him for his service.

“The search for a replacement is already well under way and we will update further in due course.”

Banerji had said in a letter that he was “not consulted” about the events which led up to the resignations of Davie and Turness, BBC News reported.

Banerji is the founder of advisory and investment firm Condorcet, LP.

He stepped down as the chief executive of management consultancy firm Booz & Company in 2012, and he also sits on the board of directors for several companies.

As one of the non-executive directors on the BBC board, Banerji was responsible for upholding and protecting the independence of the corporation by acting in the public interest and exercising independent judgment, according to a profile on its website.

He was also responsible for ensuring the board’s decision-making was in the public interest.

He had been in the role since January 2022.

Non-executive directors receive a base fee of £33,000 a year.

Mr Davie and Ms Turness announced their resignations after a series of scandals at the BBC, culminating in it emerging that a Panorama documentary had misled viewers by editing a speech by US president Donald Trump.