Head of culture select committee advises against replacing BBC chairman

The head of the culture select committee has advised against replacing BBC chairman Samir Shah and said the board needs to institute some “fundamental changes” amid “chaos” at the corporation.

Dame Caroline Dinenage criticised the evidence Mr Shah gave to MPs earlier in the week, but said it is important the ship is steadied after “haemorrhaging of leadership” following the resignations of director-general Tim Davie and chief executive of BBC News Deborah Turness.

The BBC executives announced their exit in the wake of a leaked memo from former editorial adviser Michael Prescott which raised concerns that a speech by US President Donald Trump, featured in a Panorama episode in 2024, was selectively edited.

Mr Shah gave evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Monday and admitted the BBC was too slow in responding to the Panorama edit.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show programme, Dame Caroline, 54, said: “We are writing to the board later this week to set out what more information we want from them, what action we want from them, and then we’ll decide our own next steps from there.

“I think what we did decide collectively as a committee, is that the board needs to demonstrate that they’re able to act much more decisively, much more quickly and transparently.

“There’s definitely a sense that that the haemorrhaging of leadership, Tim Davey and the head of news, and indeed one of the board members, may not have been entirely necessary if they’d have been able to act quicker and get their messages across more effectively.”

Former BBC board member Shumeet Banerji also announced he would be leaving on Friday, less than two weeks after Mr Davie and Ms Turness resigned from their roles.

Asked if Mr Shah is the right man to “steady the ship”, Dame Caroline said: “I would advise against any further large scale changes at the head of the BBC.

“They need to be selecting a new director-general, and now a new director-general deputy. They also need to start the process of charter review.”

The once-a-decade process of reviewing the broadcaster’s charter will begin shortly and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said it will ensure a BBC which is “fiercely independent” and “genuinely accountable” to the public it serves.

Dame Caroline also told Radio 4: “Someone needs to steady the ship. Someone needs to get this back on an even keel. It’s too important.

“The BBC is the most, one of those trusted global news brands. It’s such an important ambassador for the UK around the world, and it would just be devastating if the BBC’s reputation, both nationally and internationally, is tarnished.”

On Tuesday, Dame Caroline questioned whether the BBC board is in “safe hands” with its chairman while speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme.

The chairwoman of the CMS Committee said there is “chaos at the heart of the BBC board” and “clearly some issues of governance”.

After Mr Prescott’s report became public Mr Shah apologised on behalf of the BBC over an “error of judgment” and accepted that the editing of the speech gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.

The programme, broadcast a week before the 2024 US election results, spliced two clips together from a speech in 2021 so that Mr Trump appeared to tell 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.”