{"id":257458,"date":"2025-11-11T20:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T20:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257458\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T20:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T20:50:07","slug":"mps-and-bbc-staff-call-for-robbie-gibb-to-leave-broadcasters-board-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257458\/","title":{"rendered":"MPs and BBC staff call for Robbie Gibb to leave broadcaster\u2019s board | BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

MPs and BBC staff members have called for Robbie Gibb to be removed from the corporation\u2019s board as outgoing director general Tim Davie<\/a> hit out at the \u201cweaponisation\u201d of criticisms of the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

In an online meeting with Davie, staff questioned the position of Gibb, Theresa May\u2019s former communications chief, who was appointed during Boris Johnson\u2019s time as prime minister.<\/p>\n

Several said Gibb and all political appointees should be removed from the body. It has been claimed that Gibb pushed accusations of institutional bias that preceded the shock resignation of Davie and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC<\/a> News.<\/p>\n

Their departures over the weekend followed accusations of bias made in a memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC\u2019s editorial guidelines and standards committee. He left that role in the summer.<\/p>\n

His memo was leaked to the Daily Telegraph last week and reported over the course of several days.<\/p>\n

It included criticism of the way Panorama broadcast edited footage of a Donald Trump speech, which has since led the US president to threaten a $1bn legal action<\/a>. Prescott made a series of other claims of a more general liberal bias on issues such as trans rights and Gaza.<\/p>\n

While the BBC has acknowledged failings, concern has grown over Gibb\u2019s position on the board amid suggestions that he played a role in both pushing Prescott\u2019s claims and in Prescott being awarded the advisory role. Both Gibb and Prescott have now been summoned to give evidence to the Commons culture, media and sport committee.<\/p>\n

Thanking staff for their support at the meeting, Davie reassured them that the narrative around the corporation \u201cwill not just be given by our enemies\u201d after a week in which senior politicians have accused the BBC of systemic bias in its reporting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do hear everyone when we have to be very clear and stand up for our journalism,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are in a unique and precious organisation. I see the free press under pressure. I see the weaponisation. I think we\u2019ve got a fight for our journalism. I\u2019m really proud of our work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff watching Davie\u2019s address tried to raise the issue of Gibb\u2019s place on the board. \u201cWhy is Robbie Gibb still on the board,\u201d asked one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board needs independent oversight free from political interference,\u201d said another. \u201cUntil Robbie Gibb and any other political appointee are removed, we cannot possibly be truly trusted to be an unbiased organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another said: \u201cI find Robbie Gibb\u2019s continued presence at the BBC to be incredibly demoralising. It feels as if he is fighting against and undermining the work we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

MPs also called for Gibb to be removed. Labour MP Sarah Owen said it was time to review his place on the board.<\/p>\n

Anna Sabine, the Liberal Democrat culture spokesperson, said it was \u201cobvious to everyone that this issue is being weaponised by those who want to undermine the BBC and who would profit from its demise\u201d. \u201cSerious concerns remain over the conduct of Sir Robbie Gibb during his tenure on the BBC board,\u201d she said, backing his removal.<\/p>\n

Pete Wishart, from the SNP, also called for his departure.<\/p>\n

However, Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis said the \u201ccrisis had nothing to do with Robbie Gibb\u201d and was entirely down to the mistakes the BBC had made. A corporation spokesperson said Gibb was one voice on a board of 13 people, which had a \u201ccross-section of views\u201d.<\/p>\n

The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, said there was a \u201cstrict legal threshold that must be met before dismissal of a board member\u201d, adding that she could not remove Gibb. She condemned attempts to launch a \u201csustained attack\u201d on the BBC.<\/p>\n

Suggestions of a political effort to pressure the BBC from the right have been denied. In his letter, Prescott said his criticisms \u201cdo not come with any political agenda\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the all-staff meeting, Samir Shah, the BBC\u2019s chair, said any idea of a rightwing coup to destabilise the BBC from within was \u201cfanciful\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Board members] have different points of view,\u201d he said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want a board that\u2019s guilty of groupthink, but the opposite of groupthink is different points of view. That makes the job of the chair challenging to try and organise and get consensus, but it\u2019s important that people have a diversity of opinion on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MPs and BBC staff members have called for Robbie Gibb to be removed from the corporation\u2019s board as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-257458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}