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Michael Prescott, who wrote the memo which triggered mass resignations at the top of the BBC, has insisted that the broadcaster is not institutionally biased
Millie CookePolitical CorrespondentMonday 24 November 2025 16:41 GMTComments
Close‘I did not want to lose Tim Davie,’ says BBC Chair
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Tim Davie had a “blind spot” when it comes the editorial failings at the broadcaster, the author of a leaked memo on impartiality at the corporation has said.
Appearing in front of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, Michael Prescott said Mr Davie was a “supreme talent” but failed to get on top of “incipient problems” at the corporation before he resigned in the wake of the bombshell memo becoming public.
But Mr Prescott, a former independent adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines and standards board, also insisted the broadcaster is not institutionally biased.
He had penned a report raising concerns that a Panorama episode included selective editing of a speech made by President Donald Trump before the attack on the US Capitol in 2021.
Mr Davie stepped down as BBC director-general and news chief Deborah Turness resigned in the fallout, while chairman Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the BBC over an “error of judgment” and accepted that the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
Tim Davie resigned as BBC director-general (PA) (PA Wire)Mr Prescott told MPs that Mr Davie “seemed to me to be doing a first rate job across 80 or 90 per cent of the portfolio”, but added: “It was just that he had this blind spot on editorial failings. I think it's a bit of a tragedy he's gone.
“I thought he was a supreme talent, but he had this blind spot. “
Asked whether he thinks it was right for Mr Davie to have resigned, Mr Prescott told MPs: “I would have hoped they'd get on top of these problems, start sorting them out in a systemic and more methodical way, and everything would have been fine.”
But he insisted he wrote the memo because he is a “strong supporter of the BBC”, saying was “no party politics” behind his decision.
“The BBC employs talented professionals across all of its factual and non-factual programmes, and most people in this country, certainly myself included, might go as far as to say that they love the BBC,” he said.
“What troubled me was that during my three years on the BBC standards committee, we kept seeing incipient problems which I thought were not being tackled properly. And, indeed, I thought the problems were getting worse.”
He added: “There was no ideology at play here, no party politics. I just want (the BBC) to be impartial, accurate and fair.”
Asked if he thinks the BBC is institutionally biased, he said: “No I don’t… I do not think it’s institutionally biased.
“Let’s be very clear. Tons of stuff that that the BBC does is world class, both factual programming and non factual programming.”
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