BBC latest: Poll reveals whether Britons think BBC should apologise to Trump - as government defends corporation

Donald Trump's threat to sue the BBC is the latest in a series of battles between the US president and the media.

Here's a look at what's happened since Trump won the US election more than a year ago.

• ABC News agreed to pay $15m towards Trump's presidential library as part of a defamation lawsuit settlement over an inaccurate on-air claim that he had been found civilly liable of raping writer E Jean Carroll.
• Trump removed the Associated Press from the White House pool, meaning journalists would no longer have access to the Oval Office or Air Force One.
• The US president also signed an executive order aimed at slashing public subsidies to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio and alleged "bias" in broadcasters' reporting.
• Paramount Global paid Trump $16m to settle a lawsuit regarding the editing of a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris - Trump's lawyers claimed he suffered "mental anguish" and sued for $20bn.
• In July, CBS announced it would cancel The Late Show With Stephen Colbert next May. It came days after Colbert, one of Trump's most prominent critics, criticised the settlement between Trump and CBS.
• Trump filed a $10bn lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch after it published a story on his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
• In September, ABC reinstated Jimmy Kimmel Live after it was taken off-air following a monologue that included a reference to the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk and compared Trump's grief to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish" - Trump celebrated Kimmel's suspension as "great news for America".
• And in October, Trump refiled a $15bn defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, and several of its reporters. Trump has accused the NYT of trying to undermine his 2024 run for office and disparaging his reputation as a businessman.

Most Britons believe that the BBC should apologise to Donald Trump over the editing of a 2021 speech, new polling from YouGov has found.

In all, 57% of 5,037 adults surveyed said they believed the corporation should apologise, while 25% said it shouldn't.

The proportion by political party of respondents who think the BBC should apologise is:

• Reform: 90%
• Conservative: 75%
• Liberal Democrat: 55%
• Labour: 51%

The poll also found that more men than women believed the BBC should apologise (61% v 53%), and the older people got, the more they believed the US president was owed an apology too.

On Monday, BBC chairman Samir Shah, one of the most senior figures still standing, apologised for the "error of judgement" in editing the video.

In a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of MPs, Shah said Trump's speech was edited in a way that gave "the impression of a direct call for violent action".

"The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement," he added.

Donald Trump's lawyers have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn, claiming that a broadcasted edit of a speech he made in the hours before the January 6 Capitol riots caused him "overwhelming financial and reputational harm".

Here's what legal experts have to say about the threat:

• Daniel Astaire, managing partner at Grosvenor Law, said the US president would need to show the video "caused serious harm to his reputation and then quantify this damage". He added: "The key factor is whether the reasonable viewer would believe the video to be true and not realise it has been falsified - the meaning of the statement, as conveyed by the video, will be crucial in determining whether it is defamatory."
• Tom Rudkin, partner at Farrer & Co, pointed out the claim would be "out of time" because the limitation period in the UK is one year.
• Iain Wilson, managing partner at Brett Wilson LLP, echoed this, saying Trump "would almost certainly be out of time" under English law.
• Dominic Crossley, head of dispute resolution at the law firm Payne Hicks Beach, said the BBC's lawyers would be "scrambling" to consider the potential fallout in the UK and US. If Trump brings the claim in the US, he would "have to overcome the requirement of proving malice/recklessness, which is a huge challenge".

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is still facing questions from MPs on the BBC - you can watch live in the stream at the top of the page.

We've had further political reaction too from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who says the BBC has "let down licence fee payers".

In a social media post, she said this was due to its coverage of "sex and gender" as well as its allegedly "lopsided coverage of Gaza" and "high-profile mistakes".

But the leader of the opposition added that "we ought to treasure the BBC", saying: "For that to happen, it must learn from its mistakes, instead of sneering at those who point them out."

In her statement in the Commons, Lisa Nandy has delivered a "stout, strong" defence of the BBC, says our chief political correspondent Jon Craig.

Nandy made the case that the BBC is "not just a broadcaster" but a "national institution that belongs to us all".

She also called out those "attacking" the BBC from the left and right. 

While not naming names, it is clear whom she meant, Craig says, pointing to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who said he would defund the BBC, and the Tories.

"We heard some pretty hostile attacks and criticism from immediately after [Nandy] sat down," Craig adds.

Nigel Huddleston's criticism of the BBC's alleged bias and general criticism of the funding model were nothing new, however. 

"We've heard this for years from the Tories," Craig says.

Question marks remain, however, over Nandy's affirmation that the BBC charter review will start "imminently", which she has been saying for a while now.

"But one would imagine, given what's happened the last couple of days, they are trying to speed this up now," Craig says.

Some notable points were Nandy's pledge that she would ensure that the BBC is "sustainably funded", remains "fiercely independent" and also "genuinely accountable to the public.

The promise to publish a consultation paper and conduct a public consultation would make this review "a massive exercise", Craig concludes.

Continuing to face MPs' questions in the Commons, Lisa Nandy says the BBC board wants to move quickly to install a new director-general.

She tells the House:

"I understand from the board that there is a desire to move quickly on that, but that the existing director-general will remain in place to ensure a smooth transition."

Another intervention comes from Oliver Dowden, who served as culture secretary between 2020 and 2021 under Tory PM Boris Johnson.

Dowden says the BBC's problems go deeper than the leadership of Tim Davie.

He singles out a "cultural disposition" at the corporation:

"People that work for it have an overwhelmingly metropolitan outlook and obsess about issues such as BLM [Black Lives Matter] and Palestine in a way that suburban and provincial England does not."

This is a problem, he says, because the BBC is funded by licence-fee payers, which is not the case for other broadcasters.

There is "a real problem with the BBC now whereby many people feel that it represents half of the United Kingdom, not the other half", Dowden concludes.

Labour MP Sarah Owen asks Lisa Nandy about the role of Sir Robbie Gibb on the BBC board, saying: "Is it time to review the influence of conservative spin doctor, Sir Robbie Gibb, from the BBC's Board?" 

The appointment of the former Tory director of communications to the board was controversial, and the leaders of the Lib Dems and SNP have both called for his removal.

Nandy says:

"Well, can I thank the honourable lady for her question in relation to the board. She will be aware that the charter sets a strict legal threshold that must be met before dismissal of a board member, and so I am unable to pursue the course of action that she suggests."

We brought you news in our 16.39 post of questions BBC staff members themselves had about Gibb's role.

Shadow culture secretary Nigel Huddleston is up next and - as expected - he lays into the BBC's latest failings.

He says the corporation is "in a sorry mess... of its own making" and "needs saving from itself".

As in the previous days, Huddleston once more stresses that his party wants the BBC to succeed and praises its successes but emphasises that this "requires institutional change and far more than a few moves at the top".

The problems of the corporation relate to its failure to honour its charter obligation to impartiality, he says.

Among these failures he names the following points:

• The BBC's coverage of trans rights;
• "Selective" push notifications;
• The output of the BBC's Arabic news service;
• Reliance on stats provided by Hamas;

• A BBC Gaza documentary, one of whose narrators was later found to have links to Hamas.

Regarding the BBC's edit of Donald Trump's January 6 speech, Huddleston urges the culture secretary to agree with him that the corporation "must provide a fulsome apology to the US president... and would do well to apologise to the British public, too".

He says the BBC's culture needs to change and that an impartiality review is required. 

He also asks Lisa Nandy for a timeline on the BBC charter review and the appointment of a new BBC director-general.

Watch the shadow culture secretary here...

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is speaking in parliament about the crisis engulfing the BBC.

She says she's been in "regular contact" with BBC chair Samir Shah, ensuring that where its standards were not met "firm, swift and transparent action follows".

"I welcome the steps that have already been set out and I will keep the house updated as the BBC leadership grips these issues," she adds, saying she agrees with Shah that the national broadcaster has a responsibility to "uphold the highest standards".

Nandy says "some in the House" have suggested the BBC is institutionally bias - she disagrees, saying the BBC is a "light on the hill for people here and across the world".

"All of us in this House should value it, uphold it and fiercely defend it."
Lisa Nandy, culture secretary

She warns MPs against attacking the broadcaster, asking them to "consider just what is at stake".

She adds: "Those in this House attacking the BBC from left and right for not expressing views they agree with should consider just what is at stake. There is a fundamental difference between raising serious concerns over editorial failings and members of this House launching a sustained attack on the institution itself, because the BBC is not just a broadcaster, it is a national institution that belongs to us all."

Nandy says a review of the BBC's Royal Charter will begin "imminently" (see our 14.40 post for more on that) and a public consultation will be launched, with more details in the "coming weeks". 

Watch Nandy's statement below...