Leaked Memo, Trump Fury, Top Resignations: BBC Faces Tough Questions in Parliament

London: Senior BBC officials faced intense questioning from members of Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee as the public broadcaster grapples with one of its most serious editorial crises in decades — a controversy that has now escalated after US President Donald Trump threatened to file a billion-dollar lawsuit against the corporation.

The turmoil comes just weeks after the BBC’s director general and head of news stepped down, amid mounting accusations of biased reporting and flawed editorial processes.

Leaked Memo Sparks Firestorm

The chain reaction began when an internal note written by Michael Prescott — a former BBC journalist and one of the broadcaster’s external editorial standards advisers — was leaked to the Daily Telegraph earlier this month.

The memo raised tough questions about:

• Editing practices in a BBC documentary on Donald Trump
• Alleged left-leaning bias
• Claims of a pro-trans agenda among reporters
• Warnings of anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service

Lawmakers pressed BBC representatives on whether these concerns were ignored, mishandled, or deliberately downplayed.

Trump Documentary at Center of Controversy

The BBC documentary at the heart of the scandal — “Trump: A Second Chance?” — aired just days before the 2024 US presidential election, and has drawn forensic scrutiny after it emerged that the production company spliced together three separate Trump quotes from his January 6, 2021 speech.

The edited clip made it appear as if Trump directly urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell” — language that, in the final cut, suggested he was directly inciting the mob that later stormed the US Capitol.

BBC chairman Samir Shah conceded that the documentary “gave the impression of a direct call for violent action”, acknowledging that the broadcaster should have responded “much more quickly” once concerns were raised.

Parliament Piles on Pressure

During Monday’s session, MPs grilled BBC leaders on:

• Why the memo’s warnings went unaddressed for months
• How the documentary passed BBC editorial checks
• Whether political bias had infected coverage on Trump, Gaza, and transgender issues
• Why internal oversight failed, despite multiple red flags

Lawmakers reportedly described the oversight as “deeply troubling,” urging the BBC to overhaul its editorial review structures.

BBC Under Intense Public Scrutiny

The scandal has ignited fierce debate about the role and neutrality of the publicly funded broadcaster, with critics saying it faces a credibility crisis, while supporters caution against political pressure influencing journalists.

Trump’s legal threat — unprecedented in scale — has further raised the stakes, placing the BBC under unprecedented global spotlight.