Michael Prescott’s leaked memo raising concerns over BBC impartiality has brought down two of its top bosses.
US President Donald Trump has swiftly weighed in to brand the corporation “corrupt” and “dishonest”.
With the BBC now in crisis, who is the man who started it all?
Michael Prescott
An ex-journalist, Michael Prescott was an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board for three years before leaving in June.
Studying at Oxford, he worked for 17 years as a journalist, with a decade spent working at the Sunday Times, initially as chief political correspondent before rising to political editor.
No stranger to showbiz, he has previously advised high-net-worth individuals and Hollywood stars on sensitive disputes and had a regular spot on Michael Parkinson’s weekly Radio 2 show, Parkinson’s Sunday Supplement, giving the newspaper review.
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Mr Prescott has also worked in a series of corporate advisory roles – as corporate affairs director for BT, where he helped launch BT Sport and was part of the telecoms company’s merger with EE.
Ahead of that, he was managing director of corporate communications and public affairs at global PR company Weber Shandwick, where he advised organisations including Virgin Media, Balfour Beatty, British Nuclear Fuels, MasterCard, IKEA, air traffic control body NATS and numerous universities.
He currently holds roles at Hanover Communications, an international communications and PR agency.
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Mr Prescott is also a member of the government’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, offering independent advice to the Prime Minister, among others.
What did his memo say?
Mr Prescott has said he wrote a memo in “despair at inaction by the BBC Executive when issues come to light”.
He went on: “On no other occasion in my professional life have I witnessed what I did at the BBC with regard to how management dealt with (or failed to deal with) serious recurrent problems.”
Read more: Tim Davie and Deborah Turness’s resignation letters in full
His memo also raised concerns about other areas of BBC output – including coverage of trans issues, and the war in Gaza.
This memo was later leaked to The Telegraph, leading to the crisis at the top of the BBC, resulting in two resignations.
Who else is involved?
Tim Davie
Ex-BBC boss Tim Davie had earned himself the nickname Teflon Tim due to his staying power through numerous controversies. But now it seems he’s seen one controversy too far.
Previously vice-president for marketing and franchise for drinks giant PepsiCo Europe, he was made CBE in 2018 for services to international trade.
Joining the BBC in 2005, he rose to the top position of director-general in 15 years.
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Controversies he previously weathered include former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker’s 2023 brief suspension, Gregg Wallace’s sacking and Bob Vylan’s 2025 Glastonbury set.
Earlier this year, the breaching of the BBC’s Broadcasting Code over documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone dented the corporation’s reputation further, followed by the edit of Donald Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech in flagship show Panorama – which has offered the decisive blow.
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Deborah Turness
A linguist, Deborah Turness studied in Surrey, followed by a postgraduate diploma in journalism in France, at the University of Bordeaux.
She became chief executive of BBC news and current affairs in September 2022, previously working as CEO of ITN.
Before that was president of NBC News International, the global arm of American news network NBC News.
Prior to joining NBC News, she was editor of ITV News, where she was their first female editor and the youngest ever editor of ITV News.
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What has Donald Trump got to do with it?
Mr Davie’s and Ms Turness’s resignations come off the back of internal concerns over the edit of a Donald Trump speech in an episode of the BBC’s Panorama programme.
The concerns regard clips spliced together of the US president’s speech on January 6, 2021.
That was the day of the storming of the Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election had been stolen by Joe Biden.
The edit was part of the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC before last year’s US elections.
Responding to the resignations, Mr Trump posted a lengthy statement on Truth Social.
“The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” he wrote.
“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
