Trump vs BBC: Ed Davey Defends Firm as Farage Urges Overhaul | APT - video Dailymotion

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Britain’s Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey defended the BBC, calling it a "world‑leading" institution, amid criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Davey urged political leaders to rebuke Trump for "unprecedented interference" in UK media.  Farage accused the BBC of decades-long institutional bias, citing coverage of Europe, immigration, climate policy, and the Israel-Gaza conflict. He called for an overhaul, suggesting entertainment and sport move to a subscription model, and said the licence fee is "wholly unsustainable."  The controversy follows resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davie and News Chief Deborah Turness over a Panorama segment edit.  #BBC #EdDavey #NigelFarage #MediaBias #Trump #UKPolitics #Panorama #FreePress #BBCControversy #MediaNews #LicenseFee #UKNews

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00:00I think the board of the BBC certainly have questions to answer about how they have handled this.

00:06But I think the key issue for politicians today is, are they going to defend the institution of the BBC?

00:12It's a world-leading institution, the most trusted media institution in the world, and we should protect it.

00:19That's why I have written to the Prime Minister Kirstana, Kimi Badenoch and Nigel Farage

00:25to see if they'll join me in criticising Donald Trump, who is undermining the BBC with his comments,

00:31attacking the leadership, calling BBC journalists corrupt,

00:37and with his press secretary suggesting that people should watch GB News.

00:42That's a level of interference in our media which is unprecedented,

00:45and I hope other political leaders will join the Liberal Democrats in calling President Trump out.

00:50Look, the BBC needs to deal with the criticisms.

00:52I've had criticisms of the way the BBC has given far too much coverage for Nigel Farage and reform.

00:57So we're going to have criticism of the BBC, but within that we need to recognise how valuable an institution it is.

01:04It's world-leading in its trust in it, on the media, and that's so precious to our country.

01:11And that's one of the reasons why people like President Trump and others like him, Nigel Farage, want to undermine the BBC.

01:17Well, the Liberal Democrats, I think, are speaking for the vast majority of the British people.

01:20We value the BBC, and we don't want Trump's America to become Farage's Britain

01:25with a BBC that's been hit in the way that Donald Trump is hitting the free press in America.

01:31There are people on the right wing of British politics, and indeed in the White House,

01:36who've been attacking the BBC for a long time,

01:39and it's part and parcel of the whole Trump-Farage approach,

01:43have divisive politics, undermine free press, undermine freedom of speech.

01:47We can't allow Trump's America to become Farage's Britain,

01:52and that's why the Liberal Democrats will be firmly behind the BBC, despite our own criticisms.

01:57I've said the BBC isn't perfect, and we've had our criticisms,

02:02but it is the one institution that's protecting British values from a full Trump takeover,

02:09and as that very precious institution, Liberal Democrats will defend it.

02:13Of course, there's the odd mistake they make.

02:17I have to say, Donald Trump makes many, many more, as does Nigel Farage,

02:21and so the fact that Nigel Farage is basically teaming up with President Trump to criticise the BBC

02:28is shocking. It's unpatriotic. It's wrong.

02:31And it shows that he wants Trump's America, with his attacks on free media, coming to the UK.

02:36The interference we've seen in elections has come from Nigel Farage's friend, Vladimir Putin.

02:43We've seen Russian interference in the most profound, appalling ways,

02:47and yet Nigel Farage calls Vladimir Putin the world leader he most admires.

02:52I think people need to see through Nigel Farage, see through Donald Trump,

02:56and realise what they're trying to do to our great country and our British values.

03:00Liberal Democrats won't accept it. I don't think the vast majority of British people will either.

03:03I spoke to the President on Friday. He just said to me,

03:09is this how you treat your best ally?

03:12It's quite a powerful comment, isn't it?

03:14It's quite a powerful comment. So, there's been too much going for too long.

03:19You might have noticed, Harry, that last year half a million people stopped paying the licence fee.

03:24The year before, half a million people stopped paying the licence fee.

03:28If the BBC doesn't now get a grip, get somebody in from the outside,

03:33somebody who has got a history and a culture of changing organisations, of turning them around,

03:41then I think what you would see within the next couple of years are many, many millions,

03:45just refusing, just not wanting to have the licence fee.

03:48The BBC has been institutionally biased for decades.

03:55I well remember the Wilson Report, two decades ago,

03:59saying the BBC were not covering areas like Europe and immigration with any sense of impartiality.

04:05And you could, you know, add on to that, net zero, climate change,

04:11all their interpretation of the horrors that have happened in Gaza.

04:14And now, of course, the United States President.

04:19We need to very much slim down BBC.

04:21When it comes to entertainment, when it comes to sport, and many other areas like that,

04:26well, they should compete against everybody else for a subscription model.

04:31That's the modern world that we live in.

04:35So, the licence fee, as currently is, cannot survive.

04:39It is wholly unsustainable.

04:44Which, which, by the way, doesn't mean I don't want a BBC.

04:50I think part of our global brand, I think the BBC is important.

04:53I think BBC World Service is actually very, very important.

04:57And I think the BBC should get back to doing news, but just to doing straight news.

05:03If it can manage that, it has something of a future.

05:06If it can't manage that, frankly, it has no future at all.

05:11My worry, Olivia, with the BBC, is it employs its people from such a narrow segment of society

05:21that I don't think they think they're biased at all.

05:26It's just the world view of people the BBC employ, who happen to live in North London,

05:31rather than the view, more broadly, of what's out there in the country.

05:36That's our complaint.

05:38They've gone so mad on DEI and everything else,

05:40they're not reflecting the country we're living in.

05:43If they did reflect the country we live in,

05:45we wouldn't have the current crisis and the current problems that we've got.

05:50If I was the President of the United States of America,

05:52if I was the person making sure that the United Kingdom had security guarantees

05:58that meant that it could be defended, whereas on its own it would be helpless,

06:01and I'd been stitched up on the eve of a national election.

06:09I mean, people talk about election interference.

06:12What the BBC did was election interference.

06:16If you put yourself in Donald Trump's shoes,

06:18I think you'll understand why, when I had a chat with him on Friday,

06:23he made his feelings on the subject known to me in no uncertain terms,

06:29and not in a quotable form.

06:31I think I wanted to do the best.

06:32I actually missed him on the way.

06:33I did the best so far.

06:37And I thought...

06:37I did the best.

06:40I don't know.

06:41I won't want to know.

06:42I'm in the middle of the week.

06:43I think it's on the way.

06:44I'm inside the ground.

06:45I'm in the middle of the week.

06:46I don't want to know,

06:46but I'm in the middle of the week,

06:48and I will not leave the road.

06:49I think that's the number of people,

06:50and I do not want to call any of them.

06:53I love them all about the world.

06:55I feel the stupid thing.

06:55I do not want to know.

06:56I know.

Trump vs BBC: Ed Davey Defends Firm as Farage Urges Overhaul | APT

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