'This was a coup' Behind the dramatic fall of the BBC's top bosses

A whirlwind started when the broadcaster's news chief came under attack-but some say there is a wider political story

- Michael Savage

When Deborah Turness, the now departed BBC News chief, was first invited to a meeting with the corporation's board a few weeks ago, there was little to suggest it would be a significant encounter.

But instead, she came under attack over an item added to the agenda.

The lengthy confrontation that followed set off an extraordinary series of events that ultimately ended in her resignation and that of the BBC director general, Tim Davie - and raised questions about politically motivated interference with the corporation's news operation.

The board wanted to discuss a letter - and accompanying 8,000-word memo - it had received from Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC), who was making broad claims of bias at the organisation.

The claims, which would later be leaked to the Telegraph and reported prominently over a week, had been sent to the board's chair, Samir Shah, and the rest of its members.

There were some serious accusations in the claims made by Prescott, once the political editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sunday Times.

Most notably, he described how Panorama had edited together two parts of a Donald Trump speech without informing viewers. Other accusations were made over its reporting on Gaza and transgender issues.

However, the criticisms were all made from the same political perspective: that the BBC's reporting on such issues was too liberal and that it had ignored such concerns. Sources said that at the meeting, Turness was "on the rack" for more than an hour as Prescott's criticisms were laid out.

"Make no mistake, this was a coup," said a BBC source.