BBC director general and head of news step down over Panorama row

The Commons culture, media and sport select committee had set a deadline of today for the BBC to respond to the claims made by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to its editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC). He left that role in the summer.

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Deborah Turness has also stepped down as the head of BBC News

Prescott criticised an edit of Trump's speech that spliced together clips from an address the US president made on 6 January 2021. The edit suggested Trump had told the crowd: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol and I'll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell."

The words were taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart. The editing led to criticism by Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump's press secretary, who described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine". Last night, Leavitt appeared to celebrate the departures, referring on X to her complaints about the handling of the speech.

However, there is concern in the government and the BBC that while the Prescott memo reported serious problems, it was also being used by the corporation's political opponents to destabilise it.

In a note to staff, Davie said he had retained the "unswerving and unanimous support" of the BBC's board and chair, Samir Shah, throughout. However, he said the current accusations had contributed to his decision.