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In a statement that shocked the organisation, Davie said his resignation was “entirely his own decision,” coming as the BBC was preparing to apologise for the way it edited a Trump speech.

Head of News Deborah Turness also resigned. Sources in the department described her departure as regrettable. One said, “It feels like a blow.” “This is the result of a campaign waged by the BBC’s political enemies.”

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee had given the BBC until Monday to respond to claims by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Standards and Practices Committee. Prescott left that role over the summer.

Prescott criticised an edition of Panorama over the editing of a Trump speech. The programme broadcast clips from the U.S. president’s 6 January 2021 address in a way that suggested Trump told the crowd: “We will march to the Capitol, I will be with you, and we will fight. We will fight like hell.”

Those words were taken from parts of the speech recorded about an hour apart. The incident prompted Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to attack the BBC, labelling it “100% fake news” and a “propaganda machine.”

Leavitt celebrated the resignations on X last night, airing her complaints about the BBC’s approach to the president’s speech.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that “very dishonest people” were trying “to tip the scales of the Presidential Election,” adding: “Worst of all, they come from a foreign country that many see as our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for democracy!”