When Michael Prescott walked into Parliament to face MPs, he looked like a man who knew exactly how much fuss one document can cause.
The former adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee had written a memo he thought would help steer the corporation back on track.
Instead, it leaked, exploded into the headlines, and helped trigger one of the BBC’s biggest internal rows in years.
Prescott told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he picked up his pen because he kept spotting “incipient problems” during his three-year stint—issues he felt weren’t being properly addressed and were, in fact, slowly getting worse.
Concerns That Grew Over Time
Prescott stressed repeatedly that he wrote his memo as someone who actually likes the BBC.
He described himself as a supporter of the broadcaster, someone who appreciates the institution and the talent behind its programmes.
But the problems he saw, he said, felt systemic rather than isolated.
His dossier focused heavily on concerns that a Panorama episode about Donald Trump used selectively edited clips to make the former US president sound like he urged supporters to march with him to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Trump, furious, has now threatened to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion, while US regulators have opened an investigation of their own.
Prescott insisted there was no political agenda behind his concerns.
If Kamala Harris had been edited in the same way, he said, he would have raised exactly the same flags.
A Memo Goes Public—and the Fallout Begins
Prescott told MPs he still doesn’t know how his memo ended up in the press.
He had shared it with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and with Ofcom, expecting the conversation to stay behind closed doors. Instead, the leak lit a fuse.
The BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness, both resigned in the aftermath.
Prescott said he never imagined events would escalate like this, adding that he hoped the BBC would deal with the issues privately at first.
Asked whether he believed the BBC was biased, he said no—he doesn’t see the organisation as institutionally tilted in any direction.
But, he added, that doesn’t mean there aren’t deeper problems the broadcaster needs to confront.
The Chairman Steps In
BBC chairman Samir Shah appeared before MPs shortly after Prescott and revealed he had personally tried to stop Davie from resigning.
Shah said Turness stepping down was “honourable” and appropriate, but he didn’t think it meant Davie had to go as well.
Shah said the board “wishes that the director-general had not resigned” and added that Davie had their full confidence throughout.
He also reiterated his earlier apology “to all the people who believe in the BBC,” saying he regretted the errors in the Panorama programme and the impact of the controversy.
Trump’s Fury—and the BBC’s Defence
Despite the BBC issuing an apology for what it called an “error of judgment,” Trump has not backed down.
He is preparing legal action worth anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, according to his own statements.
BBC News reported that the corporation has already laid out five arguments in a letter to Trump’s team explaining why it believes there is no basis for a defamation case.
Prescott was asked whether he thought the Panorama episode had damaged Trump’s reputation. He replied with a dry note of honesty: “Probably not.”
He added that he doesn’t agree with Trump on anything, but that wasn’t the point—the issue, for him, was editorial integrity.