Nigel Farage has revealed he spoke to Donald Trump about the BBC amid allegations the broadcaster edited a speech by the US President earlier this year.
President Trump questioned if this is how Britain treats its “best ally”, Mr Farage said.
Speaking at a press conference this morning, the Reform UK leader said: “I actually spoke to the President on Friday he just said to me is this how you treat your best ally.
“Quite a powerful comment isn’t it. There has been too much going for too long.
“You might have noticed last year half a million people stopped paying the licence fee, the year before half a million people stopped paying the licence fee.
“If the BBC doesn’t now get a grip, get somebody in from the outside, somebody who has got a history and a culture of changing organisations of turning them around, then I think what you will see in the next couple of years are many, many millions just refusing, just not wanting to have the licence fee.”
Mr Farage, who said the BBC had been “institutionally biased for decades”, added that the licence fee as it currently is “cannot survive”.
He said: “I think the BBC is important. I think BBC World Service is actually very, very important and I think the BBC should get back to doing news, but just to doing straight news.
“If it can manage that, it has something of a future. If it can’t manage that frankly it has no future at all.”
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Second ‘hokey cokey’ migrant crosses back into Britain – despite Labour deporting him to France
Almost 400 small boat migrants arrived into Britain today | GB NEWS
Another illegal migrant removed under the France returns deal has crossed back into the UK, GB News can exclusively reveal.
The People’s Channel has discovered the migrant arrived back into UK waters on a small boat on Remembrance Sunday.
He was one of almost 400 small boat migrants picked up in the Channel by Border Force and taken to Dover harbour.
The news serves as another major blow to the Government’s flagship one-in-one-out scheme with France.
BBC is not corrupt or institutionally biased, PM’s official spokesman says
The BBC is not corrupt nor institutionally biased, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “On the question of is the BBC corrupt? No. The BBC has a vital role in an age of disinformation… where there’s a clear argument for a robust, impartial British news service to deliver, and that case is stronger than ever.
“I think I’ve already addressed some of the comments that have been made over the last 24 hours, but we are of the view that it’s important that the BBC acts swiftly to maintain trust and correct mistakes quickly when they occur.”
The spokesman was also asked if Sir Keir Starmer believed the BBC was institutionally biased and replied: “No, but it is important that the BBC acts to maintain trust and correct mistakes quickly when they occur, because as I say, for any public service broadcaster, accountability is vital to maintain trust.”
BBC chair apologises for bias scandal and sets our drastic action to save broadcaster from crisis
The chair of the BBC chair has apologised for an “error of judgment” over the editing of a speech by Donald Trump for Panorama.
Samir Shah said there have been more than 500 complaints since the publication of the memo that raised concerns about the editing of the speech by the US President.
Director-general Tim Davie resigned alongside Chief Executive of BBC News Deborah Turness over concerns raised in Michael Prescott’s report about the way a speech by Mr Trump was edited for Panorama.
Ed Davey calls on PM to ‘condemn Donald Trump’s attack on BBC’ in letter
Ed Davey said Donald Trump’s ‘assault’ on the BBC was a ‘serious threat to national interest’
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X/SIR ED DAVEY
Sir Ed Davey has called on the Prime Minister to “condemn Donald Trump attack on the BBC”.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the Lib Dem leader also referenced what he described as a “concerning” comment by White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who urged people to “watch GB News”.
The letter read: “Dear Prime Minister, President Trump’s assault on the BBC is a serious threat to our national interest, and I urge you to join me in standing up against it.
“The BBC belongs to everyone here in the United Kingdom.
“We should be incredibly proud that the UK is home to the world’s number one source of trusted news – something that strengthens our democracy while also enhancing our power to uphold our values around the globe.”
It added: “It should be extremely concerning to us all to see the President of the United States pressuring the BBC over its leadership and attacking its journalists as ‘corrupt’, and his Press Secretary telling everyone to ‘watch GB News’.
“It should not be up to foreign powers to dictate where the British people get their news from. We must stand united to defend our democracy from foreign interference like this – even when it comes from a crucial ally.”
The letter concluded: “Will you join me in condemning Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC?
“As political leaders, we have a responsibility to protect one of our nation’s most treasured institutions from becoming subservient to Donald Trump and his cronies, especially when their values are so far removed from the values of the British people.
“The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.”
Checkatrade gives backing to Reform UK
Kevin Byrne, the founder of the online directory Checkatrade, has given his backing to Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
Speaking at a press conference after the Reform leader, Mr Byrne said: “Right now, I just don’t feel or see or sense there’s a vision for this country outside of Reform.
“I was asked before I come on the stage, ‘Kev, why have you come over to Reform?’
“And I said, it’s desperation and disappointment.”
Government ‘only listens to big business’, says Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage said the Government ‘only listens to big business’
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POOL
Nigel Farage said the Government “only listens to big business” as he set out Reform UK’s pitch to small business owners.
The party leader added: “Some on the left will tell you ‘the economy is failing because capitalism is failing’. No. We’re not living in capitalism, we’re living in an age of global corporatism.
“We’re living in an age where the big businesses virtually control and own the political arena.”
Referencing the 300 small and medium-sized business owners joining him at the press conference, Mr Farage added: “Capitalism is what these people do. Free enterprise is what these people do.
“These people take risks. They risk their own money. They go to the bank and borrow money.
“They have no idea at the start whether their business concept will work or not, and many of them will have failures along the way, but that’s what free market enterprise is about. It’s about risk. It’s about reward.”
The Reform leader urged small business owners to join a new group supporting the party, Small Business for Reform, telling the audience: “My message today is very, very simple: The Conservatives betrayed you on small business, Labour doesn’t have any comprehension of actually what you do as small business, we do.”
Nigel Farage to deliver speech on Reform’s plans for small businesses
Nigel Farage will soon deliver a speech on Reform’s plans to be “the party of small business”.
The party leader will be speaking at a press conference in London shortly.
Reform UK won’t scrap council’s work from home set up despite Nigel Farage’s proposed clampdown
A Reform-UK led council has “no plans” to scrap its work from home policy, despite a proposed clampdown by its party leader Nigel Farage.
Lincolnshire County Council announced it will “not change the current setup” where staff split their time between home and office where appropriate.
Earlier this year, when asked what Reform UK’s priorities for power would be, Mr Farage told the BBC: “No more work from home, increased productivity. That won’t be a magic wand, it won’t solve every problem, but it will be a good start and we’ll be judged on that.”
However, a Lincolnshire cabinet member appeared to confirm the current remote working setup would not be changing.
WATCH: Labour minister admits ‘editorial failings’ at BBC
Chair of Parliament committee accuses BBC’s director-general of ‘ignoring’ issues raised in leaked memo
The chairwoman of the Parliament committee set to receive a response from the BBC’s chairman has said she is “very sad” about director-general Tim Davie’s resignation, but said he “ignored” issues raised in Michael Prescott’s report.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, who chairs the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m very sad about Tim Davie stepping down.
“I think he was an effective leader at the BBC. I think he was a great champion for public service media, but there is no escaping the fact that he was very slow to act on this particular issue.
“But this isn’t the first time and on this particular issue, Michael Prescott’s report, he just didn’t take it seriously until it was too late.
“He should have reacted with concern and examined the claims, but just ignored it.”
WATCH: Andrew Griffith says ‘everyone’ at BBC involved in alleged activities exposed in leaked memo ‘should go’
Labour minister insists BBC is ‘very trusted’ amid bias claims
Government minister Louise Sandher-Jones said the BBC is “very trusted” amid bias claims.
The veterans minister told Sky News: “When you look at the huge range of domestic issues, local issues, international issues, that it has to cover, I think its output is very trusted.
“When I speak to people who’ve got very strongly held views on those, they’re still using the BBC for a lot of their information, it’s forming their views on this.
“I think we can all point to elements of BBC broadcasting of news and say ‘well, that reflects my views, and that doesn’t’ and that’s absolutely right, that we should be able to say that.”
Liz Truss calls for ‘end of nationalised broadcasting’ as she slams BBC for ‘failure to tell the truth’
Liz Truss has called for the ‘end of nationalised broadcasting’
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PA
Liz Truss has called for the “end of nationalised broadcasting” as she delivered her verdict on the BBC.
The former Prime Minister responded to a post by Donald Trump on X, in which he accused the BBC of trying to “step on the scales of a Presidential Election” after a leaked memo claimed the broadcaster edited a speech by the President earlier this year.
Ms Truss wrote: “I’m glad the US President and the rest of the world are seeing the BBC for what it is.
“Its failure to tell the truth on everything from transgender ideology to economics to Gaza has done huge damage to politics and government in this country.
“This should be the end of nationalised broadcasting.”
Nigel Farage issues ‘last chance’ warning to BBC as thousands could ‘refuse to pay licence fee’
Nigel Farage has issued a warning to the BBC following the resignations of the broadcaster’s director-general Tim Davie and its news CEO Deborah Turness.
Mr Farage cautioned that the pair’s exits “must be the start of wholesale change” – adding a chilling warning to the broadcaster that “if they don’t get this right, there will be vast numbers of people refusing to pay the licence fee”…
TODAY’S TOP STORY: BBC boss Tim Davie resigns after ‘systemic bias’ row and admits broadcaster ‘is not perfect’
BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness resigned last night – the latest twist in a calamitous week for the national broadcaster.
A Panorama documentary was found to have misled viewers by editing a speech by US President Donald Trump – sparking fury from in Britain and the US.
Mr Davie oversaw a slew of controversies at the licence fee-funded broadcaster – including multiple in 2025 alone, where it broadcast “death to the IDF” chants at Glastonbury and shared a Gaza “documentary” starring the son of a senior Hamas official.
In his resignation letter, the disgraced director-general claimed the BBC “is of unique value and speaks to the very best of us”.
Though in Washington, Donald Trump and the White House appeared to disagree.
“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these corrupt ‘journalists’,” he said. “These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential election.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt instead urged “everyone” to watch GB News.
