British political reaction to the resignations fell broadly across party lines Sunday.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservatives, welcomed the exits, but lashed out at a “catalogue of serious failures that runs far deeper,” and called for further scrutiny of its coverage of the Gaza conflict.
Nigel Farage, an ally of Trump whose populist-right Reform UK is consistently leading in the U.K. polls, said: “This is the BBC’s last chance.”
“If they don’t get this right, there will be vast numbers of people refusing to pay the licence fee,” he added, referencing the levy that most Brits pay to fund the institution.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had stopped short of calling for Davie to resign earlier on Sunday, but had laid out a catalogue of issues she expected to be addressed. She said a “a series of very serious allegations” had been made against the broadcaster, including “systemic bias in the way that difficult issues are reported at the BBC.”
In a statement after Davie’s resignation, Nandy vowed to support the BBC’s board — its top governing body — in managing the transition to new leadership, and added: “Now more than ever, the need for trusted news and high quality programming is essential to our democratic and cultural life, and our place in the world.”
Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats — who has himself taken repeated shots at the BBC and complained that it gives too much airtime to right-wing parties — called for the outfit to “turn a new leaf, rebuild trust and not give in to the likes of Nigel Farage who want to destroy it.”
Mason Boycott-Owen and Jacob Parry contributed reporting.
