NIGEL Farage has claimed the BBC has left Donald Trump “absolutely enraged” and put Britain’s relationship with a key ally on the line.
The Reform UK boss said the US President was “deeply offended” after a Panorama documentary doctored a clip of his speech about the Capitol riot.
The scandal has already forced BBC director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness to quit.
But Farage, who is due to give a press conference this morning, said the fallout is now international.
He told LBC he personally spoke to Trump once the row erupted.
Farage said: “I did speak to Donald Trump on Friday, and to say that he was angry would be an understatement.
“As he said, ‘I thought you guys were allies’, and this was a state broadcaster.
“Absolutely appalling, but it’s just the latest of a long list of political biases that we see running throughout the BBC.
“I’ve watched it for decades, whether it was their coverage of the European Union, their coverage of immigration, their coverage of climate change, their swallowing – hook, line and sinker – Hamas propaganda coming out of Gaza, and the woke agenda runs through not just news, but every cultural programme as well.
“And so you have to conclude that the BBC has been not just run, but staffed by the wrong people for way, way too long.”
Pressed further on the US President’s reaction, he added: “He was absolutely enraged. Enraged that the BBC had done this to him.
“He could scarcely believe it. I mean, he has been a critic of the BBC in the past, that is true, but he really thought this was the final straw.”
Farage also accused the corporation of political interference, adding: “Everyone talks about Russia meddling in elections… Well, what about the BBC, their attempt to interfere in a Presidential election just weeks before the vote?”
And he turned his fire on outgoing BBC boss Tim Davie, arguing he is “perhaps a bit of both” when asked if he thought he had been incompetent or unlucky.
He went on: “But my fear is what comes after Tim Davie, because it will be the government, of course, that effectively appoints who the next boss of the BBC is.
“Knowing this Labour government, we’ll probably get somebody even worse.
“So I think the campaign to get rid of the licence fee in its current form, to have a BBC that is genuinely slimmed down.
“Look, it doesn’t need to do entertainment or sport or all these things.
“We’re living in a different media landscape where we pay according to what we want to watch. And so the current model, wholly unsustainable. But I would fear that Labour will appoint somebody that’s even worse.”
His comments came as the outgoing chief executive of BBC News stressed the corporation is “not institutionally biased” and the journalists are not “corrupt”.
Ms Turness quit on Sunday alongside Mr Davie over concerns raised in Michael Prescott’s report about the way a speech by Mr Trump was edited for Panorama.
Arriving at Broadcasting House in central London, she told reporters: “I would like to say it has been the privilege of my career to serve as the CEO of BBC News and to work with our brilliant team of journalists.
“I stepped down over the weekend because the buck stops with me.
“But I’d like to make one thing very clear, BBC News is not institutionally biased. That’s why it’s the world’s most trusted news provider.”
Asked if BBC journalists are institutionally corrupt, she replied: “Of course our journalists aren’t corrupt, our journalists are hard working people who strive for impartiality, and I will stand by their journalism.
“There is no institutional bias. Mistakes are made, but there’s no institutional bias.”
Asked why mistakes were not dealt with, including on Mr Trump, on antisemitism and on women’s rights, Ms Turness replied: “I’m sure that story will emerge.”
BBC chairman Samir Shah is now expected to apologise in a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, after the corporation was accused of misleading viewers by selectively editing Mr Trump’s speech in the Panorama programme Trump: A Second Chance?
