BBC Leadership

Lord Birt Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Caine of Kentish Town (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We will hear from the Labour Benches next, then the Cross Benches.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I am not sure I have anything other than “yes” to say in response to my noble friend. I love the BBC; we want it to be the best it can be. That is everything, as the noble Lord on the Benches opposite said, from coverage of key national moments such as Remembrance Sunday and ceremonial events to general news content and programmes such as “The Traitors”, which three generations of my family enjoyed thoroughly.

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the extremely constructive tone from all three Front Benches about the BBC and will make three points. First, the BBC, as some have said already, has been in the making for well over a century—an achievement unmatched in any other country in the world. It is a crucible for our best writers, funniest humourists, scientists, naturalists and historians—for every aspect of our culture. It is the BBC of “Strictly”, “Last Night of the Proms”, “Farming Today” and “The Archers”. Secondly, in my experience, everyone working at the BBC, from the director-general to front-line journalists, works with honest integrity and is utterly dedicated to public service. Thirdly, as with all organisations, mistakes are made. They are mostly innocent, but some are not. Some are the result of inexperience, some are the result of local management laxity and on occasions, including in my 13 years, some are the result of a wider cultural malaise. The critiques of some of the BBC’s journalism by Mr Prescott and others on all sides of the political spectrum need to be calmly considered and, where necessary, addressed. I have no doubts that, under current leadership at the BBC, they will be.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I agree with much of what the noble Lord said, although I am not clear what the question was. I can affirm that I agree whole- heartedly with the noble Lord that we have world-class programme-making and journalism at the BBC. This does not take away from the fact that the BBC also has work to do on some of the issues. We are also confident that the chair of the board is dealing with these issues. I know that the content of the letter to the chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee outlines some of these issues and that it will hold the BBC to account. The Secretary of State is also speaking regularly to the chair of the board and is confident that he is taking this situation extremely seriously, exploring all the relevant issues and taking the necessary action to ensure we can continue to have the gold-standard journalism that everyone in your Lordships’ House would expect.