John Swinney says ex-Downing Street aide's BBC position is 'untenable'

Mr Swinney said Sir Robbie Gibb’s position “fuels that doubt and debate about the independence and the impartiality of the BBC”.

His comments follow the resignation of two senior BBC bosses after claims a clip from a speech by US President Donald Trump had been selectively edited.

It is now understood the US president has threatened the broadcaster with legal action.

Sir Robbie was appointed to the broadcaster’s board in 2021 after serving as director of communications at 10 Downing Street under Theresa May for two years.

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His appointment was heavily criticised at the time, with this backlash being reignited by the resignations over the weekend.

Speaking to LBC, Mr Swinney said: “Robbie Gibb is a very clearly affiliated party-political figure on the board of the BBC.

“If the BBC wants to be viewed as an impartial organisation that’s authoritative, that reflects the independence of commentary, then I think Robbie Gibb’s position is untenable.”

He later added: “I quite understand the concerns that are being expressed, given the role and the contribution of some of the members of the BBC board.

“Whoever it is in the BBC has got to be able to live up to the standards of impartiality, independence and to be able to give that authoritative commentary and contribution to public service broadcasting, because that’s what we all rely upon the BBC to provide.”

The First Minister also said the editing of Mr Trump’s speech “undermines the independence and impartiality” of the broadcaster.

In July more than 400 media figures, including actress Miriam Margolyes, signed a letter to BBC management calling for the removal of Sir Robbie over claims of a conflict of interest regarding the Middle East.

They said: “We are concerned that an individual with close ties to the Jewish Chronicle … has a say in the BBC’s editorial decisions in any capacity.”

This came on the back of a row when the BBC chose not to broadcast ‘Gaza: Medics Under Fire’ - the documentary was instead shown on Channel 4.

Back in 2021 BBC bosses also faced calls to sack Sir Robbie over allegations he attempted to block senior editorial appointments on political grounds.

Over the weekend director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned over edited clips of a speech made by Mr Trump in Washington ahead of the Capitol Hill riots in January 2021 in a Panorama documentary.

The documentary ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ was broadcast last year and made for the BBC by October Films Ltd.

In his speech, Mr Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

However, in the Panorama edit he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol [...] and I’ll be there with you, and we fight, we fight like hell.”

These two sections came from the same speech but were more than 50 minutes apart.

Ms Turness has rejected claims of institutional bias, but admitted “mistakes are made”.

The resignations come after the Telegraph published a leaked internal BBC memo from Michael Prescott, a former independent external advisor to the broadcaster’s editorial standards committee. He left the role in June.

BBC chair Samir Shah said: “Since the publication of Mr Prescott’s memo, this issue has led to over 500 complaints. These are now being dealt with in the normal way. It has also prompted further reflection by the BBC.

“The conclusion of that deliberation is that we accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement.”