Tim Davie’s resignation has been branded a “great day for Britain and British broadcasting” as the former BBC Director-General announced his departure.
Speaking to GB News, biographer Tom Bower accused Mr Davie of “poisoning the well” for decades, and now is the time for an “agenda of truth”.
Following a string of “bias” allegations, Mr Davie confirmed his exit from the broadcasting institution, admitting there have been “some mistakes made”.
Penning a statement upon his departure, the ex-Director-General said: “I wanted to let you know that I have decided to leave the BBC after 20 years.
“While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision.
“Overall, the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as Director-General I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
Tom Bower has said Tim Davie was a ‘rotten’ leader of the BBC who ‘poisoned the well’ for decades
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GB NEWS / PA
Expressing his joy at the departure, biographer Tom Bower told GB News: “I’m delighted because I think Tim Davie was a catastrophe from the moment he was appointed.
“He was a Pepsi-Cola salesman, he had absolutely no interest and no experience in journalism, let alone making programmes. He’d never made a programme in his life, he was completely adrift, and he was just the wrong person for the job.”
Noting that now is the “right time” for a revamp of the broadcaster, he added: “I think what has happened now is really the right time to actually completely gut the BBC of all those people who have their own agendas, which are not in the agenda of truth and the news.
“Tim Davie knew for six months that that Trump documentary was false and he did nothing.”
Recalling other examples of where the BBC faced “bias” accusations, Mr Bower explained: “He did the same with the Martin Bashir report on Diana and many other things.
“He pushed it into the long grass, hoping it would be forgotten, because in the end, I don’t think Tim Davie understood what truth means in journalism because he has no experience of it.”
Declaring the resignation a “wonderful day” for Britain, the biographer stated: “It has been painful to watch the BBC’s standards crash under Tim Davie and under Deborah Turner, so hopefully now they can clean the stables and begin appointing people who know the difference between activism and agendas and the truth of proper reporting.
“I think it’s a wonderful day that Tim Davie has been forced out, and be no doubt about it he has been forced out. It’s a great day for British Broadcasting, a great day for British journalism and a good day for Britain, that finally the BBC has been forced to get rid of these two people who have been literally poisoning the well.
Mr Bower told GB News that his resignation is a ‘great day for British broadcasting’
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GB NEWS
“They were rotten leaders, and now hopefully we can rebuild the BBC as it should be, a broadcaster of impeccable world reputation.”
Calling for several of the BBC’s programs to also be reformed, Mr Bower concluded: “They’ve got to clear out all the people who believe that their truth is the truth, when in fact it is all prejudice lies. The number of times I’ve listened to the World at One with Sarah Montague, the number of times I’ve listened to the Today program, it’s the most outrageous licence to tell untruths, and that’s got to end.
“The Today programme has got to be reformed, and the news is going to be reformed. We need finally to get some people in the BBC who know about telling the truth in an impartial way, and that is why today is a great day for all those who believe that what has gone on in the last years has been an appalling travesty for our national broadcaster.”
BBC Chairman Samir Shah thanked both Mr Davie and Ms Turness for their “unwavering service and commitment to the BBC”.
He said in a statement: “This is a sad day for the BBC.”