CONCERNS a long-running annual BBC lecture was edited to appease US President Donald Trump – after he threatened to sue the broadcaster – have prompted a letter to the director general from a Somerset MP.

Anna Sabine (Lib Dem, Frome & East Somerset) has written to Ofcom after the Reith Lecture given by Dutch historian and author Rutger Bregman was edited to omit a line characterising Mr Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history” ahead of the talk being aired on BBC Radio 4.

The Reith Lecture, a prestigious annual address, came after the President threatened to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion (around £3.8bn) after it edited a speech he gave on January 6, 2021 – the day a mob attacked the US Capital building in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Mr Trump lost.

The edit ‘spliced’ two separate parts of Mr Trump’s speech in Washington DC that day, which he claims misrepresented what he said, a charge the BBC denies, despite apologising for the incident.

Regarding the edit of Mr Bregman’s lecture, the BBC said the comments were removed following legal advice.

Responding to the decision, Mr Bregman said: “The BBC has decided to censor my first Reith lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as ‘the most openly corrupt president in American history’.

“This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre.

“I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC.”

Rioters attacked the United States Capital on January 6, 2021. Picture: Tyler Merbler

Now, Ms Sabine, who is the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson for culture, media and sport, has written to BBC director general Tim Davie, suggesting the President’s “intimidatory tactics have been effective”.

“That should alarm anyone who values the independence of our public broadcaster,” she went on.

“To censor a speaker’s legitimate critique of power sets a dangerous precedent,” she continued. “It raises serious questions about whether the BBC is prepared to resist external pressure, or whether figures such as Mr Trump can influence editorial decisions simply by issuing legal threats.”

She said the incident was important “at a moment when the defence of free speech and democratic norms is more important than ever”, and urged the BBC to broadcast the lecture in full.

“I would also like a full explanation of why this decision was taken, who authorised the edit, and what steps the BBC will take to ensure that legitimate criticism of power(ful) political figures is not suppressed in future,” she added.

A BBC spokesperson said: “All of our programmes are required to comply with the BBC’s editorial guidelines, and we made the decision to remove one sentence from the lecture on legal advice.”

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Mr Bregman, a long-time campaigner for universal basic income and against wealth inequality, has previously said the United States could be on the verge of an “authoritarian breakthrough” under the Trump presidency.

And he said the edit of his lecture left him “genuinely dismayed”, adding: “Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us.

“It’s especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the ‘paralysing cowardice’ of today’s elites.

“About universities, corporations and media networks bending the knee to authoritarianism. I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC. And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture.”

Ms Sabine’s letter comes just days after she wrote to media watchdog Ofcom over a segment of a GB News show highlighting people with “foreign-sounding names” in UK courts, which she branded “frankly, racist”, which the broadcaster denied.

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