Speeches by Thomas.

“Okay. Thank you.”

“You speak of culture; it starts from the top, does it not?”

“Mr Prescott, is the BBC in a better place for the three resignations? Should public trust be greater or lower after them?”

“Any idea where that might be?”

“I am not criticising you. I am just suggesting that it is interesting that somebody you have described as a friend had a role in your appointment. Do you not think that that is unusual?”

“Did you share that memo with anybody else beyond the BBC board?”

“You have mentioned the memo a few times. You have also told us that you sent it to Ofcom and DCMS, and you had that meeting with the BBC. Two weeks later, The Telegraph had that memo, and it said that it was circulating around Government Departments. Do you have any idea how that memo got to those other Departments or …”

“You said there is some real work to be done at the BBC. Along what lines? Do you think any of that work should be done at the boardroom level?”

“I’m a centrist dad too, but a company that you work for received more than £100,000 from Larry Ellison, a Republican mega-donor. You will be aware that Donald Trump has removed funding from a lot of public service broadcasters. Is it true that you actually want the BBC to be impartial, based on those affiliations?”

“Mr Prescott, you just said that the BBC is not institutionally biased. What is your bias, if you have one?”

“What was your role in the establishment of GB News?”

“Can you remember his name?”

“Sir Robbie, you talk about leaving your bias at the door. Shortly after you took over at the Jewish Chronicle, a second-generation columnist, Jonathan Freedland, resigned, stating that too often the Jewish Chronicle “reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgments political rather than journalistic”. How d…”

“At an organisation as large as the BBC, I imagine it should have occurred to you that you could have put out an initial statement while you were still trying to get to grips with the gravity of what had happened, prior to a full apology. Did you receive pressure from anybody on the board to delay such an apology?”

“Would you describe it as biased?”

“It might be if the BBC is at stake.”

“It might be if the BBC is at stake.”

“Mr Prescott, can you understand why somebody might find it suspicious that somebody who is described as a friend might have a role in that individual’s appointment?”

“If that is a fair enough question, will you submit the documentation?”

“Mr Prescott, can you understand why somebody might find it suspicious that somebody who is described as a friend might have a role in that individual’s appointment?”