Starmer backs Trump with savage BBC comment after 'monster' jibe sparks fury

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to use a weekend call with Donald Trump to stress that the BBC, while a respected British institution, must uphold the highest standards and correct errors swiftly. This call comes amid Trump's plans to sue the BBC for up to £3.8 billion after it edited one of his speeches to make it appear he incited the January 6 Capitol riot. The US President told reporters on board Air Force One on Friday evening that he'd sue "anywhere between $1bn and $5bn, probably sometime next week."

On Thursday, the BBC announced that its January 6 speech edit had unintentionally suggested that Trump called for violence and would not be re-aired. The broadcaster apologised but said it will not pay compensation.

Despite the BBC's apology, Trump said he still intends to proceed with legal action.

He said: "I think I have to do it. They've even admitted that they cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth. The people of the UK are very angry about what happened, as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news."

This weekend, Sir Keir Starmer is set to tell the US President that the BBC must "get its house in order," The Telegraph reported. Trump reportedly said that Starmer was "very embarrassed" about the scandal.

Former director-general Tim Davie and head of BBC News Deborah Turness resigned after the editing scandal, marking a serious crisis for the public broadcaster.

The dispute appears to have further escalated this evening after it was announced that Rutger Bregman is BBC Radio 4's Reith lecturer for 2025.

In a talk called A Time of Monsters, he labelled Trump, Nigel Farage, and some tech billionaires as "a bit fashy," comparing them to fascist figures from the 1930s. An audience member noted that the lecture "made it very clear Trump was one of the monsters of the title."

This evening, the White House called Mr Bregman "a rabid anti-Trump individual," criticising his lectures for their outspoken criticism of the US president, the Daily Mail reported.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told The Mail on Sunday tonight: "The BBC has been caught red-handed doctoring President Trump's remarks on multiple occasions, so it's no surprise that they have commissioned a rabid anti-Trump individual to deliver a lecture."

The Reith Lectures will air on Radio 4 from November 25. The BBC stressed that the views expressed are those of the speakers, not the corporation and that these views are "discussed and challenged after the lecture."

The author has published four books on history, philosophy, and economics, including Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World, which has been translated into 32 languages.

The four lectures: A Time of Monsters, How to Start a Moral Revolution, A Realist's Utopia, and Zoom Out, will be recorded in London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, and the US, and later broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service.