Good Morning Britain presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley had a bitter on-air spat about BBC director general Tim Davie after he was forced to resign. 

Mr Davie, as well as BBC News CEO Deborah Turness, sensationally stepped down on Sunday amid an impartiality row which has rocked the national broadcaster after an internal report accused it of bias and censorship. 

The chief admitted ‘mistakes’ had been made after a bombshell report by Michael Prescott, a former adviser to the corporation’s editorial watchdog, accused the BBC of doctoring a speech by US President Donald Trump and censoring the debate on transgender issues, and said its Gaza coverage had been biased.

And former employee Ms Reid, who was a star of BBC Breakfast before she made the shock switch to ITV in 2014 to launch Good Morning Britain (GMB), rushed to Mr Davie’s defence during Monday’s edition of her breakfast show.

Pointing her finger at co-host Mr Madeley, the presenter said: ‘My defence is not of the documentary. My defence is of the BBC. 

‘21,000 people work for the BBC. To think the director general has to be responsible for the output of all those 21,000 people is simply unrealistic.

‘I understand why the head of news has resigned because this was on her watch and I can totally understand that she carries the can.

‘But the director general going over a misleading edit on Panorama, I find extraordinary.’

Good Morning Britain presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley had a bitter on-air spat about BBC director general Tim Davie after he was forced to resign

Mr Davie (pictured in February 2024) stepped down amid an impartiality row which has rocked the national broadcaster after an internal report accused it of bias and censorship

Deborah Turness (pictured in January 2023), chief executive of BBC News, also stepped down

Mr Madeley chimed in: ‘It’s more than a misleading edit. This is the President of the United States being grievously misrepresented by the flagship documentary of the BBC.’

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At this point, Ms Reid attempted to interrupt her colleague and although Mr Madeley said, ‘excuse me’, she continued: ‘You know he was the subject of an impeachment for inciting those riots.’

Mr Madeley responded: ‘Yes, and actually he was cleared. We may not like that…’

After Ms Reid pointed out that 57 senators voted to impeach him while 43 voted against, Mr Madeley raised his open palm, then pointed a finger towards his co-host and said: ‘But that doesn’t entitle you to bend the truth…’

‘I totally agree,’ Ms Reid interrupted. ‘But…’

The heated clash continued, with Mr Madeley saying: ‘Can I just ask you a question about the DG [director general] resigning? He absolutely should have resigned because of his absolute lack of any commentary last week in the face of this criticism.

‘If there was a defence of that kind of edit like you’ve made this morning,’ he added tapping the table with his hand. ‘He should have made it. But he stayed completely silent.’

Pointing again at Mr Madeley, former BBC presenter Ms Reid replied: ‘Can I just say? You’ve misrepresented what I said.’

Ms Reid pictured with Bill Turnbull in her days presenting BBC Breakfast. She defended Mr Davie on Monday’s GMB show and said he should not have resigned

After Ms Reid pointed out that 57 senators voted to impeach Donald Trump while 43 voted against, Mr Madeley raised his open palm, then pointed a finger towards his co-host and said: ‘But that doesn’t entitle you to bend the truth…’

At the end, Ms Reid took her spectacles off and smiled towards the camera and looked to move on from the fractious argument

‘Go on – I didn’t edit it though,’ her colleague laughed. ‘Do you think the Head of ITV should now resign because you said I was defending the edit when I didn’t defend the edit?’

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Looking somewhat puzzled, Mr Madeley said: ‘Oh alright then, I’ll amend it, you “explained” the edit.’

Ms Reid then took her spectacles off and smiled towards the camera and looked to move on from the fractious argument. 

The presenter moved straight from BBC Breakfast to ITV’s rival programme when she left the corporation 11 years ago.

It came off the back of a Radio Times poll ranking her as the most popular breakfast presenter of all time, and a successful stint on Strictly Come Dancing. 

According to the Royal Television Society, BBC Breakfast now gets around one million viewers versus GMB’s 700,000 – closing the gap from when Ms Reid joined, when GMB pulled in less than half of the audience of its rival.

It comes after Mr Trump described Mr Davie and BBC journalists as ‘very dishonest’ as he launched a new attack against the scandal-hit corporation.

The president’s speech on January 6, 2021, was edited in a Panorama documentary to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to ‘fight like hell’.

Mr Trump last night condemned the ‘corrupt’ BBC as he tore into director-general Tim Davie 

Mr Trump described Mr Davie and BBC journalists as ‘very dishonest’ as he launched a new attack against the scandal-hit corporation

He branded the broadcaster a ‘terrible thing for democracy’ and said its ‘corrupt journalists’ had been exposed.

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday night, he wrote: ‘The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th.

‘These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!’

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He also shared a Daily Mail column from Boris Johnson, where the former Prime Minister vowed to withhold his licence fee unless Mr Davie broke his silence on the incident or resigned.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the ‘BBC is dying because they are anti-Trump Fake News’.

It followed comments from last week where she said the corporation was ‘100 per cent fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom’.

And last night she posted a screenshot of her comments alongside the broadcaster’s announcement of Mr Davie’s resignation. She captioned the tweet: ‘Shot’ and ‘Chaser’.

Mr Davie admitted ‘mistakes’ had been made, adding: ‘I have to take ultimate responsibility.’

Ms Turness said the ‘buck stops with me’ and acknowledged the editing of footage of the US President in the documentary ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ had caused ‘damage’ to the BBC.

But she denied claims that the broadcaster was institutionally biased.

Both executives have resigned rather than been sacked, with BBC chairman Samir Shah calling it a ‘sad day’.

A BBC insider told the Daily Mail that Mr Davie was ‘furious’ at political leaders who ‘jumped on the report to bring him down’.

Mr Davie’s resignation brings to an end to a 20-year career at the BBC which saw him rise from director of marketing, communications and audiences.

Since he took the top job in 2020, the corporation has faced many crises, including the prosecution of newsreader Huw Edwards over possession of indecent images of children, the axing of MasterChef presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode, and the airing of a performance of Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, when its lead singer chanted ‘Death to the IDF’.

But it was a 19-page report by Mr Prescott which brought down the director-general.

Mr Davie said he wanted to hand over to a new director-general ahead of Royal Charter renewal negotiations with the Government, which will decide the broadcaster’s future funding model.