UK’s Starmer says BBC should ‘correct errors’ as Trump mulls lawsuit

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warns that the BBC should “get their house in order” after US President Donald Trump said he had an “obligation” to sue the corporation for $1 billion over a misleading speech edit.

Speaking in parliament, Starmer says that while he supports a “strong and independent BBC, he also believes it should “uphold the highest standards to be accountable and correct errors quickly.”

“Where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order,” he says in response to a question calling for him to urge Trump to abandon his legal threat.

Trump’s lawyers threatened the British broadcaster with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Monday, according to a letter seen by AFP, as the BBC apologized for giving the impression the president had urged “violent action” ahead of the 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

Later, in a Fox News interview, which was recorded Monday, Trump was asked if he planned to sue the BBC. “I guess I have to, why not?” said the president in his first public comments on the potential for legal action. “I think I have an obligation to do it because you can’t allow people to do that,” Trump said, without confirming whether he had officially begun proceedings to file a defamation lawsuit.

Starmer’s Labour government has been performing a tightrope act between backing the broadcaster’s independence without seeming to take a side against Trump.

The BBC’s director general and head of news resigned on Sunday, following mounting accusations of editorial bias, including in regards to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.