The first step towards saving our precious BBC: remove Robbie Gibb from the board | Ed Davey

The BBC belongs to all of us, and it is under attack as never before. The government must defend it from its enemies, within and without

The BBC is under attack as never before. Donald Trump and his cronies have it squarely in their sights - and there are no prizes for guessing why. The BBC is the world's number one source of trusted news, so of course snake-oil salesmen such as Trump see it as their enemy. If your power is built on conspiracy theories and distortions of the truth, the last thing you want is respected, independent journalists exposing that and holding you to account.

That's why rightwing populists have been attacking the BBC for years. Dominic Cummings (remember him?) once oversaw a report that called it the mortal enemy" of the Conservative party and set out a plan to undermine it with a new Fox News equivalent". In 2019, Nigel Farage called the BBC the enemy". In 2021, Boris Johnson appointed two Conservative cronies - Richard Sharp and Robbie Gibb - to the BBC board, as chair and non-executive director respectively.

Ed Davey is the leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Kingston and Surbiton

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