The BBC should stand up to Trump and his fascy bros

The use of scattergun law suits to silence critics was pioneered by Robert Maxwell - once against my father Arnold Kemp

Arnold Kemp

Last week the news that Donald Trump is suing the BBC for a billion pounds for defamation was widely discussed.

This week, after consulting its American lawyers, the corporation removed a line from its flagship annual Reith Lecture series - when historian Rutger Bregman, described Donald Trump as:

There is plenty of evidence for that claim - but you won’t hear it on the BBC - and you may also notice how little promotion the series is getting in general.

Lecture one is a critique of the leaders of our institutions who cower in the face of Trump and his backers’ attack on democracy.

That attack is real. Bregman quotes a billionaire tech bro who, when Bregman compared his attitudes to Mussolini, replied:

“Yes, I do think we need to get a little fascy.”

Nation shall speak peace unto nation - but only after taking legal advice

Bregman wrote on X:

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.”

It’s especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the ‘paralyzing cowardice’ of today’s elites.

The BBC claimed it was a ‘routine edit’ - but Bregman said he was told they were seeking advice from their US lawyers and then the line was removed just before the broadcast.

The worry is that we are seeing the BBC flinch from the threat of more legal action. Trump has sued many US media outlets in an attempt to produce a chillling effect. That happens when lawyers have to be consulted before anything is aired about a powerful and litigious indidvidual - that usually results in them advising against publication.

Trump would not be the first tycoon to try - and succeed - at that game.

Maxwell’s legal hammer

The case sparked a memory for me - the first person I remember launching this kind of scattergun, baseless defamation suits was Robert Maxwell, the serial crook, conman and liar, most remembered now as the father of Ghislaine.

He once sued my father, the late Arnold Kemp, because of something he said on Radio Scotland. I don’t have a written record of exactly what (if you remember this please message me) but, from memory, he called Maxwell a bully.

At the time, Arnold was editor of The Glasgow Herald, but Maxwell didn’t sue the paper. He sued him personally.

Arnold had no indemnity insurance or any protection from a suit by the best lawyers in the UK. He had to go to the bank and tell the manager the situation. He had sleepless nights.

Even if he won, if he was made to pay a share of costs, the process itself could have ruined him - and us, the family who relied on him financially. That was the threat. That was Maxwell’s power.

Arnold did bravely stand up to Maxwell and BBC Scotland boss Pat Chalmers was right behind him. Many years later, in an Observer column, Arnold wrote:

Robert Maxwell sued me for £500,000 because of something I said on the radio, a sum which deeply impressed my bank manager: the case collapsed at the last minute, to the mortification of the judge, counsel and Pat Chalmers, boss of BBC Scotland, all of whom had been thirsting for battle.

But the stress behind the scenes was real. Arnold died of a heart attack at 63. I am not saying this caused it of course, but the pressure of this kind of thing probably didn’t help.

Arnold wasn't the only person who suffered. When Maxwell died, it transpired that he had robbed the pension fund of the Mirror newspaper group (which he owned).

Fear of Maxwell’s lawsuits meant that newspapers avoided investigating him for years - we will never know if his crimes might have been uncovered earlier, if not for the shadow that his misuse of the law cast.

It is that warping of the media ecosystem - the silencing of critics - that we should remember and learn from.

Come on the BBC!

I have robustly criticised the BBC myself (for too much “Scottish” spending actually going on per diems for London-based crew on safari).

But when it comes to standing up to powerful bullies, I am in their corner. I want to see the leaders of the organisation robustly defend the right to tell it like it is.

Bregman’s lecture series is called after Lord Reith. Remember him? Surely he would have advised standing up to the fascy bros?

My grandfather Robert Kemp worked for the BBC in London during the Second World War. On one occasion, having lunch with Reith, Robert recalled how he felt constrained to follow his example of staying at a table by the window and carrying on talking while other diners took cover as bombs fell all around.

The currrent leaders of the BBC face lawyers’ letters not munitions. There is no need to take cover in advance from empty threats that may not materialise. Bregman has a word of advice:

“Lesson 1: Don’t obey in advance.”