Who is Michael Prescott, the man at the centre of the leaked BBC memo?

Michael Prescott's leaked memo raising concerns over BBC impartiality has brought down two of its top bosses.

US President Donald Trump has swiftly weighed in to brand the corporation "corrupt" and "dishonest". With the BBC now in crisis, who is the man who started it all? Michael Prescott An ex-journalist, Michael Prescott was an independent adviser to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board for three years before leaving in June.

Studying at Oxford, he worked for 17 years as a journalist, with a decade spent working at the Sunday Times, initially as chief political correspondent before rising to political editor. No stranger to showbiz, he has previously advised high-net-worth individuals and Hollywood stars on sensitive disputes and had a regular spot on Michael Parkinson's weekly Radio 2 show, Parkinson's Sunday Supplement, giving the newspaper review.

BBC chairman expected to apologise to MPs - follow latest Mr Prescott has also worked in a series of corporate advisory roles - as corporate affairs director for BT, where he helped launch BT Sport and was part of the telecoms company's merger with EE. Ahead of that, he was managing director of corporate communications and public affairs at global PR company Weber Shandwick, where he advised organisations including Virgin Media, Balfour Beatty, British Nuclear Fuels, MasterCard, IKEA, air traffic control body NATS and numerous universities.

He currently holds roles at Hanover Communications, an international communications and PR agency. Mr Prescott is also a member of the government's Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, offering independent advice to the Prime Minister, among others.

What did his memo say? The memo, sent in the summer by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC's editorial standards committee, highlighted the edit of a Donald Trump speech as well as other concerns about impartiality. The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of a speech made by the US president on 6 January 2021, featured in the Panorama programme Trump: A Second Chance? It made it appear that Mr Trump told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to "fight like hell.