Stand up to Trump and his British acolytes, the government was told today as the row over the BBC escalated.

The US president announced, via lawyers in Florida, that he is to sue the broadcaster for a billion dollars after it doctored footage of his speech to the demonstration on January 6 2021 in Washington.

But craven Labour ministers failed to challenge the president’s campaign of intimidation, sticking carefully to Keir Starmer’s strategy of saying nothing to offend the mercurial man in the White House.

This was despite more evidence emerging that the forced exit of BBC director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness was the result of a boardroom coup led by Mr Trump’s supporters in Britain.

Leading left MP Diane Abbott said: “The BBC is far from perfect. How could it be when it is packed full of Tory appointees. 

“But Trump’s threaten to sue it is an outrage. The master of fake news is threatened by real news organisation.”

Today programme presenter Nick Robinson, formerly the BBC political editor and himself a one-time Tory, claimed sources had told him of “alleged political interference” and “a hostile takeover of parts of the BBC.”

Suspect number one was Sir Robbie Gibb, a former chief spin doctor to Theresa May named to the BBC board by Boris Johnson.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Scottish First Minister John Swinney both called for Sir Robbie to be forced out.

Sir Ed wrote in the Guardian: “Not only was Gibb the director of communications for Theresa May, and editorial adviser at GB News before being appointed by Johnson, he has also been accused of interfering with editorial decisions in a way that is totally unacceptable for a member of the board.

“To ensure the BBC’s independence, impartiality and trust, Gibb should have no role in appointing the new director-general. The government should remove him from the board immediately.”

And Sir Ed called for political support for the beleaguered broadcaster. 

“The BBC isn’t perfect, but it belongs to Britain not Trump,” he said. “Political leaders across the UK must unite in defending its independence from the White House.”

And Mr Swinney said: “Robbie Gibb is a very clearly affiliated party-political figure on the board of the BBC.

“If the BBC wants to be viewed as an impartial organisation that’s authoritative, that reflects the independence of commentary, then I think Robbie Gibb’s position is untenable.”

The outgoing Mr Davie himself hinted at skulduggery, referring to the BBC’s “enemies” controlling the narrative around the broadcaster.

“I see the free press under pressure. I see the weaponisation. I think we have to fight for our journalism,” he said.

No such fighting was forthcoming from the government. Local government minister Alison McGovern said the BBC should apologise to Mr Trump and ducked questions about his lawsuit.

“I think the president can say what he wants, and he will do. And we know that,” she said.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The BBC is independent and it’s for the corporation to respond to questions about their editorial decisions and, more broadly, we have a close relationship with the US on shared priorities, including security.”

Mr Trump had his political supporters in Britain. Former premier Liz Truss said the row demanded “an end to nationalised broadcasting.”

And Workers Party leader George Galloway said: “Centrists and liberals are so anti-Trump deranged they are rushing to defend outright corruption at the BBC. 

“The absolute falsification of reality. They are fools. The tools they fashion will one day bury them,” he said.

The BBC’s malaise was highlighted when it invited former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie to pontificate on journalistic ethics.

Liverpool MP and Hillsborough justice campaigner Ian Byrne commented: “You couldn’t make it up. The urgent need for reform of the British media has just been perfectly exemplified by BBC Breakfast bringing on Kelvin MacKenzie to talk about integrity in journalism. 

“This is the individual who published truly horrific — and now completely discredited — lies and smears about Hillsborough victims and survivors in the Sun after the tragedy.”