BRIAN READE: ‘Stop grovelling and again the BBC squaring as much as Donald Trump’

Trump’s outrageous demand to fine the Beeb £3.7billion for causing him ­“overwhelming ­financial and ­reputational harm” should be met head-on, argues Brian Reade

Why are those dictionary phrases of the year always so beige and irrelevant? The latest efforts include “rage bait” “parasocial” and “vibe coding” which all sound like an office geek has nicked two words from a TikTok influencer and mashed them together in the hope they’ve captured the zeitgeist. Which they haven’t.

If the English language needs a phrase to sum up this dismal year then surely it’s “Trump grovelling.” Words I’m guessing were uttered by you on many occasions throughout 2025. As in “all this Trump grovelling is making me vomit”.

From the day of his inauguration, as the tech billionaires shamelessly sucked up to him in the hope of garnering more wealth, the nausea has risen and risen. His cabinet meetings turned into televised medieval courts with everyone expected to pay homage to their king. Each cabinet member had to ratchet up the flattery to North Korean levels to win his approval.

Flattery like this from Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff: “Mr President, working for you is the greatest honour of my life.” Cue a warm, knowing smile to camera from the Convict-In-Chief.

And it wasn’t just Americans who made observers reach for sick bags. Benjamin Netanyahu gushed this after Trump bombed Iran – “The forces of civilisation thank you”. And a crawling Fifa boss Gianni Infantino decided world football needed to give him a peace prize.

Nato General Secretary Mark Rutte slapped Trump’s knee and called him “daddy”, and Keir Starmer pulled out a letter from King Charles begging him to do us the honour of turning his palace pillowcases orange during an unprecedented second state visit. All hugely powerful figures, happy to be reduced to a sleazy liar’s lickspittle, because, as the likes of Elon Musk discovered, hell hath no fury like a Trump groveller scorned. But as the year draws to a close, there is some hope. In the unlikely shape of the BBC.

Trump’s outrageous demand for a Florida court to fine the Beeb £3.7billion for causing him ­“overwhelming ­financial and ­reputational harm” through a bad edit of a speech based on a lie which nearly got him impeached, should be met head-on. The BBC should countersue him for saying they “put words in my mouth” possibly “through AI” on the grounds that every word in that clip of the January 6 Capitol Hill speech was said by Trump.

To borrow Eric Morecambe’s phrase: the BBC used all the right words but not necessarily in the right order. For which they have sincerely apologised. Such a blatant lie from the most powerful man on the planet damages the reputation of the world’s most trusted news brand far more than a Panorama edit damaged Trump’s.

American critics reckon he is distorting the BBC’s error to distract from many things, including the Epstein files and the ­country’s sinking economy. Which is why the BBC should force him on to the witness stand and lawyers should grill him on his every word and action from that shameful day, safe in the knowledge that the House of Representatives January 6 Committee voted to formally accuse him of four crimes, including assisting an insurrection.

So come on, Auntie. Grow some balls and go to court. If you need to raise money for it, you can kick off a crowdfunder by trebling my licence fee. Because no price is too high to take a stand against Trump grovelling.