Donald Trump has still not spoken to Sir Keir Starmer about the wrongful editing of one of his speeches in a BBC Panorama documentary.
The US President said last weekend that he was expecting to speak to the Prime Minister about the BBC splicing together two parts of a speech made ahead of the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill in 2021.
The row has led to the BBC's director general and the corporation's chief executive of news resigning.
Mr Trump has vowed to sue the BBC for up to $5billion - well-above the $1billion initially touted by the White House.
However, speaking to reporters en route to the G20 summit in South Africa, Sir Keir confirmed he is yet to speak to the US President about the row.
Sir Keir said: "I speak to him fairly regularly as you know, have an excellent relationship.
"I have not directly spoken to him about the BBC.
"I think he was going to phone me at the weekend but that call didn't happen but we regularly have contact."
'I think he was going to phone me at the weekend but that call didn't happen but we regularly have contact,' Sir Keir Starmer admitted
|PA
Asked if he backed the BBC, Sir Keir added: "My position is where there are editorial failings they should be addressed. And they need to be addressed quickly.
"But the principle of an independent trusted BBC is really important and should be defended.
"So, where editorial failings, yes of course that has to be addressed as you would expect and as soon as possible, with explanation.
"But the principle of a trusted independent BBC media is really important - we have to defend it."
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Two BBC officials have resigned over the Panorama programme
| BBCSpeaking to GB News in an exclusive interview last week, Mr Trump accused the BBC of corruption.
"They took my words - my mouth - and they had different words coming out to make it sound bad," the US President told The People's Channel.
"I made a beautiful statement and made it into a not beautiful statement.
"You know, the word fake is one thing but this is beyond fake. This is corrupt what they did."
Following the resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, America's broadcaster regulator wrote to the BBC over its “misleading and deceptive conduct”.
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, wrote to executives at the BBC and to two American broadcasters on Wednesday to find out whether the report was aired in the US.
Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have established a close working relationship | REUTERS“In doing so, the BBC programme depicts President Trump voicing a sentence that, in fact, he never uttered,” he wrote.
“That would appear to meet the very definition of publishing a materially false and damaging statement.”
During his speech in the Capitol in 2021, Mr Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
Around an hour later, the US President added: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
However, in the Panorama version, Mr Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol... and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The BBC is coming under growing pressure over the alleged incident of bias against Donald Trump
| PAMr Trump has already threatened to sue the BBC for up to $5billion after The Telegraph first unearthed bombshell documents about the Panorama programme earlier this month.
The BBC eventually apologised and retracted the Panorama report last Thursday.
However, the corporation stopped short of issuing the apology Mr Trump’s lawyers demanded.
Despite being supportive of the BBC, Sir Keir has called on Broadcasting House to "get their house in order".
Speaking earlier this month, the Prime Minister added: "Where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order, and the BBC must uphold the highest standards, be accountable and correct errors quickly. But I will always stand up for a strong, independent BBC."