Victoria Derbyshire ‘reprimanded by BBC’ over bullying allegations at Newsnight

The bullying allegations made against Victoria Derbyshire were not upheld (Picture: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Victoria Derbyshire has been ‘reprimanded by BBC bosses’ after an investigation into bullying allegations on Newsnight, despite none being upheld.

The complaints are reported to have come after the completion of the BBC’s 2025 workplace culture review, which encouraged staff to call out alleged misconduct.

An investigation was launched in Autumn last year by the corporation’s support at work team, looking into the BBC Two programme.

Senior members of staff are said to have reviewed claims of unprofessional behaviour that the production team and presenters had either witnessed or been subject to.

The Times reported that former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark and BBC’s former chief content officer Charlotte Moore both raised concerns about Derbyshire’s behaviour, on behalf of more junior staff.

It is understood that Derbyshire, 57, denied all allegations made against the her. None were upheld.

The Newsnight presenter recently interviewed Gisèle Pelicot (Picture: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Three complaints are understood to have been received (Picture: Newsnight/BBC)

As reported by the publication, bosses at the BBC are said to still have reprimanded the host for her behaviour.

Deadline also revealed that a source accused Derbyshire of making off-air colleagues uncomfortable with her language and tone – a claim that the presenter is said to have rejected.

It stated the BBC presenter accepted she can be exacting and direct under the pressure of a newsroom environment.

She is understood to have strongly denied any characterisation of her behaviour as bullying.

According to The Times, a senior individual with knowledge of the process said: ‘The line has now been drawn… It has all been dealt with.’

It also reported that an ally of Derbyshire’s praised her highly, calling her a journalist with ‘exacting standards’ who is ‘direct’ but ‘a really important part of Newsnight.’

Derbyshire has hosted large debates, as well as studios shows like Newsnight and Sunday with Lauren Kuenssberg (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A BBC presenter told the news outlet: ‘Depending on your attitude you either think she is somebody who has really high expectations because she wants the programme to be the best, or you think it is too much and that she shouldn’t behave like that.’

Derbyshire won a Bafta in 2017 for her journalism on the sexual abuse suffered by former footballers, and was praised for her reporting through a breast cancer diagnosis as she tried to demystify the process.

Recently, she secured a UK exclusive interview with Gisèle Pelicot, sitting down with the rape survivor for a 30 minute conversation.

A BBC spokesperson said: ‘While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values.’

Metro has contacted Victoria Derbyshire, Kirsty Wark and Charlotte Moore for comment.

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Finnish ski resort town buries £17,000 gold bar – and wants you to find it

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People in the UK love to moan about the lack of sunshine – but Finland has the exact opposite problem.

About a quarter of Finnish land is bathed in never-ending light from late May to the end of July, known as the midnight sun.

And to encourage people to book tickets to Levi, the country’s largest ski resort in rural Kittilä, tourism officials are throwing a treasure hunt.

But we’re talking actual treasure here – a golden nugget worth about £17,000.

Starting on 18 June, visitors will receive a series of clues taking them through the resort to hunt the gold chunk down.

The clues will take treasure-hunters around the trails and landmarks of Levi, known for its winter ski slopes and views of the northern lights.

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It might be tiny, but the price tag isn’t (Picture: Travel Levi)

Don’t worry, though, you won’t need to be hauling a shovel and a compass around – you won’t need to dig for the gold bar.

Instead, Travel Levi says, you might be able to find the gold bar after any of the clues.

More and more clues will be handed out throughout the summer, making the gold easier to track, with the last on August 22. (We half-assume it’ll be a map with an X on it.)

You can grab the first at the Levi Visitor Centre.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZKf_luipgp/?hl=fi

Travel Levi announced the treasure hunt, called Midnight Sun Hunt, on Tuesday.

The tourism company’s CEO, Satu Pesonen, said: ‘Levi is known above all for its winter, but the northern summer is still undiscovered by many.

‘We want to give travellers a new reason to visit Levi when the sun never sets and the fell landscape reveals a completely different side of itself.’

What is the midnight sun?

Midnight Sun, also known as polar day, is when sunlight lasts for more than 24 hours. The sun, in other words, never sets, even at midnight.

For those living in the polar regions, this is just what summer is.

The Earth spins around the sun at a slight tilt, meaning one half of the planet, called a hemisphere, is facing the sun more.

So, during the summer months, the regions around the North Pole are always facing the sun.

On the flipside, six months later, that same region will now be facing away from the sun, so it experiences months of darkness, called polar night.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Busted’s James Bourne disappears from social media after major surgery to ‘extend his life’

James Bourne has vanished from social media platform Instagram (Picture: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Acura)

Busted star James Bourne appears to have deleted his Instagram account, after he shared with followers that he needs to undergo a ‘major surgery’. 

The 42-year-old shared the update in April, in which he said the procedure would ‘extend his life’.

Since then, the musician has vanished from the social media platform. When fans try to navigate to his profile, they are met with the words: ‘Sorry this page isn’t available.

‘The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.’

This message usually pops up when Instagram has removed an account or the account holder has deleted their page.

Metro contacted Bourne’s representative, who had no comment on the disappearance of his social media account.

The 42-year-old shared the update in April, in which he said he needed major surgery (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

The Busted tour went ahead last year without Bourne (Picture: Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/Shutterstock)

It comes after Bourne issued a health update following months of radio silence, which had concerned fans.

Taking to his Instagram Story he wrote: ‘I have a plan in place to have a major surgery that should extend my life and hopefully make me well enough to come back to what I love the most, which is touring and making music.

‘It really sucks to be out of the game. But there is hope!’

He did not give any additional information on the state of his health or details of the surgery, but it came after Bourne suddenly dropped out of the Essex band’s 2025 tour, just 24 hours before their first gig. 

In his first statement on his health at the time, he wrote in part: ‘I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows.

This weekend, the 42-year-old revealed that he needs major surgery (Picture: Instagram)

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‘There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on the medical stuff for now.

‘I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line. It’s still going to be an amazing show and I will miss being there! See you all as soon as possible.’

The other two members of Busted, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson, were forced to go on tour without him, which Willis has said he does not want to repeat. Bourne’s younger brother Chris stepped in to replace him.

Declaring that ‘health is wealth’, Willis told the crowd during their first show: ‘Okay, you may have noticed our best friend is not here tonight. James Bourne is really f***ing sick, and we love him, and we miss him.’

He added that it was ‘really weird’ to be playing their ‘first show ever’ without him, adding: ‘But we’re going to do the best we can.’

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What Henry Nowak’s death tells us about policing and politicising murder: Readers discuss

Readers discuss the politicisation of murder, politicians’ responses and so-called ‘woke culture’ (Picture: Reform UK)

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments

Nick Timothy made a 'shameful attempt to politicise police actions'

Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy says Henry Nowak’s death shows that ‘our law enforcement and criminal justice system are being corrupted by political correctness and left-wing ideology’.

This is a shameful attempt to politicise police actions. I am not saying the police reacted in accordance with the principal that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, because they clearly didn’t.

They failed to notice a trail of blood from Henry’s wounds and didn’t check him. They failed to see his vulnerability. They failed to prioritise Henry even though he was clearly on the floor unable to move. To add to the confusion, the murderer’s mother, Kiran Kaur, removed the murder weapon from the scene of crime.

Timothy should be ashamed of his attempt to label policing in the way he did. This was a complex case with a victim who was blameless and a murderer who set about creating an illusion for the police attending, in an

attempt to disguise what he had done.

Clearly he was too stupid to realise that his crime was bound to be uncovered and his sentence needs to be longer than the life with minimum of 21 years he was handed, given his vile attempts to wriggle out of it. Henry Page, London

‘Reverse discrimination against whites’?

What the death of Henry Nowak (Metro, Wed) shows is that anti-racism and woke culture in this country have created a two-tiered policing system with reverse discrimination against whites.

It’s outrageous that a dying, innocent white man was arrested and handcuffed because his non-white murderer, Vickrum Digwa, falsely accused him of racism.

Digwa had repeatedly stabbed the Southampton University student. The police involved need to be jailed and the mother of the murderer deserves a lengthy jail sentence, too, for seeking to help him avoid justice. Mark, Didcot

‘Respect our culture and do not carry knives’

It’s all well and good when Sikhs say carrying knives is part of their religion [as a Sikh, Digwa was allowed to carry a ceremonial knife, or ‘kirpan’, in public] but this is B’ritain, where it is neither our religion nor our culture. In fact, for everyone else, it’s against the law.

So, please, respect our culture and do not carry knives. Martin Hyde, Brighton

Got a question about UK politics?

Send in yours and Metro's Senior Politics Reporter Craig Munro will answer it in an upcoming edition of our weekly politics newsletter. Email alrightgov@metro.co.uk or submit your question here.

‘Those calling for the banning of the kirpan are misguided or missing the point’

Those calling for the banning of the kirpan in the wake of the horrific murder of Henry Nowak are either misguided or wilfully missing the point.

What Digwa used in his fatal assault was a 21cm blade, which is not a requirement of Sikhism, while the kirpan is a short, blunt, purely symbolic knife.

For perspective, all religious tokens carried or worn by religious adherents are purely symbolic.

The crucifix was traditionally used as an instrument of death; now, exactly like the kirpan, it simply serves to remind the bearer of their duty to uphold justice, to protect the oppressed, and to embody moral courage and divine power.

Anyone seeking to tell you otherwise is seeking to foment discontent to further their own agenda. Julian Self, Wolverton

Are you sure third-class rail travel was abolished?

I read with interest your most recent Today In History (Metro paper, Wed). Are you sure that third-class rail travel was abolished 70 years ago?

It still seems prevalent on most of my rail journeys. Phil, Stockport

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments

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