Kemi Badenoch has declared it is “time for heads to roll” at the BBC after the broadcaster upheld complaints against veteran newsreader Martine Croxall.

Speaking to GB News, the Conservative leader told Martin Daubney there is “clearly a small cabal of activists at the BBC who are holding sway over everybody else”.

The BBC is facing fresh backlash after retracting support for Ms Croxall, who corrected “pregnant people” to “women” during a broadcast in June.

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit determined that her actions, combined with her facial expression during the broadcast, breached the corporation’s impartiality standards by creating the impression she was expressing a personal stance on a contentious issue.

Hitting out at the decision, the Tory leader fumed: “Their heads have not rolled and I think it’s time that they start rolling. It’s completely stupid to reprimand Maxine for saying what is common sense.

“It’s not just common sense, but the truth, it’s biological fact. There is quite clearly a small cabal of activists at the BBC who are holding sway over everybody else.”

Issuing a stark warning to BBC director-general Tim Davie, Mrs Badenoch added: “And if the Director General cannot get a grip, look after his staff and deal with the people causing the problems, then yes, he should go. If he can’t solve it, then they should get somebody who can.

“This is not the first issue that the BBC has had. Remember the Panorama documentary with the fake news which they were creating? This is part of a long running trend.

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“They have the same thing with the Israel-Gaza documentary that they did. That’s why I think this is a very serious issue, it’s not a small matter, and we need to take it seriously.”

Asked by Martin for her reaction to a new poll which suggests 84 per cent of the British public “believe that the country is more divided now than it ever has been before”, the Conservative leader said it reflects an “unbelievably sad state of affairs”.

She told GB News: “All of us, politicians in particular, need to do something about it. I’m here outside the Imperial War Museum just doing some research around Remembrance Day, and those are the sorts of things which I feel that we’re forgetting as a country.

“I’ve met veterans who are telling me that they think people are forgetting what they fought for. We’ve got a huge job to do, we’ve got to bring the country together. And right now, I believe the Conservative Party is the best party to do that.”

Noting the “past mistakes” of the Tories in previous Governments, Mrs Badenoch added: “I know we’ve made mistakes before, but this is something I really care about and which I’m working towards.”

When Martin pointed out the authors of the report would blame “Brexit and probably GB News”, the Tory leader defended the People’s Channel: “I would say is that it is completely stupid to blame Brexit or to blame GB News. These problems have been seeded a long time ago and it’s not just happening here, so it can’t be Brexit.

“What we are seeing is that as time goes by and the previous generations who understood what was fought for and lost are disappearing, we are getting complacent.

“A lot of people don’t understand what it took to get this country wealthy, what it took to get it working, and I want us to get Britain working again.”