The BBC has launched a staunch defence of its journalism after the Labour leadership accused the corporation of pursuing a “particular political narrative” in light of its decision to allow the shadow foreign office minister Stephen Doughty to resign live on air.

In a letter to the Labour party’s director of communications and strategy, Seumas Milne, the head of the BBC’s live political programmes Robbie Gibb said that the corporation had simply broadcast a breaking news story.

Milne complained to the BBC after it invited Doughty on the BBC2 Daily Politics programme on the third day of the reshuffle on Wednesday to announce his resignation live on air. Doughty told the programme shortly before the start of the weekly session of prime minister’s questions that he had decided to resign in solidarity with his frontbench colleague Pat McFadden who had been sacked the previous night.

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The former shadow minister was invited onto the programme after Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, spoke to him after learning that he was planning to resign. Doughty then announced his resignation in Kuenssberg’s presence on the programme presented by Andrew Neil.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “By the BBC’s own account, BBC journalists and presenters proposed and secured the resignation of a shadow minister on air in the immediate run-up to prime minister’s questions, apparently to ensure maximum news and political impact. That was evidently done before any notice of resignation was sent to the Labour leader.

“Such orchestration of political controversy is an unacceptable breach of the BBC’s role and statutory obligations. Trust in the impartiality and independence of the BBC is essential. The BBC’s role is to report the news impartially, rather than seek to influence events or promote a particular political narrative.”

Doughty, responding to the Labour complaint, told the Financial Times: “To suggest that the BBC coerced me to resign is beyond ridiculous.”

In its letter to Milne, the BBC said it had not breached its rule on impartiality and had simply pursued normal journalistic practices by breaking a news story. Gibb said that the BBC had played no role in Doughty’s decision to resign because he had make up his mind on Wednesday morning before speaking to any journalists.

“Neither the programme production team, nor Laura, played any part in his decision to resign,” Gibb wrote. “As you know it is a long standing tradition that political programmes on the BBC, along with all other news outlets, seek to break stories. It is true that we seek to make maximum impact with our journalism which is entirely consistent with the BBC’s editorial guidelines and values.”

Milne highlighted the BBC’s decision to delete a blog by Andrew Alexander, the output editor of the programme, which explained the process which led to Doughty’s announcement on air. Alexander wrote of how the BBC had “sealed the deal” with Doughty over his resignation announcement. Alexander wrote: “Although he himself would probably acknowledge he isn’t a household name, we knew his resignation just before PMQs would be a dramatic moment with big political impact.”

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Gibb said he had mistakenly thought the blog would be for internal use by the BBC’s training academy, which had asked for an explanation of the preparations for Doughty’s resignation. “I had assumed (wrongly) that the article was for internal purposes only. When it became apparent that it had been published more widely, we decided to delete it as the piece was written in a tone that was only suitable for an internal audience. No other inference should be drawn from our decision to delete the blog.”

Doughty said on Twitter that he sent his resignation letter to Jeremy Corbyn “shortly before I did the interview so there was not time for spin doctors to start smearing me”. He posted a string of tweets on Twitter on Thursday night explaining his decision to go on the Daily Politics show.

Stephen Doughty (@SDoughtyMP) 6. Am asked if I will do interview on TV to explain my reasons without spinners getting in first. I say yes. 7. I write to Jeremy to say.





Stephen Doughty (@SDoughtyMP) 8. I do interview and confirm reasons. 9. I get smeared by same people who attacked colleague I resigned over. 10. Point made.

He tweeted that after telling his “boss + close friends” he had “lots of journalists ring me”. He then took a call from “one senior journalist” – Kuessenberg – and explained that he was worried about “smears and lies about reasons [for resigning]”.

As criticism mounted on Twitter, Doughty posted an “epilogue” tweet dismissing disapproval of the way the announcement had been made on Daily Politics.