Sir Robbie Gibb a former communications director at No 10 under Theresa May, has been appointed to the BBC’s board.

It is understood that Sir Robbie, who had a 25-year career at the BBC before spending two years in Downing Street under the Conservative prime minister, was appointed by the Government.

He will start as the board member for England on May 7.

Since leaving frontline politics, Sir Robbie has written articles criticising the broadcaster, particularly about its supposedly “woke” staff.

After his appointment, Sir Robbie said: “Throughout my time at the BBC and since leaving I have always believed that impartiality should be the BBC’s number one priority because it is so critical to audience trust.

“The Corporation has a big job to reform and make sure it once again becomes the gold standard for broadcasting impartiality – I am privileged to have the chance to play a part in helping the BBC achieve that.”

The brother of schools minister Nick Gibb, he has criticised Radio 4’s Today programme as being “trapped by its own woke group think”, accusing it of painting a “picture of Britain that is monstrously out of touch”.

“The BBC has been culturally captured by the woke-dominated group think of some of its own staff,” he wrote in the Telegraph last year.

“There is a default Left-leaning attitude from a metropolitan workforce mostly drawn from a similar social and economic background.”

Sir Robbie was knighted in Mrs May’s resignations honours list in 2019.

He was criticised as a “hard Brexiter” trying to destroy Mrs May’s search for compromise during wranglings over the EU exit by then-MP Nick Boles as he quit the Tories.

Before entering frontline politics, Sir Robbie was deputy editor of BBC Newsnight and editor of The Daily Politics and This Week.

He was appointed to the paid role by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.