Do elected officials in the UK government tell the BBC what to say?

They don't? https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/25/richard-sharp-...

"Government" is more than elected officials. Defining the BBC to be outside of government is British semantics.

The BBC operates independently of the government. That is a fact.

RT, for example, takes direction directly from the Kremlin and is nothing more than a propaganda hose.

The BBC is part of the government. Claiming otherwise relies on semantics about which parts of a government are called "the government".