Tory voter only got on BBC Question Time after he posed as a Left-wing train driver
A CONSERVATIVE-voting businessman applied at least six times to be in the audience of BBC Question Time – and claims he was only accepted when he pretended to be a ‘militant Left-wing train driver’.
David Stoneman, 60, from Houghton, Cambridgeshire, decided to alter his application to see if the BBC would invite him on the programme if his views were different.
Mr Stoneman, a business consultant, sent an application stating he was a militant trade unionist train driver who was opposed to fracking. To his surprise he soon received an invitation to appear on the programme in Peterborough in January.
He said: ‘I had the suspicion that as a middleaged, middle-class professional who has voted Conservative all my life, I was always
going to be disappointed. Every time I had applied in the past, I had told the truth and never even received a reply.
‘But when I applied as a train driver, saying I was anti-fracking and a militant unionist, I got a response almost immediately. I was astonished ... It just shows how Left-wing they can be. It’s supposed to be the British Broadcasting Corporation who represents us all.’
The father-of-one received an email and a phone call from Question Time’s production team to invite him on the programme.
He also received a phone call from the local BBC inviting him to May’s Cambridge shire and Peterborough mayoral Question Time debate – despite not even applying for it. The first email inviting Mr Stoneman to Question Time asked him to call a phone number to discuss his views and what questions he would like to ask the panel.
This had never been offered when he presented as a Conservative voter.
Mr Stoneman explained: ‘I received the email, and then a follow-up phone call.
‘I was so shocked that I went to forward it to my wife, writing “surprise surprise. This just shows how left-wing the BBC is.”’
The BBC has come under intense scrutiny during the general election campaign for how it selects audience members for political programmes.
Boris Johnson said Wednesday’s BBC leaders debate was ‘seven people speaking to probably the most Left-wing studio audience the BBC has ever brought together.’ Even commenters from Labour-supporting publications, such as George Eaton of the New Statesman, said the audience was ‘the most Left-wing in any TV debate’.
On Thursday’s Question Time election special, presenter David Dimbleby opened the programme by saying that the audience was equally split between voters. Mr Stoneman said: ‘It made me wonder why he went to such lengths to point it out. It was very interesting that he emphasised that fact.’
The BBC insisted the audience had been scrupulously vetted. A spokesman said: ‘The Question Time audience is always chosen to ensure broad political balance and each application goes through the same rigorous background checks.’