Abbott hits out at her ‘unfair’ treatment on Question Time
SHADOW HOME Secretary Diane Abbott has hit out at her treatment on BBC’s Question Time at the hands of new presenter Fiona Bruce.
Ms Abbott said that in the course of last week’s programme, recorded in Derby, she was interrupted more than double the number of times Tory MP Rory Stewart was, and was not allowed to respond to a “blatantly abusive remark” from the audience.
She said she had also been told Ms Bruce had made unpleasant remarks about her to the audience before filming began and the audience had been “wound up” against her.
The BBC denied that any of the programme’s panellists had been treated unfairly.
Writing for the Independent, Ms Abbott said: “Over a long political career I have appeared on BBC Question Time innumerable times, but I have never had such
a horrible experience as I had in Derby last week.”
In one exchange about letters sent between Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister Theresa May following the Brexit vote, Ms Bruce asked her: “Why don’t you just talk?” In another exchange with the journalist Isabel Oakeshott about whether Labour or the Conservatives were ahead in the polls, Ms Abbott said they were “kind of level pegging”.
Ms Bruce then interrupted to tell her: “You are behind, Diane.”
Ms Abbott said unlike the programme’s previous host, veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby, Ms Bruce did not appear wellbriefed and had got the polling wrong.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear Diane Abbott’s concerns over Thursday’s edition of Question Time and we have contacted her team today to reassure them that reports circulating on social media are inaccurate and misleading.
“Diane is a regular and important contributor to the programme. As we said earlier, we firmly reject claims that any of the panel was treated unfairly either before or during the recording.”