The BBC has been criticised for its “ambush” of Zia Yusuf during their latest broadcast of Question Time after he was told just “minutes before” that the audience would contain illegal migrants.
Analysing the episode on GB News, Christopher Hope said there was “no wonder” Mr Yusuf was upset by the events of the show.
Expressing his outrage following the episode, Reform UK’s policy chief told the People’s Channel: “How on earth can it be deemed appropriate that people who broke into this country illegally should have a seat at the table?
“In a political discussion about illegal immigration on a BBC immigration special, it is so bewildering that in the car home, I genuinely had to sit there and just try to reassure myself that this did actually happen. I felt like I was on The Truman Show or something.”
Highlighting the “strange” events of the programme, Christopher told GB News: “I’m trying to understand why on earth they had actual asylum seekers in the audience.
“Now, Question Time goes round the country like we do, trying to find what people think about where they live, but to bring in people who arrived by a small boat to ask questions of mainly Zia Yusuf, because the other panellists were broadly supportive, it does seem strange.”
Defending Mr Yusuf’s outrage at the special, Christopher added: “He clearly felt shocked and surprised.”
Revealing that the Reform member had shared more details with him live on-air, Christopher said: “He has just been texting me while I’m on-air, and was told by Fiona Bruce just before he went on air that they had brought some small boat migrants to the put in the audience.
Christopher Hope hit out at the BBC’s ‘ambush’ of Zia Yusuf during their latest episode of Question Time
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BBC / GB NEWS
“Now you know how TV works, they plan these things weeks out or days out, certainly days out for a weekly show. I’m surprised it was just before he went on. That sounds like an ambush to me, and no wonder he’s so upset about it.”
Questioning why Mr Yusuf was told about the migrant guests at such short notice, Christopher said: “I wonder why he was told just before he went on air.
“If that was the programme, I think you tell the person who they’re targeting. They’re targeting a Reform UK politician with the real lived experience of an asylum seeker.
“Clearly, Zia was upset and shocked. He sat in his car on the way home and said it was like was on ‘a fictional TV film called The Truman Show.’
Zia Yusuf appeared on BBC’s Question Time on Thursday, where he was faced with illegal migrants in the audience
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BBCNoting the ongoing row between Reform UK and the BBC, following Nigel Farage’s clash on Thursday, Christopher stated: “You saw the row yesterday between the BBC reporter and Nigel Farage.
“I think Nigel Farage is finally finding his voice about these claims of being bullied, of bullying other Jewish boys at school. Twenty years ago, it was a different world then.
“It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, The Black and White Minstrel Show and Bernard Manning, it’s a different context, and I think he is reshaping his defence rather than attacking the people who say they were bullied.”
In a statement, a BBC spokesman told GB News: “As immigration continues to be a primary concern for people in the UK, Question Time held a special episode in Dover, with panellists from across the political spectrum and a local audience with a range of views and experiences.
“Over 20 audience members asked questions and contributed to the debate, including two people with direct experience of the asylum system in the UK who have been granted refugee status.”
Christopher told GB News that it sounds like an ‘ambush’
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GB NEWS
However, Mr Yusuf said of the broadcast: “”It was put to me, would a Reform government deport him? And I said, look, you know, we’re always going to give her the same answer on this. If you came to this country illegally, yes, you will be deported. Absolutely.
“And there were sort of gasps in the audience, which obviously I don’t know how.
“By the way, this is another stunning achievement from the BBC. They managed to rig… an audience in Dover of all places – a seat that looks as if the General Election would happen tomorrow, I think Reform would take handily.
“How did they manage to stack up so many people who gave rapturous applause to Zack Polanski, talking about open borders and more immigration? The whole thing was incredibly surreal. I think it is frankly, a scandal.”
A BBC spokesman told GB News: “All the parties represented on the panel were told the day before the show that there would be people in the audience who had been through the asylum system.”