The Labour party has lodged a formal complaint against the BBC over the treatment of the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott over her unfair treatment by Fiona Bruce at BBC's Question Time Programme during Thursday’s show.
Following the programme Abbott had accused BBC of legitimising racist abuse, claiming that she was repeatedly interrupted and singled out before the show. She also claimed how Bruce had wrongly corrected her over the latest Labour polling figures and how she had never had such a “horrible” experience before.
Labour has also demanded to see footage from the audience warm-up before the show amid allegations the crowd had been “whipped up” against Abbott. She said she had also been told Bruce made unpleasant remarks about her before the recording began.
The BBC said it was “sorry” to hear of Abbott’s concerns and had sought to reassure her team that social media claims made about the warm-up, which have gone viral, were false. The Media organisation also tweeted:
“We’ve reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.”
A Labour source has also asked for an on-air apology over the polling.
