An audience member whose anti-immigration rant went viral on Thursday evening has now been accused of being a supporter of the far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
In one of the most shared and controversial moments on the BBC debate show in a long time a woman, who claimed to be from London, bemoaned the number of immigrants that she believed were arriving in the UK and the strain that it is putting on the NHS.
The woman wrongly said that '68 million people currently live in England' and asked the panel when "enough is enough" and "when we should completely close the borders."
“We should completely close the borders … enough is enough” This audience member says the number of people ’floodi… https://t.co/xWa6O0v8e0— BBC Question Time (@BBC Question Time) 1582238851
The BBC was strongly criticised for broadcasting the rant which many viewers found offensive and were factually inaccurate.
Images that some have claimed to be of the unnamed woman have now started to appear online where she appears to be a supporter of the far-right, anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
If true, this has led many people to ask the BBC how a person who shares such extreme views on immigration was allowed to appear on national television in an uncensored rant.
I for one am utterly shocked to discover that the Question Time bigot is a Tommy Robinson supporting far right acti… https://t.co/dor6UW0NCo— Owen Jones 🌹 (@Owen Jones 🌹) 1582303025
@RobBurl Question Time puts another nail in the BBCs credibility and impartially I know the show is not one of yo… https://t.co/oiGVuzE8tF— Phil Wilson FBPE FBPPR 💙 (@Phil Wilson FBPE FBPPR 💙) 1582310087
The vile woman from last night’s question time has been exposed as a Tommy Robinson supporter, well that’s a surpri… https://t.co/7oqm5Q2fvs— Mohammed H Congress (@Mohammed H Congress) 1582311513
The BBC has the cheek to dig a rabid Tommy Robinson supporter out of her hole and sell it as providing a ‘balanced… https://t.co/p0XmfBDbhK— raff 💭 (@raff 💭) 1582301894
It has not been confirmed if the two women in the above images are the same person but it is worth noting that Robinson reportedly shared the rant from Question Time on his Telegram feed, applauding her standpoint, as reported by Scram News.
A spokesperson from the BBC told Indy100:
Thursday night’s Question Time included a debate about immigration which featured a broad range of views from the audience members and panellists. We posted five clips of people expressing their different views on the issue, including a panellist responding directly to the views of an audience member.