Post by Editor on Mar 14, 2013 16:06:58 GMT
The Question Time stooge: How Labour Party planted a diehard supporter in the BBC audience to attack UKIP panellist on debate show
Labour activist Amy Rutland, 23, attacked UKIP candidate on Question Time
Politics graduate called UKIP Eastleigh candidate Diane James 'disgusting'
Accusations she was 'Labour Party plant' deliberately given airtime by BBC
BBC received dozens of complaints from viewers
By SUE REID
PUBLISHED: 23:12, 13 March 2013 | UPDATED: 12:21, 14 March 2013
Until she opened her mouth, the young blonde sat demurely in the audience of BBC1’s latest edition of Question Time.
But as the thorny topics of an EU exit and immigration controls were debated, the camera swung to Amy Rutland, who launched a personal attack on the UKIP panellist, the Eastleigh candidate Diane James, calling her ‘disgusting’.
Miss Rutland, a politics graduate, claimed UKIP preyed on vulnerable people by ‘scaremongering’ about the number of Romanians and Bulgarians expected to come to Britain.
Scroll down for video
Complaints: Labour activist Amy Rutland launched a personal attack against UKIP's Eastleigh candidate Diane James on BBC's Question Time, calling her 'disgusting'
The show’s presenter David Dimbleby, asked the UKIP guest to answer the allegation that she was ‘disgusting’.
Now it has emerged that the 23-year-old from Margate in Kent is a diehard Labour supporter and her presence on last week’s show has prompted dozens of complaints.
More...
'Is there anything you could organise in a brewery?' Miliband ridicules Cameron after Cabinet revolt kills off his plans for minimum pricing for booze
Town halls told to stop wasting £20m of taxpayers' cash on translators and issue documents in 'plain English'
Tories ticked off over Twitter: Frustrated Cameron tells his MPs there are too many tweets about his leadership
She is a regional policy co-ordinator for the party, campaigned at the Eastleigh by-election in which UKIP came second to the Lib Dems and even spent the afternoon before the QT screening last Thursday in Dover at a meeting to talk about education policy with Labour MP Stephen Twigg, who was also on the panel.
As complaints arrived at the BBC from viewers – there have been 90 so far – Miss Rutland clearly considered her performance a triumph.
She sent a tweet before the programme aired (it is recorded an hour ahead of the viewing time) boasting: ‘Don’t miss out on Question Time tonight, you’ll see me rip into the disgusting UKIP woman!’
Controversial: The Question Time appearance of Amy Rutland, second from right, resulted in a number of complaints and angry tweets, accusing the Labour Party of 'planting' her in the audience
Attack: Miss Rutland went all out against UKIP's Diane James, pictured on the Eastleigh by-election campaign trail with party leader Nigel Farage, branding her 'disgusting' and accused UKIP of 'scaremongering'
Right to reply: Question Time presenter David Dimbleby, demanded Diane James to answer Miss Rutland's allegation that she was 'disgusting'
Those pitching for an audience place in the programme are asked which political party they would vote for if there was an election tomorrow, what their views are on the EU, whether they are a member of a political party – and if so which one, and about their ethnic background. The 150 who appear on the show are picked from 500 applications.
Last week there were outraged tweets from the public when Miss Rutland’s political allegiance became known. Many voiced suspicions she was a Labour Party ‘plant’ and deliberately given air time by the BBC.
Others rounded on Mr Twigg – who alluded to Miss Rutland during the programme as ‘the questioner in the audience’ – accusing him of being disingenuous by disguising the fact he knew the activist.
By Sunday night Miss Rutland's Twitter account had been closed down to all but her followers.
Campaigner: There is no doubt about where Miss Rutland's political allegiance lie, and she took part in the Labour effort in Eastleigh in the recent by-election where Diane James candidated for UKIP
Proud: Miss Rutland, whose Twitter account has since been set to private, tweeted this about her appearance on question time last Thursday
Campaigning: The politics graduate is pictured, far right, at the Eastleigh by-election vote count
A photograph showing her with a Labour Party backdrop had been replaced by one of her smiling in what appears to be a coffee bar.
At her home, where she lives with her mother, Sheila, she was keeping her own counsel. Her mother said: ‘Amy is quite upset. She doesn’t want to talk. If you want anything you will have to go to the Labour press office.’
A BBC spokesman said QT attracted audience members who were ‘very interested’ in politics and it was natural that some people would have political affiliations. He added: ‘The programme was chaired fairly and impartially.’
This is not the first time QT has courted controversy. In 2001, the then US ambassador to Britain, Philip Lader, struggled to hold back his tears in the face of a brutal attack by audience members in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The debacle prompted Greg Dyke, then the BBC’s director general, to publicly apologise.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292995/Question-Time-How-Labour-Party-planted-diehard-supporter-audience-attack-UKIP-panellist.html#ixzz2NWxxq9Hy
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Labour activist Amy Rutland, 23, attacked UKIP candidate on Question Time
Politics graduate called UKIP Eastleigh candidate Diane James 'disgusting'
Accusations she was 'Labour Party plant' deliberately given airtime by BBC
BBC received dozens of complaints from viewers
By SUE REID
PUBLISHED: 23:12, 13 March 2013 | UPDATED: 12:21, 14 March 2013
Until she opened her mouth, the young blonde sat demurely in the audience of BBC1’s latest edition of Question Time.
But as the thorny topics of an EU exit and immigration controls were debated, the camera swung to Amy Rutland, who launched a personal attack on the UKIP panellist, the Eastleigh candidate Diane James, calling her ‘disgusting’.
Miss Rutland, a politics graduate, claimed UKIP preyed on vulnerable people by ‘scaremongering’ about the number of Romanians and Bulgarians expected to come to Britain.
Scroll down for video
Complaints: Labour activist Amy Rutland launched a personal attack against UKIP's Eastleigh candidate Diane James on BBC's Question Time, calling her 'disgusting'
The show’s presenter David Dimbleby, asked the UKIP guest to answer the allegation that she was ‘disgusting’.
Now it has emerged that the 23-year-old from Margate in Kent is a diehard Labour supporter and her presence on last week’s show has prompted dozens of complaints.
More...
'Is there anything you could organise in a brewery?' Miliband ridicules Cameron after Cabinet revolt kills off his plans for minimum pricing for booze
Town halls told to stop wasting £20m of taxpayers' cash on translators and issue documents in 'plain English'
Tories ticked off over Twitter: Frustrated Cameron tells his MPs there are too many tweets about his leadership
She is a regional policy co-ordinator for the party, campaigned at the Eastleigh by-election in which UKIP came second to the Lib Dems and even spent the afternoon before the QT screening last Thursday in Dover at a meeting to talk about education policy with Labour MP Stephen Twigg, who was also on the panel.
As complaints arrived at the BBC from viewers – there have been 90 so far – Miss Rutland clearly considered her performance a triumph.
She sent a tweet before the programme aired (it is recorded an hour ahead of the viewing time) boasting: ‘Don’t miss out on Question Time tonight, you’ll see me rip into the disgusting UKIP woman!’
Controversial: The Question Time appearance of Amy Rutland, second from right, resulted in a number of complaints and angry tweets, accusing the Labour Party of 'planting' her in the audience
Attack: Miss Rutland went all out against UKIP's Diane James, pictured on the Eastleigh by-election campaign trail with party leader Nigel Farage, branding her 'disgusting' and accused UKIP of 'scaremongering'
Right to reply: Question Time presenter David Dimbleby, demanded Diane James to answer Miss Rutland's allegation that she was 'disgusting'
Those pitching for an audience place in the programme are asked which political party they would vote for if there was an election tomorrow, what their views are on the EU, whether they are a member of a political party – and if so which one, and about their ethnic background. The 150 who appear on the show are picked from 500 applications.
Last week there were outraged tweets from the public when Miss Rutland’s political allegiance became known. Many voiced suspicions she was a Labour Party ‘plant’ and deliberately given air time by the BBC.
Others rounded on Mr Twigg – who alluded to Miss Rutland during the programme as ‘the questioner in the audience’ – accusing him of being disingenuous by disguising the fact he knew the activist.
By Sunday night Miss Rutland's Twitter account had been closed down to all but her followers.
Campaigner: There is no doubt about where Miss Rutland's political allegiance lie, and she took part in the Labour effort in Eastleigh in the recent by-election where Diane James candidated for UKIP
Proud: Miss Rutland, whose Twitter account has since been set to private, tweeted this about her appearance on question time last Thursday
Campaigning: The politics graduate is pictured, far right, at the Eastleigh by-election vote count
A photograph showing her with a Labour Party backdrop had been replaced by one of her smiling in what appears to be a coffee bar.
At her home, where she lives with her mother, Sheila, she was keeping her own counsel. Her mother said: ‘Amy is quite upset. She doesn’t want to talk. If you want anything you will have to go to the Labour press office.’
A BBC spokesman said QT attracted audience members who were ‘very interested’ in politics and it was natural that some people would have political affiliations. He added: ‘The programme was chaired fairly and impartially.’
This is not the first time QT has courted controversy. In 2001, the then US ambassador to Britain, Philip Lader, struggled to hold back his tears in the face of a brutal attack by audience members in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The debacle prompted Greg Dyke, then the BBC’s director general, to publicly apologise.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292995/Question-Time-How-Labour-Party-planted-diehard-supporter-audience-attack-UKIP-panellist.html#ixzz2NWxxq9Hy
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
