Diane Abbott accuses Question Time of legitimising ‘mistreatment, bias and abuse’ against her

‘The only black woman on the panel was jeered at and interrupted,’ spokesperson says

Diane Abbott has accused the BBC of legitimising the “mistreatment, bias and abuse” that she faces “as a black woman in public life” following claims she was mocked before a Question Time programme.

The shadow home secretary appeared on Thursday night’s debate and has since claimed she was interrupted more often than the other guests.

Previously, Twitter users had suggested Labour’s long-serving Hackney MP was the butt of jokes made during the warm-up before filming.

The BBC has denied its staff treated any member of the panel unfairly.

A spokesperson for Ms Abbott said: “We are appalled by the treatment of Diane Abbott. It was clear that a hostile atmosphere was whipped up, propped up by reports of inappropriate and sexist commentary in the audience warm-up session.

“A public broadcaster like the BBC should be expected to be a model of impartiality and equality.

“The media must stop legitimising mistreatment, bias and abuse against Ms Abbott as a black woman in public life.”

A fellow member of Labour’s shadow cabinet referenced posts by two separate Twitter users who claimed to be in the audience during Thursday’s episode of the broadcaster’s flagship political debate show, suggesting employees made comments about Ms Abbott before filming began.

One said ”there was some humour at Diane’s expense” from BBC staff, while another claimed “the way they stoked up anti Diane Abbott beforehand was appalling”.

Both users appeared to be Labour supporters. And MP Dan Carden, shadow secretary of state for international development, cited both when raising the matter on Twitter.

“Hope we’ll hear more from audience members about the foul play at @bbcquestiontime last night,” he wrote.

“The toxic atmosphere whipped up by panellists & new chair Fiona Bruce is a further sad decline for the show, but @HackneyAbbott was calm and composed throughout.”

But a BBC spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear Diane Abbott’s concerns over last night’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."

Ms Abbott was asked about the fact Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to enter into Brexit talks with Theresa May unless she rules out the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal – prompting applause from the studio audience.

There was further applause when Ms Bruce asked her: “You’ve got a situation now where Jeremy Corbyn won’t talk to Theresa May without no deal coming off the table. So he’s writing to her, and she’s writing to him. Why don’t they just talk?”

Ms Abbott replied: “We would love to talk. The reason we are saying that is we wanted to take no deal off the table. We thought that was one of the easiest things she could concede on.”

She was later challenged after saying Labour were “level pegging” with the Conservatives in opinon polls, with Bruce joining panellist Isobel Oakeshott in stating the Tories had a six-point lead.

While a recent YouGov poll gave Ms May’s party a lead of six points, a number of other polls since have estimated a narrow lead for Labour.