Who is on the BBC Any Questions panel in Melton Mowbray this week?

Any Questions presenter Shaun Ley (Pic: BBC) - Credit: BBC

Who is on Any Questions this week and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide…

BBC Radio 4’s flagship politics panel this week comes from Melton Mowbray, the Leicestershire town which is the birthplace of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman. But who can expect the Spanish inquisition – and who’ll prove just to be a very naughty boy? Here’s your guide to the panel and where they stand on Brexit…

Nusrat Ghani

Who? Well, quite. Parliamentary under-secretary of state for transport

Where is she on Brexit? Brexiteer who voted for Theresa May’s botched withdrawal deal three times

A junior minister so low-profile her Wikipedia entry is, at 440 words, less than a fifth of the length of that of short-lived 1980s children’s TV show Supergran, Ghani is a Brexiteer who has backed May’s deal “not because it is perfect but because it is the best way to deliver on the promise we made to the British people to leave the EU”. Backs Jeremy Hunt for the Tory leadership as he had “the experience and stature to get a good deal and represent the UK on the world stage”. Says that “the risk of no Brexit far outweighs that of leaving with no deal”. Unlikely to see promotion under Boris Johnson. A former charity worker who became the first Muslim woman to speak from the House of Commons despatch box, she made headlines by accusing Sir John Sawers, an actual former MI6 chief who has seen highly secret briefing papers which would make your eyes water, of peddling “doom and gloom” over Brexit.

Jess Phillips

Who? Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley

Where is she on Brexit? Remainer who backs a second referendum

Every political journalist’s favourite MP, because she calls a spade a shovel, Phillips is probably the most vocally anti-Corbyn member of the parliamentary party. Says of a second referendum: “I trust the people where I live to look at the facts as they exist today and make the right decision. It is not because I hate what they said last time and want another go.” A Twitter maestro with 233,000 followers, she is a regular target for abuse from the left for failing to acknowledge that Jeremy Corbyn is a man of unique virtue unparalleled in human history. Made her name as a troublemaker when it emerged she had told Diane Abbott to f*** off during a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting. Asked how Abbott reacted, Phillips said: “She f***ed off”. Earlier this month left her 10-year-old son on the steps of 10 Downing Street to demonstrate against funding cuts that have forced schools to close early.

Pete Wishart

Who? SNP shadow leader of the House of Commons

Where is he on Brexit? Like the overwhelming bulk of his party a Remainer, but has been lukewarm on a second referendum

Still just about best known for being the keyboardist in Scottish rockers Big Country and Runrig, Wishart is, at 18 years, also the SNP’s longest-serving MP. A Remain backer, he has warned of the SNP alienating Leave voters, saying they should “face up” to Brexit and arguing for an independent Scotland’s “graduated” re-entry to the EU. Is also wary of a second referendum as it would “weaken our hand in resisting unionist calls for a second vote on a successful indyref”. The first MP to play live on Top of the Pops (ask your parents, kids), Wishart is a founding member of MP4, the band made up of parliamentarians who are rubbish but do a lot of good work for charidee. The chair of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, he has more esoterically called for Scottish football referees to have to declare which team they support.

Iain Dale

Who? Broadcaster, commentator and publisher

Where is he on Brexit? A vocal Leave voter and supporter

The LBC presenter and – full disclosure! – columnist for The New European’s stablemate the Eastern Daily Press has always stressed his opposition to the EU as an entity (he is a German-speaker who has said “being European is… part of my identity). The former chief of staff to David Davis, Dale made several attempts to become a Conservative MP before turning to blogging and eventually becoming an award-winning presenter at the cabbies’ favourite, where he employs a unique approach on that station of being civil to people he disagrees with. Has said he has “a deliberate policy of not using the word ‘Remoaner'”. Chaired a number of the Tory leadership hustings, including one where he repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to pin down Boris Johnson over spilled-red-wine-on-the-sofa-gate. Also once wrestled a pensioner on Brighton seafront.

Any Questions is on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm on Friday (repeated 1.10pm on Saturday)