Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide…
The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Birmingham, the show’s 47th visit to England’s second city and the first since David Dimbleby announced he would be ceasing his quarter-century bed-blocking at the end of this year. But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide…
Damian Green
Who? Conservative MP for Ashford
Where is he on Brexit? Fervent Remain campaigner who has has hit out at hardline colleagues who ‘won’t accept evidence’ and are pursuing ‘faith-based policies’
A firm friend of Theresa May since their university days, the erstwhile first secretary of state and ‘de facto deputy prime minister’ would be a strong Soft Brexit influence in the cabinet, had he not been forced to resign after allegedly lying about watching special adult film time on his work computer. Has described claims of a plot to stop Brexit from the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg as “conspiracy theories”. A long time Europhile who must have found working with the likes of David Davis and Boris Johnson interesting, his departure from the cabinet must have been almost a bigger blow to Mrs May than losing advisers Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy such was his use as a human shield and minister for the Today programme. Spotted at Latitude last year in a Half Man Half Biscuit t-shirt, which is something.
Afua Hirsch
Who? Writer, broadcaster and former barrister
Where is she on Brexit? Firmly against. Has written on the rise of racism post-referendum
Born in Norway to a British father and Ghanaian mother, Hirsch was until last year social affairs and education editor at Sky News. Has written that “British people who are not white feel less British now because that hostility is palpable, because there is an agenda of regressing to a time, before the European Union, that many remember not for the joys of complete sovereignty, but for the absence of protection from racism in the workplace, or at the hands of the police, or for being openly chased in the streets by white racists”. Published the book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging earlier this year. Cause a few ripples last year when she suggested that Nelson’s Column should be taken down as it was a symbol of white supremacy, although later clarified that she “wasn’t actually waiting in a bulldozer”.
Tim Martin
Who? Businessman and founder of pub chain Wetherspoon
Where is he on Brexit? Hard Brexiteer who has plastered his beermats with political messages, to the confusion of people who’d only popped in for a pre-10am livener
One of the more vocal Brexiteers in the business world, Martin has described Brexit as a “new Magna Carta”. Prior to the referendum frequently blamed the EU for tax rises which in actual fact had nothing to do with the EU; now uses his position to campaign for the hardest of Brexits (although he’d quite like his own staff to stay “since virtually no one wants hard-working immigrants from the EU to leave the UK”). Last week announced he was banning booze produced in the EU, saying that selling drinks from Britain and across the world could give British customers access to “superior” products. Quite right, get rid of that crappy German and Belgian beer. Will tonight eschew wearing a suit for a polo shirt to show he’s a Proper Bloody Bloke, unlike the rest of the panel who are in it for themselves. This year’s Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth at £448m.
Ella Whelan
Who? Contrarian columnist and author of a book calling for the end of feminism
Where is she on Brexit? Placard-waving Leaver who has insisted Britain must get ‘back to the basics’ and remember ‘just how brilliant the Brexit vote was”
Right-wing (she would probably say libertarian) columnist for online magazine Spiked carving out a niche for herself as the Muppet Baby Katie Hopkins. Brandished a megaphone outside Downing Street on Theresa May’s first day in office, shouting “Theresa May, don’t delay, invoke Article 50 today”. Has said: “Middle-class columnists still delight in telling us plebs how wrong we were, how uneducated we are and how sorry we will be when this all blows up in our face.” Often just a hair’s breadth away from saying “There. I said it” following a deliberately provocative comment she is particularly proud of. Making her Question Time debut, she is a shoo-in for tomorrow’s fawning Daily Express Online story about how she SHUT DOWN REMAINERS.
Jon Ashworth
Who? Shadow health secretary
Where is he on Brexit? Said before the referendum that a Leave vote could lead to the ‘unravelling’ of the EU and precipitate ‘decades of darkness’ for the continent. Now faithfully follows Jeremy Corbyn’s “job-first Brexit” line
Jon Ashworth. You know, Jon Ashworth? The shadow health secretary? The Labour frontbencher has remained largely imperceptible to the electorate despite shadowing the subject routinely shown to have the most emotional heft. Backed Yvette Cooper for the Labour leadership, but has since been to a re-education camp, saying before the referendum that Brexit means “foreign students and NHS staff can pack your bags”, then rolling in behind Team Corbyn’s policy, saying “clearly there’s no appetite” for any second referendum. Caught out last year when he didn’t know how much an NHS prescription cost, saying “God, that’s terrible, that is”. Will be to this Question Time what Morocco are to the World Cup, in that once it’s over you’ll have forgotten he was ever in it in the first place.
Question Time is on BBC One at 10.55pm tonight (11.30pm in Northern Ireland).