Question time

Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love – or it’s supposed to be. William Penn, good Quaker that he was, wanted his city to be a place of religious and political tolerance; a haven for those who’d been persecuted for their beliefs. There are quotations inscribed on walls everywhere about the power of love, selflessness and charity. Given how vicious and divisive this presidential election is, the message seems lost on both parties. I flew out to Philly this week for a special Question Time episode, the first time the programme has been to the US since 2008. One of our panellists has had to pull out at the last

The Liberal Democrat leader had an awful time on Friday night’s Question Time special. The audience was, at best, uninterested in her pitch. A notable moment was when a Remain voter criticised the Lib Dems for their policy of revoking Article 50, calling it ‘undemocratic’. You can watch the clip below:

These days Mr S rarely – if ever – finds himself agreeing with Anna Soubry on politics. The arch-Remainer has made it her mission to keep Britain in the customs union, the single market and ideally – Steerpike suspects – the EU. Yet, on Question Time this week, the Conservative MP managed to briefly strike a chord with many Brexiteers and Remainers alike: ‘Good Lord, no.’ That said, if Soubry does go ahead with her customs union rebellion on the EU withdrawal bill, things may get very fraught indeed…

In the flurry of excitement over the local elections, Chi Onwurah’s Question Time appearance has been cruelly overlooked. Happily, Mr S is on hand to right this wrong. The Labour MP’s attempt to criticise the Tories over student loans backfired last night. The Labour MP spoke of her apparent fears that a working-class student could be put off university by the amount they would have to pay back. But Onwurah didn’t account for a furious Martin Lewis, who was also on the Question Time panel, taking her to task for her comments: Astonishing scenes on #bbcqt as a furious moneysaving expert Martin Lewis destroys Labour’s Chi Onwurah over her attempts use student debt

Although Chris Williamson recently exited the Labour frontbench – by mutual agreement – the loyal Corbynista has vowed to do what he can for Jeremy Corbyn from the back bench. And this he did on Question Time on Thursday when he joining David Dimbleby for the weekly current affairs show. Speaking on a panel comprised of Michael Forsyth, Fiona Hyslop MSP, Maggie Chapman and Peter Oborne, Williamson did his best to fly the flag for the Labour leader. Only he soon ran into a spot of bother when an audience asked him why if the Labour party was so big and great, Jeremy Corbyn was the best they could come up

Here we go again. The stand out moment of the latest Question Time saw a young woman accuse a Tory minister of purposefully underfunding the NHS in order to  make the argument for privatisation. The exchange left Margot James, a DCMS minister, insisting that she was ‘not a liar’ and calling out the accusations as false. Since then, the clip of the young woman taking James to task has been widely shared online. Only all is not what it seems. It turns out that the audience member is not your average viewer. In fact, Rebecca Shirazi is a local Labour party candidate. Corbynista Laura Pidcock has been tweeting her praises:

This week Question Time moved to Islington. David Dimbleby chaired a panel comprised of Dominic Raab, Labour’s Dawn Butler, Gina Miller, comedian Nish Kumar and Piers Morgan. However much of time was spent discussing Toby Young, who resigned from the Office for Students this week. With various derogatory comments made about Young, it fell to an audience member to address the elephant in the room: Labour’s hypocrisy. He said that it was inconsistent of Labour to call for Young’s sacking while they had only suspended Jared O’Mara, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, while the party investigates misogynistic and homophobic comments he is alleged to have made online: ‘Labour and the Tories can

This week the ‘stop Brexit’ campaign went into overdrive after the government suffered its first defeat on the EU withdrawal bill – with 11 Tory rebels voting to back an amendment calling for a meaningful vote on the final deal. The whips now have their work cut out trying to prevent a second rebellion next week on Theresa May’s own amendment to put the exit date in the bill. However, should Chief Whip Julian Smith’s charm offensive fail again, perhaps the government could look to last night’s Question Time for back-up. With David Dimbleby joined in Barnsley by a panel comprised of Nicky Morgan, Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey, Professor Robert Winston

Oh dear. After a fortnight of government shambles, Jeremy Corbyn can enjoy the weekend safe in the knowledge that his party is… still neck and neck with the Tories. On last night’s Question Time, Emily Thornberry offered an insight into why her party – and it’s plan for 21st century socialism – may be failing to catch fire. Asked by a member of the audience what country was the best advert for Corbyn’s brand of socialism, the shadow foreign secretary struggled to come up with an answer: QT audience member: I’d like to hear of an example where Corbyn and McDonnell’s economic ideas have worked. DD: Okay, you can name

Oh dear. With North Korea threatening to detonate a nuclear bomb in the Pacific Ocean, world leaders are left scratching their heads over what to do about the rogue state’s penchant for nuclear weapons. But has North Korea actually just done the world a favour by threatening to bomb Japan, South Korea and the US? That’s the claim Paul Mason tried to peddle on last night’s episode of Question Time. The journalist-turned-left-wing-revolutionary argued that Kim Jong-un has ‘done the world a favour’ by putting Donald Trump ‘on the back foot’ through his nuclear game plan: ‘In a way, Kim Jong-Un has done – only in this metaphorical way – the world

On last night’s episode of Question Time, David Dimbleby made his way to Burton upon Trent to chair a panel made up of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Richard Burgon, Caroline Lucas, Susie Boniface and (Sir) Craig Oliver. Unlike last week, the BBC anchor did not have to eject any audience members for rowdy behaviour. However, that’s not to say the programme was without interruption. Halfway through the episode, a phone went off. On closer inspection, it transpired out that it was Dimbleby’s phone: ‘This is my stopwatch saying it’s bedtime!’ At 78, are the late nights beginning to get to Dimbleby?

Although the Conservatives won the most votes, most seats and increased their national vote share, many Labour supporters remain convinced that Jeremy Corbyn was the real winner of the snap election. On Question Time last night, one such supporter was so angry about the democratic election result that they had to be ejected from the building. As David Dimbleby chaired a panel from Plymouth – with David Lidington and Gina Miller among the panellists – an irate man in a striped shirt shouted that the Conservatives had ‘lost the election’: ‘Jeremy Corbyn has proven that anti-austerity policies are popular – the Tories and the Blairites lost that election.’ Lidlington attempted

After both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn received a rough ride on Friday in the Question Time leaders election special, tonight it was the turn of Nicola Sturgeon and Tim Farron. The pair faced questions from a live studio audience in Edinburgh. The location proved problematic for the Liberal Democrat leader who had to fend off questions on why he supported a second EU referendum but not a second Scottish independence referendum. However, it was Nicola Sturgeon who received the more hostile reception. Although the First Minister put in a confident performance, she was repeatedly quizzed by dissatisfied voters on her party’s poor record on education. One audience member put it particularly

Tonight Jeremy Corbyn faced his toughest media appearance of the campaign as he took questions from a live studio audience in the Question Time Leaders Special. Although the audience appeared more favourable to him than Theresa May at first (with the Labour leader receiving a loud whoop as he entered the stage), the format actually ended up working against him. With audience members asking the questions rather than a presenter, Corbyn struggled to change the subject on uncomfortable topics and appeared rattled when pressed on his views on small businesses, Trident and the IRA. He also failed to alleviate Labour’s credibility problem when a voter asked him if Labour’s manifesto