BBC apologises for branding Robert Jenrick ‘xenophobic’ in Radio 4’s Thought for the Day

The BBC has apologised after its flagship radio news show took direct aim at Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick.

As part of Thought for the Day on Radio 4, which is featured in the Today programme, academic Dr Krish Kandiah, accused Jenrick of “xenophobia”.

Dr Kandiah was responding to Jenrick writing in the Mail On Sunday about his fears for his daughters’ safety because of the flood of undocumented young males entering Britain.

On the Thought for the Day, he said: “These words echo a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia. All phobias are, by definition, irrational.

“Nevertheless, they have a huge impact. It is understandable that many people are scared by the unknown, especially if they’ve been told that illegality and unfairness are part of the story.

“However, over the past year, xenophobia has fuelled angry protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, deepening divisions in our communities.

“The majority of people arriving in small boats are found to be genuinely fleeing war, persecution, and famine.”

The Newark MP was branded ‘xenophobic’

A senior Conservative source has now hit back telling GB News that the BBC needed to find more balanced sources.

They said: “Thought for the Day has long descended into a bunch of nobodies wittering on about their mad hat socialist ideas.

“If the BBC are not prepared to broadcast serious religious voices, they should at least ensure the second-rate ones they do find are balanced.”

A BBC spokesman told GB News: “While its reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective is broadly in line with expectations of Thought for the Day, some of the language it used went beyond that and we apologise for its inclusion.”

Dr Krish Kandiah responded to Robert Jenrick’s statements

According to Jenrick, British women and girls have been made less safe by the small boats crisis.

The MP for Newark has said he fears for his own three young daughters, aged 14, 12 and 10, as illegal migrants with “deplorable attitudes towards women” cross the Channel.

According to Jenrick, “the situation in the Channel is a national security emergency” which “the Government won’t admit”.

Tensions across the country are reaching fever pitch as angry Britons protest outside hotels being used to house asylum seekers.

“I certainly don’t want my children to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally, and about whom we know next to nothing,” Jenrick wrote in The Mail.

He added: “I don’t want anyone else’s family to have this forced on them either.

“My eldest daughter is 14 and already I worry about her safety as she starts to do things independently. It’s challenging enough without this to contend with.”

The senior Conservative calls for the Government to take tougher action on deporting criminals back to their home countries.

Regarding the deportation of criminals, Jenrick added: “If countries won’t take back their citizens, we should suspend the granting of visas and foreign aid until they do.

“Just recently it was reported Pakistan was refusing to take back three rapists until the UK allows direct flights between the two countries via its national airline, PA, which were grounded due to safety concerns.

“This is a country we give £133million in aid to. Enough. Starmer should suspend that money if the Pakistani authorities don’t do the right thing.”