The BBC never fails to entertain with their so-called ‘fact-checking.’ Last night’s Question Time saw Reform Party chairman Zia Yusuf call out the staggering number of asylum seekers flooding into Britain after it emerged that the Foreign Office has splashed over £4 billion on support for refugees and asylum seekers. Zia rightly pointed out that the UK takes in more asylum seekers per capita than France. ‘Moderator’ Fiona Bruce was quick to shut him down:
“France takes more per capita, we are quite far down the list.”
Cue an awkward fact-check of her own fact-check. Not long after, Bruce admitted Zia was actually “right” before hastily moving on. No apology, of course. Doubt BBC Verify were the ones to tell her she was wrong…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”