Lincolnites grill panel on Question Time

The US Election, COVID-19 and antisemitism were on the agenda when Question Time came to Lincoln virtually on Thursday night, with Lincolnites asking the panel their burning questions.

The political show aired on BBC One on Thursday night, with a panel featuring Donald Trump’s former adviser Anthony Scaramucci, Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, minister for immigration Chris Phlip, American-British playwright Bonnie Greer, and Marie van der Zyl of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

It had a virtual audience of people from Lincoln on a Zoom call, asking questions of the panel throughout the show.

At the top of the agenda were the findings of the Equality Human Rights Commission’s report on anti-semitism in the Labour Party, which resulted in Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension.

Conservative MP Chris Phlip began by demanding that Labour leader Keir Starmer apologises personally and permanently kicks Corbyn out of the party, with the whole panel unanimously agreeing it was a “damning and shameful” report.

Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds said that his party would have to act on the recommendations of the report, before acknowledging that the previous leadership was a failure.

Nick Thomas-Symonds MP said it was a “shameful day” for the Labour Party amid the anti-semitism row. | Photo: BBC Question Time

Bonnie Greer voiced her support for the Labour Party, but said these allegations made her “sick” and suggested that the “trauma” of something such as anti-semitism is handed down through generations.

The next question was about the upcoming US Election, with audience member Helen suggesting that the vote was a matter of choosing the “least worst”.

Anthony Scaramucci served as the White House Director of Communications under Donald Trump for just 11 days in 2017, but has since spent his time condemning the President and endorsing Joe Biden’s campaign.

Anthony Scaramucci said Trump made himself “impossible to support”. | Photo: BBC Question Time

He described Trump as “the most insecure person you could ever meet” and took accountability for “normalising” him when he didn’t actually believe in the President’s policies.

Finally, when discussing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, calls for leadership were at the forefront of the panel and audience’s minds.

Karl, who is currently working as a contact tracer in Lincolnshire, suggested that the UK looks at “other alternatives” to a national lockdown and recommended the Swedish model of COVID-19 response, something which Bonnie Greer described as “herd immunity”.

Karl suggested to the panel that lockdown is proven not to work. | Photo: BBC Question Time

Speaking on behalf of the current Conservative government, Chris Phlip backed the regional tier system, suggesting that all regions have different scenarios with cases of the virus.

In response, Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is an MP in Wales which is currently on a circuit breaker lockdown, said that the “diligent, cautious approach” was the right one rather than what the current government are doing in England.

Paul from Lincoln spoke passionately about the virus to close the show, calling for another lockdown immediately to prevent any more families suffering heartache.

Paul said the government’s decision not to lockdown the country is “appalling”. | Photo: BBC Question Time

You can catch up on the whole show on BBC iPlayer.