BBC presenter Fiona Bruce has stepped down from her role as an ambassador for domestic abuse charity Refuge after comments she made during Thursday's instalment of Question Time.
On the March 9 programme, Ms Bruce interrupted after panel member and journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown said Stanley Johnson's alleged history of violence was "on record".
Ms Bruce then said: "I'm not disputing what you're saying, but just so everyone knows what this is referring to, Stanley Johnson's wife spoke to a journalist, Tom Bower, and she said that Stanley Johnson had broken her nose and that she'd ended up in hospital as a result.
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"Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on that. Friends of his have said it did happen but it was a one-off."
In a statement today (Monday), Ms Bruce said: "It is with real sadness that I have decided to step back from my role as an ambassador for the domestic abuse charity Refuge.
"Last week on Question Time, I was required to legally contextualise a question about Stanley Johnson. Those words have been taken as an expression of my own opinions which they are absolutely not, and as a minimising of domestic abuse, which I would never do.
"I know survivors of domestic abuse have been distressed by what I was required to say on-air. For that, I am deeply sorry. I cannot change what I was required to say, but I can apologise for the very real impact that I can see it has had."
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