Susanna Reid has fiercely criticised the backlash to Fiona Bruce’s comments on Question Time last week, which prompted her to step back as a Refuge charity ambassador.
On the BBC show last week, journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown stated Boris Johnson ’s father's alleged history of violence was ‘on record’ and he was a ‘wife beater’, prompting Bruce to cut in with qualifying statements.
The Good Morning Britain host raised Bruce’s treatment in comparison to that of Gary Lineker on Tuesday morning, saying: “It looks like full support for Gary Lineker, but friends of Fiona Bruce have said she has been hung out to dry over what was said on Question Time.”
Bruce told the panel member and the audience on the programme last week: “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.
“Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on that. Friends of his have said it did happen but it was a one-off.”
Yet Reid noted it was ‘incumbent’ on Bruce in that situation to ‘contextualise’ the allegation.
Bruce subsequently said in a statement that she has been subjected to a ‘social media storm’ which ‘mischaracterised’ her words.
Co-host Ed Balls then weighed in to say it was something he had also experienced, explaining: “When you do that – which is our responsibility when we’re doing the roles we’re playing – you get these pile-ons on social media where people assume because we say that, it’s what we believe.
“That’s what happened to Fiona Bruce. She wasn’t saying she believed that. She was saying that’s what the other side say.”
Reid then added: “She very clearly says she was contextualising it and giving the right of reply. I think it’s outrageous that she is being held as responsible for those words.”
Daily Mirror journalist Kevin Maguire was a guest in the studio and then questioned who had asked Bruce to stand back from her role at the charity.
“She wasn’t adopting a defence,” he said. “The BBC requires you in those circumstances what she was doing, there is some blame here not just on the BBC but on the charity and the pile-on, who mischaracterized what she said. It’s not all the BBC's fault.”
Susanna concluded: “If you want to criticise what’s going on, you can criticise Stanley Johnson for the allegation and you can criticise Boris Johnson for nominating him for a knighthood.
“Don’t criticise Fiona Bruce, who simply was doing her job. And had said I am not disputing what you are saying, clearly, on air.”
