THE BBC needs to better understand its power to legitimise far-right views after handing an “appalling” eight-minute interview to a prominent anti-Islam figure, an ex-employee and experts have said.
Douglas Murray, an associate editor of The Spectator, was on air on BBC Newsnight earlier this month for almost a third of the programme’s length despite having previously suggested former first minister Humza Yousaf had “infiltrated” the UK political system.
The Newsnight interview was called out moments later on air by panellist and ex-BBC presenter Matthew Stadlen, but notably he said he did not “criticise the BBC for doing it” and instead suggested the interview had happened because the Overton window had shifted “so significantly”.
The Overton window is the range of subjects and arguments deemed politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time.
While agreeing with Stadlen that the window has shifted to encapsulate radical right and far-right views, former BBC journalist Karishma Patel – who quit the broadcaster because of its coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza – said the BBC needs to better understand how it influences that shift.
She said the “incredibly significant” airtime Murray was given will have a “powerful legitimising function”.
“Douglas Murray was given a disproportionate amount of airtime and it was incredibly irresponsible,” said Patel, who worked for the BBC for almost five years.
“Fringe far-right views have gained a lot of purchase in society so it’s important the BBC takes an evidence-based approach and tackles some of these views and drills into where they are coming from.
“An eight-minute slot on Newsnight is incredibly significant. That’s telling the public that Douglas Murray has something to say most people should find respectable.
“The legitimising function of having a white man like Douglas Murray in a nice suit sat there giving an eight-minute interview that was actually quite pleasant, is very powerful.”
Dr Aurelian Mondon (below), an expert in the mainstreaming of the far right at the University of Bath, described the interview with Murray as "appalling", adding: “There is a real risk of radicalisation here that is taking place because it is not just someone random saying things on an internet forum anymore.
Patel said the Overton window has shifted “quite dramatically” to the right, but stressed the BBC has a key responsibility to reliably inform viewers and needs to better understand its role in the “symbiotic relationship” between what the public finds acceptable and media coverage.
“The Overton window has shifted quite dramatically to the right and part of the reason for that is because fringe racist views have gained a lot of respectability on popular news shows,” she said.
Calling out Douglas Murray’s extreme views on Newsnight pic.twitter.com/H5pfKN4sKp
— Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) April 16, 2025
“It’s a symbiotic relationship between what the public thinks is respectable and what the BBC’s choosing to air, and I think the BBC needs to understand that relationship.
“What you see often on the BBC is this chummy-style interview given to far-right figures and it’s not appropriate.”
She went on: “It’s about understanding the responsibility you have as the public broadcaster to inform the public. That doesn’t mean following what the Government thinks is acceptable, it doesn’t even mean following what most people think is acceptable. It’s about following the evidence.”
Dr Mondon added: “There is this defeatist attitude I find quite common and I think shines through in what Matthew Stadlen said that’s like ‘well, what can we do?’. You can do some things. You are part of the elite and the people who have privileged access to shape public discourse.”
Experts who spoke to the Sunday National do not believe the evidence is there to suggest it is reasonable for a figure like Murray to be given so much airtime.
When Murray said Yousaf (below) had “infiltrated” the UK political system on The Rubin Report in 2023, Good Morning Britain host Adil Ray said it was one of the “most racist things ever said about a major leading minister”, questioning why it was not “bigger news”.
On the same show, Murray said Yousaf’s Palestinian wife Nadia El-Nakla was a “nasty piece of work”.
“Even though the Overton window has shifted, it doesn’t mean these people are massively popular. What happens is it leads to some people feeling emboldened to say the kind of things Douglas Murray will say,” he added.
While mainstream platforms like the BBC do have to grapple with a changing political landscape where views like Murray’s have become more palatable, Mondon said he still has “no sympathy” with the choices being made.
“You don’t need Douglas Murray on a platform telling us why his ideas are not dangerous. We could have two people discussing why his ideas are dangerous because there is a massive consensus they are,” he said.
“I have no sympathy with the way editorial boards are behaving these days. The choices they are making are their choices and there is complicity in my mind when it comes to mainstreaming far-right politics.”
Dr Jonathan Parker, a lecturer in politics at Glasgow University, said the BBC had shown it “doesn’t quite know how to deal with” significant far-right voices being in the public sphere and needs to get better at deciding which ones should be covered.
“I think [the BBC has] shown for a few years now they’re slightly incapable of dealing with a changing political environment where there are significant far-right voices in the public sphere and they don’t quite know how to deal with them and keep falling back on a strategy of neutrally representing all views out there,” Dr Parker said.
“I think the fact there is now a very prominent party more to the right than we’re used to [Reform] has made them misread the situation a bit.
“They do need to get better at determining what voices should be out there and that should be part of their responsibility as a public broadcaster.
“I think you need to distinguish between what may be a bit populist and out on the right from what is clearly extreme-right conspiracy theories. They need to end this idea that all views should be given equal breathing space and levels of scrutiny.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “It is important to interview and interrogate a wide range of views. Douglas Murray was challenged during the interview, and his responses and the issues raised during the interview were then discussed and scrutinised by a panel of guests.”
