The beloved politics show has been a staple on our screens for more than 45 years, regularly bringing heated debates from MPs across the country.
The stalwart programme is fronted by after she took over the show from David Dimbleby as the first full-time female host in 2019. David hosted the debate programme for 25 years until he was 80 years old before Fiona stepped into his shoes.
While the 60-year-old has received acclaim for hosting the weekly show, she admitted that it’s the “most challenging job I’ve ever done”.
Despite becoming a core part of the schedule each week, the mum-of-two has faced her fair share of criticism over the years. Let’s take a look inside the backlash she has faced on the show so far.
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Fiona Bruce has presented Question Time since 2019 (Image: BBC)
‘Bias’ row
In February, Fiona Bruce was called out on air by a member of the audience as US President was brought up as the first question of the night.
The topic arose when the journalist was boldly asked: “When did become the Master of the Universe?” As the TV presenter went round the room, she asked: “Do you think there is some merit in what is doing?”
One man replied: “I think that’s the wrong question” as Fiona burst into shocked laughter and replied: “I stand corrected sir, what should it be?”
He responded: “Let me qualify that, because the merit is in is strategies and what his objectives are, so there is a merit in what he is doing, whether you agree with that or not. What dismays me is that this is not a surprise.
“’s actions have all been mapped out for some time and what surprises me is that politicians don’t seem to have a strategy that manages the balances of working with him as he is the President of America, but also challenging some of his actions, because without those challenges, it normalises what he is doing.”
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The broadcaster has found herself in hot water with fans over the years (Image: PA)
Palestine row
In January 2024, Fiona was forced to interrupt as a member of the audience clashed with her on the heated debate show. During the audience participation segment, the panel were asked: “How do we create hope for our young people?” to which satirist and author Konstantin Kisin said it was important to “stop talking down” the UK.
He said: “We’ve got to stop talking down our country. I’m a first-generation immigrant to this country and I get annoyed hearing people talk endlessly about how we’re the worst country in the world.
“We’re the most sexist country in the world, we’re the most racist country in the world, it’s all nonsense. This is one of the best places to live in the world and that’s what we should be talking about.”
At this point, a pro-Palestine member of the audience could be heard shouting “shame on out” to which Kisin replied: “This is exactly the problem that I’m talking about. We’ve got to stop shouting over people who are talking.”
Audience members have slammed the host live on air (Image: BBC)
The audience member added: “There are thousands of innocent civilians being killed.” Bruce was forced to interject and told the audience member: “There’s no point in shouting out because the people at home can’t hear you. Let’s try not to talk over each other. I asked Konstantin a question, I’ve got to let him answer.”
The host then turned to Tory MP Alex Burghart although the audience member could be heard continuing to shout and again said: “Shame on you all.”
Bruce again hit out at the audience member, stating: “I know you want to make your point but we’ve been asked a question and that’s how this programme works. The panel answer the question asked so that’s what we’re going to do. Please let the panel answer.”
Fiona regularly manages heated debates between fans and MPs on the show (Image: BBC)
‘You’re living on a different planet’
Last week, Fiona Bruce was left in stunned silence after one bold guest hit out at the broadcaster when they fumed that MPs “live on a different planet.
Loyal viewer and guest Tracey asked the panel whether they thought more business people should be invited into parliament to help make some of the country’s biggest decisions.
She asked: “With and getting things sorted in America, do you think Labour would benefit from more business people in government positions?” Fiona immediately pondered over the intriguing question, stating: “Alright, again, my goodness. His name gets mentioned every day.
“Tracy, what do you think? You’re basically saying that as far as you’re concerned, they’re getting things done. Could we benefit from that here?”
She replied: “I don’t agree on lots of things that he’s doing, but he’s just doing things whereas over here, nothing gets done, it takes forever to do anything. At least people are making a decision, these politicians, they’re all at university, don’t seem to know what they’re doing.
“Everyday people seem to be able to make better decisions, or seem to know what the country needs because they’re [politicians] living on a different planet”.
The mum-of-two was forced to apologise to an audience member after a show (Image: BBC )
Impromptu apology
In October 2023, Fiona was forced to call a audience member to apologise for referring to him as “the black guy” live on the show.
During the political debate, Bruce regularly picks out audience members to weigh in on the conversation. Previously, she and other hosts have described questioners by their clothing as opposed to their skin colour.
It came during a question on the proposed ban on mobile phones in schools, when Mr Gocan raised his hand to get involved. Attempting to pick him out for the technical crew to catch his comments on film, the broadcaster said: “The guy there in the middle… the black guy in the middle, yes you, sir.”
But the doting mum faced backlash after identifying a viewer by the colour of their skin and was called to apologise for “causing offence”. In a statement, she reiterated her apology, saying: “I totally understand why my words last night caused offence and I apologise.
“I have spoken to the audience member directly and explained that usually I can see and describe an item of clothing or otherwise to help sound engineers with a microphone find people in the audience.
“Last night that was not the case as my view was obscured. In the split second I had, the easiest thing to do would have been to ignore the audience member and move on, but I felt strongly that his voice should be heard. Nonetheless, I feel it was wrong to identify him as I did and that’s why it was removed from the later edited programme”.
At the time, the confirmed that she reached out directly to Roberto Gocan, 35, to express her regret. Mr Gocan confirmed that he received the call in an interview with .
He told the outlet: “I’m not going to speak too much about the conversation we had. But she called me personally and I do rate her for that.” The offending comment has since been edited out of the version of the episode uploaded to iPlayer.