THE Question Time career of former UKIP candidate Billy Mitchell is over for the foreseeable future, The National can reveal.
The BBC does not have a policy of banning individuals from applying for, or attending Question Time, but sources at the BBC have told this newspaper that it is “unlikely we’ll see this individual on Question Time anytime soon”.
READ MORE: Question Time secretly cut full SNP answer to Unionist ranter
The corporation has steadfastly maintained that Mitchell was not given a formal invitation to appear on the programme during which he unleashed an anti-SNP rant. In an official BBC comment, however, there’s as strong hint that Mitchell may not have complied with the criteria for being asked to join the audience and put his question to the panel. A BBC spokesperson told The National: “I’m afraid we don’t comment on individuals but can only reiterate that we want to allow as many people as possible the chance to be part of the programme so we would not normally allocate a seat to someone if they had appeared recently.”
READ MORE: Why we shouldn’t let Question Time debacle obscure bigger problems
Asked how Mitchell was able to be on Question Time four teams in a little over five years, the spokesperson replied: “Due to EU General Data Protection Regulation we are not able to discuss the information an individual provided to us.
“We followed the normal production procedures when securing the audience for Question Time in Motherwell. Question Time acted in good faith and expects potential audience members to do the same.”
Asked about his claim of an invitation, the spokesperson said: “A production research chat is also not the same as a personal invitation.”
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