BBC Question Time special guests confirmed but one leader is missing

19 June 2024 , 10:02

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BBC's Fiona Bruce will host a Question Time leader's special

The BBC have confirmed the lineup for their Question Time Leaders’ Special.

A special General Election edition of the show hosted by Fiona Bruce will be shown on Thursday 20 June at 8pm. It will be available to watch on on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Confirmed participants in the Question Time Leaders’ Special are Tory PM Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Keir Starmer, John Swinney for the Scottish National Party and Ed Davey for the Liberal Democrats. Nigel Farage, who recently returned as Reform UK leader, will not be included.

The leaders will be given 30 minutes each to answer questions from the live studio audience in York. Ed Davey will go first, before making way for John Swinney, Keir Starmer, and finally Rishi Sunak. Audience members will be selected from a “wide range of political sentiment and voting intentions from across Great Britain”, the broadcaster said, and will be asked to submit questions in advance and on the night.

Nigel Farage will take part in a separate Question Time leaders' special after publicly criticising the BBC for not including him in Thursday's show. He claimed he should have been invited on after a recent YouGov opinion poll put his party ahead of the Tories. The BBC said the additional episode for Farage, which is scheduled for June 28, reflected "the fact that it is clear from across a broad range of opinion polls that the support for Reform UK has been growing". The Green party has also been invited to take part.

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Since the announcement Farage has gone even further in his demands, and is now asking to be included in the head-to-head Sunak vs Starmer debate on June 26 - despite his party being projected to win no more than a handful of seats. He wrote on X: "I am pleased that the BBC acknowledge that support for Reform UK has been growing in this election. We must now be included in the head-to-head debate with Sunak and Starmer on June 26th."

Earlier this month, ITV held the first TV debate of the election campaign involving Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. ITV said overnight figures showed it was watched by an average of five million viewers and had a peak of 5.5 million across devices, including their online streaming service ITVX. Three seven-way debates involving representatives from seven major parties have also been held, including one on Channel 4 last night.

Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas