BBC apologises to Jenrick over suggestions he is xenophobic in Radio 4 broadcast
The BBC has apologised to Robert Jenrick after a refugee charity boss suggested the shadow justice secretary is xenophobic during Radio 4’s Today programme.
Mr Jenrick has accused the broadcaster of smearing “millions of worried citizens as ‘xenophobic’ for their completely understandable fears”.
While appearing on the radio on Wednesday, Krish Kandiah, a director of Sanctuary Foundation, claimed Mr Jenrick had increased “fear of the stranger” among people.
Mr Kandiah added: “The technical name for this is xenophobia.
“All phobias are by definition irrational. Nevertheless, they have a huge impact.
“Over the past year, xenophobia has fuelled angry protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, deepening divisions in our communities.”
Thought for the Day
In a letter to the Conservative MP, the broadcaster’s head of editorial standards Roger Mahony said the comments “went beyond” what is expected of its Thought For The Day segment.
Mr Mahony said: “I have concluded that, while its reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective is broadly in line with expectations of Thought For The Day, some of the language it used went beyond that.
“I have asked for the two references to xenophobia to be edited from the programme on BBC Sounds. Please accept my apology for their original inclusion.”
The content has since been removed from the programme on BBC Sounds.
Mr Jenrick said: “Illegal migration is obviously fuelling crime and the public are right to be concerned about it.
“It’s extremely disappointing the BBC thought it was acceptable to smear millions of worried citizens as ‘xenophobic’ for their completely understandable fears about undocumented men entering illegally.”
A series of protests have been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, over recent weeks after an asylum seeker was accused of attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
Sexual assault
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denies the charges of sexual assault and is due to stand trial this month.
In a statement, the BBC said: “During this episode of Thought For The Day, criticism was made of recent comments by shadow secretary of state for justice Robert Jenrick, about hotels housing asylum seekers.
“While the programme’s reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective was broadly in line with expectations of Thought For The Day, some of the language used went beyond that and we apologise for its inclusion.
“It has been removed from the version on BBC Sounds.”
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The BBC surely doesn’t need to accept responsibility for the comments of people interviewed on its programmes! A response from the interviewer to point out that Jenrick wasn’t there to defend himself would surely have been sufficient. That’s what other radio stations routinely do.
My initial speed reading of this news item led me to miss the fact that the ‘offending phrase’ wasn’t delivered in the course of an interview, but rather by a ‘Thought for the Day’ contributor.
But I think that my point still stands: the ‘Thought for the Day’ is invariably offered by an independent contributor and not by anyone employed by the BBC. Are the Beeb now expected to ‘advance vet’ the scripts of independent contributors for fear of politicians being affronted?!
TFTD would have been pre-written and then approved by BBC editorial. It’s not the same as the live interview of a politician etc where they can technically say what they like.
Sounds credible. Just occasionally it’s obvious that the ‘Thought for the Day’ contributor is speaking live, because there’ll a brief verbal exchange between the contributor and one of the presenters. But usually that’s absent, which likely suggests that it’s been pre-recorded.
However, I happened to be listening to Radio Wales on the morning in question, so I didn’t hear it myself.
Why apologise for exposing such a vile man.
Krish Kandiah was spot on. BBC is not fit for purpose and is being muted beyond hope. Time to rein in the licence fee and lose the BBC now.
The particular comment under consideration is Jenrick writing in the Mail on Sunday saying “I certainly don’t want my children to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries”. Sorry but I’m not politically correct. That is a xenophobic comment. Imagine a politician saying similar about men from Israel or in Wales from England. Do you think those on the right would be ok with that?
He is rather centric to being against forrins. 40%+ of the rioters from last year are reported to already having convictions for domestic abuse.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/26/two-in-five-arrested-for-last-summers-uk-riots-had-been-reported-for-domestic-abuse
But he is.
Free speech eh.
Rather suspect honest Bob did this for effect.
Then he rants on about “illegal” , when it isn’t. Next leader of the Cons? ARTD must be salivating in anticipation.
So, who in the BBC made this decision? They need to go.
Oh so clever of him. “Fueling Crime” duh well yeah. People Smuggling.
But that’s not what he manages to insinuate is it?
Most illegal imigrants keep their heads down and their noses clean and would be cueing up for the jobs that we don’t want to do – if we’d just let them work..
How about banging about all the Cocaine users in Government and the City fueling crime?
I find the BBC apologising to a vicious, xenophobic, racist, hatemonger quite abhorent. If Jenrick objects to these descriptions of him, he should enter cognitive therapy sessions to fundamentally change his own mindset. Will he apologise to any person attacked as a direct result of his racist rabble rousing? Don’t hold your breath. ‘Not me Guv’.
“their completely understandable fears about undocumented men entering illegally”
In Greek, the word phobia means fear. The word xenos means stanger.
xenophobia means the fear of strangers.
Whether it’s “understandable” (to quote Jenrick) or not, a fear of strangers is xenophobia.
BTW, did you know that Jenrick is the only MP whose constituency is an anagram of his character?