Thought for the Day guest attacks Jenrick over ‘xenophobic' remarks

Telegraph

17 hours ago

A BBC guest has accused Robert Jenrick of xenophobia after the shadow minister said illegal immigration made him fearful for his daughters' safety.
During BBC Radio 4 Today Programme's Thought for the Day slot, Dr Krish Kandiah, a refugee charity founder, said Mr Jenrick's words echoed 'a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia'.
Last week, Mr Jenrick wrote that he did not want his children 'to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally'.
It comes after recent protests outside migrant hotels including in Epping, Essex, where an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl days after arriving in Britain.
In his scripted broadcast on Wednesday morning, Dr Kandiah said: 'A front-page story in the Mail on Sunday quoted shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick talking about his fears for his young daughters.
'He said: 'I certainly don't want my children to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally and about whom we know next to nothing.'
'These words echo a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia.'
Dr Kandiah, who has also previously appeared on several other BBC shows including BBC Breakfast and BBC News 24, went on to say that all phobias were 'by definition irrational' but nevertheless have a 'huge impact'.
He added: 'It is understandable that many people are scared by the unknown, especially if they've been told illegality and unfairness are part of the story.
'However, over the past year, xenophobia has fuelled angry protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, deepening divisions in our communities.'
No presenter followed Dr Kandiah's comments with any alternative view – prompting accusations of a failure of editorial balance.
Responding this morning, Mr Jenrick said: 'On BBC Radio 4 this morning listeners were told that if you're concerned about the threat of illegal migrants to your kids, you're racist. Wrong. You're a good parent.'
Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said: 'It wasn't Thought for the Day, it was Delusion of the Day.
'The British people are sick of paying to import a combination of economic opportunists, drug dealers, criminals, misogynists and men from inferior cultures to our own where their views of women are borderline Medieval.'
A Tory source added: 'Thought for the Day has long descended into a bunch of nobodies wittering on about their mad hat socialist ideas.
'If the BBC are not prepared to broadcast serious religious voices they should at least ensure the second rate ones they do find are balanced.'
Tensions escalate
Dr Krish, who is founder of refugee charity The Sanctuary Foundation, made the comments at a time when tensions continue to escalate over the issue of illegal immigration.
Last week The Telegraph revealed that at least 200 people living in asylum seeker hotels have been charged with criminal offences, without police revealing their immigration status.
And on Tuesday the number of small boat crossings since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister reached 50,000.
Speaking about Channel crossings this morning, Dr Krish said: 'After rigorous Home Office assessment, the majority of people arriving in small boats are found to be genuinely fleeing war, persecution, and famine – circumstances we would never wish on our own families.
'The idea that they pose a greater risk to our children than those already within our communities isn't supported by evidence.
'Most crimes against children are committed not by strangers, but by people they know, often from within their own families or neighbourhoods.'
It is the latest in a series of embarrassing incidents for the BBC.
The broadcaster has come under repeated fire for failure to provide balance in its coverage on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In July, a review commissioned by the broadcaster found a documentary on Gaza breached editorial guidelines on accuracy, by failing to disclose the narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
And last month, the BBC admitted that it should have cut away from a live broadcast of Bob Vylan's performance at Glastonbury, during which the frontman led the crowd in chants of 'death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].'
High-profile presenters of BBC shows have also come under fire this year.
Gregg Wallace, the MasterChef presenter, was banned from working at the BBC after the corporation ruled that he was not safe to have in the workplace.
Thought for the Day, which was first broadcast in 1939, is aired at about 7.45am from Monday to Saturday. The slot is usually delivered by those involved in religious practice, with Christians tending to make up the majority of speakers.
It is not the first time the programme has provoked controversy. In 1979, Tony Benn criticised the BBC for delaying the broadcast of his Thought for the Day slot and told the press that he had been censored.
It later emerged that the Conservative MP Rhodes Boyson had also been asked to prepare a script for the show, but was unable to do so.
Fearing an accusation of bias in broadcasting a Labour MP and not a Tory, they delayed Benn's broadcast until after the political conference season.