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  6.  » Channel Migrants Placed on Question Time by Campaigners at BBC’s Invitation

Will Jones – The Daily Sceptic June 17, 2026

Small-boat migrants who appeared on a controversial episode of Question Time where Reform’s Zia Yusuf was “ambushed” were placed there by campaigners at the invitation of the BBC. The Telegraph has the story.

The episode, filmed in Dover on December 5th, featured two asylum seekers who confronted Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s then-policy chief. One was an Iranian who read out a prepared statement about the value of international law protecting refugees.

It prompted an angry response from Yusuf after the show – in which he accused the BBC of an “ambush” – and more than 1,000 complaints from viewers.

The Telegraph can reveal the two asylum seekers were placed and coached by Imix, a charity that seeks to “build support for migration”.

Their appearance was overseen by Jenni Regan, Imix’s Chief Executive, who was also on the show and was selected to ask a question, during which she warned against reductions in migration.

A spokesman for Reform said: “It is no surprise that the Question Time: Immigration Special sparked so many complaints. The programme represented a clear failure of impartiality, editorial judgement and audience selection by the BBC.

“We are seeing an increasingly blatant pattern of bias and prejudice from the taxpayer-funded broadcaster.

“The question remains as to why did the BBC think it was appropriate to give a national platform to men who entered Britain illegally, allowing them to lecture the British public and attempt to manipulate opinion on the immigration crisis?”

Imix is one of several ‘narrative-change’ charities that are seeking to shift British public opinion on migration. It arranged for the migrants to appear at the invitation of the BBC.