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Diane Abbott’s Question Time row has deepened after Labour made an official complaint to the BBC over her treatment.

The Shadow Home Secretary had accused Thursday’s show – chaired by new host Fiona Bruce – of legitimising racist abuse against her.

She was interrupted more than twice as often as Tory Justice Minister Rory Stewart on Thursday’s edition, which was heavily criticised by Labour politicians and Momentum campaigners.

The shadow home secretary said she was not allowed to respond to a "blatantly abusive remark" from the audience.

She added she had also been told Ms Bruce had made unpleasant remarks about her to the audience before filming began and the audience had been "wound up" against her.

Writing for the Independent, Ms Abbott said: "Over a long political career I have appeared on BBC Question Time innumerable times, but I have never had such a horrible experience as I had in Derby last week."

Labour have complained that Ms Abbott was incorrectly challenged after claiming it was “neck and neck” with the Tories in the polls, it is understood.

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

The BBC tweeted: “We’ve reviewed what was said re polling. A YouGov poll published on the day suggested a lead for the Conservatives.

“Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either ahead or tied and we should have made that clear.”

In her article, Ms Abbott said unlike the programme's previous host, veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby, Ms Bruce did not appear well-briefed and had got the polling wrong.

"She (or her researcher) appears to have got their figures from a Conservative Central Office handout. Above all, it seems she is not afraid to appear unfair as a presenter," she said.

She said the BBC needs to start treating Mr Corbyn and his ministers as "legitimate political actors" and accord them the same respect they give to Tory ministers and MPs on the Labour right.

The complaint is also said to mention the level of interruption Ms Abbott faced – panelists or Ms Bruce stopped her 21 times in the hour-long programme.

Tory Rory Stewart was interrupted nine times and SNP’s Kirsty Blackman eight times.

Social media claims that a BBC team member made inappropriate comments to the audience about Ms Abbott and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are also said to be part of the complaint.

Supporter Alison Martin, in the audience, tweeted: “Didn’t feel like a balanced audience, though Leavers were loud.

“Jeers against Diane Abbott were worse than heard on the broadcast; was some humour at Diane’s expense from BBC staff before recording.”

Audience member Jyoti Wilkinson, who works for Labour’s Derby West MP Chris Williamson, said Ms Bruce used innuendo to “instigate a roast”.

He said: “Comments along the lines of ‘Let her know what you really think’ and ‘Some may think she is in the shadow cabinet because of her very close relationships to Corbyn’ were made.

“This had the desired effect and the carefully selected audience guffawed in delight as they had been given license to air their bigoted views in public.”

Ms Abbott’s spokesman said: “A hostile environment was whipped up. A public broadcaster like the BBC should be a model of impartiality and equality.

“The media must stop legitimising mistreatment, bias and abuse against her as a black woman in public life.”

The BBC said: “We’re sorry to hear Diane Abbott’s concerns and have contacted her team to reassure them social media reports are inaccurate and misleading.

“Diane Abbott is a regular and important contributor. We firmly reject claims any of the panel were treated unfairly before or during the recording.”

TranceNRG wrote:How many times have they pulled the race card now?

In a Guardian article in February 2017, Abbott wrote about receiving racist and sexist abuse online every day, such as threats of rape.[102] A few days later, in an interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News, Abbott proposed a parliamentary inquiry into the sexist and racist abuse of MPs in social media and the way Twitter and Facebook investigate cases which arise.[103] An Amnesty International report found that in the 2017 election campaign, Abbott was the subject of almost half of all abusive tweets about female MPs on Twitter, receiving ten times more abuse than any other MP.[104]

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.

bessantj wrote:

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

It's amazing, considering how wrong the polls got the last GE, that a supposedly unbiased BBC decided to cherry pick YouGov, an organisation set up and run by two people, one former owner and founder of Conservative Home the other a current tory MP, and not look at the others. Their response:

We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.

is laughable.

bimboman wrote:

bessantj wrote:

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

It's amazing, considering how wrong the polls got the last GE, that a supposedly unbiased BBC decided to cherry pick YouGov, an organisation set up and run by two people, one former owner and founder of Conservative Home the other a current tory MP, and not look at the others. Their response:

We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.

is laughable.

It's certainly laughable to think that there's a right wing bias in the BBC.

It's certainly hilarious that Yougov is a Tory mechanism.

Corbynites are funny.

SamShark wrote:YouGov is not biased, but also it's not the only poll. Anyone with knowledge in these matters would - fairly - say that the polls were close and that this in itself is surprising because of the Government's struggles. The YouGov poll out that day was embarrassing for Labour but even polls where they are 1 or 2 points up are quite embarrassing as well as Corbyn's awful ratings as a PM vs May.

SamShark wrote:There's no reason it should carry "extra" weight, but I would say along with Ipsos Mori it's seen as one of the "big" pollsters, with a reputation to match.

That reputation = they don't "make up the results" as some seem to suggest, and indeed I believe they would reject work where the poll question is rigged or unreliable.

I believe some of the smaller companies allow slightly more questionable research at times.

bessantj wrote:

bimboman wrote:

bessantj wrote:

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

It's amazing, considering how wrong the polls got the last GE, that a supposedly unbiased BBC decided to cherry pick YouGov, an organisation set up and run by two people, one former owner and founder of Conservative Home the other a current tory MP, and not look at the others. Their response:

We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.

is laughable.

It's certainly laughable to think that there's a right wing bias in the BBC.

It's certainly hilarious that Yougov is a Tory mechanism.

Corbynites are funny.

Nice ad hominem, world class.

bessantj wrote:

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

It's amazing, considering how wrong the polls got the last GE, that a supposedly unbiased BBC decided to cherry pick YouGov, an organisation set up and run by two people, one former owner and founder of Conservative Home the other a current tory MP, and not look at the others. Their response:

We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.

is laughable.

eldanielfire wrote:

bessantj wrote:

Fiona Bruce and political pundit Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was behind in the polls – but in the last 10 at the time it has trailed the Tories in four, led in four and tied in two.

It's amazing, considering how wrong the polls got the last GE, that a supposedly unbiased BBC decided to cherry pick YouGov, an organisation set up and run by two people, one former owner and founder of Conservative Home the other a current tory MP, and not look at the others. Their response:

We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.

is laughable.

YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

Regardless of Diane Abbott being right or wrong. I suspect she gets so much sh#t thrown at her most because of her past incompetence, her hypocrisy and her constant playing the race card where there is no evidence for it. Plus her occasional racist remarks she herself has volunteered.

SamShark wrote:In order to guarantee a fair outcome, I believe Abbott and Oakeshott should be banned from all media appearances from now on.

I welcome guests like Anand Menon - it would be great to have more experts and fact-checker type guests then the opinions of deeply biased people wouldn't be presented as fact.

YouGov is not biased, but also it's not the only poll. Anyone with knowledge in these matters would - fairly - say that the polls were close and that this in itself is surprising because of the Government's struggles. The YouGov poll out that day was embarrassing for Labour but even polls where they are 1 or 2 points up are quite embarrassing as well as Corbyn's awful ratings as a PM vs May.

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

I'm not really saying anything either way about YouGov. My point was that if the BBC want to appear unbiased which I assumed it does then picking only one poll when the polls in the last GE were mostly terrible and one with strong tory ties fails to make them seem unbiased.

slick wrote:I noticed on the night she was getting interrupted more than the others, but it was because she was dreadful.

SamShark wrote:

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

I'm not really saying anything either way about YouGov. My point was that if the BBC want to appear unbiased which I assumed it does then picking only one poll when the polls in the last GE were mostly terrible and one with strong tory ties fails to make them seem unbiased.

Picking one poll and only focusing on that makes them seem biased (or ill informed) - calling You Gov Tory makes you seem biased.

We (the UK) have to get over this thing of rejecting information we don't like.

YouGov would go bust tomorrow if it made up data.

bessantj wrote:

SamShark wrote:

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

I'm not really saying anything either way about YouGov. My point was that if the BBC want to appear unbiased which I assumed it does then picking only one poll when the polls in the last GE were mostly terrible and one with strong tory ties fails to make them seem unbiased.

Picking one poll and only focusing on that makes them seem biased (or ill informed) - calling You Gov Tory makes you seem biased.

We (the UK) have to get over this thing of rejecting information we don't like.

YouGov would go bust tomorrow if it made up data.

I never said that YouGov were tory, but it's a fact that one of their founders is a tory mp and the other is strongly connected to the tories, of course I know that doesn't mean that they can't be completely impartial. But it does make claims of impartiality more difficult, even if YouGov are 100% correct.

c69 wrote:Ffs another thread about her.
She is Black an MP and a twat.
So what, the racists on here like to use her as an anti Labour meme factory which is what the English Nationalists do. But Ffs have the balls to say it.

croyals wrote:It is possible for Diane Abbott to be utterly incompetent and the idea of her being Home Secretary to be terrifying and it also to be true that she does get an additional layer of criticism for being a black woman.

shaggy wrote:

croyals wrote:It is possible for Diane Abbott to be utterly incompetent and the idea of her being Home Secretary to be terrifying and it also to be true that she does get an additional layer of criticism for being a black woman.

I think you would need to compare with other black/minority ethnic MPs, both male and female, to get the full picture.

SamShark wrote:Well, there was the pig's head f**king thing.

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

I'm not really saying anything either way about YouGov. My point was that if the BBC want to appear unbiased which I assumed it does then picking only one poll when the polls in the last GE were mostly terrible and one with strong tory ties fails to make them seem unbiased.

c69 wrote:Ffs another thread about her.
She is Black an MP and a twat.
So what, the racists on here like to use her as an anti Labour meme factory which is what the English Nationalists do. But Ffs have the balls to say it.

eldanielfire wrote:

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

I'm not really saying anything either way about YouGov. My point was that if the BBC want to appear unbiased which I assumed it does then picking only one poll when the polls in the last GE were mostly terrible and one with strong tory ties fails to make them seem unbiased.

You obviously were though, or h bring up how they are meant to be biased?

Let us also separate one persons comments from the whole BBC. She probably just read the latest poll in a day she has to be up to date on all aspects of the news, spend hours preparing her show and so on. Have you been to question time? It's set-up from the afternoon onwards. There are meet and greets with the audience, guests to arrive and prepare (plus political advisors) and so on.

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:YouGov isn't the only poll that has Labour behind, it's also used internationally for a variety of different polling causes. Regardless of it's owners, if you think the polls are fixed, surely the employees who actually do the work would have leaked by now? Likewise I don't think it's cherry picking for the BBC to use the last poll published.

I'm not really saying anything either way about YouGov. My point was that if the BBC want to appear unbiased which I assumed it does then picking only one poll when the polls in the last GE were mostly terrible and one with strong tory ties fails to make them seem unbiased.

You obviously were though, or h bring up how they are meant to be biased?

Let us also separate one persons comments from the whole BBC. She probably just read the latest poll in a day she has to be up to date on all aspects of the news, spend hours preparing her show and so on. Have you been to question time? It's set-up from the afternoon onwards. There are meet and greets with the audience, guests to arrive and prepare (plus political advisors) and so on.

I wasn't talking about YouGov and their methodologies, if you think I was you're wrong, I was talking about the BBC, or in this case Question Time. They want to appear impartial but by using only YouGov, who's founders have strong ties to one political party (it doesn't matter which party it is), it's harder to make claims of impartiality.

eldanielfire wrote:Using the latest opinion poll is impartial. It was probably the last poll Bruce had read so why does she have to reference to prior ones. Is there a cut-off point? Had it not been the last one she read you'd have a point.

bessantj wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:Using the latest opinion poll is impartial. It was probably the last poll Bruce had read so why does she have to reference to prior ones. Is there a cut-off point? Had it not been the last one she read you'd have a point.

Ah, so the BBC can only look at one poll, the latest one. Well it appears I was wrong and have learnt something today. Thanks.