The BBC has been forced to pull a Thought for the Day segment on the Today programme in which a guest accused
Robert Jenrick of xenophobia over his stance on illegal immigration.
Dr Krish Kandiah, the founder of a refugee charity, said the shadow justice secretary
had fuelled “fear of the stranger” by saying illegal migrants made him fearful for his daughters’ safety.
“The technical name for this is xenophobia,” he added.
Mr Jenrick hit back at Dr Kandiah, writing on X: “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.”
The BBC later withdrew the entire Today programme during which the comments were made from its on-demand BBC Sounds service. The station’s head of editorial standards apologised to Mr Jenrick, saying the references to xenophobia would be edited out before it was reinstated.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Dr Kandiah made reference to a newspaper article in which
Mr Jenrick said he did not want his children “to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally”.
It followed 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, which he denies.
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 previously appeared on programmes 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.”
Dr Krish Kandiah's full Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4:
“We are not born. Psychologists and neuroscientists explain that babies arrive in this world with only two natural start responses. One to falling and the other to loud noises. Most other fears, whether of heights, failures, spiders or strangers are learned. Picked up through experience and the influence of others. When my children were born I felt afraid leaving them alone in their cots, I hesitated to let others hold them, I felt my stomach twist when they walked through the school gates for the first time. Even now as I count down the days to my daughter’s wedding, I feel butterflies in my stomach. Across the country many parents, carers and grandparents will be feeling a similar nervousness ahead of tomorrow’s A-level results. They seem so important, shaping our children’s next steps towards university, a job, a career, but in truth our fears are misplaced. A grade on a piece of paper does not define who our children are, nor does it dictate their future success or happiness.
“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 neighborhood 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. All phobias are by definition irrational. Nevertheless, they have a huge impact. 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 fueled angry protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, deepening divisions in our communities.
“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 neighborhoods.
Fear, when it makes us cautious, can keep us safe but when it makes us unnecessarily suspicious it can be dangerous, making society more fractured and fragile and eroding the very values we want our children to experience - kindness, fairness and open heartedness. Martin Luther King Jnr, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, spoke not of fear but of hope. He wanted his children to share a neighbourhood with those others considered a risk. Children from all races walking hand in hand in peace. His words rooted in his Christian faith echo what Jesus taught - to love thy neighbour and to welcome the stranger. Just as fear may be learned, I believe it is possible for us to learn to hope. By choosing empathy over suspicion, by listening before judging and by building bridges instead of walls.”
Dr Kandiah, the founder of refugee charity The Sanctuary Foundation, was speaking a day after the number of
Channel migrant crossings passed 50,000 since Sir Keir Starmer took office.
He claimed that “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”.
He added: “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.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Roger Mahony, the head of editorial standards for BBC Radio 4, wrote to Mr Jenrick to apologise.
He said that “following discussion of the programme with the production team, 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”.
Mr Mahony added: “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 Telegraph understands ideas for Thought for the Day scripts are first discussed between the guests and a producer, with the latter the first to sign off drafts.
Tim Pemberton, the Head of BBC Religion and Ethics, is understood to provide the final approval on scripts before broadcast. The Telegraph has asked the BBC if Mr Pemberton himself signed off Dr Kandiah’s script and is awaiting a response.
Guests are briefed to frame scripts to avoid bias, acknowledge the other side of an argument and to avoid straying into territory that is overtly political.
On Wednesday afternoon, a BBC spokesman said: “Today’s episode of Thought for the Day contained reflections from a faith perspective on fear in society but has been edited to remove some of the language used and we apologise for its inclusion.”
Dr Kandiah declined to provide a further comment.
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 said: “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.”
According to the BBC, the Thought for the Day segment is intended to share “reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news”. It was first broadcast in 1939 and is usually delivered by those involved in religious affairs, with Christians tending to make up the majority of speakers.
It comes after 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.
Forces have now been told
to share suspects’ ethnicity and nationality after authorities were accused of covering up offences carried out by asylum seekers.
