The BBC has been hit with a wave of complaints after environmental activist Daze Aghaji made controversial comments about the death of Ann Widdecombe. The 78-year-old Reform UK spokeswoman and former Tory minister was found dead at her home in Devon on July 9 with serious head injuries. Joshua Kerry, 28, has been charged with her murder and appeared in court on July 21, where he was not asked to indicate a plea. He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on October 9.
Activist's remarks spark backlash
Last month, Aghaji appeared on BBC's Politics Live to discuss Widdecombe's death and sparked backlash after insisting people "won't be grieving" her. On the programme, she said: "I'm a real believer that the values that we hold are the politics that we practice and I feel it would go amiss to not mention the fact that she pushed against LGBTQ+ rights throughout all of her career. She also said a lot of things about the victims of Harvey Weinstein during MeToo – she said they chose it upon themselves – and she was vehemently anti-abortion… so I feel like even though what's happened is absolutely awful, there are a lot of people who won't be grieving this."
Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston, who was a guest on the show, replied: "I'm quite uncomfortable sitting next to you after what you just said to be honest." Viewers flooded social media at the time to call out Aghaji's comments, with one saying it was a "disgusting way to speak of the dead," while another accused the BBC of "extreme bias".
Complaints and BBC response
The show received 124 stage 1 complaints between July 13 and 26, which were handled by the BBC's audience service. A total of 2,520 complaints were made about BBC shows during that time period. The BBC said it was "satisfied" that Aghaji's views were "handled appropriately".
"Politics Live routinely features a panel of contributors from across the political spectrum to discuss the day's major stories," the corporation said. "Our guests are typically booked days or weeks in advance, and we aim to ensure that a wide range of views and opinions are represented." It added: "It is never our intention to cause offence, and we acknowledge that some viewers believe Vicki Young should have challenged Daze Aghaji directly on her comments. However, in live political programming guests will sometimes express views that some in our audience will consider offensive or inappropriate, which must be balanced against freedom of expression and editorial responsibility. Having reviewed the programme, we are satisfied that Daze Aghaji views were adequately contextualised and challenged by the other panellists and so handled appropriately."
Further clashes over coverage
There have been many onscreen clashes over the coverage of Widdecombe's death. On ITV, Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid recently called out a guest who made "uncomfortable" remarks about Widdecombe. After her death, Reform leader Nigel Farage travelled to Devon to pay tribute to his late colleague and say he believes it was a "pre-meditated murder" that could have been "someone with political motivations or a grudge".
Journalist Kevin Maguire claimed on GMB that Farage's comments were a "diversion from rows over gifts and donations". He told Reid: "Nigel Farage has come up with three reasons why he took a secret £5 million gift from the Thai-based crypto billionaire. Security was one Reform put out, then said it was a reward for Brexit and then he said you could spend on whatever you like, Ferraris or gambling, but I think if somebody is murdered, a politician is murdered and they're in your party, one of yours, I personally understand that. But because there's that by-election going on, why it's become so intensely political and why there was so much pressure on the police because Reform, it's quite clear, I use the murder as a diversion from rows over the money."
Reid interrupted and said: "That's unfair. They may not want to talk about their donation, but I think accusing them of using it as a diversion is going to feel uncomfortable." Maguire insisted: "No, I've watched this many times, they don't want to talk about crypto money and £5 million." His opinion prompted backlash on social media, with one viewer writing: "Kevin Maguire was totally out of order by suggesting the Reform Party were using Ann Widdecombe's death as a cover. Despicable actions. Get him off your programme."
