The BBC is today engulfed in controversy after it emerged they allowed an anti-Semitic Imam and a former Labour party worker to question...
The BBC is today engulfed in controversy after it emerged they allowed an anti-Semitic Imam and a former Labour party worker to question Tory leadership hopefuls in last night's TV debate.
Abdullah Patel, who probed the contenders vying to be the next PM on Islamophobia, has today been suspended from his job as deputy head at a Muslim girls' school over tweets he sent blaming women for rape, praising Jeremy Corbyn and attacking Jews.
Aman Thakar, who questioned if the candidates had a democratic mandate, has been unmasked as worker at Labour HQ who investigated anti-Semitism - despite tweeting that the most harmful part of Hitler's legacy was his 'abuse of nationalism'.
The BBC today said it knew that Thakar worked for Labour but failed to explain why they didn't tell viewers.
The corporation also refused to apologise for the Imam's inclusion, insisting the tweets were 'not visible' when they vetted him – however he was tweeting from the account just two days before the debate.
Today another of the questioners, 15-year-old Erin Curtis, who asked the candidates if they would make tough carbon neutral pledges, has revealed that she is part of the Student Climate Network, which organised a mass walk-out of schools in February.
She has warned there will be further strikes unless the government agreed to measures including a Green Deal, in an article for the Guardian.
The series of vile posts by Patel were exposed moments after the programme on BBC One, in which he asked the Tory MPs on their views on Islamophobia and whether they believed 'words have consequences.'
A series of vile posts by Abdullah Patel were unearthed last night moments after the BBC debate
Aman Thakar (pictured) who questioned if the candidates had a democratic mandate, has been revealed as a Labour Party council candidate in 2018 in Southwark, and worked at Labour headquarters investigating anti-Semitism
In one tweet Patel appeared to suggest women are to blame for rape, writing: 'Lets make something clear: Generally, men are the predators, but women need to realise this and be smarter.
'It takes 2 to tango, and if you put yourself in that position, don't expect every man to pass up the opportunity to take advantage of you. Don't be alone with a man! '
Patel also showed his support for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He wrote: 'Vote UKLabour Vote JeremyCorbyn Vote for hopenotfear Vote for TheManyNottheFew. If you vote Tory you deserve all the cuts you get to tbh.'
Others highlighted his anti-Semitic views, with one post featuring a graphic once retweeted by Labour MP Naz Shah that saw her suspended by the Labour party in 2016.
It showed Israel's outline superimposed on to a map of the US under the headline: Solution for Israel-Palestine Conflict - Relocate Israel into United States.'
Alongside the image, he wrote: FOUND THE SOLUTION! America wants to look after Israel? I've got a way to make them neighbours! (Until Israel attack).
In another tweet he wrote: 'Every political figure on Zionist's payroll is scaring the world about Corbyn.
'They don't like him. He seems best suited to tackle them!'
Other tweets referenced the Holocaust, with one post saying: 'How long are the Zionists going to hide behind the Holocaust cry? It was a tragedy, but Gaza today is a repeat of the oppression.'
Another widely-circulated screenshot shows the account, @AbdullahPatel94, saying: 'How long are the Zionists going to hide behind the Holocaust cry?
'It was a tragedy, but Gaza today is a repeat of the oppression.'
Today Patel deleted his Twitter account after the controversial tweets were exposed.
Yakub Patel, Chair of Al-Madani Education Trust which runs Al-Ashraf Primary School in Gloucester, where Patel is a deputy headteacher said he had been suspended.
In a statement, he said: 'Following some of the comments attributed to Mr Patel in the media this morning, the Trust has decided to suspend him from all school duties with immediate effect until a full investigation is carried out.
'The 'school' and 'Trust' do not share the views attributed to him.'
Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Patel refused to apologise, but insisted he had a very good relationship with the Jewish community.
He said: 'Those comments were made four or five years ago.
'I would also like to clarify the criticism was about Israel and not a criticism of the Jewish community.
'The Jewish community and I, especially within Gloucestershire, we work very closely together. We actually visited a synagogue just a while ago.'
He added that he was 'not impressed' by the answers of Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Rory Stewart and Michael Gove during the BBC debate.
He said: 'They dodged the question essentially.
'It was expected but still disappointing in the sense that I did not really expect them to come out and admit that they are part of those peddling hate directly against Muslims.
'I've had members of my community, members of my extended family being spat at sworn at and shouted using words letterbox and bank robbers,' he added.
However, he said he stood by any criticism of 'Israel's policy'.
Sajid Javid tweeted today: 'The Imam from #BBCOurNextPM debate should practice what he preaches.
'Words do indeed have consequences. That applies to him as much as it does for leaders in public life.'
It came as political blog Guido Fawkes revealed that Aman Thakar, who asked the final question, was a former Labour party council candidate in 2018 in Southwark.
He was seen on last night's show asking the candidates when they would be prepared to call a general election - given the winner of this contest will get into Downing Street without one.
But a source who worked in Labour's complaints department at the time he worked there, says Thakar was brought in by Shami Chakrabarti to help close down cases of anti-Semitism in the party.
He has also deleted his tweets, but not before a screenshot of one of his tweets was captured, which read: 'Hitler's abuse of the term nationalism is, to me a nationalist, the most harmful part of his legacy.'
In response to the accusation the BBC knew Mr Thacker was aware of the former role he had with the Labour Party, BBC Live Political Programmes Editor Rob Burley tweeted: 'There was also self-described Conservative on the programme.'
On the show, Patel appeared to be directing his comments to Boris Johnson, who sparked controversy when he suggested veiled Muslim women looked like 'letter boxes and bank robbers' in a newspaper article.
He later criticised Johnson for his response, in which he forgot his name, writing on Twitter 'my name is Abdullah, not Tina … 'our friend from Bristol' and linking to a video of Johnson's answer to him, saying it showed 'Boris at his best (or worst)'.
During the debate Boris Johnson said he was 'sorry for the offence' his comments had caused, while Michael Gove condemned Islamophobia as 'repugnant' and attacked Jeremy Corbyn for comments he claimed were 'disgusting' and anti-Semitic.
A BBC Spokesperson said today that it had 'carried out background research into the online and social media profiles of all our questioners for last night's debate.'
However, they said that one individual 'reactivated a public twitter account he had previously deactivated whose tweets were not visible during our research period. '
They added: 'Had we been aware of the views he expressed there he would not have been selected.'
After the posts emerged it sparked outrage on social media, as many viewers demanded to know why the BBC had allowed him on the show.
Despite his controversial tweets being unearthed just shortly after the debate on the BBC last night, he was still invited on to speak to Nicky Campbell on Radio Five Live this morning.
It quickly received a barrage of criticism, and Campbell apologised later on Twitter.
He wrote 'I would like to apologise.
'We had the Imam from the BBC Tory leadership debate on our programme this morning. His social media comments have been extremely disturbing.
'We should have checked. We didn't. I'm sorry.'
Rob Burley, the Editor of BBC Live Political programmes attempted to explain how the Imam was allowed on the show.
He wrote: 'For those wondering how, given his tweets, Abudullah Patel made it onto the debate last night.
'The answer: his Twitter account had been deactivated, his tweets could not be read and his account did not exist when searched for.
'It was AFTER the show that Mr Patel reactivated his account revealing his tweets. We wouldn't have put him on the programme if these were public before broadcast but they were not.
'We also carried out a number of other routine checks which didn't uncover anything untoward.'
He added: 'We were merely thinking the best of him, we had no way of knowing what his tweets said because the account was not visible.'
On the programme last night, the candidates all agreed to launch an investigation into Islamophobia in the Conservative party when prompted by Sajid Javid.
Defending his comments on letter boxes, Johnson said: 'In so far as my words have given offence over the last 20 or 30 years when I have been a journalist and people have taken those words out of my articles and escalated them, of course I am sorry for the offence they have caused.
'But I would just say this to our friend from Bristol. When my Muslim great-grandfather came to this country in fear of his life in 1912, he did so because he knew it was a beacon of generosity and willingness to welcome people from around the world.
'If I am Prime Minister I will ensure that is the way our country acts and behaves.'
After being reminded of the Imam's name, Mr Johnson added: 'In respect to what our friend said, of course I think my Muslim great-grandfather would have been astonished to find his great-grandson had become foreign secretary and an MP, but he would have been very proud.'
Host Emily Maitlis also challenged Mr Johnson on his remarks, adding he had been 'careless with his words.'
In reponse, Patel tweeted last night: 'What I got as a response was nothing short of disappointing and deluded: '@BorisJohnson forgot my name, spoke about his G grandfather and about Iran.
'Gove used the opportunity to have a dig at @jeremycorbyn...'
Jeremy Hunt was also forced to backtrack after previously saying he agreed with a tweet Donald Trump had posted which called London 'Londonistan.'
'What I said was I agreed with his sentiment that Sadiq Khan had been a useless London Mayor when it comes to tackling knife crime,' he told the BBC debate.
Mr Hunt said he was married to an immigrant and had three half-Chinese children.
'When they go to school they look different to the other kids. You know the best thing about this country is it doesn't matter at all.'
Mr Javid, whose parents were Muslim immigrants who settled in Bristol, agreed that 'words do have consequences' and added that Abdullah was right to be concerned about growing anti-Muslim sentiment in this country.
The debate came hours after Dominic Raab was eliminated from the contest in the second round of votes. Mr Johnson topped the second ballot, confirming his status as the favourite to replace Theresa May in Downing Street.
Mr Gove was in third place on 41 votes, while Mr Stewart was on 37.
Candidates needed 33 votes to remain in the race - the exact number picked up by Mr Javid.
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