Question Time: Fiona Bruce questions Scotland's vaccine record

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A veteran’s speech on BBC Question Time last night has panellists lost for words as she described her experiences being deployed with the British military in Afghanistan in 2017 and 2018. But Fiona Bruce has received a backlash for “interrupting” the audience member. The BBC presenter had tried to offer the title of Nick Carter for viewers but was corrected afterwards.

The veteran said: “We saw Nick Carter making the rounds of the breakfast television.”

Fiona interjected: “Brigadier Nick Carter, yeah.”

But the audience member corrected her: “General Nick Carter making the rounds quibbling whether the Taliban were even the enemy.”

Social media users have branded the moment “patronising”.

One Twitter user wrote: “Shame Fiona Bruce tried to correct her mid-flow, with wrong information.”

Another added: “Really wrong of Fiona Bruce to interrupt this eloquent military woman speaking. Not only that she got it wrong. Completely unnecessary.”

A third person said: “Don’t tell a veteran what to call her commanding officer.”

It comes as the operation to evacuate the remaining British nationals and their local allies from Afghanistan is entering a “critical” phase, the head of the armed forces has warned.

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General Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff, said they are working with the Taliban to ensure people can leave but he warned there are “a lot of challenges on the ground”.

His warning came as MPs were returning to Parliament from their summer break for an emergency sitting, three days after the Afghan capital Kabul fell to the militants.

Gen Sir Nick said he expects seven aircraft to head to Kabul, enabling another 1,000 people to leave on Wednesday.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “There are a lot of desperate people trying to get to the airport, and subject to the situation remaining calm, which the Taliban are working hard to achieve alongside us, the system will work, we believe.

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“At the moment we are collaborating with the Taliban on the ground, who are providing security.

“They are making sure that the centre of Kabul is very calm at the moment and so far we have not had reports of people finding it difficult to get to the airport.”

The UK Government has come under intense pressure over the handling of the downfall of the Western-backed government and the subsequent evacuation of British nationals and local allies.

On Tuesday night, Boris Johnson announced a new settlement scheme which will allow up to 20,000 Afghan vulnerable refugees to seek sanctuary in the UK over the coming years, with 5,000 over the next 12 months.

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