Politics
Question Time Asylum Seekers Placed by Campaign Charity
— 3 mins read
The charity's own boss was picked to ask a question too
The two asylum seekers who confronted Reform UK's Zia Yusuf on BBC Question Time were identified and prepared for the programme by a pro-migration campaign charity, The Telegraph has revealed.
The immigration special was recorded in Dover in early December 2025. It drew more than 1,000 complaints from viewers, who accused the BBC of bias in its audience selection.
Ashraf, from Afghanistan, told the audience he had fled because the country 'is not safe' and had been refused asylum in several countries. Alireza, from Iran, read a statement from his phone arguing that leaving the Refugee Convention would harm the rights of British people, not just refugees.
Yusuf, then Reform UK's policy chief, accused the BBC of an 'ambush'. The panel also included migration minister Mike Tapp, shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper, and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
The charity that put them in the audience
Imix is a registered charity whose stated mission is to change how the British media covers migration and to build public support for it. The BBC approached the charity before filming. Imix identified the two men and, by its own account, supported them beforehand so they felt 'informed and prepared'.
The charity's chief executive, Jenni Regan, was also in the audience and was selected to ask a question. She said she made no distinction between legal and illegal migration, then argued that cutting migration would lead to 'poorer services, longer waiting lists and few staff'.
None of this was disclosed to viewers during the broadcast.
The question remains as to why did the BBC think it was appropriate to give a national platform to men who entered Britain illegally.
Regan later wrote that appearing on the programme was daunting because 'Dover is not a particularly multicultural area'. She said she was 'conscious that many in the audience might hold anti-migrant views'.
Who pays for Imix
Charity Commission filings show Imix took in £249,690 and spent £415,237 in the year ending 30 June 2025. One employee was paid between £60,000 and £70,000.
Its listed funders include the National Lottery Community Fund and Comic Relief.
Children's TV and Coronation Street were targeted too
The Question Time episode is part of a wider pattern. A Telegraph investigation found campaign groups lobbied the producers of a CBBC programme aimed at seven-year-olds to 'impact the framing of migration'. Similar approaches were made to ITV's Coronation Street.
A Reform UK spokesman said: 'The programme represented a clear failure of impartiality, editorial judgment and audience selection by the BBC. We are seeing an increasingly blatant pattern of bias and prejudice from the taxpayer-funded broadcaster.'
The BBC said Imix was one of several organisations approached before filming. A spokesman said: 'The BBC has full editorial control over all its content. It is common practice across the media industry to engage with charities, among others, for research purposes.'
An Imix spokesman said: 'Helping journalists and productions connect with people who have relevant experience is a normal part of what a charity press office does.' The charity said both men have legal refugee status, are settled in the UK with families and jobs, and chose to take part of their own accord.
The BBC has not announced any change to how Question Time audiences are selected.
