Complaint to BBC Radio 4

I am disturbed by the line of questioning taken today in an interview with London Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan. A significant proportion of the short interview was spent asking him to justify his faith and “platform sharing”. This is a line of questioning that has been set by the Goldsmith Mayoral campaign, and has been show to be moot given that the so-called extremist in question has also spoken at meetings with and campaigned for Conservative MP’s. I do not believe that the opposition campaign should be allowed to set the agenda for BBC interviews in this way. If the issue needs to be addressed it should be done in one short question, leaving much more time for valuable questioning on policies, which in this interview were treated as secondary. The impact of specific policies should be at the forefront of BBC questioning, not religious or racial profiling.

The focus of my complaint though is the use of the phrase “Muslim spectrum” and the insistance that Khan justify his faith. The phrase has the quality of dog-whistle racism. It likens the Islamic faith to an affliction and suggests that every Muslim is simply so many steps away on the “spectrum” from extremism. I cannot imagine that a Christian being interviewed on the BBC has ever been asked to declare their position on the “Christian spectrum”. Unless I am incorrect, the singling out of Sadiq Khan for this type of question is tantamount to outright discrimination based on faith.

As an eligible voter in the London election I expect the BBC to use its interviews to help me make valid, fact-based judgements on the policies and capabilities of candidates. I was frankly embarrassed that the national broadcaster, which I love and value highly, was lowered to the level of the racist Goldsmith campaign. This reflects extremely poor judgement on behalf of the interviewer and erodes the quality of public debate by perpetuating alarmism and personal attacks.