Richard Bacon was on the panel of the BBC’s Question Time on Thursday night where he clashed with Republicans Overseas UK chairman, Greg Swenson – but drew criticism from viewers
Richard Bacon has clapped back at a BBC Question Time viewer who accused him of being «manic and weird«. The 49-year-old broadcaster has been making a career on TV and the airwaves since the 1990s when he began his career on BBC Radio Nottingham.
He then jumped to TV, taking part on the cable network show L!VE TV – before infamously joining the cast of Blue Peter in 1997 for just over 18 months.
More recently, Richard has appeared on shows including Good Morning Britain and this week appeared on the BBC’s long-running Question Time show. On Thursday, he was on the panel alongside Republicans Overseas UK chairman, Greg Swenson – where conversation inevitably turned to President Donald Trump.
Viewers watched Richard and Greg engage in lively debate about the controversial political figure – who has been threatening economic sanctions on a range of nations since returning to power in January this year. While Richard and Greg locked horns, one viewer accused the former Blue Peter presenter of coming across as unusual while he chatted.
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Taking to X, the viewer wrote: «Something a bit manic and weird about Richard Bacon’s behaviour. #bbcqt.» However, Richard himself responded to the comment, quote-posting the comment and adding a simple response, quipping: «Always.»
Other viewers were quick to leap to Richard’s defence, with one disagreeing with the original poster, writing: «I don’t recognise that at all.. I think he’s the only person making sense on the panel.» And another suggested that Richard should be given the chance to act as the host of the show.
During the panel discussion, one member of the live studio audience remarked that they no longer feel safe when thinking of America, commenting: «[They] aren’t the allies that we used to think they were.» Richard appeared to agree, described Trump as a «Frightening president.»
When he asked Greg if there was anything about Trump that made him concerned, he appeared to be stunned to hear Greg reply that he did not have concerns – prompting Richard to bluntly ask: «Nothing?» The audience began to laugh as the exchange continued, but Greg commented: «[Trump] is very candid and that is new. He is not a traditional politician, he is surely not a former diplomat at all.
«This is just reality. We have been protecting western Europe with our military, we cannot afford it anymore. We have been funding the six-week vacation in France in free healthcare by borrowing money every year to fund the trade deficits, so that’s just reality. This is a common sense president.» Richard took issue and parroted, incredulously: «A common sense president?»
After the latest episode of Question Time aired, fans were informed that next week will be the final of episode of the current season. The official X account commented: «Thank you for joining us tonight We’ll be back next week with an episode from Dartford, and the following week from Cardiff, for our final episode of this series.»
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