Fiona Bruce has stepped back as an ambassador of domestic abuse charity Refuge following claims she had trivialised domestic violence during a discussion about Stanley Johnson on Question Time.
The presenter of the BBC politics show faced a social media backlash after intervening when the father of former prime minister Boris Johnson was discussed on Thursday night.
In a statement given to the PA news agency, Bruce said that she was “required to legally contextualise” a response about Mr Johnson and the words are not an expression of her own opinions and she would never minimise domestic abuse.
The 58-year-old former newsreader added: “I know survivors of domestic abuse have been distressed by what I was required to say on-air. For that, I am deeply sorry.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 99772.html
For those who did not see when it was said that Boris Johnson's father had broken his now deceased wife's nose Fiona stepped in quickly to say that it was 'Only once'
Many people saw this as trivialising a serious domestic violence issue, ignoring the many other times Stanley Johnson was alleged to have beaten his wife and failing to state that serious injury in very rarely, if ever, the result of an isolated incident but usually points to a pattern of abuse.
Obviously in her role as an ambassador for Refuge, a charity that supports victims of domestic violence, Fiona Bruce would have been aware of this.
Accepting entirely her explanation that she was merely repeating words she was required to say she has done the only thing she can do by stepping back from her role with Refuge and explaining what happened.
Therefore the question we are left with is who put those words into her mouth? And why did a senior and respected broadcaster not feel empowered to challenge that choice of phrase?