QUESTION Time is back on the box tonight with another virtual edition.
This time the panel is in Carlisle, with questions to be asked by the remote audience.
Fiona Bruce will host the show, which is likely to focus on the UK Government’s expert handling of the Brexit negotiations and the coronavirus pandemic.
Grant Shapps
Downing Street’s representative will be Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. He is once again set to be used as Boris Johnson’s punching bag after the Prime Minister’s father was caught without a face mask in a London shop.
Shapps also had the privilege of fronting up for the Government in May after Dominic Cummings was revealed to have enjoyed a jaunt up to Durham while suffering with coronavirus. Environment Secretary George Eustice has already played down the prospect of Stanley Johnson being handed a fine, so don’t expect Shapps to demand that the PM’s dad has to stick to the rules like the rest of us.
READ MORE: Stanley Johnson caught red-handed AGAIN in blatant coronavirus breach
He’ll also have to play down the fact the UK is facing legal action from the EU over plans to break international law. Should be a straightforward evening for him then.
David Linden
BBC producers have opted this week to give a platform to Westminster’s third-largest party. With David Linden joining the panel.
The Glasgow East MP. He recently made headlines after leading calls for Mercy Baguma's son and his father to be allowed to remain in the UK.
On our panel this week, we’re joined by @grantshapps, @Alison_McGovern, @HelenStokesLam, @DavidLinden and Stuart Rose.
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) September 30, 2020
Questions will be from our Virtual Audience in Carlisle. Tomorrow, 10:45pm on @BBCOne. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/z1ZaDEuGpx
Expect Linden to push Shapps about the handling of the pandemic, workers being left in the lurch after the furlough scheme ended and Brexit.
Alison McGovern
Labour’s shadow sports minister Alison McGovern is in the red corner this evening. She’s been moved up from the backbenches under Keir Starmer and will be hammering home the “under new management” motto.
READ MORE: Speaker cries foul over kickabout in the Commons by female MPs
Viewers may remember her joining the SNP’s Hannah Bardell for a kickabout in the Commons in 2018. The Wirral South MP, however, is probably not a favourite among Scots, having voted for the Trident renewal and to end rights for EU nationals in the UK.
Stuart Rose
Baron Rose of Monewden, Tory life peer, is expected to comment primarily on Brexit having been the former chair of Britain Stronger In Europe. He has been a strong advocate of people returning to work despite having contracted coronavirus himself, likening it to being hit by a bus.
Helen Stokes-Lampard
The chair of the Academy of Medical Colleges has been among the UK Government’s chief critics during the Covid crisis. She’s dubbed the current testing system a "debacle" and "intensely frustrating", so expect her to add to Shapps’s woe.
Question Time is on BBC One at 10.45pm tonight
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