Fiona Bruce became the first female presenter to be part of the BBC general election results programme. In 2006, following a court case whereby British Airways requested that a Christian employee conceal her cross because it infringed the airline's dress code, the BBC disclosed it had some concerns over the fact that Fiona Bruce often wore a cross necklace although she was not banned from doing so. In December 2018 it was confirmed that Bruce would become the new host of "Question Time," following the departure of long-time host David Dimbleby. Her first appearance was scheduled for 10 January 2019, the debut
Question Time British National Party controversy Time", had been proposing an appearance by Griffin over the previous two years. "The Independent" gave credit to the BBC for resisting "the naïve showbiz instincts" of executives at Mentorn, who may have wanted "what Peter Hain calls a 'beanfest' for reasons well removed from the BBC's charter obligations." On 21 October, the day before the broadcast, the BBC Director-General, Mark Thompson, wrote an article for "The Guardian" entitled 'Keeping Nick Griffin off air is a job for parliament, not the BBC'. He said that those arguing for the BNP to be excluded from the programme were making the case