ASH Sarkar branded the behaviour of far-right activists “small penis behaviour” during a fiery clash over immigration on BBC Question Time.
The political commentator hit out during a discussion based on an audience member’s question: “Should we be more worried about protesters than people on small boats?”
Sarkar appeared on Thursday night’s programme from Cambridge alongside Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately, Liberal Democrat president Josh Babarinde and veteran conservative broadcaster Andrew Neil.
"I don't think they've got anything to do with patriotism... I think that this is small penis behaviour, quite frankly"@AyoCaesar on the far right racist thugs #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/IaHG833NPz
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 24, 2026
Responding to an exchange between Whately and Reynolds, Sarkar said: “I’m sorry, I feel like I’m going completely nuts, because there are mobs of men styling themselves as paramilitaries and both of you have had more to say about refugees and asylum seekers than you have had racism, which I just think is completely obscene.
“Wherever you stand on the issue of immigration, there’s a variety of opinions and they’re all legitimate. We all want to see rule of law. We all want to see people protesting within the law.
“And all of us in this room, I think, object to the violent, thuggish racism that many of these hardened far-right activists espouse. I don’t think that they’ve got anything to do with patriotism, despite styling themselves as patriots.”
Sarkar then added: “I think that this is small penis behaviour, quite frankly. This is a bunch of guys who want to feel like big men because the missus says they can’t see the kids anymore.”
She continued: “What I think is absurd is that when we’re talking about individuals being made to feel unsafe where they live, when we’re looking at boats being slashed on camera, children chanting into megaphones, ‘Let them drown’, you guys are saying, well, it’s about the small boats.
“Well, maybe it’s also about the racism and the thuggery.”
The comments came during a debate about immigration and anti-immigration demonstrations, with members of the panel asked their opinion on masked protesters.
Andrew Neil said he would ban masks and uniforms at demonstrations regardless of the cause protesters were supporting.
He said: “We learnt this dealing with the fascists in the 1930s.
“You don’t wear uniforms in this country. It’s not the British way to do it. They’re not there to help the debate, they are there to cause trouble and sow division and chaos.”
Sarkar was also involved in another heated exchange during the programme as she clashed with Whately over new Conservative plans to limit what welfare recipients can spend their benefits on.
The Conservative policy proposal announced yesterday would ban long-term benefits claimants from using welfare payments to buy alcohol and cigarettes or to gamble.
“ It's about trying to pit people who are in work… against people who are on welfare” Political commentator Ash Sakar and Conservative MP Helen Whately debate limiting benefits being spent on booze, cigarettes, and gambling. Watch now: https://t.co/0X6XsZDW27 #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/DaMgkDGVpQ
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) September 24, 2026
The Conservative MP argued the welfare bill was “out of control” and said there were people who “could be working, who should be working, but aren’t”.
Whately added that taxpayers should not be expected to fund others to “live a lifestyle that they might only dream of”.
Sarkar hit back: “My time machine works, and I’m in the 1980s.
“We’ve been hearing these talking points for literally decades, and every time we’ve had these squeezes on welfare recipients, what we’ve actually seen, rather than dealing with issues like long-term unemployment, is an increase in child poverty and in-work poverty as well.”
She went on: "Its about pitting people who are in work against people who are on welfare, making them feel that they're lazy and not deserving".
