BBC apologises over Thought for the Day ‘xenophobia’ claim against Jenrick

Robert Jenrick had written in the Mail on Sunday: ‘I certainly don’t want my children to share a neighbourhood with immigrant men with backward views who broke into Britain illegally.’ Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press/Shutterstock

The BBC has apologised and retrospectively edited a segment of Radio 4’s Thought for the Day after the head of a refugee foundation described comments by Robert Jenrick about asylum seekers as “xenophobia”.

The remarks by Krish Kandiah, a theologian who heads the Sanctuary Foundation, prompted an angry response from Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary. The BBC said it had removed “some of the language used” by Kandiah from a version posted online, saying it was not appropriate for the faith-based radio segment.