Furious Question Time clash erupts as Fiona Bruce shut down over Rachel Reeves blunder

Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce demanded “do not put those words in my mouth” during a furious row as the show debated Rachel Reeves’s “criminal” house renting arrangement. Ms Bruce clashed with Conservative MP and former minister Graham Stuart, after he highlighted the Chancellor’s failure to obtain the required licence before renting out her family home. And the debate broke down into a shouting match, as he then accused Ms Bruce of taking sides, saying she had come to Ms Reeves’s defence.

Mr Stuart said: “The Chancellor of the Exchequer committed a criminal offence in collecting rent for a year without getting a licence. A licence which she first of all said she didn;t know about .. . then it turned out that two agents, not one, had told them they did.” Ms Bruce interrupted, saying: “Hang on, hang on.”

She complained that the show had gone “off the topic”, because guests were meant to be debating the accidental release of a sex offender and whether Justice Secretary David Lammy was responsible.

And the presenter then said: “The estate agent in the case of Rachel Reeves basically said it was our fault.”

But Mr Stuart said that by law, the landlord was responsible, not her estate agent.

And then he added: “How is it that anyone in this audience would be prosecuted for a crime, but if you are the Chancellor of the Exchequer, apparently even you at the BBC are saying ‘oh no, it was someone else’s fault, they just broke a rule’.”

Ms Bruce said: “Hang on, Graham Stuart!”

She added: “Please do not put those words in my mouth.”

But Mr Stuart said: “We all heard what you said, Fiona.”

The Chancellor has blamed “an inadvertent mistake” for her failure to obtain a £900 licence before renting out her property in Dulwich, south east London, for £3,200 a month. The local authority, Southwark Council, has utilised its powers under the 2004 Housing Act to make a licence mandatory for landlords.

But the lettings agency involved in Ms Reeves’ rental arrangements has insisted it had told her she needed a licence.

This contradicted the claim made by Ms Reeves in a letter to the Prime Minister, when she said: “Regrettably, we were not aware that a licence was necessary, and so we did not obtain the licence before letting the property out.”

The firm also said it had apologised to Ms Reeves and her husband after offering to apply for a licence on their behalf but then failing to do so. However, it stressed that it was the landlord’s responsibility to ensure the licence was in place.

Gareth Martin, owner of Harvey Wheeler, said: “We alert all our clients to the need for a licence.”

He added: “Unfortunately, the lack of application was not picked up by us as we do not normally apply for licences on behalf of our clients; the onus is on them to apply. We have apologised to the owners for this oversight.”

Mr Martin said: “Our clients would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for. Although it is not our responsibility to apply, we did offer to help with this.”

Ms Reeves told the Prime Minister in a new letter: “I accept it was our responsibility to secure the licence.” She added: “As I said to you today, I am sorry about this matter and accept full responsibility for it.”