BBC Question Time host Fiona Bruce is going to step back from her role as an ambassador for the domestic violence charity Refuge.
It follows this comment she made on air about Stanley Johnson beating his wife.
Bruce said the attack was a ‘one off.’
She was accused of trivialising domestic violence .
In a statement, Bruce said she will be leaving her role “with real sadness”.
She added that her words has been “mischaracterised” in a “social media storm”.
The father of ex PM Boris Johnson, was described as a “wife-beater” on the last episode of Question Time.
Bruce said to the viewers: “Just so everyone knows what this is referring to, Stanley Johnson’s [ex] wife spoke to a journalist, Tom Bower, and she said that Stanley Johnson had broken her nose and that she’d ended up in hospital as a result.
Irresponsible
“Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on that. Friends of his have said it did happen, it was a one-off.”
The charity Women’s Aid, called them “unnecessary and irresponsible”.
“We know at Women’s Aid that domestic abuse is rarely, if ever, a ‘one-off’, with the vast majority of abuse being a pattern of behaviour,” said chief executive Farah Nazeer.
“Even if abuse is an isolated event, it would have still been domestic abuse, and this should never be minimised.”
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