Heidi Allen asks BBC: why did you pull Have I Got News for You?

Heidi Allen has called on the BBC to explain their decision to pull Friday night’s episode of Have I Got News for You just 20 minutes before it was due to air over fears her appearance would breach election impartiality rules.

The pro-remain leader of Change UK, who resigned from the Conservative party in February over its Brexit policy, quipped “maybe I’m just not as funny as Nigel Farage” after the BBC pulled the show because it would be “inappropriate” to feature political leaders on entertainment shows in the European election period.

Allen retweeted social media posts highlighting that Farage appeared on the BBC comedy show in the build up to the 2014 European elections, calling for an explanation of the decision to drop the comedy programme.

Viewers were first notified that the show would not air as planned at 9pm on Friday by Hat Trick, that production company that makes the programme. The statement said: “Sorry everyone. The BBC have pulled tonight’s edition of #HIGNFY - no, we didn’t book Danny Baker. We booked Heidi Allen, a member of a party no-one knows the name of (not even the people in it), because the Euro elections, which nobody wants, may or may not be happening. Sorry.”

The BBC said: “The BBC has specific editorial guidelines that apply during election periods. Because of this it would be inappropriate to feature political party leaders on entertainment programmes during this short election period, which does not allow for equal representation to be achieved.

“So we will not broadcast the scheduled episode of HIGNFY featuring Heidi Allen, leader of Change UK. We will look to broadcast this episode at a later date.”

Reacting to the decision to pull the show, the Pointless presenter Richard Osman said he thought it was “incorrect”, but “comedy shows find impartiality and ‘equal screen-time’ laws far trickier than news programmes in the lead-up to all elections”. It had “always been that way”, he added.