What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe says she has cancelled her TV licence in disgust over claims an BBC Question Time producer expressed support for a far-right group.

An audience producer for the flagship political discussion programme shared a series of posts by Britain First on Facebook.

But the BBC insist she did so "unwittingly" and does not share the group's views.

The corporation say they have "reminded" the programme's staff of the need to be impartial at work and on social media.

But writing on Twitter last night, Ms Monroe had little time for the BBC's argument.

She said the producer "claims she did this 'unwittingly'. Nah, mate. Her JOB is to conduct POLITICAL BACKGROUND CHECKS on up to 4k people a week.

"You cannot be responsible for researching 4,000 political character profiles a week, & claim to be 'unaware of the context of Britain First'"

Among the posts shared by the producer was a picture of a poppy, posted in the weeks before Armistice Day in 2014.

The post, which was shared by more than 133,000 people, read "Press SHARE to pin a poppy to your wall and show your respect."

At the time, the group was criticised for using the post to "trick" people into giving them publicity.

A spokesperson for the group Exposing Britain First told the Independent many Facebook users shared poppy posts without realising who it comes from or what they stand for.

They added: "They share these images to trick people into liking and sharing and therefore increasing their reach on Facebook."

The producer also posted to a Facebook event for an anti-immigration demonstration, backed by the EDL, in Boston.

She invited the 56 people who expressed interest in the march to apply to be in the audience of an upcoming episode in the town.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

She wrote: "BBC Question Time is in Boston on Thursday evening, 22nd September. To apply go to the BBC Question Time website and click on audience application."

Mentorn, the production company who make Question Time for the BBC, employ a team of audience producers to select members of the public to take part.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The Question Time audience is always chosen by a team to ensure broad political balance and each application goes through the same rigorous background checks.

"Any suggestion to the contrary is misleading. The BBC has clear impartiality guidelines covering the use of personal social media - this freelance producer and the rest of the programme team have been reminded of their responsibilities.”

“It would be misleading to suggest unwittingly sharing social media posts reflect someone’s political views.”