Question Time: Forget Russell Brand and Nigel Farage, the 'blue-haired woman' stole the show

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Russell Brand and Nigel Farage may have spearheaded last night’s BBC Question Time debate, but for some the “blue-haired woman” in the audience was the real star of the show.

Tweets began flooding in when the unidentified woman interjected during the panel show, telling the audience that Ukip are “rich and racist” in a scathing attack on the party.

Her tirade came as Brand appeared to be faltering in the face of an audience member questioning why the comedian would not stand as an MP if he cared about politics and politicians so deeply.

Brand’s feeble reply: “I would stand for parliament but I would be afraid I would become one of them” only served to draw boos from unimpressed audience members.

Cue the "blue-haired woman", who jumped up and criticised Ukip, before shouting: “That’s what he does, he’s a racist scumbag trying to blame immigrants for the cutbacks because of his rich banker friends!”

Farage seized the opportunity to continue making digs about Brand standing in Parliament, telling him: “You’ve got some voters here mate, you ought to stand. I mean, these are your voters – they’re lovely people, aren’t they?”

At this point, the ‘blue-haired woman’ stood up again and shouted “I live in south Thanet and I’m coming for you!” at Farage, to which Twitter exploded.

You can watch the full exchange from about five minutes in here.

'Blue-haired woman' has been identified by some on Twitter as campaigner Bunny La Roche, a Socialist Worker's Party organiser and a Stand Up To UKIP member.

A woman believed to be her - the camera did not pan back to show her face - was later criticised by another audience member for interrupting again, who told her: “You are the rudest woman I've ever met!”

The heated debate saw Brand denounce the Ukip leader as a “pound shop Enoch Powell”, while Farage condemned the comedian for apparently not answering questions, reminding him: "This programme is called Question Time.

"And what happens is members of the audience ask questions and we're expected to answer them.”

Neither appeared to emerge as a clear winner in the debate, with Brand accused of “preaching” and Farage criticised over his "booze and fag down the pub" persona.