Griffin fears political blood sport

12 April 2012

BNP leader Nick Griffin has predicted that Thursday night's Question Time will be "political blood sport" but claimed it could propel his far-right party into "the big time".

In an open letter to BNP supporters, he said his appearance on the flagship BBC1 political debate show was an unprecedented chance to present their views to the UK public.

Protests at Mr Griffin's presence on the panel grew throughout the day, with anti-fascist campaigners picketing BBC Television Centre and one MP arguing it was "irresponsible".

BBC director general Mark Thompson challenged the Government to ban the BNP from the airwaves if it felt Mr Griffin should not be allowed to take part. But Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was a matter for the corporation and he did not want to interfere with it.

Mr Griffin said in his letter, posted on the BNP's website: "Question Time is scheduled for 10.35pm tonight and will be a milestone in the indomitable march of the British National Party towards saving our country."

The far-right politician predicted that Question Time would be "stage-managed" so the audience and panellists were "overtly hostile" towards him.

He said: "I will, no doubt, be interrupted, shouted down, slandered, put on the spot, and subjected to a scrutiny that would be a thousand times more intense than anything directed at other panellists. It will, in other words, be political blood sport. But I am relishing this opportunity."

An appeal by cabinet minister Peter Hain against Mr Griffin's appearance on the programme was thrown out on Wednesday by a special BBC Trust panel. It ruled that it was "a question of editorial judgment" whether it was appropriate for the BNP to be represented on the programme and refused to block the move.

Mr Thompson issued a strong defence of the decision to have the BNP on Question Time. The BBC director general said the party's recent electoral success, which saw Mr Griffin elected as one of two BNP MEPs, meant it was right to invite him.

And he said only a legal ban, similar to that imposed on Sinn Fein in the 1980s, would lead the Corporation to consider breaching its "central principle of impartiality".

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