If the BNP do receive an invitation from the BBC to appear on Question Time, they should be allowed to participate. By denying them the right to appear on the programme, we simply hand them ammunition by allowing them to portray themselves as victims who have had their democratic rights stripped away from them. You only have to look at You Tube clips of the group Unite Against Fascism (UAF) throwing eggs at Nick Griffin, to see comments by riled BNP supporters arguing that the UAF are hypocritical fascists. The cruel irony of all of this is that the BNP whose rights I defend would take away my rights in under a second if they came into power, merely because I do not fit into their warped and simplistic definition of ‘British’.
Fear seems to be the concern motivating those protesting against the BNP’s participation on Question Time. They are afraid that by allowing the BNP to appear on the esteemed political programme, they will be giving the party the respectable, political legitimacy it craves. They are afraid that by allowing the BNP to publicise their views on mainstream television, the party will gain valuable publicity and may attract more voters. They’re wrong. A debate between the BNP and other political parties on Question Time would be one of the best ways to help defeat them and reveal to the public their ignorance and their policies which are rooted in racial prejudices.
“We cannot ignore the 6.2% of the electorate that voted for the BNP”
The BBC said it was considering inviting the BNP because the party “demonstrated evidence of electoral support at a national level”, following the election of two BNP candidates to the European Parliament. Whilst some voted for the BNP because they genuinely support their policies, for others it was a protest vote to express their frustration at being ignored by mainstream political parties. We cannot ignore the 6.2% of the electorate that voted for the BNP. There are issues such as immigration, which the public are worried about and which the government has failed to address. The BNP, on the other hand, have been willing to focus on these concerns. They have greedily feasted on the topic of immigration, exploiting and twisting it, while playing on the fears of local communities in order to gain support. It is time the government stopped ignoring these issues and started listening to the disillusioned and isolated sections of the public.
Let the BNP appear on Question Time, let them be questioned and challenged by politicians from other parties, by members of the audience and by no-nonsense David Dimbleby himself. But let other political parties also show the public that there are alternative, feasible solutions to problems such as immigration which aren’t fascist, brutal and unjust. Then let us see if that 6.2% of the electorate still believe that racist, inhumane and simplistic solutions such as sinking boats with illegal immigrants – a measure proposed by Nick Griffin himself in July – are going to solve complex matters such as immigration.
“There are those who have been duped by Mr Griffin’s flash suits and Cambridge university education”
Nick Griffin has managed to a large extent to transform the BNP’s thuggish image into that of a respectable party with a middle-class leadership that is concerned about protecting a white, indigenous Britain from the masses of non-white, non-indigenous pollutants. Whatever that means. Whilst I find it hard to believe that people are unaware of the racism and brutality that lie within BNP ranks, I have to accept that there are those who have been duped by Mr Griffin’s flash suits and Cambridge university education and who genuinely believe the BNP are trying to address Britain’s problems in an efficient and just way.
No one is naive enough to believe that Mr Griffin would waste his big BBC moment with expletives against ethnic minorities, revealing to the public the abhorrent racism of his party. He is clever enough to know that such language is better reserved for a BNP meeting in the local pub. There is the risk that for some viewers Mr Griffin may come across as an attentive man, who is sympathetic to their concerns and is willing to take action. However, I would be willing to take that chance. It is preferable for the BNP to voice their opinions in a debate such as Question Time, where there are members of other political parties and members of the audience to challenge these views, rather than have the BNP continually spread their bigotry in town halls, in pamphlets and on their websites, unopposed and unchallenged. It was with a chill down my spine that I watched the BBC documentary The Secret Agent, in which an undercover journalist infiltrated the BNP and revealed the shocking racism and the violent, racially motivated behaviour of party members. It is by putting the BNP in the spotlight and not allowing them to lurk unmonitored in town halls, in places like Bradford that the public is able to discover what the BNP really stands for.
Nick Griffin’s face on television isn’t something I particularly relish seeing on a Thursday evening as I curl up on the sofa with a mug of hot chocolate. However, the opportunity to see him confronted, challenged and probed on Question Time is something I very much look forward to.
