Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time has provoked a huge amount of controversy. The BBC, along with members of the BNP, have argued that as the BNP acquired two seats in the European parliament it deserved to have its say on one of the main political programmes in the UK; after all, the BBC’s broadcasting mandate requires it to give equal prominence to political parties above a given level of representation.
However, Nick Griffin represents a different breed of politician. Griffin was a former member of the right wing supremacist group ‘The National Front’, and he is the first person to be allowed on Question Time who has been investigated for inciting racial hatred.
BY JANE BROWN
The BNP, who try to label themselves as a legitimate political party, recently came under attack from the Equality Commission who found that the party “appeared to discriminate on the grounds of race and colour, contrary to the Race Relations Act.” Indeed, Home Secretary Alan Johnson stated that, “These people believe in the things that the fascists believed in the Second World War, they believe in what the National Front believe in. They believe in the purity of the Aryan race.” He brought to attention that since the BNP has now acknowledged that its constitution is illegal because it refuses to admit black and Asian people as members; the BBC should not consider it a legitimate political party and thus the BNP should not have been accorded the right to publicity on Question Time.
Nevertheless, Griffin’s appearance on Question Time on Thursday 22nd of October showed him up as a political lightweight and it was clear that he underestimated the tide of revulsion against him and his party. He was booed and jeered by the audience as he took his seat, and one audience member even went as far as to label him “a pathetic bigot.” Even fellow panellist Jack Straw refused to shake his hand before the show.
It must be noted, however that a controversial appearance on Question Time will not change the fact that the BNP will remain nothing more than an extremist party on the fringe of British politics. Even in the midst of one of the worst recessions in eighty years and an expenses scandal that rocked the political core of Britain, the BNP could only garner a small percentage of the vote.
I think that the BBC was right to allow for Nick Griffin to appear on QT. Whether we like it or not he is an elected representative of however many people and they like the rest of us deserve to have their views heard. Whether or not we want to listen to those views is another matter.
we have to remeber that we live in a Democracy and with all the great things that come from our political system *cough* we have to also deal with the pitfalls and it seems that having to put up with extremists is just one of those things.
i watched the show on the night and rather than being swayed by his arguments *cough.cough* i like so many others realised how much of, as you put it, “political light weight” he really is. my main reason for supporting the BBC’s decision for allowing Griffin to appear on the show however is that i believe that it’s about time we seen some public scrutiny on his policy’s. Although i must admit i did’nt find this up to scratch on the night either.
when i finished watching i felt secure that people may have now seen what a truely bumbling idiot he really is, although if we believe what he’s been saying about people flocking to join the party, we could conclude not everyone felt this way.
unfortunately thats just the way it is.
I agree with shane totally. The BNP appearance on QT was one of the best things the bbc has ever done.
tHE BBC IS *MEANT* to be impartial and the fact the BNP got elected means that the bbc to be fair must allow all elected political parties fair time on the TV.
This element of BBC equality and impartialituy combined with our living in a western democracy means that we must allow freedom of speech. Speech can only harm us if we are foolish enough to listen withou question or free mind of thought, or if we give the words being spoken power. I was quite honestly in fits of laughter at mr. griffin as he bumbled his way through question, giving half backed answers and poorly covering up his *supposedly* non existent rasism.
All the BNP on th BBC did was show that we live in a democracy with TRUE freedom of speech while allowing the BNP enough rope to well and truly hang themselves with. They reinforced what a bundle of crazy nazi like idiots they are while entertaining the masses.
The BBC should be ashamed of themselves. Nick Griffin and the BNP are fascists. There is no doubt there. They have undergone a very conscious and contrived image overhaul over the last ten years in an attempt to gain legitimacy. They have adopted the same strategy adopted by Hitler and also La pen; water down your politics for public consumption and retain your fascist membership until the time is right. If you look at their literature over the last ten years, this strategy is completely transparent. By inviting them on to the BBC, you are giving them exactly what they want. Nick Griffin had no intention of going on QT for the first time and saying all he wanted to, all he wanted was the platform. He was fully aware that he was going to be attacked relentlessly but this was not an issue for him. By appearing alongside “legitimate” politicaians, his opinions have entered mainstream politics. This is how fascists operate, they break in to mainstream politics and drag the terms of debate way off to the right. We saw it happen before our very eyes on QT, instead of arguing that a lack of jobs and houses were the problem, we had the whole panel trying to best one another about how hardline a policy they would take on immigration. As soon as immigration becomes the problem, the BNP win that argument. This is the danger, and this is where the BBC should be held accountable, it is not the role of the BBC to censor people, but it IS their job to broadcast responsibly and they completely abandoned this responsibility in favour of ratings.
5 years before Hitler came into power, people in Germany would have laughed at the idea that he would one day bring the country to its knees and turn it into a genocidal war machine. However, once Hitler brought the NAZI’s into mainstream poltics, the whole political arena changed and suddenly they were winning the arguments of the day. No matter how unlikely it seems, fascism always rears its ugly head when it isnt stomped out early. It is too dangerous to be complacent and to pretend that it couldnt happen here. The cost of being wrong is far too great. All the signs are here, we are living in an increasinly racist society that is under serious economic pressure and it is up to us to ensure that parties like the BNP dont grow. Smash them while they are small.
Disagree. The BBC were right to provide the platfrom because who are they to stop them? They were voted in to the European Parliament by people who pay for the running of the BBC. My only issue is with the questions they asked. Aside from the Stephen Gatley one, they were all just attacks on Griffin. This wasn’t right and as we saw with the Gatley question, you don’t need to try to trap Griffin he is openly bigotted.