Give the BNP a stage. The public trap-door is ready.

Lech Sikorski

The BNP have been accused of committing the worst forms of quasi-intellectualism, narrow-minded racism, tactical yoking and shameful incidents of conduct – race exclusive membership – to have pervaded Britain’s shores in recent times. There appears to be a consensus amongst political commentators that the BNP is deliberatively malicious towards ethnic minorities, in their attempts to ‘cleanse’ Britain of multi-culturalist attitudes under the banners of “real British identity” and “sustainable demographics.” Whilst there is an agreement about the controversial nature of the BNP, there is a disagreement about how best to confront it’s recent popularity.

The recent decision to allow the BNP on Question Time has brought fury to those who claim that we shouldn’t give the BNP a national platform. Personally, I believe that maximum exposure of the BNP would assist in the process of dragging their muck politics out of the gutter and being held to account by the court of public opinion. Bonnie Greer, Jack Straw, Chris Huhne and as of yet unknown representative of the Conservative party have the opportunity to deftly discredit the BNP brand and should seize it as a responsibility to do so. The arguments that the BNP propose must be proved to the people, like any political party in a democratic system, to be demonstratively wrong, illogical and unworkable. An appearance of Question Time will help to speed up the de-masking process.

Should the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time be allowed to happen? Is this a failing of current party politics? The Politics Society welcomes and encourages all views. Tell us what you think.