Will no one take on the BNP?

Nick Griffin has won an important victory just by being invited to appear on Question Time. To secure such a slot on prime-time television represents the greatest single accomplishment in the history of the fascist and neo-fascist movements in Britain. Oswald Mosley may have once filled the Albert Hall, but that granted him an audience of 5,000 and all were converts. The BBC delivers an audience of millions. For every 50 people who conclude that Griffin is a buffoon, one may decide he just might have a point. And that is all the BNP needs.

Instead of complaining to the BBC, as several ministers have done, we should instead ask why almost a million British voters supported Griffin’s party at the latest local and European elections. It’s not because they share its racist agenda. As Samir Shah powerfully argued in this magazine two weeks ago, Britain is arguably one of the least racist countries on earth.