Some say that it is wrong to give Nick Griffin’s views such publicity. Seriously though, are the British public stupid enough to be fooled into supporting the BNP simply by watching a racist toad stutter and flounder under the scrutinising eye of David Dimbleby?

The BNP’s success in this year’s European election can be put down to rebranding and poor voter turn out. In 1997, two years before becoming chairman of the BNP, Nick Griffin was interviewed about his views on the Holocaust. He said, ‘There’s no doubt that hundreds, probably thousands of Jews were shot to death…But this nonsense about gas chambers is exposed as a total lie.’ Yet on Question Time he said he now believes the Holocaust happened, because he has since studied German radio intercepts, and believes that this evidence was substantial enough that it ‘changed his mind.’ This apparent change of heart is little more than a smoke screen to boost support for the BNP which, before Nick Griffin’s accession to chairman, was merely a few skinheads petulantly stamping their feet.

On 22nd April 2000, Nick Griffin spoke to a group of people sentimentally called ‘American Friends of the BNP.’ He said, ‘There’s a difference between selling out your ideas and selling them.’ The subsequent softening of rhetoric has led the BNP to become more acceptable to those who privately supported their ideas, but who did not want to be castigated for supporting them publicly. As a result supporter numbers have risen.

The MP’s expenses row has affected people disillusioned with British politicians. They simply did not vote. But BNP voters did because before the elections, they had a cosy picnic in the beautiful British countryside. Unaffected by the billions of multiculturalists who daily interrupt their Aryan lives, they listened to Nicky over the loudspeaker, ‘Tally ho chaps, no one gives a damn about European elections, so if we’re lucky we can sneak in a couple of candidates under everyone’s nose!’ Or so I have heard…

It is absolutely right that the BBC gave them a platform. Whether we like it or not, they have been democratically elected as our representatives in Europe. Besides, only fascists suppress freedom of speech.