Mike Russell, the Scottish Culture Minister, said of the decision to invite MEP Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, on to the flagship show tonight: “BBC managers in London must explain why they are bending over backwards to accommodate this overtly racist party, which has absolutely no standing north of the Border.”
He added that the BNP was “virtually invisible in Scotland, yet Scottish viewers will be inflicted with their spiteful and hateful message on a flagship programme on our national broadcaster”.
A specially convened BBC Trust panel met last night and confirmed that Mr Griffin will be allowed on to Question Time, saying that it was “a question of editorial judgment” whether it was appropriate for the BNP to be represented on the flagship show.
At a rally in central London pop stars, writers and union members condemned the BBC for giving the BNP a platform on the programme. Jerry Dammers, founder of the group The Specials attacked the BBC as naive for giving Griffin a chance to express his views. His words were echoed by the former children’s laureate Michael Rosen who said people had a right not to hear the BNP’s message.
The decision to have Mr Griffin on the programme was based on the party’s success in the European elections in June, when it won more than 940,000 votes and two seats. “We absolutely stand by that judgment,” said Ric Bailey, the BBC’s chief political adviser.
Security at Television Centre in west London will be tight as Mr Griffin, 50, makes his appearance alongside Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, among others.
Anti-fascist activists will picket the building all day and step up their demonstration ahead of the filming of the programme in the evening.
A BNP spokesman made clear the party would not rely on police help to get Mr Griffin safely inside the building. “We will sort our own security out,” he said.
Reports have claimed the corporation has made emergency plans to move Question Time to another venue should the protests turn violent.
The programme will be recorded live at around 7pm with the broadcast at 10.30pm, giving managers time to edit out any questionable references or incidents.
Corporation chiefs insist the audience for the show has been put together in the normal way, but it has been disclosed that some BNP members will be in the audience.
Meanwhile, at Westminster, a decision to withdraw MEPs’ passes allowing them access to the Commons – a perk given in 1989 – was condemned as “absolutely scandalous” by Struan Stevenson, the Scottish Tory MEP.
Harriet Harman, the Commons Leader, said the decision was made because of pressure on parliamentary facilities. However, the move is thought by many to be directly targeted at the BNP.
Mr Stevenson denounced it as an over-reaction, saying the move to ban the two BNP MEPs would seriously disadvantage the 70 others in representing their constituents.
He said: “This is absolutely scandalous. It’s not just a hammer to crack a nut, the whole situation is absurd and they really need to think again.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article