I don’t want to say I told you so but . . . er . . . I told you so.
The BBC’s decision to invite the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, on to Question Time next month is, in my humble view, the final nail in the coffin of the ludicrous right-wing argument that the corporation has a liberal or left-wing slant. How many bona fide liberals do you know who go out of their way to be hospitable to the BNP? How many dyed-in-the-wool leftists do you know who force Labour to rethink its policy of not sharing a platform with far-right extremists?
In fact, there are those on the centre left who believe this move by the Beeb will further legitimise the BNP’s neo-fascist views — in a confirmation of Godwin’s Law, the Labour MP John Mann, chair of the all-party anti-Semitism group, said: “This is how Hitler came to power.”
As it happens, I think Labour should now reconsider its policy. The genie is out of the bottle and Griffin and his odious ilk have already appeared on too many serious television and radio programmes and been treated, absurdly, as if they were ordinary politicians. (The BNP is not an ordinary political party. I despair at the number of media commentators who pretend that it is, simply because of the share they get of the national vote. I mean, how many ordinary political parties do you know that happily welcome criminals, thugs and racists to their ranks?)
I also worry that Question Time will provide the perfect populist platform from which Griffin can spew his vile, racist and bigoted views — unless he is challenged by articulate and passionate “big beasts” from the three main political parties. It is a shame, therefore, that the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has already refused to appear on the same programme as Griffin, for fear of lending him greater legitimacy.
Then there is the specific issue of Islam. For Griffin and the BNP, blacks and Jews are no longer the real enemies: Muslims are. In a recent Channel 4 News interview, Griffin described Islam as a “cancer” that should be removed from Europe by “chemotherapy”.
I wonder, which British Muslim will QT be booking to appear with the BNP leader? Or will they allow his Islamophobic bile to go unchecked and unchallenged by its main victims? If they’re struggling to come up with someone, I’ve checked my diary and I think I’m pretty much free every Thursday night in October. I look forward to the call from the Question Time producers at the independent production company Mentorn.
Oh, and to read an insider view of this whole affair from my colleague James Macintyre — who worked as a producer on Question Time until 2007 and has strong views on the BNP — you’ll have to buy a copy of this week’s magazine (on newsstands on Thursday).
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