It’s great to see that my colleague James Macintyre’s revelation that Question Time producers were discussing inviting Nick Griffin on to the programme long before his election as an MEP is still making waves. The questions his piece raised about the BBC’s motives are now at the centre of the debate.
Mark Thompson restates the BBC’s official line in the Guardian today, insisting that Griffin was invited on for no reason other than his party’s increased support. But suspicion that the corporation is actually focused on creating what Peter Hain described as “a great big beanfest of a show” is likely to persist. Even if Griffin is successfully exposed and ridiculed tonight, the record donations his party has received in recent days would make this a most pyrrhic of victories.
You can read James’s piece on the BNP and Question Time here and his new column on the programme’s “grotesque stunt” here.