If the BBC’s ‘Have Your Say‘ section is anything to go by, (part of the site that reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb sketch,) this evening should go down a treat for Nick Griffin; leader of the British National Party and (as if you hadn’t heard already,) controversial guest on tonight’s Question Time with David Dimbleby. How fortunate it is then, that those of us with too little time on our hands to fill in diluted democratic feedback forms have kept more than one ear to the ground.
The moment that the news was announced, the press lost its head; as it so often does with matters as contentious and dividing as these: ‘Griffin to Appear on BBC Question Time‘. The networks have lead us to believe that the moment the cameras roll, the whole nation is going to slip slide into an alternate dimension where national socialism reigns; a world where toast is forever pale and flimsy, tea is made of a milky washing up liquid and common ownership has neutered the ambitions of man. The Griffin issue has been slapped left, right and centre, in tabloid and broadsheet newspapers alike; every minute of the day has been an orgie of opinion polls, a broadcast battle of the cases for and against, a tipsy turvy, swirly whirly mass of confusion and debate, like a half dead mouse that your cat has brought in; a present, writhing and wriggling on your living room floor, making a mess of your new Persian rug.
The debate has two main camps. On the one side we have the freedom of speech camp that defends the right of Nick Griffin to appear on Question Time, regardless of any of the views he may or may not hold (this is the camp I find myself in). On the other side of the fray you have those who feel that the BBC has violated its responsibilities as a public broadcaster by giving the BNP a microphone to air its views. And of course in the middle of all this, we have the third and smaller camp; that believe the BNP’s opinions are so abhorrent, that they should not be granted any opportunity to voice them. The issues have rightly engaged people’s passions, with the BBC HQ stormed by protesters today.
I don’t believe that this is (as it has been portrayed) an issue of free speech. I think the issue is more about whether or not it is appropriate that the BBC should allow the BNP on the show, granted that it has no obligation to have them there in the first place. The debate, for the most part has been fairly black and white; should he be on? Shouldn’t he be on? Is the BBC selling out? Is it maintaining impartiality?
The debate, for the most part, has been fretting that the result of Nick Griffin’s appearance on the flagship political programme will create gains for the BNP in making the party leader seem more in touch with the common man. This may be true, he may be more ‘in touch’ with the common man (though most people aren’t racist, nationalist, holocaust denying pigs), but truthfully, whilst all of the above have merit, we have failed to address one simple reality. The BNP are a fringe party with no elected officials in the British Parliament, only two elected officials in Europe, and even when accomplishing that; they did so with four thousand less votes than the year before, in territory that should have been ideal for the nationalist party. We had been hit by the greatest recession in modern history, political popularity was, and is, at an all-time low; people don’t feel as though they can engage with the mainstream parties, and on top of this we had the MP’s expenses scandal. The BNP reaped only two seats in that climate, with less votes this time around.
Yes; Griffin is a fascist pig, a holocaust denier and a manipulative political mind. Yes; he is a man who models his party on the propaganda techniques of the Nazi party, learnt at only fifteen years old white studying Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Yes; we should all be wary of Nick Griffin and scrutinise every claim this man makes, but let me make one thing absolutely clear. Whatever gains the BNP think they will make from tonight will soon enough become victim to the media’s second obsession: a bigger story. Sure, the headlines will be filled with bile and hatred, opinion and debate, more mind bending political paradigms for us all to consider; but then, as if it never happened in the first place, it will be back to business as usual.
The best Nick can hope for tonight is to appear sane and electable. How fortunate then, that we already know this not to be true.

Click HERE to read The Independent’s ‘10 Things You Should Know About the BNP Before Watching Question Time.