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  TV appearance will expose 'racist and bigoted' BNP, says Gordon Brown |
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 | Reported by guardian.co.uk
on Thursday, 22 October 2009
(on October 22, 2009) |
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PM refuses to 'interfere' with BBC's decision to invite Nick Griffin on to Question Time, but says it will be an opportunity to expose his 'unacceptable' viewsGordon Brown today refused to be drawn on the BBC's decision to invite Nick Griffin on to Question Time this evening but said it was a good opportunity to expose the "unacceptable" views held by the far right party.The row over the decision to invite the British National party onto one of the BBC's flagship current affairs programmes intensified ahead of tonight's broadcast, amid warnings that the broadcast could result in a surge of violence against people from ethnic minorities.The prime minister urged people who might be tempted to cast a protest vote against one of the mainstream parties not to lend their support to the BNP, which he described as "racist and bigoted".Speaking on Real Radio in Yorkshire, Brown said: "If on Question Time, they are asked about their racist and bigoted views that are damaging to good community relations, it will be a good opportunity to expose what they are about."Asked whether Griffin, who was elected as an MEP earlier this year, should have been invited on to the programme, Brown said: "It was a decision of the BBC.
We are not trying to interfere with the decision of the BBC."The prime minister defended the decision to break with Labour's previous practice of refusing to share a platform with the BNP and to allow Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to debate with Griffin this evening."The issue is: should we have someone there? Jack Straw is a very experienced person who has had to deal with the BNP and their awful politics over a period of time..."I hope that the exposure of the BNP will make people see what they are really like."Anti-fascist protesters today leafleted BBC staff as they arrived for work ahead of the recording of tonight's Question Time.Media unions meanwhile have vowed to support any members who refuse to work on tonight's programme.Earlier today, Ken Livingstone hit out at the BBC over its decision and warned that the broadcaster would "bear moral responsibility" if the broadcast resulted in a surge in violence against people from ethnic minorities.The former mayor of London, who is chair of the anti-fascist pressure group United Against Fascism, warned today that there was a "long pattern" in violence after far right views were given a platform.Livingstone said that, short of being forced by a court to give the BNP a platform, the BBC should have applied different standards than to other minority parties because of the violence triggered by the far right."They should wait for a judge to order it to because if anyone is hurt tonight the BBC will bear moral responsibility for that," Livingstone told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that he felt that the broadcaster had "lost its moral compass".Inviting other minority parties with an electoral mandate, such as the Green party, did not result in violence he said.
"That is the unique difference," he said."Unlike any other party, when Nick Griffin speaks or when they get elected in an area, what we see is an increase in racial attacks.
It's a long pattern not just with the BNP but with the national front before them.
He goes and says his bit ...
but for the angry racist it's the trigger that turns into an attack."We first saw this when Enoch Powell made his 'rivers of blood' speech there was a huge surge in attacks on black conductors on our buses and that's why you apply a different standard to the BNP to those parties that do not legitimise this sort of violence against minorities."He attacked general coverage by broadcasters, who he said were cocooned from the impact on ordinary individuals from ethnic minorities."You all sit there in a comfortable world," he told the Today presenter Sarah Montague, "but for the young Muslim walking past a group of racists who have been inflamed by what they hear he gets a kicking."He rounded on the BBC's deputy director general, Mark Byford, who defended the BBC's decision on the grounds of impartiality and insisted Griffin's invitation was not based on boosting viewer ratings figures.Pressed on whether the BBC would take any responsibility for possible ramifications after the broadcast, Byford said it was "not for the BBC" to engage in censorship, echoing the views of his boss, Mark Thompson, by saying such issues were a matter for the government.Andy Slaughter, the Labour MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush, the constituency into which television centre falls, was outside the BBC today lending his support to the anti-fascist protesters."The BBC know they have made a mistake, and as usual they have made the wrong judgment call.
I have some sympathy with them as there are a number of enemies of the BBC so they are damned if they do and damned if they don't but they have made the wrong call again."He echoed Livingstone's fears about the possible ramifications."I think it is just irresponsible.
Cutting through the dinner party conversation about freedom of speech, the practical impact it is going to have on Muslim, black and Asian communities is reason enough not to give the BNP a platform."
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