Events | 2009.10.19
BBC faces legal challenge over BNP
Director general rebuffs Peter Hain\'s claim that BBC may face legal action if it lets Nick Griffin appear on Question Time
The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, has rebuffed cabinet minister Peter Hain\'s claim that the corporation may face a legal challenge if it allows British National Party leader Nick Griffin to appear on Question Time this week.
Thompson was responding to Hain\'s letter claiming the BNP was an "unlawful body" after the Equality and Human Rights Commission started a county court action last week accusing it of breaching race relations laws with its whites-only membership rules.
The action was adjourned after Griffin said he would propose a revised BNP constitution next month amending its whites-only membership rules to comply with discrimination legislation.
The BBC director general said the corporation had been advised that last week\'s developments did not make it illegal for Griffin to appear on Question Time, which is due to be broadcast on BBC1 on Thursday evening.
In a letter to Hain published today, Thompson said: "Thank you for your further letter of 16 October which we have considered carefully in the light of the hearing at Central London County Court last Thursday.
"According to the advice we have received, the British National Party is not prevented from continuing to operate on a day to day basis and its elected representatives continue to sit on councils and in the European Parliament. It remains the BBC\'s obligation to scrutinise and hold to account all elected representatives and to do so with due impartiality.
"We are also advised that if there were to be any election – local or national – tomorrow, the BNP would still be able to field candidates.
"We therefore do not agree that the developments in the Central London County Court proceedings legally inhibit the BBC from allowing Nick Griffin to participate on the Question Time programme and our position remains as set out and explained in my 14 October letter."
In a letter written to Thompson, the Welsh secretary demanded the broadcaster suspend the "abhorrent" inclusion of the British National Party leader on the political debate show.
Hain argued that the BNP was at present "an unlawful body" after the party told a court last week it would amend its whites-only membership rules to comply with discrimination legislation.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission had issued county court proceedings over concerns the membership criteria were restrictive to those within certain ethnic groups.
Griffin is due to appear on Thursday\'s edition of Question Time alongside the justice secretary, Jack Straw, representatives of the other main parties and black writer Bonnie Greer.
But, in his letter, Hain said: "Now that the BNP have accepted they are at present an unlawful body, it would be perverse of you to maintain that they are just like any other democratically elected party. On their own admission, at present, they are not.
"If you do not review the decision you may run the very serious risk of legal challenge in addition to the moral objections that I make. In my view, your approach is unreasonable, irrational and unlawful."
Hain, who was a prominent anti-apartheid activist before becoming an MP, went on: "I believe it is clear that you should now suspend the invitation to see if Nick Griffin is able to agree a new constitution with his party. At that point the commission and the court will be satisfied that the BNP pass a basic threshold of legality.
"In the meantime, surely you have no choice but to rescind the invitation and await the court\'s final decision on the matter? You are giving the BNP a legitimacy even they dare not claim in their current unlawful status."
Hain\'s position was echoed last week by Alan Johnson, the home secretary, who used his appearance on last week\'s Question Time to argue that the BBC should "reconsider" its decision to invite the far-right leader on to the show. The BBC says Griffin\'s inclusion is based on obligations resulting from the party\'s success in winning two seats in European parliamentary elections this year.
The prime minister\'s spokesman said it was "understandable" that Hain felt so strongly about the issue, given his long record as an anti-apartheid campaigner, but he added that the editorial decision was up to the BBC.
Defending Straw\'s decision to appear on the programme alongside Griffin, the spokesman said Brown had made clear in the past that he was "not afraid to debate with anybody" and he believed that the views of individuals and parties ought to be exposed.
Anti-fascist campaigners plan to stage a protest against Griffin\'s presence on the show at the BBC\'s Television Centre in west London when it is filmed on Thursday.
But an opinion poll at the weekend found voters backed the BBC by 63% to 23%.
Media unions meanwhile have vowed to support any BBC member who refuses to work on this week\'s edition.
Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said the far-right party ought to be subject to "proper journalistic scrutiny" to challenge policies designed to spread "disharmony and fear".
"There is no opportunity for this sort of forensic examination in the knockabout soapbox environment of Question Time," said Dear.
"We believe the BBC is wrong to invite the BNP to appear on Question Time and will support any member who refuses to work on this week\'s programme in line with the union\'s code of conduct and conscience clause."
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