A storm over a teacup

The choice was: Yes, he was already exploiting the publicity OR No, it's only given him the martyrdom he seeks. A bit of a prejudiced pair of questions, there, wasn't it?

My response is No, the BNP are a legitimate political party and the Queen should have respected Mr Griffin as a legitimate British politician. I'm not sure that Mr Griffin is so very different from Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem politicians who use Royal contacts for their own narrow, political purposes.

Whilst I do not agree with the majority of what his party stands for, I think they got this wrong. By reacting in this way it does cause controversy and increase the hype surrounding the BNP. But just like we saw earlier in week/last week about the facebook page for Raol Moat anyone should be allowed freedom of expression no matter how daft or stupid it is. To try and stop it only give is more attention. Griffin has almost one million people behind him so he has a right to be there. If it proven that he went far beyong what any other politician has done who has attended then I could understant. I would love to know what the real reason was behind this, perhaps it is similar to the official statement, that he would make the other guest feel "uncomfortable" lol Qudos to the guardian for having the guts to have this debate though.

"A bit of a prejudiced pair of questions" ..agreed I didn't answer the poll based on loaded answers like that even if I agreed in part!

yeh, the odious little twerp should have been allowed to go...set the corgis on the fucker.

i can just see him explaining to an elderly lady of german descent and an elderly man born in greece why they should not be allowed here.....i can also picture philip calling for his 12 gauge while griffin runs, benny hill stylee, across the lawns.

banning him will just add fuel to his fire.

he's the leader of a democratic party in a democratic country. to not allow him to go does not seem democratic bearing in mind a lot of people voted for him.

i could just see him and broon being there....squaring up and eyeballing each other.......

DEMOCRACIES DO NOT BAN PARTICIPATION BY OPPOSITION REPRESENTATIVES; DICTATORSHIP DO.

If the party is to be funded with public money or if it's an event of political/constitutional significance, perhaps he shouldn't be allowed to go.

If it's a private party it's none of our business surely?

Hate to say it but I can imagine him and Prince Philip getting on like a house on fire though.

He's such a bad advert for the BNP, the more we see of of him the more people can understand what a sad bunch of idiots his party contains.
C'mon Griffen you ol' saddo, go back on Questiom Time again and give us all a good laugh.

The Black Badger is no supporter of Nick Griffin and his populist left wing policies, but he does represent a legitimate political party, he is an MEP and he is the properly elected representative of thousands of ordinary working class people with as much right to an opinion as Shami Chakrabarti CBE. who represents nobody but herself.

If the Palace wants to throw itself into the political arena, then this is the right way to go about it. For myself, I think they should stay well out of it.

I'm quite surprised that Nick Griffin even wants to go to a party held by state-dependent foreigners anyway... ;-)

Hate to say it but I can imagine him and Prince Philip getting on like a house on fire though.

you mean prince phillipos of greece and denmark...bit german, bit danish, bit russian? can't see why you would think that.

I agree and that sad twat is a very good advert for democracy.
Just as Hitler was..........

better or worse than galloway?

I'd put him and Galloway on an equal footing Dr...

nice one natty

Fairly sure his being banned is more about the chaos that would surround his presence than his presence as an ideological thing in itself.

Since we live in a democratic society, he should have been invited to the party but totally shunned and frozen out by everyone there. Made to feel as uncomfortable and unwelcome as possible. Not inviting him could make him look like a martyr in some people's eyes.

@nattybumpo

Bit harsh on Galloway.

Gallow does what he does out of love for people (and a little self publicity), whereas Griffin does what he does out of hatred of the other.

but he does represent a legitimate political party, he is an MEP and he is the properly elected representative of thousands of ordinary working class people

He was elected by a constituency with low turnout, in an election where his share of the vote actually fell. I know that's how democracy works but let's not imagine that any significant proportion of people actually believe he speaks for them - the last election showed us as much. What does he do for working class people, what has he - with his fairly decent amount of wealth - actually done, apart from tell them all to blame immigrants for their problems? What happened to self-determination?

with as much right to an opinion as Shami Chakrabarti CBE. who represents nobody but herself.

How many people has she campaigned for and helped, compared with him? How many projects that actually do constructive good has she run, compared with him? and - since this is almost the crux of your argument - how many people have joined her organisation, compared with him? Not being a politician does not mean you represent only yourself - sometimes it just means you're not interested in seeking power in itself; you'd rather actually get something done.

since the Queen is only Queen because her ancestors were the worst warlords of their, killed or subdued their enemies and took the crown, she and griffin should really get along. They both have equal legitimacy as public figures.

The background to all this is that Griffin is currently embroiled in a bitter leadership contest with ex-national organizer Eddy Butler.

Butler is alleging financial mismanagement by Griffin and he some high profile BNP members coming out and supporting him. Griffin's camp is responding with some fairly salacious details regarding Butler's private life. It's all getting fairly bitter and messy.

Griffin was using the Palace invite to sway BNP members eligible to vote by talking himself up.

Won't retract on Galloway or Griffen i'm afraid.
If I was stuck in a life-boat with the pair of them I'd take my chance with the sharks!

teha1 etc-

Bit harsh on Galloway.

Gallow does what he does out of love for people (and a little self publicity), whereas Griffin does what he does out of hatred of the other.

soz mate, but him and griffin are peas in a pod...or a bunch of (i'll leave you to finish the sentence). at least griffin isn't in the pay of a foreign government like georgie is (possibly the only positive thing that can be said about griffin).

liblou-

What does he do for working class people

a shitload more than the labour party?

I know that's how democracy works but let's not imagine that any significant proportion of people actually believe he speaks for them

apparently over a million did. not a very libertarian standpoint if i may say so.

How many people has she campaigned for and helped, compared with him?

i think the point is, who voted for shami?....

she got less votes than uebergrueppenfuehrer griffin...

one put themself up for election and the other acquired a modicum of power and a media platform through non-democratic means.

and for the record, i hate them both equally.

my point is that he is democratically elected and, unless you want to start undermining democracy and making exceptions based on not agreeing with someone, then let him go there.

he'll probably only make an arse of himself anyway.

I'm not a member of his party, but I'll be voting for him next time.

Democracy seems to be dying in this country.

natty-

If I was stuck in a life-boat with the pair of them I'd take my chance with the sharks!

beauty!.....there is another option entailing you staying in said boat and turfing the other two out to play with jaws.....i think that that would get you some sort of nobel humanitarian prize.

of course he should of been allowed to go he represents over 1 million english,scottish,welsh and northern islanders,who do the dictators in government think they are ,present mugabe,shame on the government they should hang their heads in shame.

Perhaps he should come out fighting a bit more by asking out loud how many votes the royal family and its Tea Party got in the ... er.... election. But then that might split opinion in his own party.

@Elizabeth3.

Why don't you join up?

Griffin needs all the donations he can get at the moment as the BNP are almost bankrupt.

I hear some big and expensive Court cases are coming up - talking six figure outlays.

So, The Labour party, responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent foreign lives, in an illegal war, are ok to party but a bunch of patriots who fear the demographic replacement of their kind and who only react with aggression when provoked by so called 'anti-fascists' are not?

Nice!

Skewed Poll questions REALLY shows open minded the liberal Guardian folk are though. Where was the very legitimate 'No they should not be banned, we are a democracy don't you f*** ing get it box?

This gives me a headache.

Surely to allow him to attend – as the Clown General (look how he's been dressed), is better than to have him barred which he can play upon, and use to recruit from the growing number of disenfranchised members of the underclass.

Its almost a class war issue where the ‘working man’ or underclass hero is not allowed to mingle with the upper classes.

If he had attended it would have been a non-story, well except for his dress sense!

Ok I'll be the first... call Godwin on me

Initially my reaction was don't make a martyr out of him but then i thought about the documentaries I've seen on the rise of Hitler.

Now no way are the two equivalent but I do recall thinking why didn't the Germans just refuse to have anything to do with the Nazi party, why did they not just shun him. Of course they treated him like a buffoon and made the same arguments about him being an elected politician. By the time they realised the danger it was too late to squish him and his followers.

So I'm changing my mind. Sometimes people are too odious to deal with, to sanction, to give the royal seal of approval to.

@Ethelredsdirtybed

Maybe all "democratic" avenues are being shut off to the "bunch of patriots who fear the demographic replacement of their kind "? Maybe standing in elections won't "ensure the survival of White children"? Griffin, in his post-election address, warned darkly about the "upcoming Civil war".

Should you rent the Ryder Truck and mix up the fertilizer or shall I?

;-)

The BNP bloggers on here are trying to imply that Griffin was banned full-stop rather than because he abused the invitation. Griffin went on the BNP website calling, among other things, for what questions he should have asked the Queen. In other words he was glorifying the invite to get support for himself and the BNP. That's why he couldn't go.

Elizabeth3

"I'm not a member of his party, but I'll be voting for him next time. Democracy seems to be dying in this country."

Yes you are a member and voting BNP will administer the coup de grace.

So why would an anti-immigration campaigner pay a visit to the house of a German-Greek family?

Because he approves of their presence? Hardly.

Because it will drum up publicity for his nasty little political grouping? Quite possibly.

It doesn't matter much in the overall scheme of things. If the recent general election proved one thing it was that the BNP are a political irrelevance.

voting BNP will administer the coup de grace

as will a vote for respect, the swp etc.

Of course Nick Griffin's invitation to the Queen's garden party should have been withdrawn. He said that he was going to take a million nationalists to the Palace but if the invitation said "Nick Griffin +1" how on earth would the Queen have looked after all those extra guests at short notice? She'd have had to go to every shop within miles of Buck House and buy up all their bread, butter and cucumbers and most of the guests would have had to make do with drinking out of paper cups and re-using them.

And the carpets would have been worn out by all those people popping to the toilet.

Unless they used the paper cups.

This is just going to breed right wing extremism amongst white youths. Let's hope they don't plan mass murder to make their point like other groups have.

what a world! connections, the democracy camp is removed, the met get away with it again, dingbat griffin is uninvited...

If the recent general election proved one thing it was that the BNP are a political irrelevance.

...but with a million votes....thankfully, over the last 70+ years, whenever the british people have had the chance to vote for either communists or fascists, they have sensibly opted not to do so en masse.

hurrah to us and our forebears!

If the decision followed pressure from the Home Office as Nick Griffin suggests then the relevant official should be given the 'Own Goal of the Decade' award now.

Was the Palace right to withdraw the invitation? Presumably the Palace can do anything it likes....

if there are to be politicians at the palace garden party,whats wrong with Jerry Adams,martin M etc, They are "respectable

This was always going to be about Griffin exploiting the situation for his personal benefit. There is currently a power struggle going on in the BNP after the mauling they received in the elections and this is all part of Griffins campaign to stay in power.

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1685/Two-spoiler-candidates-bid-for-BNP-leadership

If there is some big anti-BNP agenda here then why was Griffin's fellow MEP, Andrew Brons, allowed to attend the event?

Brons is an ex-National Front leader with a history of anti-Semitism and racism to rival Griffin's.

Be nice if the thug answered Peter Tatchell's questions, regardless I hope that Tatchell sues the BNP "minders" for assault. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10729194.