BIGOT AT BAY; Jeered, scorned and ridiculed ...BNP boss squirms during his moment in the spotlight. Now TV the BBC faces angry questions of its own; Revulsion over prime-time BNP.

Byline: Jason Groves and Paul Revoir

NICK Griffin was booed, jeered and mocked by a hostile television audience on the BBC's Question Time last night.

But the British National Party leader's priceless air time still left the Corporation facing accusations of 'publicity-seeking' naivety.

Senior Labour figures warned of racist attacks in the coming days, leaving the BBC with 'blood on its hands'.

Mr Griffin ran the gauntlet of 1,000 angry protesters who had laid siege to the Question Time studio at Television Centre in West London.

The 50-year-old, who has a criminal conviction for inciting racial hatred, was loudly booed as he went before the cameras under tight security.

Facing angry heckling, and at times looking shaken, Mr Griffin:

Repeatedly refused to give his views on the Holocaust, drawing attacks from Jewish members of the audience.

Claimed that Winston Churchill would have joined the BNP.

Was branded 'disgusting' by one black member of the audience.

Was forced to deny he had said that black men 'walk like monkeys'.

Was laughed at when he admitted Turn to Page 4

Continued from Page One meeting Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and claimed the organisation was 'non violent'.

Was jeered by a lesbian member of the audience who told him: 'The feeling of revulsion is mutual'.

Heard a Asian member of the audience call for a whip round to pay for him to go and live at the South Pole where he could enjoy a 'colourless landscape'.

The BBC was forced on to the back foot over the decision to invite Mr Griffin on to the show. David Dimbleby, who chaired the session, tried to calm audience unrest by insisting that the programme 'won't be the Nick Griffin show'.

But he refused a request to take an audience vote on the rights and wrongs of the decision. Baroness Warsi, the Tory panel member, said: 'If you look at the audience and reaction outside, people are outraged by his views and he has been exposed for what he is.' Justice Secretary Jack Straw said the evening capped a 'catastrophic week for the BNP'. They were joined on the panel by Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and black poet Bonnie Greer. Mr Huhne said Winston Churchill would be 'rolling' in his grave if he could hear Mr Griffin speak today.

Earlier, Mr Griffin's appearance provoked angry scenes outside Television Centre. Three police office officers were injured and six protesters arrested. At one stage, around 25 people stormed inside the West London building as they attempted to find the Question Time studios.

Flares were let off and women dragged kicking and screaming back outside by security guards.

Mr Griffin, meanwhile, was smuggled in a side entrance by up to 40 dark-suited security guards.

Inside, he attacked Mr Straw saying his own father was in the RAF in the Second World War, while Mr Straw's was arrested for refusing to fight.

Mr Straw accused him of being the Dr Strangelove of British politics - a reference to the crazed scientist in the film of the same name.

A black man in the audience was cheered when he confronted Mr Griffin. His voice shaking with emotion, the man said: 'For just one minute could you not think of the benefits my parents brought to this country and other parents from an Asian, Indian or Pakistani background have brought? 'No, all you're thinking of doing is trying to poison politics and poison the minds of people in this country. The vast majority of this audience find what you stand for to be completely disgusting' Mr Griffin smirked when he was asked whether he denied the Holocaust but refused to answer detailed questions on the issue. Of his previous comments, he said: 'I can't explain why I used to say those things.' He acknowledged that the BNP had been a 'racist and anti-semitic organisation' but claimed it had changed under his leadership. 'I am not a Nazi and never have been,' he said.

He was wearing the poppy he rarely removes. He says he wears it in protest at the poor treatment of soldiers injured in Afghanistan.

On the BBC, he said: 'I don't regard the BBC as Auntie, I regard the BBC as part of a thoroughly unpleasant ultra-Leftist establishment which, as we've seen here tonight doesn't want the English to be recognised as an existing people.' 'All the BBC have done is follow the rules they've set some years ago. We've crossed the threshold. It would have been wrong to keep us off any longer so I think the BBC has just done what they had to do.

'I'm sure it's been a large audience and possibly of interest to some people, so what's the problem?' On homosexuality, he said: 'A lot of people find the sight of two grown men kissing in public very creepy. I understand that homosexuals don't understand that, but that is how a lot of us feel.

'A lot of Christians feel that way. Militant homosexuals do not have the right to try and preach to schoolchildren. That is perverse.' Audience member David Kernohan, 26, of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, said: 'He came across very badly. By the end, the audience were essentially ridiculing him and shouting things at him.

'He was obviously very nervous. I don't think he would be pleased with the performance.

'Jack Straw was the most forceful and gave him the hardest time. Bonnie Greer just dismissed him and didn't seem to want to waste her time on him. He made a fool of himself and will have turned moderate people off the party. He's shot himself in the foot. It was excellent - a good day for democracy.' Shimal Thakrar, 33, from Edgware in London, said: 'It certainly wasn't as controversial as had been made out beforehand.

'The guy couldn't stand his ground at all. He contradicted himself throughout. He had no consistency.

It was a needed debate. But he's not a politician.' Mr Thakrar said the audience hissed and booed during the filming and shouted 'Liar' and 'Get out the door' at Mr Griffin .

All audience members attending Question Time were given a pink sheet of instructions. They were told 'You question should be short, sharp and provocative' with the word provocative underlined. The BBC had received more than a 1,000 complaints ahead of the broadcast.

Senior Labour politicians predicted that black and Asian people would face a violent backlash in the coming days and critics said the corporation had been naive and driven by a desire to boost ratings. Higher Education Minister David Lammy, one of Britain's first black ministers, said ordinary people from ethnic minority backgrounds would face violence as a result.

He added: 'This is a seminal moment for the country. I am very worried about the days that will follow. Many people across the country, black and white, will be appalled that Nick Griffin has been given a platform on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme for his terrible racist views.

'Many others, a long way from Broadcasting House, will be left very scared.' However Mr Lammy acknowledged that the mainstream parties had to accept some of the blame for the rise of the BNP.

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett criticised the BBC for 'publicityseeking' .

'To spend the first ten minutes of the Six O'Clock News covering their own decision and the consequences of putting the leader of the BNP on Question Time, was a total distortion of news priority and a deliberate promotion of their own publicity-seeking decision,' he said.

BBC director general Mark Thompson yesterday defended the decision to offer an invitation to Mr Griffin. Mr Thompson said the Government should change the law if it did not want the party to appear on news and current affairs programme.

He said: 'Censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC.' Mark Byford, the deputy director general, said: 'It was appropriate to invite Nick Griffin onto the Question Time panel this evening in the context of the BBC meeting its obligation of due impartiality.'

Comment - Page 14

Question Time audience joins the attack

IF Nick Griffin thought he would find much support from the Question Time audience, he was rapidly disabused of the notion.

An Asian man, pictured left, asked Mr Griffin: 'Where do you want me to go? This is my country, I love this country, I am part of this country, I was born here, I was educated here. You would be surprised how many people would have a whip-round to buy you a ticket and your supporters to go to the South Pole. It's a colourless landscape. It will suit you both.' A black man in the audience was cheered when, voice shaking with emotion, he asked Mr Griffin: 'For just one minute, could you not think of the benefits my parents brought to this country and other parents from an Asian, Indian or Pakistani background have brought? No, all you're thinking of doing is trying to poison politics and poison the minds of people in this country.

'The vast majority of this audience find what you stand for to be completely disgusting.'

WHAT GRIFFIN SAID

WINSTON CHURCHILL

He would belong to the BNP because no other party would have him.

THE KU KLUX KLAN I did meet with the leader of the KKK, an almost totally non-violent leader.

THE BBC

I regard the BBC as an unpleasant ultra-Leftist organisation.

NAZISM

I am not a Nazi and never have been. I am the most loathed man in Britain in the eyes of Britain's Nazis.

THE BRITISH

The vast majority of the people here descend from people who have been here for the last 17,000 years. We are the aborigines here.

ISLAM

Muslims living here should abide by our rules. It's not me with blood on my hands from the war in Iraq that Straw's Government took us into it.

JACK STRAW

My father was in the RAF during the Second World War while Mr Straw's father was in prison for refusing to fight against Adolf Hitler.

...AND WHAT THE REST OF THE PANEL SAID ABOUT HIM

CHRIS HUHNE, LIB DEMS 

I think Churchill would be rolling in his grave.

BONNIE GREER, POET

What kind of so-called political party is based on the idea of an indigenous people? JACK STRAW, LABOUR

What you see here is a fantasising conspiracy theorist.

BARONESS WARSI, TORIES

Griffin has been exposed for what he really is.

CAPTION(S):

Heckled: Nick Griffin in his 'protest poppy' during last night's Question Time

Smirking: Nick Griffin. flanked by David Dimbleby and Bonnie Greer, in the spotlight during last night's Question Time