Should the BNP appear on Question Time?
The fury surrounding the BBC's decision to invite BNP leader Nick Griffin on to Question Time tonight shows no sign of abating.
The corporation's director general has now challenged the Government to ban the BNP from the airwaves if it felt leader Mr Griffin should not be allowed to appear on Question Time.
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In a strong defence of the decision to invite the extreme-right politician on to tonight's show, Mark Thompson said "censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC".
An appeal by cabinet minister Peter Hain against Mr Griffin's appearance was thrown out yesterday by a special panel convened by the BBC Trust to discuss the controversy.
It ruled that it was "a question of editorial judgment" whether it was appropriate for the BNP to be represented on the flagship show and refused to block the move.
About 400 people including pop stars, writers and trade unionists joined a rally against the show last night ahead of further protests expected today.
Mr Thompson said the BNP's recent electoral success, which saw Mr Griffin elected as one of two BNP MEPs, meant it was right to invite him on.
He said only a legal ban, similar to that imposed on Sinn Fein in the 1980s, would lead the BBC to consider breaching its "central principle of impartiality".
He said: "The case against inviting the BNP to appear on Question Time is a case for censorship: The case, in other words, that (in the opinion of those who make it) the BNP's policies are so abhorrent and so liable to sow hatred and division that they should be excluded from this form of public discourse altogether.
"Democratic societies sometimes do decide that some parties and organisations are beyond the pale. As a result, they proscribe them and/or ban them from the airwaves."
