Conservative MP Rob Wilson believes that the BBC are correct to put the BNP on Question Time and expose Nick Griffin to public scrutiny.
I’ve been asked to do a before and after piece for ConservativeHome, comparing my thoughts before the BNP leader Nick Griffin appears on BBC Question Time with those afterwards. It’s an interesting idea, because we are all moving into uncertain territory – I certainly can’t remember a time when the BNP or National Front has ever had a platform like this on a mainstream political programme.
However, I have never believed that banning views you don’t like is a good way to run a democracy, so before tonight’s programme I have little sympathy for the argument put forward by the likes of Ken Livingstone and Peter Hain. It has verged on the hysterical at times and repeats the mistakes the left has made time after time in recent years of trying to close uncomfortable debates down.
The recent rise of the BNP has not been due to an increase in the Party’s publicity, it has been because Government policy has led to widespread dissatisfaction and disillusionment particularly in poorer parts of the country. Specifically, large-scale immigration has proved a catalyst when coupled with the suppression of open debate. Let’s not forget that every time the Conservative Party mentioned immigration up until 2005 we were accused by Labour (and others on the left of politics) of “playing the race card”. In fact, at the time, we were voicing genuine concerns of real people who wished to express their point of view, and we did it in a reasoned and sensible way. But the result now is that many people feel let down by all mainstream politicians and hence we have this toxic cocktail of unprecedented immigration and the closing down of debate providing the BNP with fertile ground in which to recruit support.
I have never agreed with closing down debate. As far back as my student days, when I was President of a Student Union, I made it my business to change the Union’s ‘No Platform’ policy to one of ‘Freedom of Speech’. I also opposed the broadcasting ban on Sinn Fein, as I felt it was better to hear first hand their vile justification for murdering innocent people so that people could understand what they were truly about. I have always felt that confronting a difficult argument publicly helps to lance the boil. That’s why I applaud the BBC for standing firm and allowing the BNP to appear on Question Time. I know that the BBC has been under enormous pressure to buckle, but my belief before the programme is that it has made the right decision. My hope is that Griffin’s diabolical views will be exposed by the open, free flowing debate of the panel plus a calm and measured audience. I don’t particularly like the BNP appearing on my television set tonight, but if we are to reduce its electoral base we have to take it on in the daylight not the shadows. We’ll see if I’m right in a few hours.
I have never agreed with closing down debate. As far back as my student days, when I was President of a Student Union, I made it my business to change the Union’s ‘No Platform’ policy to one of ‘Freedom of Speech’. I also opposed the broadcasting ban on Sinn Fein, as I felt it was better to hear first hand their vile justification for murdering innocent people so that people could understand what they were truly about. I have always felt that confronting a difficult argument publicly helps to lance the boil. That’s why I applaud the BBC for standing firm and allowing the BNP to appear on Question Time. I know that the BBC has been under enormous pressure to buckle, but my belief before the programme is that it has made the right decision. My hope is that Griffin’s diabolical views will be exposed by the open, free flowing debate of the panel plus a calm and measured audience. I don’t particularly like the BNP appearing on my television set tonight, but if we are to reduce its electoral base we have to take it on in the daylight not the shadows. We’ll see if I’m right in a few hours.
