Royal rebuff for far right leader

The leader of the UK’s far-right British National Party (BNP) was last week banned from attending a Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by the Queen.

Nick Griffin, who once claimed Jews control the media and used the phrase “Holohoax” to describe the Shoah, was invited to attend the royal event along with other members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

However, just hours before he was due to join 8000 other guests at Thursday’s party — including the Duke of York and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester — the Palace announced that the invitation had been rescinded.

The grounds for the public snub though had nothing to do with his extremist policies and views.

What upset the royal household was his attempt to make political capital out of the event.

In the lead-up to the event, Griffin had described his presence at the party as a “highly symbolic breakthrough” on the BNP website and invited supporters to send in questions they’d like him to raise with the Queen.

He’d also appeared on breakfast television to discuss the significance of the invitation.

In a statement released by the Palace, a spokesperson for the royal family said: “Nick Griffin MEP will be denied entry to today’s garden party at Buckingham Palace due to the fact he has overtly used his personal invitation for party political purpose through the media. This in turn has increased the security threat and the potential discomfort to the many other guests also attending.

“Mr Griffin’s personal invitation was issued to him as an elected member of the European Parliament.”

The statement continued: “The decision to deny entry is not intended to show any disrespect to the democratic process by which the invitation was issued. However, we would apply the same rules to anyone who tried to blatantly politicise their attendance in this way.”

Griffin had been due to attend a royal garden party last year as a guest of another member of his party who has a seat in the London Assembly, but he pulled out after a public outcry.

The withdrawal of the invitation this year was welcomed by John Mann, chair of the parliamentary All-Party Group Against Anti-Semitism. He told the Jewish Chronicle, “I fully support the Palace’s actions. Griffin has once again proved he is an embarrassment to his constituents and to our country.”

Griffin, however, remained defiant, releasing a statement which read: “This decision is an attack on the media and their right to report on important events of the day. It is an attack on the right of every person in Britain to get the news of current events reported by the media, and it is an attack on the one million plus patriots who voted for the BNP.

Zeddy Lawrence