Why did the BBC let this be Griffin Time not Question Time?

DavidDP

Still, he came across as bigoted and laughably stupid (everyone here in the last 17,000 years-get out!), so job done.

Noa Zrk

"..someone as vile as Nick Griffin on..".
Not on his showing tonight James, he came over as a decent English bloke being bullied. But I entirely agree that his apearance was used to excoriate his views and not to obtain his perspective on other key issues. But, then that wasn't the point, was it?

Judy

And that's the culmination of a whole week in which the BBC ensured by its choices of clips and interviews that Griffin and the BNP determined and dominated its news agenda.
He got huge extended interviews on Radio 4's flagship news programmes. I think this was partly due to the BBC's self-regard; they thought they could expose and ridicule him just by having their prestigious anchors interview him.

But one should never underestimate the manipulativeness and slipperiness of demagogues like Griffin. He ran rings round Martha Kearney on News at One.

The end result was that Griffin and the BNP got the equivalent of a party political broadcast every day this week. And this was not challenged; the debate was presented purely as one about whether or not he should appear on Question Time. The fact that this was dragged out for so long had the effect of making the BBC look as much of a confused, politically trapped ditherer as Gordon Brown, and enabled Griffin to wrap himself in a aura of quiet reasonableness and determination.

ian

I don't vote for BNP but this show clearly showed us it was a staged lynching of Griffin by the BBC and Media in general, the audience did not seem to me to be a properly balanced audience. The left, the first to whine about any kind of silencing want to do nothing but use manipulation, name calling, jeering and obfuscation to silence anyone who does not agree with them. I think the BNP would not lose votes over this tonight. Personally I think it should have been just Griffin and Greer. At least Greer seem to be a pleasant, humorous and intelligent person who did not try to use any devious tactics but just plain talk..THAT is what we need not lynching lefties and mad Marxism.

Snowman

Not really a candidate for a mainstream politician. The bad (no) make-up didn't help, but his face impressions were below par.

The perception, however, that he stands up for the, because of neglect by the ruling elite of whatever colour, equally pathetic white aborigine cannot be denied. The squabble amongst the three political gnomes of the main parties on the question of the immigration policy only helped to reinforce it.

As the one of impaired vision said: we shall see.

Tiberius

Griffin cuts a somewhat comical figure, so when he's washed up as a politician (which he will be) he could make a career as a stand up comedian telling mother-in-law jokes.

Verity

Tiberius said:

"Griffin cuts a somewhat comical figure, so when he's washed up as a politician (which he will be) he could make a career as a stand up comedian telling mother-in-law jokes."

I hope the first one's not about your wife.

Griffin cuts a somewhat comical figure, so when he's washed up as a politician (which he will be) he could make a career as a stand up comedian telling mother-in-law jokes

Dave

I liked the bloke, came across as a genuine man under pressue from lefties defending some good/some bad policies.

John MacLeod

A good analysis: it was a daft editorial decision. On your last point, outwith drama I don't think the decision to broadcast foul language in pre-recorded material is ever defensible, and the length of the beep for the instance you mention suggests what I shall coyly describe as the 'Oedipal noun', an exceptionally vile and offensive expression.

Andy JS

I'm very depressed about what has happened with Question Time. I think it was right that Griffin appeared and was hoping the show would deal with him in a sensible way. Sadly I'm beginning to think everything about the show will increase Griffin's support amongst the kind of voters who might consider voting BNP. Of course most people thought he did badly, but what about poor, white people in northern mill towns? Won't they have looked at the audience and been surprised to see what seemed like a much younger, more ethnically diverse audience than usual? Holding the show in west/central London will prove to be a mistake. It will seem like people ganging up on Griffin, which is exactly what he wanted to happen. Very disappointing.

Roue le Jour

Well, you've had your two minutes hate. Do you feel better?

Wilhelm

The QT audience was not exactly representive of England, now was it James ? more like Question Time from Zanzibar.

The programme was across between a chimps tea party, a Stalin show trial, a lynch mob and the Hounds of the Baskervilles all baying for the blood of Nick Griffin.

What a stitch up, the English are fair minded and tolerant and dont like bullies ,the islington dinner party set. What a sad day for England.

All I can say is thank God for American Fox News where you get the correct score unlike the British media.

... ..

How do I know that Nick Griffin & the BNP are evil,vile,racist Nazi thugs?
Because the papers,TV journalists, mainstream politicians say they are.
Must be true then.
Like the guy said,"the BNP has only been on the scene for X amount of days",so how do we REALLY know? A MILLION people ACTUALLY voted for this party,MANY millions more UNDERSTAND and AGREE with Griffin when it comes to immigration & Europe.
The tough decision at the next election is,
which political party will best serve the indigenous Brits,the settled immigrants,the illegal immigrants and the number who come here?
What will the mainstream parties do about Europe?
The media & political elite would LOVE to,
and in fact do,believe they have 'got one over'on Griffin & the BNP.What THEY have actually succeded in doing is in fact,paint THEMSELVES into a corner on these two issues.
One appearance on question time, by a media 'novice'has NOT changed the public's minds about immigration or Europe.
Has Griffin's appearance on question time made anyone here change their mind about wanting a referendum on Lisbon/Europe?
Interesting times ahead.

The Masked Marvel

Social Cohesion dictated by Post-Modern Relativists and neo-Marxists is far more important to the BBC than things like postal strikes or reforming the schools. What else did you expect from people who view the red cross on a white field as a racist symbol?

Verity

Judy - You seem to have a dog in this hunt. Given that the BNP have had no genuine publicity unhindered by snide innuendo, Griffin had a chance to express the view, on a national broadcast, of the 1m adults who voted for him. Why are you personalising this?

TomTom

I do not know what Bonnie Greer thinks about Jack Straw's plans to make Inquests secret because Nick Griffin has not commented on them. I would have found examination of Straw's comments on the English having oppressed every other group within the UK amusing, but it was not brought up by Dimbleby.

There are no current events to be discussed such as Legg and Kelly Reports, nor on the situation in Afghanistan, nor the Lisbon Treaty......clearly it did not concern the audience when Straw opposed overall limits on immigration and population growth...they were not even concerned about environmental impact. Funny audience really....

DavidDP

"decent English bloke"

Decent English people don't try to pretend the KKK is non-violent.

Percy

He was laughably bad, and appears to be a pretty stupid man despite all the clearly ridiculous warnings before hand about how shrewd he is.

strapworld

This was an exercise in mob rule and bullying in the extreme. Dimbleby was a totally useless Chairman and I believe the opinion of people up and down the country will be that Griffin was, as Andrew Neil correctly identified it, subjected to a Bear Pit.

Where were the questions on the postal strike? the european union, the Afghanistan War (another brave soldier murdered yesterday-no mention!).I thought the programme was Question Time not 'Let us show we can defeat the BNP'

Dimbleby should hang his head in shame and resign.He was partial and a Chairman cannot be partial in such debates.The trouble is he believes that HE IS the prgramme.

But did we not learn some interesting things. Bonnie Greer, an American, Deputy Chairman of the British Museum! I thought her contribution on the history of blacks and asians coming with the Romans quite interesting. I have studied that time and whilst I do accept that slaves were used for labour, I cannot find any evidence that hoardes of Black and Asian peoples stayed behind.

Baroness Warsi tried to blame mainstream parties for mass immigration but her solution was very weak.

Huhme was, as usual, just nasty and failed to land a punch.

Straw, His father a conscientious objector! said Griffin- not denied! Now one must ask does our great man of straw hold similar views?

The audience! Handpicked? Not many elderly people there! Many Black or Asian people! Too many, far too many young people! This was designed by the producers to be a get the BNP audience.

I would challenge anyone, faced with mobs baying for your blood outside the hall, faced with an audience, the vast majority of which were totally opposed to every word you uttered not to be flustered and not on top of your game.

The programme producers have shown how not to do it. I look forward to another programme showing a far more adult and responsible approach to dealing with a party that has, after all, attracted support from a million people.

I also believe that the BNP have, after this week, been made 'legitimate' and people will now not be concerned or frightened about supporting them.

The BBC, Dimbleby and the producers of the programme have handed the BNP a win win .situation. Mores the pity!

DavidDP

"Straw, His father a conscientious objector! said Griffin- not denied! Now one must ask does our great man of straw hold similar views?"

Firstly, I'm not sure how it matters what Straw's father did, secondly, Straw clearly doesn't and thirdly, you may want to explain how if Griffin had a point about this why he then dismisses the contribution of so many black, jewish and asian service personnel?

strapworld

David DP. Tell me where, in that programme, he denied the contribution of other nationalities? I have re run the recording and cannot trace what you say! The point was made to him but he was not given the opportunity to reply.

As for Straw. and his father. He himself I read refused to be a army cadet in his school which shows, in my mind, like father like son. YET he is part of a government, a very senior part, which sends our young men and women to fight wars, in which they are killed and horribly maimed, which he would not be prepared to do himself. That is my point. A true man of straw!

Get the white feathers out!

Ken

Mr Griffin acquitted himself extraordinarily well given the intolerance and bias of the Lions Den into which the BBC threw him.

As to whether he was able to "defend his views" he was hardly given the chance to voice them beyond three or four sentences, so keen was the hyena pack to get its prey. (The cherubic Ms Greer being the exception).

But the nub of the matter - immigration- was finally broached and thankfully covered the slippery, oily Mr Straw and his party of appeasement, in shame and squirm.

It was an appalling evening for Labour was it not Mr Straw?

Worse the Minister of Justice (sic) sat there defending band-aid policies on immigration and uttering unctuous platitudes about democratic values, even though only hours earlier he had been in the House sneaking through illiberal, anti-democratic clauses in a bill to turn inquests into secret hearings and cover up Labour embarrassment over sending young soldiers to die in illegal wars.

The authoritarian Straw should remove the mote from his own eye before seeking to preach to the BNP or to anyone else.

However abhorrent and distasteful its platform, the BNP is a legal party with elected representatives.

In a true democracy the voters are sovereign but then Liebour doesn’t do democracy.

Dr Iago

I don't care much for the BNP, but I think that last night was ultimately successful for them, in that they have started the process of detoxifying themselves. Griffin faced the most hostile and one sided reception ever afforded to a speaker on Question Time and by the end of the programme the booing and hissing was not quite as loud as at the start. If you watch his performance he was also more assured by the end of the programme, had started to relax and made some reasonable. I think that the BBC's decision to focus the vast majority of the programme on the BNP was a tactical mistake as Griffin has now faced the full glare of hostile public scrutiny. His or the BNPs next appearance(s) will occur in front of incrementally less hostile audiences (and panels), also the questions will necessarily shift from the BNP itself to general policy. In the long term this will help to legitimise the party. Whatever your views on the BNP if the BBC wanted to assist them they couldn’t have done a better job by providing a baptism of fire event at a pitch that future events will not be able to maintain. They would have been much better advised to stick to the traditional format and let Griffin have come unravelled on policy details. Finally the seemingly orchestrated attacks by the mainstream parties served much of the same purpose for the BNP – creating in effect a media rites of passage that will be repeated no doubt but to diminishing returns.

Rob C

The right choice to include him on the program, but as you say, too much was about the BNP. That's probably because there's a lot the audience want to confront him about, but still too BNP centric.

I do think however that the panel handled the situation pretty well and with the exception of Jack Straw went a long way to removing the BNP's credibility. Jack Straw was in my view a poor choice from labour and many of his comments about the BNP methods could equally be applied to Labour. Labour should have opted for someone more open to their own parties failings as admitting those goes a long way to restoring their own credibility. The BNP are strongest in traditional Labour territory and that says a lot for Labours own failings to me.

Mirtha Tidville

A dreadful night for the BBC and Dimbleby. As others have said it was a `Question Griffin Time` and it truely is time for Dimblebore to retire. He led the charge against Griffin...typical Beeb...

The real damage is that Griffin will have come across, to the majority, as a man under seige,and will be in receipt of the sympathy vote. This was not an attempt to defeat him by the power of reasoned argument but simply throw metaphorical bricks at him. As for Huhne, Warsi and Straw I think the 3 stooges would have made a greater intellectual contribution

Ian Walker

Arguably, the BNP and Griffin were the political story of the day. I think it was right to concentrate so much on a single issue - it meant for a more intersting program, rather than the single-question-per-topic-met-with-single-soundbite that QT has become.

Perhaps more "specials" in future, such as an Economy QT, with Darling, Osbourne, Cable, Mervyn King and Fred Goodwin? You could still finish up with 15 minutes of quick fire topics of the day.

JONNY

The whole nauseating charade not being helped by Dimbleby at his pompous overbearing worst.
I understand that the Chairman's impartiality might be hard to sustain with the appalling Griffin by his side.
Even so it was quite illuminating to see the High Priest of Political Correctitude doing a ham imitation of Frost confronting Nixon and whooping on the lynching mob.
Ugh. The whole thing left a nasty taste in the mouth.
And not just from Griffin.

AngloWelshDragon

Advice to Griffin. He needs to stop harping on about ethnicity, indigenousness (sorry if that's not a word!) and concentrate on the issue of Britishness in terms of shared values and culture.

I don't care how long someone has lived here as long as they make some effort to integrate and don't expect me to change my lifestyle or culture to suit them. I would rather live amoungs newly arrived immigrants who are learing English, working hard and proud to live here than amongst indigenous benefit scroungers, holier-than-thou muslim converts, self-flagellating leftie multi-cultis, or wahabbists who think they are still in Sylhet or Somalia.

Nick, it ain't about colour or race. It's about values and integration. Sadly it seems even that view is too strong for our mainstream parties or the MSM.

balancedmind

I read MSP and political blogs extensively. I watch PMQ’s religiously. I have watched QT for many years. Today, I know very little more about the policies of BNP and the personality of NG after watching QT last night ie those things that virtually every third party wishes me to deplore, but don’t as I have not read or heard them directly from the BNP/DG. What was very evident was that the panelists, DD and most of the audience were not inclined to allow current affairs questions, to allow NG to answer that would allow serious analysis of NG’s answers.

People should be able to make up their own mind, rather than have other’s preconceptions – whether reliable or otherwise – rammed down their throat

I am sick to the back teeth of politicians not answering any question properly, and to immediately relate any question to what other rival parties do/did or don’t do/did. J Straw got off to a great start in this regard last night in the very first question.

Dennis Churchill

It was a mistake to have it look like:“Everyone have a go at the Englishman.” Of course the audience and panel were hostile-they were predominately first or second generation immigrants!
Our political and media classes are now so detached from the cultural values of the majority of the population that they will be unable to accurately judge whether this was a success for their World View.It is like a colonial administration grappling with the cultural differences of a subject people. The East German leadership convinced the people supported them.

PayDirt

The scariest of the lot on last night’s QT were the audience, what a rabid mob. Jack Straw is definitely overdue for retirement. Warsi was one-dimensional. I’d like to see Griffin interviewed properly as I don’t really understand where he’s coming from. Evidently there are no British interviewers who could do the job reasonably, so how about a distinguished and neutral overseas interviewer from say Canada, or Japan, or… somebody sufficiently disconnected from the rhetoric to allow the man to air his views and policies?

Tiberius

Verity: I appreciate your concern about my better half (btw how did you know I was married - an unwarranted assumption?), but she is well able to laugh at herself, and enjoys mother in law jokes like the rest of us, particularly when they are delivered by the late great Les Dawson.

Eddy101

I am surprised the BBC don't put Nick Griffin on Strickly Come Dancing, Or perphaps along side Michael Gambon in a costume drama. We the public are so stupid, 8 million people watched that farse last night. I wanted QT to speak about relevant issues (post strikes, Afganistan,ect), not opperate as a failing lefty bashing of a far right politician (who istn't really that important).

Observed

I was actually looking forward to this Question Time being an avid watcher every week, but I am sorry to say last night's show was the worst QT I had ever seen.

The jeering, and sheer hostility was absolutely awful from both the audience and the panel.

It was hard to believe that any of them were fully grown adults, and they definately dont represent me in any capacity with behaviour as they showed on the program.

No other panel guest has ever received this kind of full on treatment on QT, so why was last nights program any different?

Ed Bicycole Ted

This was Question Time as cross-dressing spectacle with Dimbleby masquerading as a grotesque chimera of Davina McCall, Simon Cowell and Sheryl Cole: you could see it in the anticipatory enjoyment flickering across the faces of the audience - a gleefully predatory smacking of collective lips as the hapless and inadequate ritual victim was ritually skewered. This was television for children of the Lord of the Flies variety.

Griffin is repulsive, but it is not readily apparent that the audience was any less so.

Herbert Thornton

Can anybody imagine Jack Straw as a martyr?

Of course not - unlike Griffin, neither Straw nor the rest of the lynch mob have either the necessary honesty or the necessary courage.

But their attempt to execute a character assassination has certainly made a martyr out of Nick Griffin.

Britain needs more people like Griffin.

Vektor

The whole thing was a Charade. The audience looked like it had been hand picked to berate and heckle him, what a disgrace.

I don't necessairly agree with his views but the way that show was handled was wrong.

Graham Turner

This is the first time I've ever seen Griffin visibly nervous and shaking. He is human and, right or wrong, he wears his heart on his sleeves and believes his views and feels he should express them. Unfortunately there are people of all races, colours and creeds who have similar extreme views on all matter of sensitive subjects, but choose to suppress them. Who's in the right? We need to suppress our primeval instincts to live in a civilised society, but it doesn't mean they are not there. With Griffin fed to the lions, are the lions so readily ready to devour Griffin just really trying to devour their own guilt ridden primeval instinctive thoughts.

naomilangfordwood@hotmail.com

Wierd, wasn't it? Why did Question Time not follow its normal format of questions, trot round the panel and back to the audience?

Why did David Dimbleby not chair it as normal?

Why did the editors not edit it as it was recorded a good two hours before it was broadcast?

Why did the BBC promote the programme by running clips and comments by Nick Robinson in the 10 o'clock news?

It's all wierd and a series of errors of judgement by Auntie, sadly.

Why? What possessed them?

I think we should be told!

Ihatebullies

BNP is now the vote for me!