BNP's Griffin heading to Buckingham Palace

Tuesday, 15 June 2010 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

The leader of the far-right British National party (BNP) has prompted outrage by announcing he will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen.

Nick Griffin told a party event at the weekend that he had been formally invited to the Palace on July 22nd by the lord chamberlain.

Mr Griffin, a member of the European parliament for the north-east, is able to attend as an elected representative. MEPs receive three tickets.

In a video of the announcement Mr Griffin was seen showing four invitations. It is not clear how he obtained the fourth.

It follows a huge public outcry against his initial plan to attend last year's garden party. He was set to take one of the guest tickets from the BNP's London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook, but withdrew after saying he did not want to embarrass the Queen.

London MEP Claude Moraes was among the first to attack Mr Griffin's potential attendance at this year's event.

"It has utterly compromised the Queen and she is made to feel that she has to make a political decision," the Times newspaper quoted him as saying.

Mr Griffin announced in the same video his party faces another attack from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

He said the public would support the party if Mr Griffin was jailed "on minor technical points".

Tags:
• domestic policy
,
• equality