Senior govt minister to face Griffin
By politics.co.uk staff.
A senior Labour minister will join BNP leader Nick Griffin on the Question Time panel, Gordon Brown has revealed today.
In an interview with Radio City Liverpool Mr Brown said we “should not be afraid of debating anybody”.
Leading government figures such as Jack Straw, the justice secretary, and John Denham, the communities secretary, have suggested they would be willing to appear alongside Mr Griffin.
There was controversy when the BBC announced it was issuing an invitation to the BNP, as a result of the party’s recent successes in the European elections.
Many were concerned Question Time would provide legitimacy for the party’s more right-wing views.
The PM’s decision represents a change of direction for the Labour party, which had previously maintained it would to refuse to field a representative on the program.
Despite the change in party line, individual government ministers, like Alan Johnson, have already indicated their refusal to participate on the show.
