HE called himself the most demonised, loathed man in Britain and there would undoubtedly have been quite a few people watching Question Time who will have nodded in agreement.

British National Party leader Nick Griffin was elected to the European Parliament in May. This breakthrough by the far-right party meant that an organisation which had hitherto only managed to get a handful of council seats up and down the country now shared the greater political stage with the mainstream parties.

It was because of this dramatic development that the BBC decided to invite Mr Griffin on to the panel of Thursday night’s broadcast. And after viewing the programme ourselves, we are inclined to reiterate what we said in this newspaper on Thursday – the corporation took the right decision.

This column has not shrunk from condemning a party which still seems to believe, despite its protestations to the contrary, that the colour of a person’s skin denotes whether or not they can truly be a British citizen.

However, attempts to stifle debate by people from the other end of the political spectrum serve no purpose other than to act as the best recruiting sergeants the BNP could wish for.

For we fervently believe that the only way people can get the measure of the BNP is to expose them to the full light of day in the dank cave they call their political home. Question Time achieved this and reminded us all how our ancient democracy – for all its flaws – is still a shining beacon in an increasingly dangerous world.