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The ''Question Time'' British National Party controversy in early September 2009 followed an invitation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), to be a panellist on ''Question Time'', one of its flagship television programmes on current affairs. The decision to have the BNP represented on the programme for the first time sparked public and political debate in the United Kingdom. At the heart of the matter was the BBC's public broadcasting mandate requiring it to give equal prominence to political parties above a given level of electoral representation. Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, defended the BBC's decision to invite Griffin, stating, "the BNP has demonstrated a level of support that would normally lead to an occasional invitation to join the panel on ''Question Time''. It is for that reason – not for some misguided desire to be controversial, but for that reason alone – that the invitation has been extended."〔 A late appeal was made to the BBC Trust, the BBC's governing body, by the Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain, to have the appearance blocked, which ultimately failed. Griffin appeared on the 22 October edition. As the programme was due to go on air, public protests took place at BBC Television Centre in London. The pre-recorded programme featured Griffin alongside the Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw, the Conservative peer and Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi, the Liberal Democrats' Home Affairs spokesperson Chris Huhne, and the writer/playwright Bonnie Greer. The edition was watched by over 8 million people – over half the total audience share – and more than double the previous record high for ''Question Time''. ==Background== ''Question Time'' is the flagship BBC Television political panel show, which began in 1979. The weekly show, hosted by David Dimbleby since 1994, takes place at locations around the country. Questions from a local audience are directed to a panel of invited guests, usually consisting of British politicians, alongside other public figures. The topics for debate during the programme are loosely defined by "set-piece" questions from pre-selected audience members. For each topic, the question is answered by each panel member in turn, followed by supplementary questions on the topic, time permitting. The show is pre-recorded a few hours before being broadcast, and it is stressed by Dimbleby as the programme starts, that the panellists have no previous knowledge of the content of the questions. The British National Party (BNP) is a far right minority party in Britain founded by John Tyndall in 1982. The leader of the party at the time was Nick Griffin, elected as one of the eight MEPs in the North West England constituency, although he has since resigned. At the time of the programme, the BNP won 943,598 votes and two seats in the UK's 2009 European Parliament elections in June, when a total of 72 seats were contested.〔〔 The BNP polled 6.26% of the national vote of 15,625,823 (from an electorate of 45,315,669), making it the sixth ranked party, behind the Conservatives (27.7%), United Kingdom Independence Party (16.5%), Labour (15.7%), Liberal Democrats (13.7%) and the Green Party (8.6%).〔 The result represented a 1.3 percentage point increase on its previous performance.〔 Since then, support for the party has declined significantly,〔 allegedly due "to internal splits and the rise of Ukip". At the time of the programme the BNP held one seat on the London Assembly and council seats in four London boroughs; it was the second party in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Question Time British National Party controversy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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