The leader of the far right British National Party has been re-elected by a narrow majority.

Nick Griffin won nine more votes than his opponent, MEP Andrew Brons, in what the BNP called "a contest between two party heavyweights".

Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party, has claimed a "David and Goliath victory" after the High Court threw out claims that he did not comply with a court order to remove "discriminatory" clauses in the party's constitution.

The decision appears to be the end of an 18-month battle between the BNP and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. In June 2009 the commission contacted the BNP claiming that its constitution, which restricted membership to a particular "ethnic group" and those whose skin colour was white, was against the1976 Race Relations Act.

A new film to be screened next month will reveal the extent of Labour Party fears that the British National Party would seize the seat from the long-serving MP Margaret Hodge at this year's general election.

The Battle for Barking, a feature-length documentary for More4, shows that Labour strategists believed white working-class voters were deeply sympathetic to the BNP's anti-immigration message, and in parts of her constituency 70 per cent of voters were considering voting for the far-right party.

A surprise appearance by British National Party leader Nick Griffin in Liverpool city centre only served to highlight the message of a meeting against antisemitism at the Liberal Democrat conference on Monday.

The BNP leader has been refused entry to this afternoon’s garden party at Buckingham Palace after officials decided his attendance would present too much of a danger to the other guests.

As a member of the European Parliament, Nick Griffin was due to be among the 8000 guests at the Queen’s annual event. But in an eleventh hour reversal Buckingham Palace announced he was to be denied access for politicising his invitation.

A Palace spokesman said the about-turn came because Mr Griffin had “overtly used his personal invitation for party political purpose through the media.”

An invitation to BNP leader Nick Griffin to attend a Buckingham Palace garden party has been met with outrage.

As an MEP, Mr Griffin is entitled to tickets to one of the Queen's summer receptions.

He told supporters he expects to attend a garden party on July 22 with his wife and two daughters.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who defeated Mr Griffin at the general election, said: "It sickens me that Nick Griffin has used his position as an elected representative to secure an invitation to Buckingham Palace.

Nick Griffin has announced he will step down as leader of the BNP after the far-right party lost all its London seats.

Mr Griffin said he would end his leadership in 2013 to “make way for a younger person who does not have any baggage which can be used against the party”.

He said he wanted to concentrate on getting re-elected to the European Parliament in the 2014 elections.

Anglo-Jewry should form alliances with other ethnic minorities targeted by the racist BNP, but the community is generally well-armed to deal with any rise in its status or membership.

These are the views of a number of communal leaders asked two specific questions by the JC in the wake of last week’s appearance on the BBC’s Question Time by the far-right party’s chairman Nick Griffin.

We asked:

● How damaging to the Jewish community do you think the BNP’s appearance on Question Time was?

Following action by John Mann MP and a vote in the House of Commons, MEPs including the BNP’s Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons will be denied Parliamentary passes and access to House of Commons facilities thus putting an end to a 20 year precedent.

Mr Mann’s early day motion was signed by dozens of parliamentary colleagues. It noted that while Euro MPs had traditionally been granted passes to the Houses of Parliament, the reverse was not true for UK MPs trying to access European parliamentary services.

Last-ditch attempts to block the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time tomorrow are being launched.

The Young Jewish Political Network will launch a Twitter protest about the appearance of the BNP leader on the BBC’s flagship political programme.

The group is asking followers to twitter the message #NoToTheBNP on the social networking site.

YJPN will also be tweeting messages in the hours leading up to the programme, listing the reasons why the far-right group is not representative of Britain.

An American white supremacist was barred from entering Britain to attend the BNP’s annual summer festival over fears that his presence would stir up racial tension.

Preston Wiginton, 44, was turned away from the UK border after arriving at Heathrow from New York for last weekend’s Red, White and Blue festival.

He has close links to BNP leader Nick Griffin and helped to organise a university speaking tour for him in the US.