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BNP's Nick Griffin ‘on Queen’s guest list’
The British National Party leader Nick Griffin may be attending the Queen's annual tea party.
May 20, 2009 17:28
By, Anonymous
1 min read
The British National Party leader Nick Griffin may be attending the Queen's annual tea party.
May 20, 2009 17:28ByAnonymous, Anonymous
British National Party leader Nick Griffin may be attending one of the Queen’s three annual garden parties, it has been claimed.
An aide of the BNP’s London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook said on Wednesday evening that he had received an e-mail inviting him to the party on July 21, the last of the three annual parties held at Buckingham Palace .
The Daily Mail’s website claimed that Mr Barnbrook would be taking Mr Griffin as his guest.
But a spokesman at Buckingham Palace said formal invitations had yet to be sent out.
“No invitations to this year’s garden parties have yet been issued,” said the spokesman.
“The London Assembly is one of more than 1000 organisations given allocations for garden parties. The Queen does not scrutinise and is not consulted on the list of accompanying guest names as they are official, not personal, invitations.
As such, Buckingham Palace relies entirely on the nominating organisations.
“Where a guest is not judged to be a direct threat to security by the police, an invitation would be issued.”
The JC understands that 25 pairs of tickets have been sent to the London Assembly, which has 25 members. But it was up to the Assembly to decide whether the tickets would go entirely to the members or whether they would be shared between members and administrative staff.
Once people have received the initial indication, they must submit proof of identity and fill in a security form which is checked by police before the formal invitations are sent out. Guests are then checked by police before entering the Buckingham Palace gardens.
Ruth Smeeth, of the Board of Deputies-backed “Your Voice or Theirs” campaign to prevent the BNP winning seats at the European elections on June 4, said: “Nick Griffin still denies the Holocaust. He also has a conviction for incitement to racial hatred. It is very disturbing to think of him being welcomed by the Queen.
“This makes it even more important that everyone uses their vote in the European elections. If the BNP is successful and wins a seat, we can expect to see more of this in the future.”