As Question Time is broadcast again tonight there will, as usual, be no British National Party representative on the panel.

Although broadcasting from Burnley, Nick Griffin MEP’s North West constituency, rather than selecting any elected North West politicians, the BBC have instead invited Championship footballer Clarke Carlisle onto the discussion show, alongside other unelected political figures and non-local MPs.

Presumably the BBC think they have done what is required of them since deigning to invite one of the British National Party’s MEPs onto the show previously; however, a comparison with their treatment of other similar-sized party’s tells a different story.

The Green Party’s two MEPs were guests on the show seven times during their last term in the European Parliament, from 2004 to 2009, while UKIP leader Nigel Farage is a perennial guest on the programme, having been on ten times in the last two years. George Galloway will be appearing on the show tonight for the second time in six months despite holding no elected office for that period.

Even much smaller parties get a lot more representation than the British National Party. Salma Yaqoob, leader of the tiny ultra-left Respect Party, has been on the programme six times in the last five years despite only ever holding the elected office of city councillor.

While the British National Party is frequently the subject of news headlines and popular discussion, and is often discussed on Question Time, the Green Party, UKIP and the micro Respect Party are not. Only once have the BBC allowed the British National Party to have their say, and after Nick Griffin appeared on the show in October 2009, the Corporation admitted to having changed the programme’s format for the first time in thirty years. This, in effect, means that the British National Party is still waiting for its first real appearance.

Readers are encouraged to contact the BBC regarding their failure in abiding by their own impartiality principles, and insist that they invite a British National Party representative back onto Question Time, here. 

You can also suggest a panellist for the show here.

Impartiality article 4.2.4 of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines states:

“We are committed to reflecting a wide range of opinion across our output as a whole and over an appropriate timeframe so that no significant strand of thought is knowingly unreflected or under-represented.

Impartiality article 4.4.1 states:

“Across our output as a whole, we must be inclusive, reflecting a breadth and diversity of opinion. We must be fair and open-minded when examining the evidence and weighing material facts. We must give due weight to the many and diverse areas of an argument.”