A DEWSBURY politician has been picked to face British National Party leader Nick Griffin on next week’s Question Time.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi will speak for the Conservatives on Thursday’s BBC1 panel programme.
It will be the first time the BNP has had a representative on the long-running political discussion show.
Baroness Warsi stood for the Conservatives in Dewsbury at the last General Election, finishing second behind Labour’s Shahid Malik. The BNP won 5,000 votes in the constituency in 2005 – the party’s best performance in the country.
Baroness Warsi was made a peer and is now the Conservative community cohesion spokeswoman. Earlier this year the former Birkdale High pupil was named the most powerful Muslim woman in Britain by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
She will join justice minister Jack Straw, Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and Anglo-American playwright Bonnie Greer on Question Time.
The BBC decided to invite the BNP onto the programme after the party won two seats in June’s European election – including one in Yorkshire.
But anti-fascist campaigners are planning to protest outside BBC headquarters in west London during the show.
