Stroud pint hurler welcomes BNP on Question Time

A teenager who threw a pint over British National Party leader Nick Griffin has backed the BBC's decision to invite him as a guest on Question Time.

The 18-year-old campaigner, known only as Ben, hit the headlines this summer after showering the far-right politician with Guinness at The Falcon Inn, Painswick. But Ben was not among the protesters at Thursday's demonstration outside the BBC's Television Centre in West London.

He said: "I didn't go to London on Thursday, chiefly because I actually wholeheartedly believe in the BBC's decision to let nasty Nick appear on Question Time. The BNP is a party hiding behind a thin veneer of respectability and it is only through public exposure and debate that we will be able to show them for what they are.

"The public have a right and a duty to understand what these people truly stand for, else they will receive more and more 'blind votes' as disillusionment with mainstream inevitably grows. I think my point was demonstrated by how uncomfortable Nick Griffin looked throughout his appearance."

Ben, who accepted a police caution for common assault after hurling the pint at Mr Griffin, also dismissed claims by the politician that he was unfairly treated on the show.

He said: "He claims that he was unfairly treated by a 'lynch mob' but this lynch mob which attacked him throughout the programme was a group of elected politicians, all of whom represent parties with far greater public support than the BNP – and members of the general public. I can only but wonder what would happen to this 'lynch mob', of which so many of us are members, should he have his way."

No one from the BNP was available for comment.

This is Gloucestershire