BNP boss invited to Queen’s tea party

Mr Griffin, a convicted criminal, has been invited to attend the party on July 21 as a guest of Richard Barnbrook, an elected BNP member of the Greater London Assembly.

Palace officials confirmed that the Queen would shake hands with Griffin, 49, and his colleague if they met at the event.

“The Queen is polite and if she is meeting people she will obviously greet them,” a Palace spokeswoman said. “If they are guests then they will be treated as a guest.”

But the invitation has infuriated critics who fear it will enhance the openly-racist BNP’s reputation in the run-up to local and European elections in June, which could see its first MEPs elected.

The pair, along with other garden party guests, will get the opportunity to meet around half a dozen other members of the Royal Family at the event if they are lucky, though with 8,000 guests not everybody meets a royal.

Campaigners last night called for Mr Griffin, who was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence for inciting racial hatred in 1998, to be barred from the Palace.

A spokesman for anti-fascist group Searchlight said: “Nick Griffin is a convicted criminal.

“He leads an organisation which itself contains numerous members who have been convicted of serious crimes and racial intimidation.

“We would have thought that on security grounds alone, Griffin would have been excluded from Buckingham Palace.” James Bethell, a campaigner for the Nothing British About The BNP group, said: “There’s no place in British politics for a party that wants to deport British people because of their skin colour.”

Mr Barnbrook, the BNP’s sole representative on the London Assembly, was one of 12 elected members nominated by the GLA to go to the Palace when it was sent a quota of 25 tickets. Each person was asked to name a guest they would like to take and, while most chose partners or parents, Mr Barnbrook decided to ask the BNP party leader.

His choice threatens to severely embarrass the 83-year-old monarch, who takes pride in representing Britons of all colours and creeds.

The Queen’s senior advisers are expected to consult with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith over whether a way can be found to bar Griffin as a threat to security.

Mr Barnbrook, who earlier this week attended the Wembley launch of England’s 2018 World Cup bid, said: “I imagine there will be a to-do and a hoot. These things are going to happen more and more as the party goes forward.”

A BNP spokesman said: “It is something that people are going to have to get used to if we get elected MEPs.”