BNP leader gets mixed reviews in London stronghold

By Catherine Bosley

LONDON (Reuters) - Residents of one of the biggest strongholds of the far-right BNP were divided on Friday about the party leader's appearance on a flagship BBC show but many felt the Labour government should do more about immigration.

"He couldn't give a straight answer," Tim Keane, a builder out walking his dog, said of British National Party leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the BBC's Question Time.

"Of course he was given a fair chance. He was given a simple question and couldn't answer."

But others felt Griffin had been unfairly treated on a programme in which the majority of the questions focussed on the BNP, a party which opposes immigration and wants Britain to withdraw from the European Union.

Griffin described the panel and its studio audience as a lynch mob.

"I've never been a big lover of the BNP but at least Griffin should have had his say," said Bob Ricketts, a retiree. "They just ganged up on him."

"Immigration has been out of control to the point that it's undermining the British way of life," Ricketts added.

In the racially mixed east London borough of Barking and Dagenham, 12 of 51 councillors are members of the BNP. However, many residents in one working-class part of the borough said they had not watched the programme.