More than a fifth of voters in Britain would consider backing the British National Party (BNP) in a future election, according to an opinion poll taken in the hours after leader Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC1's Question Time.
Some 22 per cent of those questioned said they would “seriously consider” voting BNP in a local, European or General Election — including 4 per cent who said they would “definitely” consider backing the party, 3 per cent who would “probably” consider it, and 15 per cent who said they were “possible” BNP voters.
The poll comes as the BBC faces accusations the debate was biased against Mr Griffin, who said he would make a formal complaint over his treatment after he was jeered by the audience and his performance was panned in the press.
Around two-thirds of those questioned by YouGov for the Daily Telegraphsaid they would not vote BNP "under any circumstances", with the rest unsure.
The total figure is more than three times the 6.2 per cent which the BNP secured in this June’s European Parliament ballot — its best ever showing in a national election — and suggests that there is substantial potential for Mr Griffin to extend his party’s reach. It vastly outstrips the party’s 0.7 per cent score in the 2005 general election.
When asked how they would vote in an election tomorrow, the proportion backing the BNP stood at 3 per cent up from 2 per cent a month ago.
More than half of those surveyed agreed with the BNP or thought the party “had a point” in wishing to “speak up for the interests of the indigenous, white British people... which successive governments have done far too little to protect”.
This included 43 per cent who said that they had no sympathy for the BNP itself, though they shared some of its concerns.
Some 12 per cent of those questioned said they completely agreed with the BNP, against 38 per cent who said they disagreed totally with the party’s politics.
More than eight million viewers — around three times the normal total and more than half the total audience share — watched Thursday night’s show.
The BBC said it had received around 350 complaints from viewers, with 240 alleging bias against Mr Griffin and the BNP and more that 100 saying that he should not have been invited on to the current affairs programme.
During the programme, Mr Griffin, who was making his first appearance, was repeatedly jeered as he claimed Islam was incompatible with being British, the Ku Klux Klan was “almost totally non-violent”, and gays were “creepy”.
At a news conference in Grays, Essex, yesterday, he further stoked the controversy surrounding his appearance by claiming that London, where the show was filmed, was “no longer British” having been “ethnically cleansed” of “English and British people”.
The decision to invite Mr Griffin to appear on the programme continued to divide political opinion, with Welsh secretary Peter Hain complaining that it had given the BNP “enormous exposure”.
“They ‘hit the big time’ in their own words,” he said.
However justice secretary Jack Straw, who was on the Question Timepanel, said it had succeeded in exposing Mr Griffin as a "fantasising conspiracy theorist".
BBC deputy director general Mark Byford said the high viewing figures demonstrated the public’s interest in seeing politicians being scrutinised by the public themselves.
“The BBC is firm in its belief that it was appropriate for Mr Griffin to appear as a member of the panel and the BBC fulfilled its duty to uphold due impartiality by inviting him on the programme,” he said.
YouGov questioned 1,314 adult voters across Britain online yesterday and on Thursday night, following the Question Timebroadcast.