Not guilty!

It must seriously hack off the BBC – on whose evidence BNP leader Nick Griffin was brought to trial in the first place. But, for the second time, Griffin has walked free from a Leeds court, despite the best efforts of the Crown Prosecution Service to put him behind bars for "inciting race hatred".

Thus it is that the BBC report has as its strap, "A campaign group described the BNP's views as 'abhorrent'", even as Griffin and his co-accused Mark Collett, BNP head of publicity, walked free.

The campaign group, "United Against Fascism" described the acquittal as "a travesty of justice", but it was never going to be the case that a Yorkshire jury was going to find Griffin guilty - and nobody but the loons believes he is a fascist.

But, after yesterday's verdict on Mizanur Rahman we are not the only ones to see a parallel between the two trials. The Guardian has one of their favourite ethnics, Laura Smith (pictured above), to pronounce on the issue.

"The verdict clearing Nick Griffin on race hate charges," she writes, "stands in stark contrast to the case of a young Muslim man convicted the previous day on very similar charges… In both trials, the defendants were accused of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred."

Er… there is a slight difference Laura. Rahman was facing charges of incitement to murder as well. There is no evidence that Griffin has ever suggested that Muslims should be murdered.

However, if the chattering classes loathe and detest the BNP, the feeling is mutual. Griffin has accused the BBC of abusing its position while Collett described the corporation as "cockroaches".

Many people will be offering a silent cheer at the verdict, not least because of the reaction of the chattering classes. Little do those realise that the great attraction of the BNP is simply that they manage to invoke such paroxysms of rage at their very existence. And even though Gordon Brown may think the laws may need changing, fortunately there is no law against merely upsetting these people – yet.

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