Buckingham Palace revokes invite to far right

[July 23, 2010]  LONDON (AP) -- Buckingham Palace has revoked a party invitation it gave to far-right leader Nick Griffin, saying he had politicized the event.

Griffin leads the British National Party, a far-right, anti-immigrant group whose roots stretch back to Britain's neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements.

Because he was elected to the European Parliament last year, Griffin is automatically eligible to attend one of the three annual garden parties held at Buckingham Palace over the summer.

The prospect of Griffin meeting the queen over cucumber sandwiches outraged many Britons, who called on the monarch to revoke the invite.

The palace says Griffin's invitation was canceled because he tried to "blatantly politicize" his attendance by boasting about it in the media.

[Associated Press]

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