LONDON, (Reuters) – British far-right leader Nick Griffin denied yesterday he was a Nazi during a television  debate which provoked political uproar, as police scuffled with  anti-racist demonstrators outside the studio.  

The first appearance by a British National Party leader on  the BBC’s flagship “Question Time” political programme, which  regularly attracts three million viewers, divided British  society.  

Anti-racism groups and some politicians argued that the BNP  should not be given a platform on the publicly-funded BBC while  others backed the invitation to Griffin on free speech grounds.  

Griffin, whose party wants a halt to immigration and  Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, was quizzed by  fellow panellists and members of the studio audience about  comments he had made about World War Two and the Nazi Holocaust.  

“I am not a Nazi, I never have been,” he said.  

British Nazis “loathe me because I have brought the BNP from  being frankly an anti-semitic and racist organisation to being  the only political party which in the clashes between Israel and  Gaza stood full square behind Israel’s right to deal with Hamas  terrorists,” he said.  

Asked if he had ever denied the Holocaust, Griffin did not  answer directly, saying only: “I do not have a conviction for  Holocaust denial.”