London, May 21 (Inditop) The Mayor of London Thursday accused the anti-migrant British National Party (BNP) of seeking to whip up a “political stunt” after its leader was reported headed for the British Queen’s garden party.

Richard Barnbrook, a BNP member of the London Assembly, said he will take along his leader Nick Griffin as his guest to the Queen’s garden party at Buckingham Palace July 21 – an annual event to which all London Assembly members are invited alongside other select members of the public.

Griffin was convicted in 1998 of distributing material likely to incite racial hatred and Barnbrook is the first BNP member of the London Assembly.

A BNP spokesman said: “Richard Barnbrook has got an official invite in his capacity as a member of the London Assembly and he is allowed to bring a guest, which will be Nick Griffin. For him to snub an invite from the Queen would be absurd.”

But London Mayor Boris Johnson said Thursday he had written to the chairman of the London Assembly asking him to intervene.

“It now transpires� that Mr Barnbrook plans to bring as his guest the Leader of the BNP, Mr Nick Griffin, or another prominent member of the party, thereby threatening to turn a happy annual event – at which thousands of people across the country are acknowledged for their service to the community – into a political stunt.

“We cannot tolerate any such abuse of the invitation or any potential embarrassment to Her Majesty. I am therefore writing to call on you to inform Mr Barnbrook – at the earliest opportunity – that he must either bring a guest who will not provoke political controversy, or consider his invitation rescinded,” Johnson’s letter said.

The row comes amid fears that a long-running scandal over dubious expenses claimed by British MPs could lead voters to reject mainstream political parties for smaller ones like the Greens and the BNP, which is described by its critics as a racist party.

The prospect horrifies mainstream political parties who have shunned the BNP, rejecting its anti-immigrant stance across the political divide.

When Barnbrook took the stage last year after being elected to the London Assembly, all other candidates walked off.

Commentators say one of the first tests will come next month in the form of elections to the European Parliament.

A BNP spokesman said: “It is something people are going to have to get used to because if we get elected MEPs (Members of European Parliament), this is the kind of thing we are going to be doing on a regular basis. It is the emergence of a party from beyond the pale to mainstream.”

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said he could not confirm individual invitations.

“A number of organisations and bodies receive an allocation of tickets for the garden parties so it is a matter for those organisations who they invite,” he said.

A spokesman for the anti-racist organisation, Searchlight, said many members of Griffin’s party have been convicted of crimes of violence and of racial harassment.

“We would have thought that on security grounds alone he would be denied access to Buckingham palace.”

By rounak