SO a stalwart of the BNP has been found in the highest echelons of Iain Duncan-Smith's campaign to be the next Tory leader.

I can't say that I'm surprised.

You can't talk about Britain being a "foreign land" as William Hague did shortly before the last election and allow people like the former Tory MP, John Townend, to describe Britain as a "mongrel race" and not expect to attract political extremists.

The news that Edgar Griffin is the father of BNP leader Nick Griffin makes the revelation doubly shocking. However, the fact that Edgar Griffin's wife stood against Iain Duncan-Smith at the General Election makes it farcical too. Shocking and farcical are words that will be etched on the gravestone of the Conservative Party.

The decent, law-abiding, moderate clearly has no home in the modern Tory Party. The lurch to the far shores of political common sense that we have seen in recent years, has also meant that the electoral fortunes of the Tory Party have nose-dived accordingly.

You might expect someone like Iain Duncan-Smith, who hopes to lead the Tories back to power, to catch on to such a simple equation. The fact that he has not speaks volumes about his ability to lead.

Kevin Meagher

Hereford Crescent

Little Lever, Bolton