Alastair Campbell: Britain's answer to the BNP

For part of Saturday night I was channel-hopping between
Britain's Got Talent and the second part of Robert Carlyle's portrayal of Adolf Hitler on Channel 4.

On BGT, I voted for Shaheen, with a sneaky side vote for Stavros Flatley, my daughter voted for Aidan Davis, and my partner Fiona voted for Susan Boyle; in part out of anger at the way the press had built her up to knock her down. But by the time of the final result, I had seen enough of Hitler to be glad that Diversity had won. Great name, great act, and their victory further evidence that Britain should be, and largely is, proud and happy to be a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, modern country.

Of course some are not happy that we are anything other than all white. Just ask someone called Barry Bennett who was quoted this weekend as saying "whatever's good enough for Hitler is good enough for me. God rest his soul". Bennett is a BNP candidate for the South West in Thursday's European elections.

More evidence of the BNP's so-called moderation under Nick Griffin (guilty of incitement to racial hatred) from the mouth of his running mate in the North West, Garry Aronsson, who says "every time you change your way of life to make immigrants more comfortable, you betray our future".

Hard to know who the BNP would have voted for in Britain's Got Talent. Certainly not Diversity. But I suspect they would have been over on Channel 4, getting their rocks off on the scenes where Hitler whips crowds into a frenzy of hatred of the Jews.

Mainstream politics is not flavour of the month at the moment. The economy is not in great shape. They were twin pillars of Hitler's rise. I am not pretending for one moment that the thugs and misfits surrounding Mr Griffin could ever attract the support that the Nazi leader did. But one vote for them is too many. And the Euro election system means that by not voting, we don't just register apathy, we help the BNP's chances of winning a seat in the European Parliament. Get out and vote Diversity.

Alastair Campbell is the former director of communications at No.10 Downing St. Read his blog at: alastaircampbell.org