RAY Honeyford (Letters, September 3) defends the right of the police to join fascist organisations such as the BNP.

He bases his claim on one argument: that in a democracy people should have the right to join whatever legal organisation they choose. It's an admirable sentiment as far as it goes , but in this case it doesn't go very far.

The recent TV documentary on the BNP exposed them as a group behind whose legally correct faade there lurks individuals who wish to do real harm to race relations in general, and to inflict real injuries on people in the ethnic minority. The fact that some of these BNP members are elected town councillors only goes to show how far the party will go to abuse the democratic system for its own cynical ends.

Officially, the BNP is a legally-constituted political party, but behind the faade there are some extremely unpleasant, dangerous individuals.

The police assert that they have been working long and hard on race relations and on ways in which they can contribute to racial harmony. To suggest that, while doing this, serving police officers should be allowed to become members of race-hate groups such as the BNP is, frankly, absurd.

Before getting on his liberal-democratic high horse to defend such an absurdity, Mr Honeyford should speak to some of the Asians whose lives are made a misery by the hatred handed down by the BNP.

P. MURPHY,

Church Drive,

Prestwich.