LOUGHTON British National Party district councillors have vowed to stand by their party in light of recent controversial comments made by party chairman Nick Griffin in a BBC documentary.

In the BBC1 documentary The Secret Agent shown last Thursday, journalist Jason Gwynne went undercover to infiltrate a West Yorkshire branch of the BNP, helped by BNP mole Andy Sykes.

During the programme Mr Griffin was shown giving a speech in a West Yorkshire town, in which he branded Islam a "vicious, wicked faith", and claimed Islam had expanded "through a handful of cranky lunatics to sweeping country after country before it all over the world."

In an interview after the programme was aired, Mr Griffin stood by the comments, but added that other party members, who were shown discussing committing racially motivated crimes, were to be expelled.

Mr Griffin's contentious remarks, which could be seen to incite religious hatred, were backed by Loughton BNP councillor Tom Richardson who said Mr Griffin was "well within his rights to say what he felt".

He said: "Nick Griffin said much the same as other people I've seen in newspapers, but because he's BNP, everyone's against him. I won't be distancing myself from the party.

"Personally I believe any religion is evil when it gets too strong. I still stand by the BNP and everything it stands for.

"I don't like any religion, these have been my thoughts for years. Most of what Nick Griffin said I agree with.

"Some of those people were brought in by that mole. He was well within his rights to say what he felt. I believe in free speech, proper free speech.

" I don't agree with everybody in the party, but I would say that about any party I was in. Some parties can't even agree within themselves."

Fellow BNP councillor Terry Farr agreed that Mr Griffin should be allowed to make his feelings known, but then added that footage of other BNP members in that area, one of whom was seen talking about beating up a man during the 2001 riots, should lead to their expulsion.

He said: "I agree that the three people concerned should have been expelled. Mr Griffin was giving an opinion. I think the problem has come about in the first place because of everything that has been said. No-one can deny that the quality of life in inner cities has gone downhill,. Some of that has been caused by people immigrating into this country. To stop people commenting about this, who are concerned about these issues, is not fair."

Mr Farr denounced the documentary as "a joke, an absolute mish-mash", although Mr Richardson said he believed the documentary had done the BNP a "brilliant favour".

He added: "I hope a lot of people saw what it was set up. There was a mole in there for two years (Andy Sykes) and he got people to roll out a lot of crap. I've never heard comments about shooting people. As far as I'm concerned, my party is not racist.

"The programme was a complete set-up, but what can you expect from a government-run BBC."

Loughton Independent Socialist councillor Stephen Murray said: "I watched the programme with interest, and I didn't learn anything that came as a surprise to me. It just confirmed the type of party we're dealing with. I think it's given added evidence for local people to consider whether this is really the party they want representing them in the council chamber.

"I actually taped the programme, and would say to anyone who wants to see it, I'm more than happy for them to contact me and I will lend it to them."