One of Archant's weekly papers has carried an advert for the British National Party in the same edition that the editor denounced them in a column.

In this week's Hampstead and Highgate Express, Geoff Martin says he dislikes the BNP and would rather chew off his hand than vote for them.

But he goes on to defend the decision to carry the advert, saying: "Why would a respectable organ like the Ham&High carry an advert for the BNP.....the simple answer is that this is not China. It is Britain".

He adds: "Our democracy may be tainted, but it is still an example to all. So let's keep it that way."

The advert was appealing for voters ahead of next month's London Assembly and Mayoral elections in the capital.

Geoff told holdthefrontpage today: "The Ham&High has been on the streets for about 30 hours now and I've received five letters of support and two of criticism – one of them personally calling me a plonker.

"Staff knew about it before it went in the paper. Undoubtedly, there's a strong opinion that we should not have run the advert.

"But there's that critical difference between looking at individual views and forming reader policy.

"There was long discussion about this, more so that any advert that I've ever known. But we are taking adverts from all other candidates."

Geoff added: "It featured a picture of a scrubbed-up family with the words 'People like this will vote for the BNP'.

"To say 'you cannot have it and everybody else can' – the word censorship starts to come into the equation.

"What made it different is this is a party people find objectionable. But there was nothing objectionable in the advert itself."

Geoff, who has been editor for five years, said other Archant titles were due to carry the advert but because of protracted discussions by management, some deadlines had passed this week.

He added that the advert had been earmarked for future editions.

You can read Geoff's leader column in full at the Ham&High website.

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