By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982
The Evening Standard has some fascinating snippets from Bonnie Greer, the playright and British Museum trustee who sat next to Nick Griffin on Question Time last night. She calls the experience “probably the weirdest and most creepy experience of my life”:
“It was the strangest thing because as I came out of my dressing room prepared for combat, it was as if he’d been waiting for me in the corridor”. “I was the last to emerge and when he saw me, he turned and smiled his greasy smile and clumsily half extended a hand. I ignored it and thought to myself: what are you about? Are you forgetting I’m black? Are you forgetting you called me a black history fabricator? Are you trying to show me you aren’t racist?”
“We were seated next to each other and as we were having our microphones attached, he leaned towards me like I was his new best friend and tried to make small talk. “Bonnie, how many times have you been on?” he asked. “Bonnie, do you find it scary?” I looked him straight in the eye. “No,” I replied sharply, “but you might.”
“I spent the entire night with my back turned to him. At one point, I had to restrain myself from slapping him. But it was worth it because he was totally trounced. I had thought we’d face a formidable orator, somebody who knew his facts and had his ducks in a row but the guy was a mess! From the moment the audience began shooting questions, it was a case of the Emperor’s new clothes. He was completely exposed as an evasive liar who couldn’t even stand up his own quotes and looked like a buffoon.”
Greer also talks about her background in Chicago, and her father’s experience of coming to Britain as part of Patton’s army during the Second World War.
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