READING the letter from leading propagandist for the BNP, Mrs Austin (March 2) reminded me of the old saying about a leopard changing its spots.

I think Dave Prentis, general secretary of UNISON, put it very well recently when he said of the BNP: "Beneath the veneer of suits and so-called policies on social issues lie deep-seated views of racial superiority and conspiracy theories".

It is, of course, true that members of the far right National Front, led by John Tyndall, left to set up their own organisation, the BNP. What is also true is that they did it because they realised that the physical violence against their opponents was doing more harm than good. So, in order to win support, out went the "skinhead" and in came the smart suit. But, and it's a very big but, the racial superiority of white people is central to the BNP and sets it apart from any other political party.

That is why I say to the anonymous "Bury Pensioner" (Letters, March 2) that the BNP is not "a political party like any other". Should they ever be elected by the democratic process, one of their first acts would be to take away our democratic rights. The prime example, of course, is what happened in Germany in the 1930s when the Nazis used the democratic process and then destroyed it.

Mrs Austin says that they "left the National Front and everything it stands for". I cannot recall leading BNP members denying racism or anti-semitism as a policy. In fact their leader, Nick Griffin, denies that the Holocaust happened. According to him the Holocaust is a Jewish conspiracy.

The fact that the BNP's world view is distorted by its racism distinguishes it from all other political parties.

P. KAISERMAN