Yes, this latest debate is a bit wrong-minded in my opinion.

There are thought to be 6 teachers on the BNP membership list?

Teacup, storm?

The police service proscribed officers' membership of the BNP because it prejudiced the effective conduct of their duties and of the legal process. The BNP is a racist party. That is a matter of settled legal fact. If a copper belongs to it, he is compromised in every conceivable way when he has to arrest a person from an ethnic minority and then appear as a sound, impartial witness for the prosecution.

The reason coppers can't be BNP members is that the fact of their membership could allow the guilty to walk free. Any other consideration was secondary.

The same applies to Prison Officers. As well as simply being racist - as a matter of settled legal fact - the party has a line of rhetorical narrative about ethnic minorities being criminals by virtue of their genes and being less worthy of respect and care. Prison officers quite literally hold the lives and safety of vulnerable inmates in their hands and subject to their judgement. The reasons why BNP membership would be corrosive in that environment are all too obvious.

Teachers? Not important enough. No life or death control or responsibilities. They are for the most part educated, intelligent professionals who should be trusted to impart facts to their charges and coach them through exams without being fulminating bigots. That there are only 6 BNP members in a workforce of, what, 500,000 or so speaks volumes, doesn't it?

I think that the profession is quite capable of policing itself on this issue - but I agree with the recommendation to review this decision annually.