It's like Dave is saying. If people agree with the views of a political party, and it is in no way illegal, then it is legitimate.
I would most certainly
not vote for the BNP in their current state. That is my choice. I choose not to vote for them. But I ask you to remember that there are plenty of people who would never have voted for old labour, but now vote for new labour. Obviously something changed that made them decide to vote for Tony's posse. So, you can't rule it out that one day either situation, reputation or policies will change in such a way that they are a mainstream party. Anyone who disagrees should look into the history of the Labour party and see how they started!
Now, assuming that the BNP will stay with their current policy of referring to Michael Howard as being "of immigrant stock" (that was in a press release where they claimed not to be at all racist!
), the fact that they have a certain fraction of the vote reflects a certain fraction of the public's opinion.
Remember that the country is widely varied depending on where you go. In a well-to-do area of Surrey people won't necessarily be bothered about immigration. When houses cost the best part of a million, even the most loonie lefty council won't be buying them for asylum stealers (although the prospect of such a party gaining power in a well-to-do area of Surrey is laudible!). So, it is all very well for someone living there to think all is well and that anyone who has a problem with it is a small-minded bigot.
But what about in an area where there ARE problems? What would you think if you had a recently widowed grandmother who was forced out of the house and into a tiny flat because the council needed to house immigrants in the house? What about if your child's school stopped teaching about Christmas because it offended the parents of the asylum seekers?
There are also other problems. For instance, in part of Middlesex a lot of Somali refugees were taken in. It was then found that they were fighting with other ethnic groups, mainly beating up black Brits. Now, any asylum seeker that has to be moved to certain areas to avoid violence is not worth it. They obviously aren't that bothered about being here if they aren't willing to put aside whatever prejudices they have.