BNP leader Nick Griffin was forced to speed away from his own press conference after protesters pelted him with eggs. Skip related content

He later branded the incident "disgusting" and said: "It's a very, very sad day for British democracy.

"People should be entitled to hear what we have to say and to hear journalists question us robustly."

He described protesters as an "organised mob that's backed by all three main parties to stop us getting our message across to the public" and added: "It does not represent ordinary people."

Protest organiser Weyman Bennett, national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said: "The majority of people did not vote for the BNP, they did not vote at all.

"The BNP was able to dupe them into saying that they had an answer to people's problems.

"They presented themselves as a mainstream party. The reality was because the turnout was so low, they actually got elected."