It was a moment of genuine excitement, like that time when Sarah Palin introduced her family. A bit like meeting The Devil at a party, you knew you shouldn't, but there were interesting questions to ask.
As it turned out, Griffin was a wriggling gurning Mussolini and not a bit like Hitler. He was up against that ghastly old fraud Jack Straw whose Dad, said Griffin, was a Conscientious Objector, as was my Dad. So much for Straw's Churchillian posturing.
The other panel members were Bonnie Greer, who does metropolitan smug and thought that Griffin had the wrong line on The Romans, a vital talking point for the white working class. Then there was Chris Huhne, the thinking person's Michael Meacher.
Star of an admittedly weak panel was Sayeeda Warsi who wore the biggest Poppy the British Legion have ever made (it seemed to be a special XL edition) whose Dewsbury grit and quick thinking reminded us why she will be sitting in the cabinet with all those rich Bullingdon boys within six months. Quentin Davies defected on account of her, although it seems that Sayeeda has managed to get over it. Straw started wittering on about immigration. "You're in denial" said Warsi. And he was.