The leader of the Italian Northern League, Umberto Bossi, called for invader boats from Africa to be sunk with gunfire in June 2003, and yesterday’s comments by British National Party leader Nick Griffin MEP were merely echoing Mr Bossi’s sentiments, observers have pointed out.

The controlled media has worked itself up into a frenzy over Mr Griffin’s suggestion that invader boats be sunk to stop the invasion, but are strangely silent over Mr Bossi’s much more strident comments, possibly because the Northern League is in alliance with the UKIP party in the European Parliament.

During an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Mr Bossi said he wanted the action because he was “sick” of illegal immigrants. Corriere della Sera quoted Mr Bossi as saying that weapons should now be used because there was no other solution.

“After the second or third warning, boom… the cannon roars,” the paper quoted him as saying.

“Without any beating about the bush. The cannon that blows everyone out of the water. Otherwise this business will never end.”

The paper says Mr Bossi was then asked whether it would be right to fire on immigrants when most boats carry mainly women and children.

“Illegal immigrants must be hounded out, either nicely or nastily. Only those with a job contract can enter the country. The others, out!” he is quoted as saying.

“There comes a time when it becomes necessary to resort to the use of force.

“The navy and the finance police are going to have to line up in defence of our shores and to use guns. Those are the proper regulations for implementing the law. No escape clauses and no postponement.”

Although Mr Bossi later claimed that his words had been ‘misrepresented,’ he never questioned the accuracy of the newspaper’s report.

* The new UKIP-affiliated group in the European Parliament is called the ‘Europe of Freedom and Democracy’ and is made up of the Danish People’s Party, the True Finns, Libertas France, LAOS from Greece, the Northern League, the Reformed Political Party from Holland, the Slovak National Party and UKIP. It waits to be seen how long this group will last, particularly in the light of recent developments.