BNP Ballerina

A Leeds dancer dubbed the 'BNP ballerina' says she welcomes Muslim children to her ballet classes.

Professional ballerina Simone Clarke – once a principal dancer with the English National Ballet – was previously 'outed' as a member of the far-right British National Party.

She was also once engaged to one of the BNP's most senior members Richard Barnbrook.

It has now emerged the 39-year-old is teaching ballet to children as young as two at the Yorkshire Ballet Academy, based at Shadwell Village Hall in Shadwell, Leeds.

Approached by her local paper the Yorkshire Evening Post for comment, Miss Clarke at first refused to answer questions. However when pressed, she claimed parents of children in her classes were fully aware of her political background.

"All my parents know," she said. "I don't handpick people. If anyone wants to come to my school to learn ballet they are welcome."

Asked directly if she taught ethnic minority children, she said: "Of course I do." And questioned on teaching Muslim children, she again said: "Yes I do."

We ask:

> Is it ever possible to keep politics and personal views out of the classroom, or, similarly, out of other workplace such as police stations, doctor's surgeries and courts of law?

> And if it's wrong for this woman, would it then be right for a niqab-wearing teacher refusing to teach sex education, or a Muslim doctor who refuses to treat an STD patient or an alcoholic? These are purely made-up examples but we've all heard or read such stories.

> Can there really be one rule for some, and another for others?

> And finally, since we are talking ballet for the masses, how much would you pay to see a niqabi 'Nutcracker' or a bearded-brothers ensemble doing 'Swan Lake'?