A policeman suspended over alleged links to the British National Party will today be quizzed by his bosses.

Pc Steve Bettley of Merseyside Police was suspended after his name featured on an internet list of thousands said to be members of the far-right party.

The list, which was removed from the original blog where it was posted but remains available on other websites, names a number of current and former servicemen, along with ex-policemen.

It was reported that a former constituency chairman for the Conservatives and a former Labour prospective parliamentary candidate are also on the list.

According to The Guardian, Lionel Buck, a former chairman of Ashfield Conservative association in Nottinghamshire, joined the BNP two years ago.

He said: "The way the country is at the moment, there is no major party, whether it be Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat, looking after the indigenous population."

Andrew Emerson told the newspaper he had been due to fight Chichester in Sussex for the Labour party in 1997 before being taken ill. He said he joined the BNP in 2005 and ran as the party's candidate for Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, in the same year.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police yesterday confirmed Pc Bettley had been suspended and returned home early from holiday to help an investigation into why his name was associated with the BNP.

The Pc was once a driver for the force's chief constable, Bernard Hogan Howe - one of the favourites to succeed Sir Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police chief.

A Merseyside force spokesman said Pc Bettley's bosses were keeping an open mind "until the facts around the alleged association have been established".

Officers are banned from joining or promoting the BNP because it would damage race relations, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers.