The man's name, address and contact details appeared on a leaked list of alleged BNP supporters published on the internet.

Firefighters and police were called to the blaze in Eighth Avenue, in Windy Bank, Liversedge, at 10.40pm on Thursday.

Neighbours said the car exploded in a ball of flames and black smoke, sending parts of it flying across the street. The cause of the blast is being investigated.

The targeted car was parked outside a house next door to the man whose name was published on the list but who left the BNP last year.

Yesterday the man said he did not think he was the intended target.

"I can't see it being linked to us," he said. "The car that was set on fire was outside a neighbour's house, while my car was outside my house.

"There are numbers on the doors, which people can clearly see, so I don't think this has anything to do with us.

"I'm not even an active member of the party any more; I did join up in a spur-of-the-moment type of thing, but my membership ran out a few months ago and I haven't renewed it."

Although he believes he was not the arsonists' target, the former BNP member revealed that he had received a threatening telephone message since the list was leaked.

"I've had a threatening phone call, which the police are investigating, but it seems as though as a number of people on the list have received similar calls."

The BNP's organiser for Kirklees, David Exley, said: "I spoke to the police this morning and they confirmed that a car has been firebombed last night and one of the lines of inquiry is the person who lives next door to whose car it was is on the list on the internet."

Mr Exley said the man was not a current supporter of the BNP.

The only BNP councillor on Kirklees Council, Roger Roberts, who lives a couple of miles from where the incident happened, said he believed the fire was not connected to the publication of the list. Mr Roberts, who represents Heckmondwike, said: "That kind of thing is a regular occurrence on that estate. It could be drug dealers or anybody."

Neighbours spoke about the moment they heard the explosion outside their homes.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said: "There was nothing left of the car. The roof was blown off, the windscreen was blown off, there were bits of car in my garden and bits of car in next door's garden."

Both ends of the street were sealed off with police tape as scenes-of-crime officers searched the scene.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said no one was hurt in the incident. Asked about the proximity of the attack to the house of the man on the BNP list, he said: "The cause of the damage and any potential motive all form part of the current investigation."

Thousands of BNP supporters were named on the list, which was leaked on an internet blog.

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.