Something "not very nice" about the BNP says former organiser

British Nationalism "sleazy at the highest level"

Grudges die hard on the ever fractious far-right, where factional in-fighting and petty personal squabbles are a way of life.

Long after his departure from the BNP, former Humberside and Lincolnshire organiser Dr. David Michael continues to nurse grievances first aired at the time of his resignation. Michael has since washed up on the shores of the eccentric Sharon Ebanks's tiny New Nationalist Party, and supplies The Thunderbolt column to its website.

The latest Thunderbolt column, Five easy lessons for British Nationalists, begins with the easiest lesson of all - don't trust Nick Griffin!

We probably don't need a long-standing supporter of various racist organisations to tell us that, but there is something endearingly honest about David Michael - a kind of bemused outrage normally found in very young children just told there is no Father Christmas. Michael seems never to have got over his discovery that Nick Griffin and the BNP top brass work in decidedly mysterious ways.

Michael's 2002 resignation letter was addressed to "BNP national and regional leaders, key BNP activists in Hull and Grimsby" and made not a jot of difference to the BNP, despite containing numerous allegations against leading members of the organisation, including the ubiquitous Tony Lecomber (recently proscribed, as we report elsewhere).

Detailing how he found Humberside and Lincolnshire BNP "a tragic mess", Michael's resignation letter also speaks of "bitter feuding" between leading members Tony Braithwaite and John Brayshaw, then tells of how he (Michael) and others resurrected the unit into something like effectiveness - "Organized nationalism was flourishing in Hull for the first time in 60 years".

But this is the British National Party, and things are never so simple.

Michael claims that "Special Branch and its fellow travellers launched a two-pronged attack on us". The details given by Michael suggest nothing more than a routine information gathering exercise on the part of the Branch such as all small political groups - left and right - are subjected to. That, apparently, constitutes the first prong of the "attack". The second prong seems to have come from within the BNP itself.

According to Michael: "Mr John Brayshaw was undertaking a serious programme of destabilization against our resurgent unit. This consisted at first of petty actions, such as the refusal to release our local funds to East Midlands branch to help in their general election campaign, and petty gossip and tittle tattle, some of which got back to us by various means."

Michael recognises this "as an attempt by the Establishment to cause trouble".

Brayshaw is accused of "working on [Tony] Lecomber", who "was going to go into 'dirty tricks' mode" (no surprise there, then), and as a result Michael stepped down to save Lecomber the bother of forcing him out.

All of this was wrapped up in the tale of David Hannam and (yet again) missing BNP cash, which forms the first part of David Michael's "Five easy lessons..." Thunderbolt essay.

"A few years ago I had the dubious honour of being the Humberside and Lincolnshire organizer of the BNP," writes Michael. "In due course I handed over the job to a young fellow, one David Hannam, giving him my full support. I did not know him particularly well but he appeared keen and very active; ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ as the saying goes. Hannam subsequently went to live with the then local treasurer, Diane Bridgeman, who is now his wife. The relevance of this will soon become apparent."

Michael relates how he was told that money put aside for the payment of leaflets had not been paid to an aggrieved printer by Hannam and Bridgeman, and asks: "So what had happened to the money? To the hard-working members’ money?" Apparently, Michael was told, the dubious duo had used it to pay their telephone bill.

Incensed, Michael attempted to contact Nick Griffin. Unable to do so, "I telephoned Hannam. He confirmed that he had not paid for the leaflets. He had no coherent explanation. I told him that unless he returned the money to the party and resigned as organizer then I would complain to the police. I gave him a short deadline.... Hannam duly returned the loot and resigned from the position of local organizer. I subsequently received an email from Tony Lecomber, then BNP branch liaison officer, thanking me for my good offices in getting the money back."

But - again - this is, as we so often note, the British National Party, because then "strange things started to happen."

"The gentleman who was the regional organizer for the area at the time made it very clear that he was not happy with my line against Hannam and that he wanted him reinstated. He felt that Hannam had just made ‘a mistake’. I sent Nick Griffin an account of what had happened. It eventually became very clear that Griffin also wanted to accept Hannam’s account of the incident as ‘a mistake’.

"Now, consider this. Hannam had apparently used money intended for leaflets to pay a telephone account – nobody denied this to me when I pointed it out. It is rather difficult to see how this could be done by mistake. When threatened with police action if he didn’t resign as local organizer, Hannam resigned. If he had simply made an innocent mistake (rather than committing a crime) why would he do this? Surely he would only resign in response to such a threat if he knew that prosecution and a possible prison sentence for theft awaited him . . ."

Hannam and Bridgeman's story then changed: "They started putting it about that Hannam had decided that leaflets were a bad idea and a waste of money. The problem with that story, of course, is that not only does it conflict with the earlier version of the incident as ‘a mistake’ but it spectacularly fails to account for why the decision was taken AFTER the leaflets had been ordered and printed, or how the money for the leaflets ended up in Hannam’s personal account!"

These points were put to Griffin, says, Michael, but to no avail. It was then put to Michael that Griffin wanted the local elections contested in Hull, and Diane Bridgeman being the candidate, any action taken against Hannam might scotch that plan.

Michael wasted no time: "My response was swift and sure. It seemed obvious that Hannam had stolen money from the local party – from good, decent, fellow nationalists. Griffin was trying to cover up for him. I was not prepared to go along with such sleaze. How could I criticize the other parties, the Establishment, the system, for being rotten to the core when the leader of the BNP was behaving in a manner that was every bit as damnable? I promptly resigned from the BNP."

The words "sleaze", "Griffin" and "BNP" frequently being found in close proximity, usually in the same sentence, we can only wonder why it took so long for the penny to drop. But more surprises were to follow for David Michael:

"After several months had passed I was saddened to see that Hannam was reinstated as organizer of the local BNP. However, my sadness turned to amazement when I later learned that Hannam had been promoted to the position of deputy treasurer of the BNP. I could only assume that Griffin had permitted this because he wanted a loyal crook in the treasury – perhaps someone who could be trusted to keep dirty secrets."

"Am I telling the truth?" Michael plaintively asks. "I have made very serious allegations against the leader of a political party and against its deputy treasurer. I have accused the deputy treasurer of the BNP of apparently attempting to steal money – of apparently knowingly and deliberately misappropriating party funds for his own personal use. I have accused the chairman of the BNP of knowingly appointing someone who apparently attempted to steal money from his fellow nationalists to the position of deputy treasurer. If those allegations are false then let Mr Griffin or Mr Hannam sue me. In fact, I dare them to do so. Not only that but if they do not do so I assert that the electorate is entitled to wonder why not! (In fact I can tell the electorate what Griffin’s problem is. He knows that numerous emails and other documents were flying around any one of which could prove damning should it surface in court.)"

"How can one be loyal to men who steal from their comrades or who conspire to hide such treachery?" Michael demands. "Let the truth be told and let it be heard far and wide!"

And Sharon Ebanks is one person Michael can rely upon to ensure that the "truth" is indeed heard far and wide - she could barely wait to get the link to Michael's article up on Stormfront.

Michael notes Griffin's credentials as an alleged "moderate" (in far-right terms), but immediately returns to the attack: "But now here’s something strange. As various enemies ranging from the BBC to the Anti-Nazi League have pointed out, Mr Hannam served a prison sentence for putting out some politically incorrect leaflets in June 1999. Normally putting out politically incorrect leaflets would be praiseworthy. The problem is that in this case, the leaflets were so rabid that they made Heinrich Himmler look like the Pink Tooth Fairy in comparison. They tell us, inter alia: ‘Jews are in England unlawfully since the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 has never been repealed.’ (How Pat Richardson, the Jewish BNP councillor for Epping, would love that one if she knew about it! And what would Griffin’s poor little legal beagle, Lee Barnes, think?) It goes on to tell us ‘Now these illegal immigrants completely control our news and TV . . .’ and it continues in similar vein."

Michael is generous enough to pass this off as a "mistake" on Hannam's part, but "...it was the sort of ‘mistake’ that only a complete idiot would make. And only a complete idiot would appoint someone who makes that sort of ‘mistake’ to the position of deputy treasurer of something purporting to be a serious political party.

"Unless, of course, there is some reason why a thief and an idiot might come in handy occupying such a position . . ."

Well, we can only speculate, but this might be the time to draw your attention to certain "unsettling accounts" as provided by the BNP to the Electoral Commission, and dissected here by a disgruntled BNP member (unformatted text document). It makes for extremely interesting reading, and has certainly given many BNP members pause for thought before putting their hands in their pockets.

Tales of dodgy accounting are hardly new to the BNP. Elsewhere we note the case of Sharon Edwards, one-time deputy to Nick Griffin, who, along with husband Steve (West Midlands organiser) and - perhaps more importantly - BNP National Treasurer Mike Newlands, left in disgust after clashing with Griffin over financial irregularities.

Since their departure, Griffin (described by Sharon Ebanks as "a corrupt thief") has greatly strengthened his hold over the party, and there's no room in it for anybody who asks difficult questions - such as why did a "thief and an idiot" come to be Deputy Treasurer of the British National Party?

As David Michael is left to conclude: "British nationalism and white nationalism have become sleazy. Horribly sleazy. And they have become sleazy at the highest level."

Footnote: Ebanks's Stormfront thread linking to David Michael's article has been pulled. Now who would want to do that?