July 02, 2007

Legal challenge to make BNP leadership election democratic?

Rumour has it that Chris Jackson, the challenger for Nick Griffin's leadership of the British National Party and the party's former North-West regional organiser, is about to make a legal challenge against the election rules as set by Griffin himself. These rules, though played down by the Griffin camp as standard, are intended to make it almost impossible for any challenger to win.

Since the modern BNP was formed back in 1982 there has been just one leadership challenge, when Nick Griffin took over from the party's founder John Tyndall after a campaign of lies and distortion in 1999. Tyndall was far from being an angel but Griffin knew how to manipulate the truth far better than he and, with the help of many of his friends who had moved with him from the old National Front, he was able to oust Tyndall and take the party off in a new direction.

Sadly, the direction Griffin chose was as far from democracy as could be imagined, with Griffin ruling the party as a dictator. This is clear from the contortions that the BNP is going through to ensure that Jackson is denied a voice during the pre-election period.

Griffin laid out the rules in a list that appeared on the main BNP website:

'Each candidate shall send via email an official statement not exceeding 200 words, together with a photograph of himself, to the editor of the British Nationalist BNP members’ bulletin, Kenny Smith (administration@bnp.org.uk), by noon on Thursday 5th July at the latest.

Additionally, each candidate shall send via email to Mr. Smith a longer and complimentary official statement not exceeding 800 words which will be published with the photographs side-by-side on a section of the main BNP website which will be open to members only with a URL which will be published in the July issue of British Nationalist
[which we would appreciate taking a look at, if someone would like to let us know where it is]. The candidates’ statements and photographs will then appear in the July issue of British Nationalist, which will be sent to all members.

A single sheet ballot paper, designed to be as proof against forgery as is reasonably possible, will be mailed out together with July’s British Nationalist bulletin. The statements for the website will be published simultaneously online by our web editor Steve Blake on Wednesday 11th July.

Ballot papers must be returned by post to PO Box 87, Ossett, Wakefield, WF5 8WN to arrive by Thursday 26th July at the latest. All ballots received before that date will be safely stored unopened. The opening of the ballot papers will commence at 3pm that afternoon. You will be notified of precise directions in good time in due course. Each candidate and agent may attend and may bring an additional two telling agents with them should they so wish.

The whole proceedings will be under the control of the Returning Officer, party manager Nick Cass. The opening and counting of the papers will be carried out by four currently paid up members of the party, two nominated by each candidate. Any spoilt or unclear ballots will be adjudicated upon by the standard method used in UK elections, with the decision of the Returning Officer being final. The result will be announced immediately after the count and the winner will be the leader of the party from that moment.

From now until the close of polls, both candidates and their supporters are at liberty to appear and speak at any party meetings to which they are invited by local officials, and to organise campaign meetings of their own. In order to avoid giving an unfair advantage to the incumbent, or encouraging the illicit collection of membership data, neither candidate nor their agents or supporters shall distribute any information, in any form, by post, phone or email, except in response to a direct request from an individual member for information for him or herself.'

So Chris Jackson has around three weeks to prepare and present his manifesto, travel to speak to all of the numerous BNP branches in the country (at his own expense) to state his case, is not allowed to send a mailout to all party members or even telephone party members who may be sympathetic to his challenge but need the personal touch to clinch the deal and has no chance of checking the returned ballot papers as they come in and are 'safely stored' by Griffin's old chum Nick Cass.

One wonders how easy it would be for the Griffin team to pack a few thousand envelopes with Griffin votes and put them in the post. Not too difficult, I'd imagine. Quick, someone call the United Nations.

Apart from being the incumbent, Griffin has another few advantages. He has plenty of money and no doubt will be zooming all over the place kissing babies and shaking hands wherever he is invited to do so. Also, while denying Jackson the opportunity of getting his message out to the members, he has an excellent and continuing opportunity in the form of the nazi Stormfront forum. In spite of being proscribed to BNP members, Stormfront is packed with them and has shown a very clear bias over the last couple of months since news of the challenge became known by closing any anti-Griffin/pro-Jackson threads and, over the past couple of weeks at least, closing any thread that dared to highlight or discuss the epidemic of corruption at the top of the BNP.

Jackson frankly doesn't stand much of a chance though a legal challenge to the Griffin-dictated election rules might push a lot of votes his way. Even so, we would expect Griffin to win fairly resoundingly. The BNP membership is conservative by nature and dramatic change is not something it generally wishes to see, still less participate in. Nevertheless, we may be surpised. A membership sick to death of the numerous get rich quick schemes that inevitably go wrong, a membership that remembers that not a single seat was gained in May's council elections or a membership that has realised that the party hasn't had a single by-election win for years might actually get it together to vote for change and let's face it, if he's not kicked out, Griffin will stay leader of the BNP until he considers he has enough money to retire on or he manages to bankrupt the party.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

After the debacle of the TC last year NO ONE in their right mind would trust Nick Cass with anything.

Griffin is a dictator who will eventually get what he deserves from his own members.

Such a pity the UAF have advanced sensational lies in the past because over the past few weeks you've actually been telling the truth about the BNP but no one will believe you now.

Anonymous said...

Bullshit. I'm a member of the reform group and I haven't spotted any outright lies here. A couple of what look like genuine mistakes yes but largely the accusations against Nick Griffin have been correct. If anything this site has missed a couple of big issues that it really should have picked up on.

locust said...

So what are the lies that UAF have advanced over the last few weeks?
Would you care to elaborate

Antifascist said...

'If anything this site has missed a couple of big issues that it really should have picked up on.'
Do tell.

'So what are the lies that UAF have advanced over the last few weeks?'
To be fair, anon did say 'in the past'. I'd still like to know what they were supposed to have been though.

Anonymous said...

Chris JHackson isn't doing the bid bevause he thinks he'll win-he's doing it to show Nick Griffin that there's a few members who are pissed off enough to nominate some one else. 100 of them in fact.

youdontknowme said...

I am a BNP member and Griffin supporter but I can see that this is an unfair election. At the very least we should wait until after the next conference where both sides will be able to debate the issues.

I don't know much and the challenger and I still won't know a lot with only 800 words allowed.

Anonymous said...

It astonishes and saddens me that BNP supporters have to come to an anti-fascist website to express their disatisfaction with their own party. Can the BNP leadership not see how disgraceful it is that things have been allowed to get this far???

Anonymous said...

And I meant to say good luck to Chris Jackson. I fear he, and his 100 supporters, are going to need it after Nick Griffin wins the vote. There will be a purge.

Anonymous said...

The rules set for the leadership election seem quite fair to me. A 200 word statement is more than many Unions give and (I believe) the Labour Deputy candidates got. There is also a longer statement offered on the website. Three weeks is long enough to have a General Election campaign so why not a BNP leadership one? Jackson knew that he was going to run and has plenty of time to prepare a campaign.

As to scrutiny of the vote it is reasonable to expect that each candidate will be able to send people along to watch the count and that some independent people of good standing will also be present. I'm sure that this will be arranged.

The fact is that Griffin will win because people will ask:- "Is Nick Griffin or Jackson a better leader for the BNP?"

Most will answer Griffin because he has built the Party up after years of abject failure.

Anonymous said...

Why can't the BNP do what it's always complaining about and get rid of postal voting and allow polling stations only?

Every Branch to hold a meeting and voting with the counts taking place around the country in front of witnesses and the total phoned through to the two challengers.

Griffin will cheat in this election, he's been cheating since he was born. His first victims were his parents when he virtually bankrupted them. No matter the political party, to have such a leader is a disgrace.

Griffin goes on about the unemployed being trash and scum yet he's never had a serious job in his life. To quote a friend "The man is a spiv of the type found peddling bootlegged gear during the war instead of fighting on the frontline". Griffin is a cheat and a fraud.

Anonymous said...

Alot of bnp supporters are now waking up to the truth that the far right is bollocks.We were blinded by the truth.The truth is we have all ways been at a war of class not race.

Anonymous said...

"It astonishes and saddens me that BNP supporters have to come to an anti-fascist website to express their disatisfaction with their own party. Can the BNP leadership not see how disgraceful it is that things have been allowed to get this far???"

It would only be a disgrace if it was a political party, it isn't, it's a money making machine for Griffin's family. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos comes to mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imelda_Marcos

Anonymous said...

"Most will answer Griffin because he has built the Party up after years of abject failure."

No he hasn't. The members are the ones who do ALL the work. Griffin just takes ALL the credit. Without the gullible members Griffin would be right where he belongs. Touting for blow jobs in Soho.

Anonymous said...

Still making your own posts to make it look like people give a fuck eh? LOL

Could try harder to make it look convincing

Anonymous said...

And since when has UAF been intrested in democracy?

Anonymous said...

Given the recent Labour ‘shoe in’ leadership change, a truly democratic leadership election would destroy (and shame) the BNP's opponent's contention that they are a fascist party. Fascist parties don’t have democratic leadership elections open to all the membership, the BNP do!

Anonymous said...

'Still making your own posts to make it look like people give a fuck eh?'

We don't need to, cretin.

Antifascist said...

'Still making your own posts to make it look like people give a fuck eh?'
Wow, looks like Thickie Watmough's back! Oh joy.

Anonymous said...

"It would only be a disgrace if it was a political party, it isn't, it's a money making machine for Griffin's family."

Aint that the truth.

Anonymous said...

Just seen this

Nick Cass the BNP elections officer ?

After seeing this statement carried by the Britain Forward blog, Cass should immediately relinquish this returning officer role and leave it for an unbiased BNP member, or at least one whom both candidates can trust.

http://britainforward.blogspot.com/

Dear Sir,Can i ask you what this website is aiming to achieve? I do not agree with either the Britainforward website or the britainbackward website. In my opinion this leadership challenge should be fought with integrity and honesty.If Chris Jackson feels he can do a better job than Nick Griffin then let him have a go at proving it without third parties getting involved spreading false rumours and nonsense. I believe anyone has a right to challenge for leadership but only with the right intentions. These intentions are to further our cause and achieve our goal of power in our own nation, and not out of spite, hatred or jealousy as i feel is the case this time.(NWN: Emphasis) I wont even begin to address any of the subjects you write about as they are irrelevant to how this challenge is fought.You have to admit the BNP has been successful. Not as successful as we want, but more so than ever before. I personally don't think Chris Jackson will be a better leader or is capable of being a better leader than Nick. Nick griffin has been the best leader this party has had and is currently the best leader the party can find.I find it insulting to be labelled a 'yes' man because i am part of the party's staff. I say yes to nobody unless i believe its the right decision, and only after discussion will i backtrack on my decision. I am a hard nosed Yorkshire man not some wimp!You are insulting a lot of people who work tirelessly for the party with the best intentions at heart, either volunteers or staff who on a peanuts wage have to deal with an increasing amount of pressure and workload. The party's staff work miracles on the budget we have, they deserve congratulations not ridicule. The organisation is not perfect but which is? Every department is improving and members of staff are learning and fine tuning the organisation. This is the important thing. But one thing is for sure, it is a damn site better than it has been under any previous leadership, and its a damn site bigger.When the right man for the job comes along, i know Nick Griffin will gladly step down, just as all true nationalists will do when its their time. And then I along with the people who care about this party and its aims which include its membership and its staff will back the new blood as we work towards winning our country back. Until this happens we will support out of loyalty to our party and our noble cause and not out of personal loyalty to Nick griffin the best man for the job, and i have no doubt who that is.RegardsNick CassBNP Party manager

Anonymous said...

Is it wrong of me to point out what a strange shaped head Chris Jackson has got?

Antifascist said...

@Jo
LOL Disgraceful!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"Most will answer Griffin because he has built the Party up after years of abject failure."

No he hasn't. The members are the ones who do ALL the work. Griffin just takes ALL the credit. Without the gullible members Griffin would be right where he belongs. Touting for blow jobs in Soho.

2:25 PM, July 02, 2007

The BNP had members who also did a lot of work under Tyndall's reign. Only when Griffin took the reins did the party really begin to move forward. Tyndall cringed at Griffin's gagged publicity stunt at an election count years ago. Sensible members realised that this sort of stuff helped to move the party forward. Whatever one thinks of Griffin, he obviously has a talent for strategy that eluded others in authority in the past. The casual homophobia of this poster is out of place on a left forum.

Anonymous said...

Nick Grffin is'nt bigger than the party.I'm not concerned by the lack of new councillors, it's the percentage of the vote the BNP gets that counts for now.hey are still getting significant support and this means MEP's in 2009 because anyone can vote BNPin the euro election.

Antifascist said...

'Sensible members realised that this sort of stuff helped to move the party forward.'
So you consider no by-election wins in three years and zero gains in the last council elections a forward move? Despite plenty of help from the government the BNP is going nowhere.

'The casual homophobia of this poster is out of place on a left forum.'
I consider that a sideswipe at Griffin's badly hidden sexual past, a reference to the fact that he would prostitute himself in any way to make money and, for the umpteenth time, we are neither left nor a forum.

Anonymous said...

Griffin's correspondence goes online


http://www.jackson4leader.com/detail.html

John P said...

http://www.jackson4leader.com/detail.html
Judging by that link it looks like it is going to get nasty

Anonymous said...

"JOHN WRIGHT said...
Alot of bnp supporters are now waking up to the truth that the far right is bollocks.We were blinded by the truth.The truth is we have all ways been at a war of class not race.

2:15 PM, July 02, 2007"

I disagree

The war is against the haves and the have nots. Speaking with a snotty accent and having blue blood doesn't mean you can afford to eat.

The war is MONEY and the SCUM who wield it

Anonymous said...

"The casual homophobia of this poster is out of place on a left forum."

I'm not homophobic the BNP is.

The BNP is also anti porn but it doesn't stop your security guard from performing in public and it sure as hell doesn't stop Nick Griffin's sister from running a porn shop for a living. The BNP are lying hypocrites.

Anonymous said...

So, where is this porn shop then?

These are ridiculous aguments and slurs. If you cannot do better, then go away and let others who can.

Anonymous said...

Who and where is Nick Griffin's sister?

In an earlier post (or comment I forget exactly which) featuring Martin Webster's attacks on Griffin, it was mentioned that Griffin's sister has sort of disappeared and has disassociated herself entirely from 'Old Nick' himself.

This implied some criticism of his activities if even his sister wanted nothing to do with him.

But now you say that his sister runs a porn shop.

If she is no longer associated with Nick Griffin and the BNP, how is this relevant?

If she is associated with the BNP, then your earlier implied criticism (that even his sister had disowned Nick Griffin, therefore...) is bunk.

Do try...to join up your own dots. It cannot be that difficult, even for you.

Anonymous said...

'Sensible members realised that this sort of stuff helped to move the party forward.'
So you consider no by-election wins in three years and zero gains in the last council elections a forward move? Despite plenty of help from the government the BNP is going nowhere.


Give yourself some credit guys! The campaign against the BNP at the last local elections was expensive and massive. Trinity Mirror, Gordon Brown, Unions and 'London Calling' but all you can trumpet is that the BNP made 'zero gains'! Didn't you hope it would lose numbers after all that?

As for by-elections, you know we have an unfair 'first-past-the-post system' which discriminates against non-establishment parties. Ironically it is the hated EU that will force PR in the end - to the benefit of parties like the BNP.

I consider a jump from one Cllr under Tinpot to 70 or so under Griffin a move forward. The most any Nationalist Party had before then was two (The National Party back in the 70s). In the case of the NP and Tinpots BNP they couldn't get their Cllrs re-elected. The BNP today gets many re-elected. Try to be a little objective otherwise you will not be taken seriously.

As for help from the Government I suppose you mean the way in which they have betrayed or ignored ordinary people. That's why people are looking for alternatives. I don't think the BNP has the answers but I can understand the frustration and rejectinism of a significant proportion of the public.

Re. Griffin and corruption. What you are accusing him of may or may not be true (little short on evidence) but it pales into insignificance when one considers our corrupt establishment.

Anonymous said...

I am a BNP member of 15 years standing and stood in the last local elections. I believe wholeheartedly in the BNP manifesto but am considering cancelling my membership. Why?
The state of the country and it's lack of a future is not down to successive Governments but to the British people who have allowed it to happen. Most columnists in the daily newspapers support our aims and objectives in principle but still insist on calling us Nazi scum! Of the 116 people who voted for me in the local elections, not one has contacted me or joined the Party.
I do not condone Islamic militancy but I do admire them for their solidarity and adherance to their religion. They do not abandon their customs because it 'might offend us'
Wake up Britain before it is too late to save our Nation. Stop being a lot of moaning W*****s

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to the legal challenge?

The anti-Griffin camp don't seem to have mounted one do they?

How do you explain that?