False Dawn

It would appear that Griffin has finally looked over the cliff and not liked what he sees. On Friday, in a desperate bid to save his leadership, he announced some half-hearted measures to rejig the party, though Collett and Hannam still retain positions and he himself has refused to apologise for his own behaviour. Now it appears that he is looking for a compromise that will allow Sadie Graham to rejoin the party whilst keeping on ‘Nazi boy’ Collett as his personal sidekick. However, as typical of Griffin, he says one thing and does another.

A meeting held in Leicester, the party’s largest branch, yesterday ended with a unanimous vote in support of Graham returning to the party. The motion followed a heated exchange between Griffin and Graham and was also attended by Collett, Matt Single and Nina Brown.

In return for being allowed back into the party Sadie Graham agreed to take down the ‘Enough is Enough’ blog within a week. According to one BNP member present at the meeting “Sadie and Mark shook hands and there was applause for all. The meeting was taped. A lot has been brought out into the open; do not think that we were just gullible listeners, many asked questions and had their say, and I would say that the general feeling was that there was wrong on both sides but that there was a malicious element at the back of all this.” It seems hard to think that peace can last long, if there was any peace in the first place. Indeed, even at the meeting it was clear that this was more a temporary truce rather than a making up. Griffin and Graham both claimed a desire to compromise but then both listed a number of issues on which neither would budge. Griffin has gone away to think about Graham’s demands and given his political and leadership history it is doubtful whether he will relent. Meanwhile, reports have reached us of a growing number of threats of violence being traded by the rival factions, further cementing the animosity.

Over the last few days the rebel faction has become increasingly vocal in their criticism of Griffin, with many calling for his resignation. This alleged deal also does not solve the core problem, which is the corrosive behaviour of Collett, John Walker and Dave Hannam, to say nothing of the growing influence of the South African Intelligence Department.

Meanwhile, as increasingly demoralised BNP members were celebrating the supposed truce on Stormfront, party members in Yorkshire were digesting Griffin’s last blog. In a posting that was clearly designed to infuriate his opponents, he wrote: “Tonight several good activists were turned away from the back street pub venue for a secretively organised rebel meeting in Bradford. The thirty people there included the wretched woman who threw away the biggest ever BNP poll lead in the country in Keighley, plus some individuals who aren’t even in the BNP. Still, all the paid up members were handed invitation letters to a proper Yorkshire regional meeting, being held in Leeds next Tuesday. I’ll certainly be there to explain what’s been going on, and to answer any question that anyone wants to raise. I hope very much that Chris Beverley and Ian Dawson will be there too, because many good people have questions for them as well.”

Griffin’s post has simply deepened the rift with organisers and activists in what is the party’s most important region. The few remaining undecided activists appear to have come off the fence and sided with the rebels, with a clear ‘Griffin Out’ cry now being heard. BNP members might like to think that a peace deal has been done but that would appear wishful thinking. Too much has been said and done over the past eight days for a real conciliation and with a police investigation now launched by the Met these issues are not going to go away quickly. In the meantime, Tuesday seems set to be an important day, in more ways than Griffin can imagine.

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