The BNP makes its play for young blood

Take a look at the shiny new Young BNP page and the first thing that strikes you is the sub-heading, 'the British Nationalist Youth Movement', a bunch of young people (mostly, it has to be said, female), an ad for daily news updates at £1 a minute (which appears twice on each page) and the image of the 'odel' rune, that the BNP intends to use as its logo for the British Nationalist Youth Movement, the YBNP and the Student BNP.

This rune seems to be a recurring motif in the BNP and one has to say that it seems a most peculiar symbol to use in an organisation that purports a) to espouse Christian values (to the extent of having its own sub-group, the Christian Council of Britain, run by well-known loon and fake vicar Robert West) and b) to not be, in any way, shape or form, racist. Why is that peculiar? Because the rune is acknowledged as Odinist and is used by white supremacists as representative of Aryan heritage and cultural pride. As an interesting aside, the Odal rune (the same thing) was the emblem of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen operating during World War II in the National Socialist Germany-sponsored Independent State of Croatia. Yes, Croatia.

Bearing in mind that the site is targeted at 13-18 year-olds, it seems odd that clicking on the Membership link takes one to a page that includes a poll on capital punishment, though in mitigation it has to be said that the jokes page is probably at about the right level for a low-teen and low-IQ BNP supporter.

Given the history of certain officers of the BNP and their penchant for sexual shenanigans, we took a look at the Organisation Structure, just to see who was running the BNP for young people, only to discover a large empty space under the heading 'Contact details of adults involved in the organisation...' But while there may be no named personnel responsible for the youth section of the party, there is a Child Protection Policy (CPP). God only knows who it's aimed at but here it is:

As an adult involved in the YBNP you have a responsibility to ensure that young people are protected from harm. It is the responsibility of each adult in the YBNP to ensure that:

• their behaviour is appropriate at all times
• they observe the rules established for the safety and security of young people
• they follow the procedures following suspicion, disclosure or allegation of child abuse
• they recognise the position of trust in which they have been placed; and
• in every respect, the relationships they form with young people on their care are appropriate

All Adults in the YBNP must agree to put the party’s policy on child protection into practice.

Meeting your responsibilities:

• the welfare of the young people for whom you have a duty of care is safeguarded
• you avoid compromising situations or opportunities for misunderstandings or allegations

Interesting that the BNP should use that phrase 'you avoid compromising situations or opportunities for misunderstandings or allegations'. Possibly it refers indirectly to last year's BNP conference in Blackpool where the nazi Mark Collett and Dave Hannam, a married man, allegedly picked up two underage girls and brought them back to the conference hotel, the dire New Kimberley. Though it seems very odd that the CPP also includes the line '[that] they follow the procedures following suspicion, disclosure or allegation of child abuse'. Which procedures would they be, exactly? And were they adhered to at last year's conference?

There clearly isn't much to laugh at on the BNP website for youngsters, particularly on the jokes page, but there was one thing that made me chuckle. On the page in the student's section dealing with its policies, there is a question; 'What are the SBNP Policies?' The answer?

'The Student BNP is run for students. Therefore we need policies...'

No change there, then.