March 12, 2008

The BNP's Lee Barnes: just an arrogant idiot or seriously disturbed?

I used to work with ex-cons a few years back, a good percentage of them having been in jail for drug-related offences normally involving theft, sometimes with violence attached, to get money to buy heroin or some other highly-addictive and lethal hard drug. Everyone who came to my place of work had a story behind their addiction and after a while it became relatively simple to separate the truth from the lies and thus to begin dealing properly with the problems behind the crimes. The origin of the addiction could be due to a number of reasons but far and away the most common seemed to be simple peer-pressure, usually from a close friend or partner.

Addiction is difficult to understand for most of us who are addicted to nothing worse than the odd cup of coffee or occasional pack of cigarettes, but those living with or who are emotionally close to addicts know the all-pervading grip that, for example, heroin, has on its victim. Nothing - absolutely nothing at all - takes precedence over the habit, and the consequences of the addiction affect everyone around the addict themselves. Imagine then, that your daughter, thanks to an addict boyfriend, herself becomes an addict. Having met a lot of addicts, and having daughters of my own, just the thought of this makes me shudder.

Rachel Whitear, 21, died of a heroin overdose. She was discovered on the floor of her flat in May 2000 and photographs of her body were used as part of an anti-drugs campaign. Her mother, Pauline Holcroft, along with Rachel's stepfather, Mick Holcroft, took the brave and extraordinary decision to publish photographs of her daughter, slumped and lifeless, in the hope that it would discourage other youngsters from taking drugs.

At around the same time, and in conjunction with Herefordshire County Council they released a video called 'Rachel's Story'. The 22 minute video follows Rachel's decline from happy student to heroin addiction. In May 2002, then Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, announced that a copy of the video would be made available to every secondary school in the UK. It was Ms Holcroft's hope that publishing the photographs and making the video meant that the tragedy of their daughter's death stopped other people dying from the same cause.

The astonishing courage shown by Mr and Mrs Holcroft in allowing the image to be used in this way would be applauded by any decent person, and the terrible tragedy of a young life lost to heroin could be turned into something useful, something that might avert future, similar, tragedies. Nobody in their right mind could express anything but hope that good might come from bad. Except for the British National Party.

An organisation calling itself the Preston Pals (actually the Preston branch of the BNP) has issued a leaflet which has been delivered to a large area of Preston in Lancashire. The leaflet rants about the heroin trade, blames it entirely on Muslims and is headed; 'The heroin trade, a crime against humanity - time for Muslims to apologise.' It continues with the usual rant against a proposal to demolish an existing mosque which would be replaced by a new one. It also has a prominent picture on it - the image of Rachel Whitear, dead on her bedroom floor. Tony Bamber, who stood as the BNP candidate in last year's council elections, is given as the Pals' contact on the leaflet.

The 'Preston Pals' was the name given to the 7th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, which fought and was almost annihilated on the Somme in July 1916, during the First World War. The Royal British Legion (RBL) has condemned this misappropriation of the name by the BNP, with its spokesman Patrick Leavey saying; '[The Preston Pals] sacrifice should not be besmirched by people engaged in political campaigning for such an ugly cause. We condemn this leaflet, its contents, and those who are disseminating it'.

Lee Barnes, the BNP’s legal advisor, feels differently, and in an article entitled 'The Definition Of Pathetic' he makes his views, and given his position within the organisation we can safely consider his views to be those of the BNP, very clear indeed. Using the premise that 'the main funding of the Islamic Jihad comes from heroin', he rips into Rachel Whitear without mercy or compassion.

'She was not an angel, she was an accomplice to genocide, terrorism and a funder of the most vicious criminal gangs on the planet as she funded the terrorists and gangsters that cause such misery across the planet. The idea that she should be regarded as a victim is repulsive. Every junkie is a criminal, not a victim. The body of every dead junkie should be photographed and hung on a wall of shame in every community so that young kids can see the real price of heroin. Their lives should be regarded as a disgrace not as victims.'

He continues: 'I bet Rachels parents either funded her addiction directly through giving her money for smack 9to stop her becoming a prostitue or a dealer) or indirectly when she stole off them. If she didnt steal off of them then she was even worse than a junkie, she was a pathetic heroin tourist who used heroin as a bit of a laugh, a middle class drug culture tourist idiot scumbag. The sort of people who say to other people ' hey man you can dabble a bit with smack and you will be alright' - a facilitator of addicition, a seducer of others into becoming addicts.'

As I understand it, it was a former boyfriend of hers that got her on to heroin in the first place - making him the creature Barnes describes as 'a pathetic heroin tourist...a facilitator of addicition' and Rachel his victim.

Barnes' lack of sympathy to the mother and stepfather and their objection the the image being used by the BNP to attack Muslims is startling.

'The idea we should treat with reverence the image of their dead junkie daughter is repulsive...the idea we should ask your permission to use the image of your dead junkie daughter is not something we need to do.'

The idea that Barnes should use the phrase 'your dead junkie daughter' as though speaking directly to the parents of Rachel Whitear is both shocking and disturbing. I don't know anybody who would treat the death of someone's child with such contempt and loathing, no matter what the circumstances, and I'm surprised that even the BNP, notoriously full of hatred for anyone who doesn't conform to its own distorted idea of perfection, would allow its legal advisor to come out with this venomous garbage.

What makes Barnes' article even more offensively bizarre, is that quite a number of fairly prominent BNP members have been drug dealers, encouraging the vulnerable like Rachel Whitear to become addicted and thus to line their own pockets. One of our readers kindly supplied a list just a couple of days ago:

'It’s a bit rich for the nazi BNP to accuse others of drug dealing. The BNP has been involved in drug-dealing for years. Here's a small selection...
  • The BNP councillor in Blackburn, Robin Evans, resigned after he wrote a letter stating that the BNP in Blackburn was largely made up of drug dealers and football hooligans.
  • The neo-terrorist group Combat 18 (founded by the BNP) undertakes large-scale illegal drug imports and deals to raise money for neo-nazi activities in the UK and abroad. Many BNP members are Combat 18 members. A number of Combat 18/BNP members are cocaine dealers.
  • Charlie Sargent, a convicted murderer, BNP member (he used to guard BNP founder and former leader John Tyndall) and senior Combat 18 leader, has convictions for drug dealing and trafficking.
  • The BNP candidate for Huddersfield, Karl Hanson, was fined in Crown Court for dealing in crack cocaine and heroin (in face he face five class A drugs offence charges)
  • Richard Brown, a BNP candidate in Kirklees, admitted he was jailed as part of a £100,000 drug ring! He pleaded guilty to intent to supply drugs.
  • John Shearer, leading member of Oldham BNP, is a convicted drug dealer.
  • Colin Smith, BNP South East London organiser, has a conviction for possession of drugs (in addition to 16 other criminal convictions for burglary, theft, stealing cars and assaulting a police officer)
And so on. Barnes, being deeply involved with the BNP, will know all this - indeed, he probably knows and works with a few of the people on the list - yet he chooses to ignore the damage that people in his own party have caused just so he can take a swipe at whoever is his target of the day.

As is usual with the British National Party, the hypocrisy is profound, though in Lee Barnes case I'm more concerned with the state of his mental health.

58 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The BNP's Lee Barnes: just an arrogant idiot or seriously disturbed?"

Both.

Anonymous said...

You obviously have a great deal of sympathy for addicts and thats up to you. I don't agree wholehertedly with your comments throughout the article but I really REALLY agree with your shock at the way Lee Barnes rips into this kid and her parents. The childs DEAD for Christs sake. Lee Barnes is a bloody disgrace.

Anonymous said...

There's a reasonable comment of Barnes blog in response to his awful article

"Do you really mean to hang ALL drug dealers? For small quantities that would seem to be excessively harsh, and in any event “using” and “dealing” blurs into one in junky-world: one junky goes to the local crack house and fetches a wrap for his friends and if he marks up the price a bit then, by definition, he’s dealing. Whereas if he passes the drugs on at cost he’s a courier.

My feeling is the right way to knock the drug subculture on the head is simply to provide medicinal substitutes free-of-charge under NHS supervision. When junkies can get their fix for free the market vanishes. Why would anyone “push” drugs when there’s no money in addiction for them?

It’s easy to regard the toerags who commit petty crime to fund a habit as villains. How about women who are dragged out by their addiction to work the streets as prostitutes? Are they also villains, or would you admit some element of victimhood here? I expect everyone who frequents the BNP website is aware of the problem of ethnic gangs grooming white girls for prostitution from their early teens onwards by introducing them to drugs. I cannot see a 14 year old girl addicted by her “boyfriend” and then sent out to earn her keep as anything other than a victim. Sorry.

The dirty secret of drugs is that a lot of people make a lot of money in law enforcement, especially working for the DEA in America, and they don’t really want their career paths disrupted by anyone taking genuinely effective action against drugs. The UK comes under duress from the USA whenever a scheme that would actually destroy the drugs market is mooted. BNP policy on drugs seems ill-thought out, and knee-jerk harsh rather than a sensible and effective dual application of stick and carrot."

Apart from the usual slur re "ethnics" I have to say I agree with most of that. Barnes is a loony though (whoops, not terrible PC there).

Anonymous said...

'The idea we should treat with reverence the image of their dead junkie daughter is repulsive...the idea we should ask your permission to use the image of your dead junkie daughter is not something we need to do.'

That's truly horrible.

Anonymous said...

I see some Stormfronttroopers have taken exeption to him too.

"Another own goal by the BNP 'leadership team' it is only made worse by Barnes having a chimp out at the parents on his bog."

(I take it bog means blog. Although perhaps it doesnt.)

Anonymous said...

Stormfront really has a nice take on Lee Barnes.

"It is clear the man is mental. We should help him as we would any other person suffering from an illness. I pledge £1 to chip in for his strait-jacket. Who'll join me?"

LOL

Anonymous said...

"As is usual with the British National Party, the hypocrisy is profound, though in Lee Barnes case I'm more concerned with the state of his mental health."

Your not the only one. Great to see more original writing on here too. Well done LU.

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling, Barnes, is going to be sued to high heaven over his disgusting comments.

Anonymous said...

"It is clear the man is mental."

I've read a few of his things and I've got to admit I never thought of him as mental, more as someone who was smoking a lot of hash while he was writing. Of course if he wasn't smoking hash while he was writing, he's definitely mental.

"I have a feeling, Barnes, is going to be sued to high heaven over his disgusting comments."

Don't we all wish.

Unknown said...

This is a low even by Lee Barnes's standards.

The BNP has had ample time to distance itself from his remarks, but has failed to do so.

I do note, however, that the BNP website does not link to his regular blog, where his insane rantings are on display for all to see, but to the tamer "Land, Folk and Liberty" blog, last updated two months ago.

Anonymous said...

Her mother, Pauline Holcroft, along with Rachel's stepfather, Mick Holcroft, took the brave and extraordinary decision to publish photographs of her daughter, slumped and lifeless, in the hope that it would discourage other youngsters from taking drugs.

Brave and extraordinary indeed.

Anonymous said...

The Preston Pals and rachel Whitear - a double public relations disaster for the BNP!

Anonymous said...

"The BNP has had ample time to distance itself from his remarks, but has failed to do so."

It's had plenty of time to distance itself from that idiot for ages but it's consistently failed to do so. We can only conclude that LJB's comments are in line with BNP thinking. God help us all if this bunch of deadbeats get into power one day.

Anonymous said...

Please do not make the Mental Health excuse for Barnes....as he would use this as a plea in any prosecution against him. I would strongly urge the community on this blog to support the parents of the late Rachel in bringing Barnes before the courts.

This is about the worst i have ever read from Barnes he has really stepped over the line even for him and he can usually be pretty bad, not so long ago he threatened this blog and our community with the law because he put threats of violence on his blog, which he then removed when put into archieve, but this is too much.

Anonymous said...

The leaflet that kicked off all this fuss sounds like one of the worst the BNP has ever produced. Aren't they all designed by that creepy little pervert Mark Collette?

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that even the BNP, notoriously full of hatred for anyone who doesn't conform to its own distorted idea of perfection, would allow its legal advisor to come out with this venomous garbage.

Why are you so surprised? Nick Griffin thinks Lee Barnes is one of the BNPs best assets.

Anonymous said...

When you think about it Lee Barnes and Green Arrow are quite an effective BNP tag-team. We just hope that they'll will continue to do more collective damage to the nazi BNP and expose the BNP for what it really is.

Anonymous said...

I used to work with ex-cons a few years back

I didn't know you used to work with BNP members LOL

Anonymous said...

"The leaflet that kicked off all this fuss sounds like one of the worst the BNP has ever produced. Aren't they all designed by that creepy little pervert Mark Collette?"

Don't know if this one in particular was but yes, they're generally designed by nazi-boy.

Anonymous said...

You can see why the rebels were kicking up such a fuss, remember he is another one of the one eyed monsters protected few.
Darby's lack of apology on that radio show has left a bitter taste in most BNP members mouths. And now with Barnes in tow spewing his utter garbage it really does look likr Griffin is state. Who else would have kept these idiots on board.

If I was the UAF I would support Griffin because with him at the helm the party is doomed.

How does Barnes manage to write with a straight jacket on, and a chemical cosh suppostotry up his bottom, it may explain his rammblings

elgin nhs

Anonymous said...

"Nobody in their right mind could express anything but hope that good might come from bad. Except for the British National Party."

You aren't suggesting there that the BNP are in their 'right mind' are you?

Anonymous said...

My guess is that Lee Barnes is just an appallingly arrogant idiot. The comment, apparently to the parents of this poor girl, shocked me as much as it did you. Deeply disturbing, the whole thing.

Anonymous said...

"You aren't suggesting there that the BNP are in their 'right mind' are you?"

LOL I don't think Ketlan would EVER do that.

Anonymous said...

Any REAL political party that came out with shit like this would be on the front page of every newspaper for a week or at least until the person responsible had got the sack.

Anonymous said...

Griffin is repeatedly being challenged on Scumfront to disassociate himself from Barnes's comments and he still refuses to do so.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
Any REAL political party that came out with shit like this would be on the front page of every newspaper for a week or at least until the person responsible had got the sack."


How very true, but the BNP isn't any ordinary party, it's protected by the state, and is a prized government safety valve.

Anonymous said...

'Griffin is repeatedly being challenged on Scumfront to disassociate himself from Barnes's comments and he still refuses to do so.'

Of course he does. Lee Barnes is one of his closer mates like Mark Collett, John Walker, Martin Reynolds, Dave Hannam and Arthur Kemp. He forgives them anything because they know where the bodies are buried so to speak. If he dropped them, they could all fuck him up in so many ways, including with the police.

Anonymous said...

Any REAL political party that came out with shit like this would be on the front page of every newspaper for a week or at least until the person responsible had got the sack.

Yet more proof that the BNP is NOT a real political party.

Anonymous said...

"The BNP's Lee Barnes: just an arrogant idiot or seriously disturbed?"

You need to ask?

Anonymous said...

Good article. Thanks

Anonymous said...

If the BNP hang all the drug dealer, bombers and child abusers, most of the BNP themselves would be lying in coffins.

Anonymous said...

I seriously believe the secret services tell the press editors what they can and cannot print, which explains why the tabloids go easy on the BNP.

Like with Combat18, the rank and file of the BNP don't know whan they've been had. All those unpaid hours stuffing race hate leaflets into letterboxes are all in vain.

Anonymous said...

Barmy Barnes does not speak for the BNP, he is a deranged and delusional piece of flotsam that "advises" Griffin on legal matters. He is - to use his own words "scum".

Any BNP donor watching this should be aware of Griffin's suicidal plan to bankrupt the party as he (so Im told) is going ahead to sue the "December rebels" for £20,000 for err......"bringing the party into disrepute".

Griffin has already notched up £5000 in solicitors fees as he pursues a personal vendetta against Sadie Graham, Kenney Smith and Steve Blake.

Guess who is advising the great hero of British politics......one Mr. Lee John Barnes...........law degree purchased from Walmart.

This piece of filth should be arrested by Kent Police (the twat lives in the Medway towns) for incitement to murder and some sort of hate crime, don't poor drug addicts get any protection from incitement threats from real scum like Barnes.

Anonymous said...

Some stupid postings being made here...Griffin is not state but he is surrounded by state assets such as South African spook Arthur Kemp (last seen (were told) cruising the gay bars of Leeds but thats another story..)and "Simon Darby"(not his real name) and nobrainers like Barnes and Walker. Every one of them feeds Griffin's personality defects like his paranoia and his endless quest for money and fame.

Im sure it is a fact that no one in the BNP likes the dipstick Barnes, he is the most hated person in "far right" politics after Gerry Gable, some even say they are one and the same!

Anonymous said...

Here is Collet eying up some new talent along with his slavering master

http://scot.altermedia.info/images/bnp.jpg

Anonymous said...

Lee Barnes is a prick. No need for any argument, he is a total prick and has not idea about the deadly path of drug addiction.

Drug abuse is not fun - tossers like barnes try and make poiltical gains from a disease is disgusting.

Any one know how this scumbag can be charged for incitement to murder?

Anonymous said...

The comments by Barnes are absolutely horrific. Well done for bringing them to the attention of a wider audience. At least there are a lot more people who know he's a scumbag now.

Anonymous said...

"Any BNP donor watching this should be aware of Griffin's suicidal plan to bankrupt the party as he (so Im told) is going ahead to sue the "December rebels" for £20,000 for err......"bringing the party into disrepute"."

Any more information on this?

Anonymous said...

LOL - Lee Barnes is posting comments on his own blog calling his mates on Stormfront 'reds'!! The following is Lee Barnes' attack on one of his fellow racial nationalist fellow travellers:

"You are a wanker Larry - now fuck off you big mouthed maggot back to your fifty strong stormfront maggot farm of reds and malcontents".

Anonymous said...

Lee Barnes states: “The BNP places the interests of those kids who hve not yet become addicts, before the dead junkies”. But, what Barnes doesn’t go on to tell us is that those kids once in the hands of the BNP, once groomed by the sick racists minds that operate at every level within the BNP, they will become addicted to hate. Like Lee Barnes I guess. By the way, why doesn’t Lee Barnes say anything about the BNP and Combat 18 members arrested over the years for either dealing in drugs or possessing drugs? Further, that quite a few BNP members are alcoholics, another form of drug addiction.

Anonymous said...

It looks like crazy BNP weirdo Lee Barnes is attempting to libel every single serving officer in the Metropolitan police service:

- He calls Superintendent Martin Mitchell of Greenwich police a ‘LIEING BASTARD’ (I think Barnes means ‘lying’)

- He calls the head of the Met police, Sir Ian Blair, an ‘arsehole’.

- Claims Superintendent Ali Dezai is ‘suspected of passing information to Iranian spies’ (I can’t find an allegation of this sort on the internet).

Lee Barnes confirms that the BNP = Bloody Nasty Party. I've downloaded Lee Barnes' rantings and will be passing it on to Superintendent Martin Mitchell of Greenwich police later on this week.

Anonymous said...

I think that Lee Barnes is a member of the Fluxus movement who has infiltrated the BNP – that Lee Barnes makes the BNP and the rest of the far right look so stupid that the joke is really on anti-fascists. It’s a possibility. If I’m wrong, then I’m more than happy to go along with the majority consensus that Lee Barnes is an evil racist BNP bastard with no conscience or real intellect.

Anonymous said...

"Any BNP donor watching this should be aware of Griffin's suicidal plan to bankrupt the party as he (so Im told) is going ahead to sue the "December rebels" for £20,000 for err......"bringing the party into disrepute"."

Any more information on this?



The above, is true.

Anonymous said...

Several BNP members have resigned their membership over this.

Antifascist said...

'Im sure it is a fact that no one in the BNP likes the dipstick Barnes, he is the most hated person in "far right" politics after Gerry Gable, some even say they are one and the same!'

That's the worst suggestion I've heard since the one about Nick Lowles and Peter Rushton being the same person.

'I think that Lee Barnes is a member of the Fluxus movement who has infiltrated the BNP...'

Fluxus?

'The above, is true.'

That's not really evidence that Griffin is maybe going to sue the 'December rebels'. We'd be very interested in more information.

Anonymous said...

To anti-fascist:

Fluxus is an art movement. Some elements of the Fluxus movement believe in ironic art through humour.

Anonymous said...

Interestingly, back in January 2003, over five years ago, Lee Barnes described himself as a trainee lawyer. Yet, a full-time trainee contract only takes two years to complete. Either Barnes is a fantasist or lazy or not very good at law if he hasn’t managed to qualify as a lawyer within five years. Further, Barnes keeps on boasting that he has a law degree. Well, if that law degree was obtained more than 10 years ago, then according to the Law Society it is worthless: if Barnes wishes to qualify as either a solicitor or barrister, then he’ll have to re-take the law degree or complete the Graduate Diploma in Law.

Also, Barnes described himself as a “political fanatic”: he didn’t have to tell us that he’s a BNP fanatic, it is obvious to us all.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone suggested to the Police or a medic or whatever in his area that from his outbursts etc that "He is a danger to himself and others"?

I wonder if there is any milage in it?

Anonymous said...

Griffin has now given Barnes the go-ahead to name and shame every one of his critics om Scumfront. Seems to be all out war now, with Griffin calling the shots. How will the anti-Griffinites respond to this, one wonders?

John P said...
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Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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John P said...

Looks like Griffin had been banned from scumfront and Lee Barnes has really stirred the wasps nest.

Anonymous said...

@ john p

But which Purging the Droid has been banned as there are at least two, and probably three of them?

Word is that one of them is LeBomber, does anyone have anything to support this please?

Anonymous said...

Here's another fascist BNP candidate convicted for heroin possession: Mr Gawad, the BNP's candidate in Bradford’s Bowling and Barkerend ward, was found guilty of possessing heroin by Bradford magistrates in December 2007.

Anonymous said...

If you want to understand Lee Barnes you need to get your head around the Authoritarian Personality (AP; both the Leader and the Follower categories). See Bob Altemeyer's work in his online book on the subject at http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
Altemeyer is the leading academic on the AP (and general conservatism) fear-control dynamic - i.e. the 'Hitler process'. Anyone wanting to understand the right wing and the reasons for right wing thinking going all the way from Sun Reader to psychopath, would do well to flick through this book.

Anonymous said...

Just a load of old tosh from a party of nazis thugs and drug dealers.

Anonymous said...

I write as both a paramedic and a heroin user. If I am ever called to Mr Barnes' abode in the event of him developing cardiac problems it's likely that my resus equipment will "malfunction".