Did the BNP deceive OAP party?

Unwisely crowing "a breakthrough", on Monday BNP deputy leader Simon Darby breathlessly announced on his blog that he had reached a deal with the obscure (and now deeply suspect) Pensioners Party, whereby the self-appointed spokesmen for our millions of senior citizens would urge OAPs to vote for the BNP in the forthcoming local elections.

By Monday evening the PP website carried the names of BNP candidates in Stoke-on-Trent and Barnsley, presumably with more to be added later.

Imitating that sneaking way we've come to expect from the BNP, the Pensioners Party website made no mention of its deal with the BNP, nor did it mention that the candidates it recommended were BNP candidates.

At Lancaster Unity we decided that this knowledge should be disseminated amongst other anti-fascists and political parties, who were extremely grateful that we did and who shared our disgust at the underhand manner in which the Pensioners Party apparently sought to manipulate OAP voters on behalf of the British National Party.

The result was that a large number of concerned people contacted the Pensioners Party asking them to explain themselves, and the party quickly began to backtrack.

According to Press Officer Jack Bovill, party Leader (sic) Roger Edwards had withdrawn its preferred candidates lists, which contained the BNP names, and would be holding an inquiry into the matter.

"Thank you for alerting us," Mr Bovill told the Labour Party's Peter Kenyon - which rather tends to suggest that (unless Mr Bovill is obsfucating) somebody somewhere in the Pensioners Party pulled the wool over the eyes of its leadership, which would explain why the PP's preferred candidate names were made known, but not their party affiliations. It also suggests that the Pensioners Party leadership knew nothing of a deal with the BNP.

And that further prompts the questions, was the BNP's Simon Darby a party to this deception? And if the PP's leadership were unaware of it, who is the BNP member or supporter within the Pensioners Party who was - who had enough clout to fool the PP's leadership and have the names of BNP candidates put on its website?

The party's officers are named as Roger Edwards (Leader), Barry Hodgson (treasurer) and Jack Bovill (press and publicity). In relation to those names, one keeps coming back to us - however, it is quite possible that he co-incidentally bears the same name as a man who stood as a BNP candidate some years ago.

We'd like our visitors, especially those in the Wolverhampton and Ashfield (Notts) areas, to take a close look at the photographs above, and to contact us if they recognise any of them as having past or present BNP connections.

Jack Bovill later sent the following email to a Labour Party supporter:

Dear Mr Hopkins

Further to your enquiry below, I hasten to advise you that the lists have been withdrawn.

We will be inserting the following when revised lists are re-instated:

Eligibility to be on our recommended list of candidates for the Local Council Elections requires that Candidates support the following:

1. Retain Residential Wardens in Sheltered Housing and bring back Residential Wardens where replaced by Floating Wardens/Support.

2. Keep our Post Offices and re-open those that have been closed where a genuine poll of local people indicates they want their Post Offices back.

3. Improve OAP incomes

4. Improve Sheltered Housing

5. Restore the Housing benefit to the pre-2002 state before it was divided up to the detriment and worry of tenants.

6. No person over 65 to pay council tax and so stop those going to prison for non-payment of council tax. (see www.isitfair.com)

7. Stop mass immigration

Providing these are met and there are no other criticisms of candidates, we shall be endorsing those candidates who are sympathetic to these policies.

Yours sincerely

Jack Bovill

In light of point 7 and the qualification immediately following, we can be forgiven the passing suspicion that the door is being left open for the reinstatement of preferred candidates' lists containing BNP names. If that proves to be the case (and we sincerely hope it isn't), then the Pensioners Party will lose the benefit of any doubts we and other anti-fascists entertain.

However, as our feeling (just) is that the Pensioners Party was hoodwinked by the BNP, we confidently look forward to the party publishing the findings of its inquiry on its website, together with the name(s) of any member(s) expelled as a result.

(Thanks to our friend Mike Ion for promptly getting news of this into the right hands.)