Public perception was reason for sacking BNP ‘rape lie’ candidate

The BNP dropped its number two candidate from its London Assembly list only because his belief that “rape is simply sex” might have lost the party votes. An official statement by the party avoided stating that Nick Eriksen’s comments about women in his own Sir John Bull blog were actually offensive and outrageous, but was concerned only about how they would have been perceived.

“It was felt that no matter how much Nick Erikson’s [sic] blog comments, written back in 2005, had been distorted and taken out of the context of a blog which reflected our tough stance on all sorts of crime,” said the BNP, “they could still be perceived as trivialising the issue in a manner that many women in particular could have found extremely offensive. As such it was agreed that there should not be any ambiguity with regards real crimes against real women in our capital city by somebody about to enter government.”

In fact it is the BNP that is distorting the issue. Eriksen’s blog entry of 24 August 2005 was entirely devoted to an attack on women. Under the heading “Rape: lies, lies, lies”, he wrote: “I’ve never really understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime. … Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.”

It was not the only time he had revealed his views on women. The following month he attacked women who put off having children to have a career: “And let’s be honest, for a woman to consider a job or career more important than having children is, quite literally, unnatural.”

Returning to the subject in November 2005 in an item entitled “Give her a slap!”, Eriksen approvingly quoted Noel Coward as saying: “Some women are like gongs – they need to be struck regularly.” Later that month he wrote that mothers “should never go out to work” and described career women as “unnatural and vile”.

It is unclear whether Eriksen remains the BNP's London organiser. The party has given no indication that he has been sacked.

The day before Eriksen was withdrawn from the candidates’ list, Simon Darby, the BNP’s press officer and deputy leader, had attacked the Evening Standard’s exposure of Eriksen as a “smear”, accusing the journalist Andrew Gilligan of “badgering” the former Conservative councillor and of “taking completely out of context samples from Nick’s former satirical and provocative blog”.

Eriksen was condemned in the House of Commons when Tory MP Charles Walker said he was not “fit to run for public office”.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, standing in for Gordon Brown at Prime Minister’s questions, replied: “I strongly support your comments and I thank you for bringing this matter to the House.”

She added: “The best way to avoid a BNP member being elected to the London Assembly is to make sure that as many people as possible vote for all the other parties.”

Boris Johnson, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, has also attacked the BNP. After the BNP recommended that its supporters list the “Tory clown Johnson” as their second preference in the mayoral election because he was “a lesser evil than the Marxist crank Livingstone”, Johnson said: “I utterly and unreservedly condemn the BNP and have no desire whatsoever to receive a single second-preference vote from a BNP supporter. I hope as many Londoners as possible turn out on May 1 to prevent the election of a BNP candidate.”

Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate, said: “Clearly the BNP have recognised Boris’s talent for causing offence and creating division. This should be a wake-up call for all decent people who could vote in the election to register their vote because the more votes there are for mainstream parties, the less chance there will be to give racists and extremists a seat.”

The BNP needs to get at least 5% in the London-wide election for top-up members of the Assembly to guarantee a seat. If it gets 8% the party is likely to gain two seats. The withdrawal of Eriksen means the failed business Robert Bailey has moved up to second position behind Richard Barnbrook. Bailey and Barnbrook are respectively deputy leader and leader of the BNP’s useless council group in Barking and Dagenham.

Despite the BNP’s current setbacks, it could win up to three seats and that would change the nature of politics in London. It is vital that everyone who opposes the racism of the BNP turns out and makes their voice heard.

Hope not Hate