July 01, 2008

Colin Auty's BNP leadership challenge collapses after two months of inertia

Nick Griffin (left) and Colin Auty
Almost two months to the day after announcing that he was to challenge Nick Griffin for the leadership of the British National Party, Colin Auty, councillor for Dewsbury East on Kirklees Council, has finally had to admit defeat after he failed to obtain the required amount of signatures that would enable him to go ahead while conforming with the bizarre rules of the BNP.

Auty, a councillor since 2006, was formerly one of Nick Griffin's blue-eyed boys, particularly after he irritated the Muslim MP for Dewsbury Shahid Malik by singing a song outside his contituency office claiming that the Dewsbury district, mainly populated by the Asian community, was rife with drug dealers and paedophiles. Though he was reported to the Standards Board for England, the Board eventually cleared him, leaving him free to continue singing his rubbish and playing with the ghastly Red Claire, a band that includes the repulsive Bradford BNP councillor Paul Cromie.

Up to this time, Auty had provided much of the 'music' that was sold by the dire Great White Records (GWR), though his popularity with the Griffinites in the BNP was about to be tested when he gave his clear backing to the dissident side in the December 2007 rebellion. Indeed, he was one of more than sixty party members to add his name to a blog set up by a group using the name The Real BNP, which was simply a front for Sadie Graham, Steve Blake, Kenny Smith et al.

Auty announced that he would be challenging Griffin for the leadership of the party on May 2nd and was almost instantly attacked by the lunatic excuse for a legal advisor to the BNP, Lee Barnes. Describing Auty as, among other things, a 'puupet' (a word that has no meaning in any language and apparently only exists inside Barnes' very odd head), Barnes stated in a letter to the membership that the Auty challenge was 'illegal' under party rules and that anyone who supported it would be 'tried for conspiracy and treason'.

That the BNP was desperate to fend off this challenge using any means possible was made clear by this threatening statement in Barnes' letter:

'Anyone who has already signed or is thinking of signing or intending to sign the nomination forms for Colin Autty will be suspended from Party membership pending an internal dispclinary tribunal where members will be tried for conspiracy and treason as per the Constitutition Section 6. (3) Section 7 – failure to use the correct channels to express concerns, 8 - spreading false and malicious rumours about Party officials and members, and behaviour likely to bring the Party into disrepute. Those found guilty of conspiracy and treason will be expelled from the Party and proscibred for life.'

Proscibred?

This appalling missive was followed a week later by another, this time sent out to those the party considered to be activists (branch fundholders, chairs, organisers and so on) from Eddy Butler, the party's National Elections Officer, who described Auty in no uncertain terms as a 'joke candidate' and a 'no-hoper', warning that if the challenge went ahead;

'There will be pressure, perhaps unstoppable pressure, to change the rules so that leadership challenges can only take place every four years.'

By the end of May, it was clear that the Auty campaign was in trouble. Some of the rebels had been expelled while others were backing down under pressure and returning to the fold. Discussion of the challenge was banned on the BNP's own forum and Stormfront, the forum for the many nazis in the BNP's ranks, was awash with anti-Auty propaganda - much of it instigated by a character calling himself 'Walk towards the light' (Lee Barnes).

Auty was denied a platform of any kind at any branch. Even his singing engagements were cancelled (though that might just have been because his songs are crap and he sounds like a cross between Tiny Tim and George Formby). He was even denied access to the membership to campaign for his signatures on the dubious grounds that to allow him access to the list would be a breach of the Data Protection Act, which didn't seem to stop the anti-Auty letters from Barnes and Butler going out.

Since the end of May, virtually nothing much has happened on the three pro-Auty sites except for the odd post that served no purpose - until a week and a half ago, that is, when Auty obviously realised that his campaign was doomed unless he spoke out. This he did, with a vengeance, branding Nick Griffin as ruthless and desperate, and as a crook and a liar. We wouldn't disagree with any of those epithets.

In a spectacular post, which should really have kicked off his campaign for it to have succeeded, Auty ripped into Griffin, referring to his 'shady and downright deceitful dealings', his habit of 'concocting lies about [his enemies] concerning financial irregularities' and how the rest of the Advisory Council (the BNP's toothless ruling body) would 'very often sit in silence through fear of becoming the next victim'.

Auty made it clear that money is Griffin's only driving factor, that 'the books are always cooked' and ended by referring to Griffin as a 'totalitarian'.

Too little, too late.

Late last night, Roger Robertson, Auty's campaign manager, laid it on the line.

'I regret to inform those members and supporters of the BNP that, this evening, 30th June, after consultation with Colin, we have acknowledged that there will not be a challenge to Nick Griffin's leadership in 2008.

It is extremely disappointing that the challenge fell short by just a few signatures; a major factor being that many members have failed to renew their 2008 subscriptions plus the fact that the churn rate of the membership precludes many who do not have the requisite 2 years qualification to become a voting member.

Colin was the ideal candidate to lead our Party out of the wilderness after 9 years of stultifying slow growth under the present Chairman.

I will not here dilate upon the reasons for the challenge to Nick Griffin's leadership. This will come next week after my 'tribunal' on 6th July when I become an ex-member of the BNP.

Suffice it to say that both Colin and myself wish to thank most sincerely those nearly 90 people who had the courage to put their names to Colin's nomination.

We may well have lost the first skirmish but the battle for a democratic BNP is far from over.

Roger Robertson

Ed - The names of those who did sign will not be disclosed to Griffin or any of his stooges, as we do not want to see another internal bloodbath of dedicated nationalists.

Colin Auty has the nomination forms and they will be staying with Colin - he will not put them to the sword of the hierarchy. This is a sad day for internal democracy - how can we convince the public that we are committed to democratic elections when internally the current leadership seem allergic to them?'

No great surprises there but a couple of things pop up out of the letter as being of rather more than passing interest, the main one being the comment regarding the fact that 'many members have failed to renew their 2008 subscriptions'.

This fits in with what we and other anti-fascist groups are being told is the case - that the BNP is haemorrhaging members far faster than it can sign them up, something that might explain the increasing number and increasingly desperate tone of the begging letters that are constantly sent out to a weary membership. I spoke to a former member by phone last night who informed me that he and his partner had received no less than FOUR in the past few days. As he says, no joke when you're only just managing to survive yourself.

The other remarkable comment in this letter is the reason the Auty team will refuse to hand over the nomination forms. As Robertson puts it, 'we do not want to see another internal bloodbath of dedicated nationalists...[Auty] will not put them to the sword of the hierarchy'. Fear, it seems, is a major factor in the modern British National Party - a party that continually (and laughably) claims to be the most democratic party that exists.

We shall watch Colin Auty's continuing career in the BNP and as a BNP councillor with great interest, though not, we suspect, for long.

61 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good. This leave Nick Griffin in charge and he'll danage the BNP far more than Colin Auty ever would.

John P said...

I would have liked to have seen a leadership election for the entertainment value

Anonymous said...

Well there's a nice surprise straight after you arrive at work and look at what's been going on. Auty finisdhed. He'll have to be an independant on Kirklees council now. Griffins mob will be crowing about this for weeks.

Anonymous said...

"puupet"

LOL There you go again Ketlan. Go on admit it, you love Lee Barnes for all the laughs he gives you.

Anonymous said...

I really can not see why Unity should be crowing over this.

The last thing we need is a popular and effective leader of the Nutzies.

Old Sailor

Anonymous said...

I haven't got much time for John Walker but he was right about Nick Griffin changing the challenge rules to every four years. There are plans afoot to do that right now. It's going through the BNP grapevine like a bottle of exlax!

Antifascist said...

'I really can not see why Unity should be crowing over this.'

In what way does the article suggest we're crowing? I thought it was pretty straight reporting with a little anti-BNP emphasis.

'The last thing we need is a popular and effective leader of the Nutzies.'

If we were crowing at all, we would do so because the BNP is now lumbered with Griffin until he jacks the job in, then leaving the party wide open to all the financial chaos that will be uncovered, or he's challenged again, which could be as far away as four years.

Anonymous said...

With Colin Auty gone, Nick Griffin can stop looking over his shoulder and get on with feathering his own nest again.

Anonymous said...

I reckon this is the last gasp of the rebels too. Colin Auty was far and away there biggest supporter. Now he's had it, that's them dead in the water.

Anonymous said...

The "letter from Lee Barnes" did not come from Lee Barnes. I know for a fact that it did not because I had one sent to my e-mail address, and the BNP don't have this particular e-mail. The e-mail address the "Lee Barnes" letter went to was one I used to contact one certain ex-BNP member, and no one else in the BNP had ever used it.

I know the source of that e-mail and it isn't Barnes.

Anonymous said...

Dont forget to mention the atmosphere of fear that prevailed during the past few months which saw a certain Yorkshire attack dog of Gri££in threaten the councillor (and his young family) who was Auty's first campaign co-ordinator. The threats were so vile and vicious that the councillor had little choice but to withdraw his support. The threats from the legal weasal put off dozens of other less prominent organisers and fundholders. The BNP membership dogged by fear, constantly being asked to fork out money for some daft project Gri££in has dreamed up. No wonder so many dont bother to renew their memberships. They are being taken for a ride.

Anonymous said...

For months I have been saying that the BNP membership is less than 7500.

I suspect I may have use the minus button on my trusty calculator and lessen that figure even more.

Such a feckin pleasure

Anonymous said...

"The "letter from Lee Barnes" did not come from Lee Barnes. I know for a fact that it did not because I had one sent to my e-mail address, and the BNP don't have this particular e-mail."

Here we go again. The email was sent from Lee Barnes. That's a fact.

"I know the source of that e-mail and it isn't Barnes."

If it wasn't Barnes who are you suggesting it was? It was Barnes anyway. I KNOW that for a FACT!

Anonymous said...

"No wonder so many dont bother to renew their memberships. They are being taken for a ride."

Dam right they are. Suckers. This site has been right all along. Nick Griffin is a fucking fraud and the BNP membership are just a load of idiotic sheep who are desperate to be taken in.

Anonymous said...

"I thought it was pretty straight reporting with a little anti-BNP emphasis."

Yeah, just a little. LOL

Antifascist said...

'For months I have been saying that the BNP membership is less than 7500.'

I wouldn't be surprised if it had dropped to <7000 already from the little hints we've had from BNP members. If Griffin keeps up the good work you might never have to use the zero key again. ;-)

Anonymous said...

We'll be waving goodbye to this lot soon then....

We're proudly (and openly) backing the challenge!

Adrian Wood (East Mids)
Alan Girvan (Yorkshire)
Bert Leech (Eastern)
Bev Jones (suspended member - North West)
Chris Hill (North West)
Cllr Malcolm Porter (East Midlands)
Cllr Roger Robertson (South East)
Cllr Sadie Graham (suspended member - East Mids)
Dave Jones (North West)
Geoff Carr (Yorkshire)
Ian Dawson (suspended member - Yorkshire)
Ivan Winters (Yorkshire)
John Hirst (Yorkshire)
Julie Day (Yorkshire)
Kenny Smith (suspended member - Scotland)
Lee Haggan (Yorkshire)
Les Andrews (Eastern)
Louise Scott (Yorkshire)
Marcia (Eastern Region)
Matt Single (suspended member - East Mids)
Mick Simpson (suspended member - Yorkshire)
Neil Craig (West Yorkshire)
Nicholla Smith (suspended member - Scotland)
Richard Chadfield (North West)
Sharon Towers (Yorkshire)
Simon Towers (Yorkshire)
Steve Blake (suspended member - Eastern)
Steve Haddon (West Mids)
Steve Thomson (membership renewal rejected - Scotland)
Tom Linden (Yorkshire)

Anonymous said...

not a peep over at stormfront

Anonymous said...

EX-BNP

I received that threatening email from Lee Barnes. I hit the reply button, told him to sod off and it went to his address because he replied telling me I was a "loser", a "muppet" and a "friend of the Labour party"..... So yes that email definitely came from Lee Barnes address and its his style of writing anyway. Only when it was so embarrasing to Griffin that word started to go around that it was a hoax with the finger of suspicion pointed at one of the Voice of Change rebels. Always a good tactic to blame someone else when you make a cockup like Barnes did. Griffin is the best thing the anti-racist movement can hope for. He will destroy the BNP the same way he destroyed every other political entity he has ever been involeved in.

Anonymous said...

"not a peep over at stormfront"

The mods have been re-Griffined. There was something earlier in P&A but it got binned. I think RedXKnight was around.

Anonymous said...

"We'll be waving goodbye to this lot soon then...."

Good!

Anonymous said...

"We shall watch Colin Auty's continuing career in the BNP and as a BNP councillor with great interest, though not, we suspect, for long."

I give him a month.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I reckon this is the last gasp of the rebels too. Colin Auty was far and away there biggest supporter. Now he's had it, that's them dead in the water.


I'm sure the rebels will be happy to wait until the court case before they drive the final nail into griffins coffin, i can't wait as this court case will mean that a lot of stuff will be brought into the open

ex BNP member

Anonymous said...

How come all the ex-BNP members end up here?
"I'm sure the rebels will be happy to wait until the court case before they drive the final nail into griffins coffin, i can't wait as this court case will mean that a lot of stuff will be brought into the open"
I thought the case was off now because Nick Griffin can't afford to pay for what's happened in court so far.
You gotta wonder why though. Doesn't he have legal training? And of course he has the mighty brain of Loony Lee on his side.

Anonymous said...

Auty is still a racist piece of shit and Griffin is a fucking thief. Balls to both of them.

Anonymous said...

"I haven't got much time for John Walker but he was right about Nick Griffin changing the challenge rules to every four years. There are plans afoot to do that right now. It's going through the BNP grapevine like a bottle of exlax!

10:20 AM, July 01, 2008"

The reason Walker has gone, is because he backed Barnbrook for a challenge against Griffin. No one wants this 4yr rule, including Hannam and Collett. Things are getting very interesting

Anonymous said...

"If it wasn't Barnes who are you suggesting it was? It was Barnes anyway. I KNOW that for a FACT!

12:02 PM, July 01, 2008"

No it wasn't, it was Steve Blake, and we know that for a FACT.

Anonymous said...

"No it wasn't, it was Steve Blake"

Oh do fuck off Barnes, you mad twat.

Anonymous said...

The reason Walker has gone, is because he backed Barnbrook for a challenge against Griffin. No one wants this 4yr rule, including Hannam and Collett. Things are getting very interesting

Well I wish they'd hurry up. Dicky should have stood this time, the coward.

Anonymous said...

Auty should have gone to the police about Lee Barnes. It would have made sense.

Anonymous said...

In amongst the vile racist and anti-semitic articles on NorthWest Nationalists, (two articles below is an article using the usual words prejoritively "THE JEWS", they are peeved that a self-proclaimed "nao-nazi" will be standing for Nick Griffin in the coming elections.

(the article is entitled 'Barrell scraping' commences in Blackburn - the return of a National Socialist!)

They are getting their knickers in a twist that Griffins new man in Blackburn is Robin Evans, the loser who wrote a real diatribe against Griffin, shortly before he left the BNP and formed his own National Socialist party of Blackburn, has returned to give the party some Hitlerite credentials.

Is this jealousy or what???

Anonymous said...

"No it wasn't, it was Steve Blake, and we know that for a FACT."

Balls, it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory.

Who cares? Its Barnes style of writing and who else can be so hectoring and trip up over his own warped logic every couple of sentences. It's a fact that some people who backed Auty or were thinking about it were leaned on very heavily from the heavyweights and Griffin's attack dogs working overtime to pile on the pressure. Strange that these attack dogs are mostly not members of the BNP just scum that Griffin finds useful e.g Tommy Williams from Sheffield.

Anonymous said...

Well well, it looks like Sharon Ebanks has woken up. This has appeared on the NWN blog.

"Can someone please give me details about the Euro elections, I wish to stand against Darby and help recruit others to do likewise. I'll be damned if thieving corrupt scum will represent the British people under the heading of nationalism.

Regards

SE"

Anonymous said...

Dicky Bumbrook is always going to be a cyclops stooge as he is a misssfit who makes sickgay porno films.and is a pissead.gri££in only wants lackeys with skeletons in their clossets,so he can blackmail em blind,if and when they turn ferral.

Anonymous said...

"Auty should have gone to the police about Lee Barnes. It would have made sense."

Nothing about Lee Barnes makes sense! He is the best joke in British politics especially the Brothers Grimm fantasy world of politics the likes of Griffin and Barnes inhabit.

Anonymous said...

The Return of Sharon Ebanks!

This should brighten things up. :)

Anonymous said...

If Colin isn't dismissed from the party well he will have to try to change things from within like hitler's generals tried to do to his Fuhrer.

Anonymous said...

If the four year rule is brought in, Griffin will be as untouchable as Robert Mugabe. Like Mugabe, he rules with imtimidation, terror and an iron rod, punishing those who dare to speak out against him with "attack dogs".

Even if (by way of miracle) Colin Auty is allowed to stay in the party, he would be as impotent as an England footballer with brewers droop.

Anonymous said...

"The Return of Sharon Ebanks!

This should brighten things up. :)"

Oh for fucks sake. i thought she was dead.

Anonymous said...

If Colin Auty has any sense he will remain in the BNP and pretend to be a (silenced) puppett on a string then pounce at the right moment wrecking everything for Griffin!

The only way Griffin will resign is if he is throttled from within by a bunch of refuseNicks.

Anonymous said...

Don't all these ex-BNPers have a home to go to? Do you really think the anti-racists give a toss about how bad you all feel when you signed up to a party which has a convicted criminal racist in charge and which has convicted criminal racists in senior positions. You should have done a little more homework before giving your cash to a conman, a failed bankrupt and a man who bullies and threatens his own party members.

Anonymous said...

Lee Barnes certainly is a lunatic - and a hypocrite. I see he's gone back to suggesting that Jews own large sections of the mass media (which happens to be a fact) and that they are involved in a conspiracy to impose pro-Jewish and pro-Israeli sentiment on the docile populations of western nations - (which is up for debate).

However, in his now infamous pro-Israeli article penned about this time 2 years ago, Barnes was suggesting the exact opposite:

"Media control

For decades the lunatic fringe of the Nationalist movement has said that the media is controlled by the ‘Jews’ and Israel. The reports from the BBC, and the rest of the British media, are so anti-Israel and pro-Hezbollah that such a contention has been revealed to be total rubbish."

Am I glad to be away from such a shower of fucking lunatic, treacherous and cowardly shit. To all the people who backed Colin Auty and then defected back to lick Griffin's arse - you are spineless scum.

Anonymous said...

"Don't all these ex-BNPers have a home to go to? Do you really think the anti-racists give a toss about how bad you all feel when you signed up to a party which has a convicted criminal racist in charge and which has convicted criminal racists in senior positions. You should have done a little more homework before giving your cash to a conman, a failed bankrupt and a man who bullies and threatens his own party members."

Well said!

Anonymous said...

"We'll be waving goodbye to this lot soon then...."

I doubt it. Most of them scuttled back under Griffin's wing when they were threatened with expulsion.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who has already signed or is thinking of signing or intending to sign the nomination forms for Colin Autty will be suspended from Party membership pending an internal dispclinary tribunal where members will be tried for conspiracy and treason......

Anyone who is THINKING of signing??? WTF

Anonymous said...

"However, in his now infamous pro-Israeli article penned about this time 2 years ago, Barnes was suggesting the exact opposite."

Yes thats right, both are correct, you are not as clever as the BNP's legal sparrow so you just dont understand. When Lee Barnes (LLB Hons) says the sky is green it is true because its a statement penned by someone who clearly sees the sky is green. Just because you think you see it as blue and lots of other people do as well doesnt necessarly make it true to everyone.

I dont think Lee Barnes (LLB Hons) wrote that piece anyway. It was Steve Blake, Matt Single or Sadie Graham. That's a fact. It is possible that Lee Barnes (LLB Hons) doesnt exist at all and is a fictional character made up by the webels to embarrass the One Eyed King.

Anonymous said...

"that the BNP is haemorrhaging members far faster than it can sign them up"

This is another cast iron fact, confirmed to me by two senior officers over the past couple of weeks. It doesn't seem that long ago that Nick was crowing about the party having over 10,000 members. From what I hear the figure is well under 7,000, 2006 levels.

Anonymous said...

Even by the poor standards of the BNP I find it hard to beleive that Colin Auty couldn't raise 100 signatures for his challenge. Does this mean the membership is happy with Nick Griffin, that it's too frightened to do anything that might piss him off or that there simply aren't 100 people in the party who have been members for a solid two years or five years or whatever it is.

Anonymous said...

Colin who? What leadership challenge? Oh yeah I forgot about that, so it's collapsed has it, now there's a surprise!

Anonymous said...

"Colin who? What leadership challenge? Oh yeah I forgot about that, so it's collapsed has it, now there's a surprise!"

Wow, sarcasm.

Personally I reckon Colin Auty failed because of that godawful hat.

Anonymous said...

Auty was denied a platform of any kind at any branch.

The BNP once again showing its contempt for democracy.

Anonymous said...

"or that there simply aren't 100 people in the party who have been members for a solid two years or five years or whatever it is"

Most likely....it is a fact that over the past decade thousands have joined for a year and left in disgust at the way they are treated, fleeced for cash and left uninformed by a paranoid central HQ. If the BNP had held on to all its members it would have a membership of 12,000 or more. The reality is about half of that figure and not increasing. And I got that from a very senior and unhappy official - soon to be ex-official if he doesnt stop mouthing off to his drinking buddies.

Anonymous said...

NWN is reporting this

"Another leadership Challenger pulls out !

BNP veteran Chris Jackson has now also pulled out of standing against the despot and Robert Mugabe admirer, Nick Griffin.

The BNP Reform Group that supported Chris in the farce of an internal BNP election last year, cannot see a new challenge as being held any differently.

We can now see quite vividly that democracy is forbidden in the corrupt, nepotistic, and crony run BNP.

This move by Chris Jackson shows the nationalist movement in the UK, and Worldwide, that Griffins tiny coterie have no 'right' to run the UK's premier nationalist party. By pulling out of the election, Chris Jackson and Cllr Auty will not be giving Griffin any legitimacy in the running of his corrupt dictatorship. The rules have been stacked too heavily by Herr Gri££in in his own favour.

To put it another way..................would you join a game, if one of the players was making his own rules up as he went along, so that he would be the winner ?

Angry and dismayed BNP members will not now be given a chance, via internal election, to change the corrupt and rotten ruling regime in the BNP. And that is the sad part in all this !"

I didn't know Chris Jackson was even planning to stand again. He's never campaigned or spoken out about anything.

Anonymous said...

And still not a word on Stormfront. I thought they believed in freedom of speech.

Anonymous said...

I love nicks bum

John P said...

Don't all these ex-BNPers have a home to go to? Do you really think the anti-racists give a toss about how bad you all feel when you signed up to a party which has a convicted criminal racist in charge and which has convicted criminal racists in senior positions. You should have done a little more homework before giving your cash to a conman, a failed bankrupt and a man who bullies and threatens his own party members.

Spot on and it looks like Chris Jackson isn't standing either

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhZa5qNA2fg

Anonymous said...

I love you too, Mark.

[snuggle]

Antifascist said...

The YouTube link goes to Great White Record's response to Lily Allen's anti-BNP song and features the BNP's new mega-star Joey Smith. You've really got to listen to it to realise just how trivial it is, how badly produced it is and what a truly dismal singer Joey Smith is. And oh God, the words are so trite. If this is the best GWR can come up with, they're well and truly buggered. It's no wonder they're only selling half a dozen CDs a week.

I wonder how many CDs Lily Allen sells weekly.

Anonymous said...

to the tune of Morgan Rattler ...

Our nation needs a hero,
Not Auty's stupid hat.
It needs a superhero
A one-eyed pig-breeding t**t

And when we find some trouble
A legal chaffinch flies
In, to reduce judges to rubble
And we praise Lee JB to the skies

Chaffinch reminds me quickly
Of Darby doing his bit
He knows all about the birdlys
He certainly behaves like a tit.


(Available now on GWR - Great White Ripoff)

Anonymous said...

He never stood a chance anyway, so WLF.
All the fash with half a brain Gri££in has already got rid of leaving only the sheep types that sniff his fat arse.
Still, the Rebels have certainly sown the seeds of destruction; that 'party' is finished now with the amount of shit that has been dredged up!