November 19, 2008

Radio DJ Rod Lucas axed after appearing on BNP membership list

A male police officer in Merseyside and a radio DJ are the first alleged BNP members to face consequences after the far-Right party's full membership list was leaked online.

TalkSport radio said this morning that it will "no longer use" chat show presenter Rod Lucas, who covered late night shifts for the station earlier this year, after he was listed among more than 12,000 BNP supporters on an internet blog posted on Sunday night. His name and contact details were included alongside his profession: 'media: radio/TV production'.

Meanwhile the Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed this lunchtime that it had received an official referral relating to a serving Merseyside officer whose details also appeared on the list. Police are banned from becoming members of the BNP because it would damage race relations.

An IPCC spokesman said: "We received a referral from Merseyside Police at 1pm today. There is likely to be a decision this afternoon on whether the IPCC should be involved in an investigation or whether Merseyside deal with the matter internally."

The spokesman said that the local force had approached them this morning and they would await further proactive moves from other forces, although he said that the IPCC could take independent action if necessary to investigate individuals' conduct.

Peter Fahy, a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "Membership or promotion of the BNP by any member of the police service, whether police officer or police staff, is prohibited... because such membership would be incompatible with our duty to promote equality under the Race Relations Amendment Act and would damage the confidence of minority communities. While the policy may have been controversial at the time it was enacted, in 2004, it has since been accepted by all staff and staff associations and remains unchallenged thus far."

Lucas, a Sony Award winner who once worked for Radio One, had eulogised on his website how much he had enjoyed working for his "favourite" radio station, but this morning TalkSport bosses were swift to distance themselves from him. A spokesman said: 'We won't be using him again. We had no knowledge of his association with the British National Party.'

The membership list was today removed from the original blog where it was published but remains available on other websites.

Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, initially accused former BNP staff members who have been sacked, telling the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "We are pretty sure [that we know who leaked it]. We had a problem with a very senior former employee who left last year. He was one of the hardliners I inherited from my predecessor, he didn't like the direction the party was going in, thought it was too moderate, so he broke away taking the list with him."

The BNP won a High Court injunction against a former member in April preventing a membership list being made public. Within a couple of hours, however, the BNP appeared to be backing off from accusing its former employee, and turning its sights on the Labour Party.

"It is looking increasingly likely that this is the work of Labour Party supporters," said Simon Darby, the party spokesman. "If they have not protected their IP [internet service provider address] properly, there will be an electronic trail leading back to the culprit."

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, showed little sympathy over the leak. She told Sky News: "It probably says something about the BNP that people don't want to have it known that they are a member."

Mr Griffin was forced to deny that Mr Darby had intended to threaten violence when he said last night that if the culprit was found, "it will turn out to be one of the most foolish things they have done in their life", and that "I wouldn't be sleeping very well tonight".

Mr Griffin told Today: "There is no threat of violence as is being reported today."

Others whose names, jobs and contact details are posted online were this morning in fear of their jobs, as the names include prison officers, who in 2002 were also explicitly banned by their employers from holding BNP membership. Teachers, doctors and serving members of the Armed Forces are among the members listed, and now face questioning from colleagues and bosses over whether belonging to a party associated with racist views is compatible with the caring ethos and emphasis on equality in their work.

The BNP said in a statement on its website that it had lodged a complaint with Dyfed-Powys Police on the grounds that the "disgraceful act of treachery" breached human rights and data protection law. Mr Griffin admitted that the Human Rights Act was one of the BNP's pet hates, but denied that using it to enforce the privacy of its members was hypocrisy.

"No, we are not in favour of the Human Rights Act, it is a European piece of legislation, but as it is there we will happily use it if we can," he said. "I don't think that European law can be used to defend freedom as the two things are fundamentally at odds, but it's certainly something that can be used to defend privacy."

Mr Griffin said that the BNP had no problem with the professions of its members being known, "but the moment any journalist goes as far as to put someone's name and address in the public domain, when precisely who holds what political opinion is a private matter, then I think that we are moving from legitimate journalism and into a very nasty piece of intimidation on behalf of the Labour Government".

Mr Griffin accused Labour of trying to persecute the BNP. This month Labour MPs began moves in the Commons to enshrine in law the right of trade unions to refuse membership to those who belong to the BNP — a right already upheld in a test case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg involving the train drivers' union Aslef.

Many rank-and-file BNP members have turned on their party leader over the leak, in angry postings on the internet. "If Griffin cannot keep the membership secure he should resign," said a typical posting, on the NorthWestNationalists website. Possible names for who was responsible for leaking the list were being touted.

Several BNP members say they have received threatening messages since their names appeared online. One woman, who did not want to be named, told BBC Radio 5 Live she received a phone call at 11pm last night saying she should be "very careful" as someone could come to her house. John, from Redcar, told the station he had been inundated with abusive and threatening e-mails since the list was published. "They have said they will put them [his details] on as many sites as they can and they won't leave us alone," he said.

But Richard, a Blackpool hotelier, said: "We did have some strange phone calls last night but if you are a member of any party you should not be ashamed of it."

The party has warned its 39 members in Northern Ireland and two in the Irish Republic to take extra care with their personal security, because of the risk of attack from dissident Republicans.

Times Online

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay - first blood!

There'll be more.

Anonymous said...

Could someone provide me a link to the copy of list?... Lol this event is rather funny.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any sources for reports that there have been suicides? Seems a little extreme.

Anonymous said...

Re Lucas. He is not just a simple DJ. I just came across an interesting connection here:
http://simondarby.blogspot.com/2008/11/st-georges-day-west-bromwich.html

It predates the debacle. The fact that Simon Darby (BNP Vice Leader), Andrew Green (Migration Watch) & Nick Griffin (BNP Leader) are tied up together about interviews on Talksport is worrying. I would assume even Talksport would knowingly avoid have had a Migration Watch guy interviewed by a former BNP supporter. And it would have been unprofessional of Lucas to conceal that. Let alone apparently leaking stuff to the BNP.

Anonymous said...

I have been getting silly phone calls because the BNP had me on there mailing list. a guy i used to no was a member and gave them my details because he thought i would join. they keep mailing me shit, and now this. out of order. please let it be known that list is not just members of the BNP but all people the mither or whatever.

Anonymous said...

There's lots more to come.......


I hear a certain high street mortgage insurer who does work for the HSBC and Abbey is considering not validating certain mortgages where the applicant had not disclosed they had not told their employer they face the risk of being sacked for being a BNP member!

How do I know this? My wife works for them........


HA

Anonymous said...

There WILL be more. Teachers, plods and the army will be the first targets but then it's a free for all. BNP sympathetic businesses had better look out, like the driving instructor who gives discounts to BNP members. Don't driving instructors have a professional organisation behind them? Pubs have breweries who pay their wages. Gosh, the fallout from all this could be tremendous.

Antifascist said...

'Does anyone have any sources for reports that there have been suicides? Seems a little extreme.'

Sounds like bullshit to me. I get news straight from the sources and no suicides have been mentioned nor do I expect there to be any.

Anonymous said...

Lucas is claiming to have been undercover

"Axed TalkSport DJ was 'undercover' at BNP

Rod Lucas, who was dropped from TalkSport after a BNP members list was leaked on the internet, has admitted to Broadcastnow that he was a temporary member of the far-right organisation - so he could expose the party in an investigative report.

The Sony Award-winning journalist conducted a series of undercover reports on the party for his midnight show on Fusion Radio in 2004 which concluded that the party was racist and hypocritical.

This morning, the DJ was told he would no longer be used as a fill in presenter on TalkSport after his membership details were posted on a website with 10,000 other BNP members.

"I despise the BNP, but as an investigative journalist sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to get the real story," he said.

Lucas said he had explained the situation to TalkSport but was unsure if he would be rehired. TalkSport said it would not be changing its statement.

Lucas added that his subscription to the party expired in 2005 after he finished the report."

Anonymous said...

The list: Search torrent sites (TPB etc)you'll find it...

Anonymous said...

Mr Fister

Better check your wife's not on the list. That might explain her interest.

In any case, as you should know, not everyone on the list is a member so how can mortgage lenders or insurers enforce this?

Anonymous said...

"3 suicides"

Only Gri£$in, Colett and Darby maybe after realising their not so clevely concocted plan has blown up in their faces and will be more likely to break the BNP than to make it

Anonymous said...

Im on that list but Im not a member. How did that happen? I would like to know for obvious reasons

Anonymous said...

> The list: Search torrent sites (TPB etc)you'll find it...

It's on wikileaks.org, where it will remain.

Antifascist said...

'Only Gri£$in, Colett and Darby maybe after realising their not so clevely concocted plan has blown up in their faces and will be more likely to break the BNP than to make it'

I'd like to add that bastard Arthur Kemp, if I may. :-)

'Im on that list but Im not a member. How did that happen? I would like to know for obvious reasons'

You'd better demand an answer from the BNP (and maybe make a formal complaint to the Data Commissioner). If you're not a member, your name shouldn't be on it at all. It's a serious issue - complain.

Anonymous said...

Is "Lee Barnes" ACTUALLY that UFO conspiracy nut from Filey as some people are saying, Antifascist?

That freak, like Barnesy, actually has a little legal knowledge, and fits the bill quite well.

If so, it's like Doctor Phil Edwards, who uses a psuedonym also.

Anonymous said...

If no-one's ever seen lee barnes in person, this does explain it all.

Anonymous said...

http://current.com/items/89057533/uk_alien_hunter_russ_kellett_revealed_crashed_ufo_was_made_of_alien_material.htm

Lee Barnes's alter-ego

Anonymous said...

I dont know if the policeman or DJ Rod Lucas are married with kids, if they are they could tell spouses and offspring not to worry even though they;ve effectively lost their jobs and ways to make a living as it is all "excellent extra publicity for the BNP, Nick said so".

That small crumb of comfort wont feed their families or them though will it, Gri$£in?

What a callous cold hearted self seeeker he is, and it shows

Unknown said...

GOOD. This is exactly the sort of response I expect from responsible employers. Right wing racist views are abominable, hence, the racist views must be opposed and the people who support such views must be snubbed and degraded at every given opportunity. I hate the BNP supporters. I do not wish to listen to any radio station that employs a BNP supporter.

Anonymous said...

NAZI FUCKS TARGET CHESTER

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/chester-breaking-news/2008/11/19/bnp-aims-to-be-in-power-in-chester-within-10-years-59067-22293459/

Worth alerting people to what the wankers are doing in Chester, Ketlan.

John said...

BNP radio aka TalkSport sacking a BNP member - what is the word coming to?

Anonymous said...

Mr Fister

Better check your wife's not on the list. That might explain her interest.

In any case, as you should know, not everyone on the list is a member so how can mortgage lenders or insurers enforce this?

------------------------------


It's in the small print of failure to disclose. She has bought this to the attention of the compnay and they will be making an internal decision.

It's a bit like your car insurance being invalidated for drink-driving.

She's smart my missus, and fucking hates fascists so I'm sure she'll push this through.

Anonymous said...

Is this true about Lee Barnes's real identity?

Anonymous said...

Russ Kellett, UFO Hunter, Filey

Antifascist said...

'Is this true about Lee Barnes's real identity?'

I doubt it.

'Could someone provide me a link to the copy of list?'

It's in the public domain now so I suggest you search for and go to WikiLeaks.

Green Gordon said...

He's claiming that he was infiltrating the BNP for undercover reporting.

Anonymous said...

The list is not an official BNP list nor was it put on line by
BNP, what good would it do therefore complaining to them about my inclusion?

Anonymous said...

"Sounds like bullshit to me. I get news straight from the sources and no suicides have been mentioned nor do I expect there to be any."

I'm not so sure, Griffin wont take the blame and when he turns his attention on the real source of the leak heads will roll here and some in or who have been in the inner circle are not as tough as they make out. Several have drink and marital problems, at least one has a serious drug problem and at least one is a repressed homosexual, no telling what any one of them might do with this added pressure of an internal witchhunt. Watch this space, it might fade from the mainstream press but the story will run and run.

Anonymous said...

>In any case, as you should know, not everyone on the list is a member so how can mortgage lenders or insurers enforce this?

Simple answer: they can't - or not if they want to avoid legal ramifications later.

The only defence would be if they are in a position where they have genuine unencumbered discretion to decide, as I suspect is the case for Talksport hiring freelance DJs.

Anonymous said...

Email sent,

To: groupcorporatecounsel@sappi.com

Sirs.

I bring to your attention that your managing Director at your UK sales office Mr Chris Diacon has been publicly outed as a member of the the far right BNP party, I am sure, as an international company you are aware of the implications of employing Nazis in your organisation.

Teehee

Anonymous said...

Next I'm going to make the BPP membership list available by writing it on the back of a stamp and posting it to everyone.

Anonymous said...

""So in terms of repositioning us as a party genuinely made up of ordinary British people from all walks of life that will actually do us good," he said. "

This on BBC website.......does us good says Griffin, yep, the money is pouring in but what about the hundreds of gullible, decent dupes who have been conned by that one eyed c**t into believing he was something else and something better than the other Lib-Lab-Con lot. So my 74 year old mum who carries a BNP card with membership no, 284** is safe from threats is she? Thanks Griffin she'll love to know its the leak was all about what you call repositioning.

Anyone dares call her I'll make sure I trace that call so just think about it. I am asking and pleading with the owners of this LUAF blog to get this issue into balance. Not everyone who has joined the BNP is a bad person. Not everyone in the Labour or Tory party is a bad person. Individuals make decisions based on their own ideas and motivations. There are scum bags in the BNP and scum bags in every charity, party, organisation in the country. My mum's story would bring a tear to the eye of even the hardest nosed BBC reporter but that's all I want to say. I like this site for its honesty but please respect decisions made by people like my mum, working class with little other than her own sphere of knowledge to make a better informed decision on this things.

Anonymous said...

How can you trust Ol One eye not to have deliberately leaked the list of his own membership? Obviously, he is a respectable graduate and an upstanding citizen.

Since he admits, on camera, that the list contains a full list of the BNP membership with "7 fake names" then he is admitting that the BNP has failed in its duty of care under the Data Protection Act. He is admitting he knows the list to be genuine. He is admitting he knows the contents of the list. He is admitting that the Leader of the BNP is quite culpable in having 10,000 people exposed to a lot of things. Such as receipt of junk email. Even if I were a right wing nut - how could he be trusted now?

Anonymous said...

Sharon Ebanks has been arrested

Anonymous said...

Sounds like bullshit to me. I get news straight from the sources and no suicides have been mentioned nor do I expect there to be any.
NO YOU DONT YA 2 BOB SMACK RAT

Anonymous said...

Somone I know was in the BNP but they found religion and turned their back on the party, vociferously and at a (local) BNP event actually. YET THEYRE STILL ON THAT LIST. I know they are on it because I just searched it by postcode.

So beware not all of them named are still nazis

Anonymous said...

If as some sections of the press claim, BNP losers sue for getting sacked, guess who would expect a juicy cut of the payout?

Greedy Gri££in!!! lol

Anonymous said...

I may be wrong here but I cannot see Nick Gri££in or the BNP surviving this, as far as I can make out most of the people named and then contacted by newspapers are denying they were ever BNP members. The latest being the Buckingham Palace servant. So much for Wingfield claiming members are standing well.

Most who join do so for about a year or so, prompted by some outrage (real or imagined) or anewspaper headline about Muslims or immigration. They are not out and out fascists theyre just looking for a vehicle to express their concerns. Many leave in the normal run of things anyway hence the BNPs membership turnover being likened to a bath with the taps running and the plug out.

The leaking of the list may well have shown the bnp attracts teachers, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, company directors etc etc etc but it wont do for much longer, whos going to join a party that puts your job at risk?

When it comes down to it most will choose wages in their pocket rather than a bnp membership card

Gri£$in will be left with about 1500 to 2000 hardcore supporters, like those who attend rwb, and the bnp will be back to square one right back to when Gri£$in took it over.

I have seen claims Gri£$ins cabal leaked the list themselves, if so they have just shafted themselves. And their party.

Anonymous said...

From the Guardian, is this exampls of BNP members standing up to it well, Wingfield?

"In the same neighbourhood, the Guardian called on members included on the BNP list. One man explained that he had asked for information years ago from the BNP, but said he was not a member nor a racist. Asked how he felt about his details being published online, he said: "I've never had anything to do with them. I don't know why my name was on that list."

On the door of the house of another member of the list a sign read: "Unless we've asked you to call, don't knock. Don't ring. Just don't call." When the inhabitant answered, we asked if she would be willing to talk about being a member of the BNP. "No, no, no," she said as she closed the door."

Anonymous said...

Mr Fister, I think your wife is letting her enthusiasm get the better of her brain.
Membership of a political party (and that is what it is) would hardly be something that would be a relevant disclosure, unless your employer had a specific policy of sacking BNP members - if then.
If this was pushed through, then why not refuse mortgages or call them in for membership of UAF - assumming it had not been disclosed at the time of the application? A fascist-leaning employer (several on the list have their own businesses or are managers) might decide to sack someone for belonging to UAF, after all.
Illegal, immoral, yes, agreed, but for 99% of people, at least, the same applies to BNP membership.

John P said...

Any of you nutzies got the Trafalgar club list?

Anonymous said...

John P said...
Any of you nutzies got the Trafalgar club list?

1:19 AM, November 20, 2008


Sharon Ebanks has it

Anonymous said...

I do hope any innocents on the list do sue the BNP for defamation through negligence ... paying damages for few ruined careers would finish them.

Indeed they need to sue to establish their innocence.