Two leading members of the far-right British National Party are to attend the Queen's garden party at Buckingham Palace.Richard Barnbrook, a member of the London Assembly, received the invitation in his capacity at City Hall and has decided to take the chairman of the BNP, Nick Griffin, as his guest. The move will provoke anger at City Hall among those who believe the party should not be part of the democratic system.
Today Mr Barnbrook confirmed he would attend the function on 21 July and said the addition of Mr Griffin as his guest had been a last-minute development. He said: “If they don't like it then tough. I was duly elected and we live in a democracy. I was going to invite a very close friend but at the last minute she couldn't come so the party chairman was the first person I thought of off the cuff. If I continue to rattle the cages at City Hall and put noses out of joint while they can't answer my questions then they should look at their own politics.”
Mr Barnbrook was not directly invited by the Queen but was entitled to one of the tickets given to City Hall as a new Assembly member.
A Palace spokesman said: “A number of organisations and bodies receive an allocation of tickets for the garden parties and we trust them to make a decision about which guests they would like to invite. It's a system that has been in place for years. People are vetted for security reasons and we can intervene on obvious security grounds.
“We can't confirm who's attending because of data protection reasons.” Darren Johnson, chairman of the London Assembly and Green party member, said: “It's their garden party and they can invite who they want. He is a member of the Assembly after all and it is essentially a political problem. The long-term solution is to make sure neither he or anyone from his party ever gets in again. Mind you, if his behaviour is anything like it is at City Hall, the Queen will be very bored.”
The event will come after the June local and Euro elections, which could see the BNP gaining more local council seats and their first MEPs. Disillusionment with mainstream politicians over the MPs' expenses scandal and fears over jobs and immigration could lead to a surge in support for the party, according to political experts.
Two days ago Mr Barnbrook attended the Wembley launch of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals
20 comments:
"I've always wanted to meet the Queen, now at last I'll get the chance," said Her Majesty...
Seriously though it would send the right message to our community, particularly those who would be the victims under any BNP government, if this invitation could be rescinded.
Let's get to work!
What sort of weak willed fascist would you have to be to go round a German's house for tea and cucumber sandwiches ?
Some might consider the presence of a former guest of Colonel Gaddafi and vocal supporter of the Ayatollah Khomeini at Buck House a bit of a security risk, don't you think?
Not to mention Copeland...
This event has got to be picketed. Otherwise if left unopposed the BNP will be increasingly seen as 'part of the establishment'
BNP leader Nick Griffin to attend Queen's summer garden party
Head of far-right party gets guest pass from London assembly member
Nick Griffin, the leader of the far-right British National party, is planning to attend a garden party in June hosted by the Queen at Buckingham palace, according to an associate.
Richard Barnbrook, a BNP member of the London assembly, said he was taking Griffin to next month's event as his guest. "I imagine there will be a to-do and a hoot. These things are going to happen more and more as the [BNP] goes forward," he said.
A BNP spokesman said that for Barnbrook to "snub an invite from the Queen would be absurd", adding: "If we get elected MEPs this is the kind of thing we are going to be doing on a regular basis." The event will take place after the European elections next month.
The BNP has been hoping to cash in on disillusion with mainstream politics and to pick up its first MEPs. However, it has had a poor showing in a series of polls, which have shown a surge in support for the UK Independence party, UKIP.
All members of the London assembly have been invited to the event on 21 June but the inclusion of Griffin, who in 1998, was convicted of distributing material likely to incite racial hatred, has been criticised by anti-racism campaigners.
"Many members of his organisation have been convicted of crimes of violence and of racial harassment," said a spokesman for the anti-racist organisation, Searchlight. "We would have thought that on security grounds alone he would be denied access to Buckingham palace."
News of the royal garden party visit comes two days after the organisers of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals were criticised for inviting Barnbrook to a launch event. The prime minister, Gordon Brown, and the FA chairman, Lord Triesman, spoke at the event, putting an emphasis on diversity, but Barnbrook's attendance has proved hugely damaging to internal relations in the game.
A spokesman for Buckingham palace said today he could not confirm facts about individual invitations: "A number of organisations and bodies receive an allocation of tickets for the garden parties so it is a matter for those organisations who they invite."
"It is the emergence of a party from beyond the pale to mainstream."
Is it fuck? All councillors get invited to the Palace and all can take a guest. It's nothing special at all.
3000 people attend these parties and she'll avoid being seen with these two bozos a6t all costs.
Three Queens? Good hand!
"I was going to invite a very close friend but at the last minute she couldn't come so the party chairman was the first person I thought of off the cuff."
He was going to invite a friend but Griffin would do instead. Nice.
Presumably he wasn't going to take the dancing queen cos she's refusing to talk to him now.
Well probably time to call out the guard....and the corgis.....let Philip get hold of his shotgun....let Annie serve them tea, with whatever she would like to lace it with.....and then of course to finish it off set the lads on them, pretty sure Wills and Harry would take great pleasure in letting Dicky and Griffin know just what it means to serve your country.
Other than that yep lets picket!!!!
tulip
"Presumably he wasn't going to take the dancing queen cos she's refusing to talk to him now."
He should take the pair of Tilda Swintons knickers he's kept for the past 20 years (allegedly). At least she'd be with him in - er - spirit.
I've been to the Queen's Garden Party myself.
There are thousands of people there, the grounds are huge and you have to strain your eyes through a throng to even catch a glimpse of Her Maj.
Oh, and the food is crap and - wait for it Dickie - all the drinks are strictly non-alcoholic!
Someone do a screen shot of the BNPs website quick, there's an article about UKIPs "pro eu" candidate Martha Andrasen who it turns out has actually changed her mind and is anti eu, the BNP gets it wrong again. Have a feeling that article wont stay there long
Here is the proof of the BNPs mistake
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=10086
Martha is a former eu accountant sacked for refusing to sign off the eus accounts.
"Disillusionment with mainstream politicians over the MPs' expenses scandal and fears over jobs and immigration could lead to a surge in support for the party, according to political experts".
WHICH SO-CALLED EXPERTS ARE THOSE???
EVERYONE'S APPARENTLY VOTING FOR UKIP AND THE GREEN PARTY, NOT THE NEO-NAZI BNP!
Yes, that's it. All of the other guests who would be attending, should be asked to boycott the invitation until the neo-Nazis are taken off the list.
If it works for cancalling knuckleduster gatherings at neo-Nazi pubs, it will most surely work for Buck House.
Especially after the Prince Harry nazi outfit and racism scandal.
Or do the British Royal Family approve of the racism and the BNP?
I happened to catch this story on the BBC, and as usually expected, they played down the policies of the BNP.
"The BNP says in its policies that they would like to voluntary repatriate immigrants", it says.
Not a mention of non-white people who have lived here for many generations since their grandparents arrived here, who the BNP would also remove.
It's not totally true, anyway, that the BNP are going to remove ALL IMMIGRANTS! South African apartheid war criminals are welcome to stay, provided they have actively helped to murder black politicians on behalf of the former white supremacist security forces.
Yes lets ask the rest of the guests who were also invited to boycot the event.
The best way to deal with this is with humour, of which we had some examples today.
Make the fat man look like he really is, a little man with bigoted ideas.
Can you image what comics like Mark Steel and Mark Thomas will make of this?
It's sort of amazing Barnbrook implies not going would be snubbing the queen. He wasn't invited! The Assembly received an allocation of tickets which AMs could take if they chose.
It's constitutionally unlikely that Queeny would say anything negative about them, though.
Are the Bookmakers giving odds on Her Majesty being "indisposed" on that day ?
Old Sailor
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