Christmas chaos hits BNP (again) as Chris Jackson and Mike Easter resign

As one of our readers commented the other day, Christmas seems to be a difficult time for the BNP. It was pointed out that 2007 saw the end of the then high-flying career of Sadie Graham and many others, while 2008 saw the chaos that followed the release of the full BNP membership list.

This year seemed to be following the same pattern, though in a less focused way, with the sudden resignation of Alby Walker as leader of the BNP group at Stoke Council, Dicky Barnbrook's embarrassingly poor apology for being a liar, the laughably appalling accounts (which earned the party a £1100 slap on the wrist for tardiness) and a threat of future legal action from the Electoral Commission, plus a swathe of dreadful by-election results.

Now however, things seem to be coming to a head with the resignations of former contender for the BNP leadership (in a rigged election that he couldn't possibly win) Chris Jackson (pictured), his former campaign manager Mike Easter and someone named Kev Bryan, who was apparently the Rossendale Branch Organiser. The resignations are announced in an open letter posted on the mostly defunct jackson4leader site:

'Disbandment of reform Group

What is the point of the BNP if you admit foreigners?

Sadly we have come to the conclusion that the BNP is breaking up and there is no practicable likelihood of it recovering.

In our opinion the root cause of the failure is the Constitution of the Party. The Constitution, that is the Party Rules, makes the Party Leader a dictator. The current leader rather than reforming the Constitution toward that of a normal English association has (probably illegally) made alterations to the Constitution making his removal virtually impossible.

The Party is now a nationalist party in name only and has abandoned many of the fundamental principles on which it was founded.

A further major problem is that of money. Under the Constitution, all money is controlled by the Party Leader. The Party Leader appoints the Party Treasurer and Party Auditor. The Leader has carte blanche to dispose of the funds as he pleases.

This has never been a satisfactory situation, and now that the Party is alleged to be turning over a million pounds a year, is nothing short of a scandal. There have been four different Treasurers this year and the 2008 accounts are way overdue. The Party has been fined by the Electoral Commission for late publication of accounts. This is a re-run of last year when the accounts were also late and when published were endorsed by the Auditor as unsatisfactory.

A separate, but related, issue is the Trafalgar Club. This Club raises money directly to support the Party Leader. No accounts for this club have ever been published and they have not been appended to the Party accounts, as clearly they should be.

We recommend that no further money be sent to ‘Head Office’.

Whilst the BNP has been going downhill, the National Front has reformed itself and now is led by a group of reliable people and has the Constitution of a normal democratic association. Consequently, we believe that BNP members should transfer to the National Front.

Mike Easter
Chris Jackson
Kevin Bryan'

Regular readers will no doubt remember Jackson's failed leadership challenge back in the summer of 2007. Although resoundingly beaten, the results were not quite what Nick Griffin apparently expected, with Griffin himself receiving a mandate from only 39% of the party membership. Were I Jackson, I would regard that outcome as something of a success in itself - it showing the lack of confidence in Griffin that truly exists even in the BNP. However, rather than follow-up the one successful aspect of his challenge, Jackson chose to keep his head down and say nothing very much for the next two years.

So why resign now? The main reasons are made pretty clear in the letter above - the action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to force the BNP to open its membership to non-whites and the financial shenanigans of the party leadership, though we suspect the former is the real reason and the latter is just a handy and always-relevant sideswipe at the morally-impaired Griffin.

It was pretty clear from the moment the EHRC began its action, that there would be repercussions from the hardcore racists in the BNP - one of whom is obviously Chris Jackson. There is though a lot of support for Jackson's views within the party and as Searchlight pointed out during his leadership bid, his campaign was backed by some heavy-hitters: five founder-members, two advisory council members, three councillors, eight branch organisers and 20 election candidates came out openly in his support.

There are mixed immediate reactions to the resignations, though I don't doubt we can expect a LOT more. Griffin-loyalists are, naturally, critical of this trio's announcement and stated intention to join the National Front. One surprisingly witty nazi on Stormfront said;

'The NF may have a name, although like a cheap can of Polish beans, they have a fancy label but the product inside is cheap and of little nutritional value.'

The response was less witty, though rather more cogent;

'Ever since June, which was supposed to have been the BNP's moment of greatest triumph, its members and supporters have been simply walking away. Last month, Andrew Brons spoke at a long-planned meeting in Bridlington which attracted fewer than thirty people, even though BNP members had travelled from as far away as Scarborough, Hull and Leeds to attend. If even a MEP and nationalist of AB's calibre can't draw the crowds anymore something is seriously wrong.'

Over at the North West Nationalist blog, the statements were a little more terse;

'The root cause is traitor Griffin !'
'Fingers in the till anyone?'
'Only surprised it took CJ as long as it did to pack it in.'

The NWN forum was a little more informative;

'I rather think that there will be a bit of a deluge over to the National Front here in the North West.'
'Croydon BNP branch has crossed to the NF, and a large group in Southampton joining next week Strong rumours of Stoke BNP and councillors from other branches crossing over to the NF.'
'I do know that both Burnley BNP & Halifax BNP are quite close to Chris Jackson'
'We must leave crook Griffin with the rubbish personnel.'

Like everyone else, I do enjoy a good disaster movie over Christmas - and the BNP generally provides the best. It's a bit late this year but what the hell - I suspect this one will be a biggie and just as much fun to watch as all the others.

Compliments of the season to all our readers and happy viewing. :-)