January 26, 2010

Royal British Legion ban BNP meeting in Leighton - BNP fury at cancellation

Right-wing extremists have hit out at a move by Tory MP Andrew Selous to scrap a controversial meeting of the British National Party that was due to be held at Leighton's Royal British Legion Club tomorrow night. Mr Selous, MP for South West Beds, took action after being swamped by complaints from old soldiers who were horrified that their premises were to be used for a political rally.

The local branch of the BNP had hoodwinked the club's secretary Eileen Johnson by booking the West Street Hall under the name British Heritage. It wasn't until yesterday (Monday) that Mr Selous, a member of the club, discovered the real identity of the group, and stepped in to ask the charity to cancel the date.

Mrs Johnson said: "The hall was booked under a lady's name. I knew it was a political group but not that it was the BNP. As soon as I heard we cancelled them. We don't want those sort of people here. Our members wouldn't be at all happy."

In recent months the party has been actively campaigning and recruiting in Leighton-Linslade and the surrounding villages. The meeting on Wednesday night was to introduce three prospective parliamentary candidates to local people.

Mr Selous said: "The British Legion were tricked into taking the booking and I'm worried that people will still turn up thinking the meeting's on. I have had complaints from people who fought fascism in the Second World War and the British Legion isn't prepared to give fascism promotion in any way.

"I recognise that we live in a free society and we are entitled to free speech but the BNP is not a main stream party and they hold extreme views. A BNP meeting in the Royal British Legion Club is not something we want in this town."

Shelly Rose, who was organising the meeting, was furious at Mr Selous' intervention and said that a meeting would still be held. "It is absolutely outrageous. It is Andrew Selous who is acting like a fascist. He won't allow anyone else express their opinions. I'm really angry about this. Make no mistake we will have our meeting but we'll hold it elsewhere.

"This was going to be a low key meeting. There was nothing mysterious or sinister about it. We were going to be discussing the up and coming general election and have three prospective candidates address the meeting. It's Mr Selous who is being heavy-handed about this. It is perfectly fitting for us to hold a meeting in the British Legion. We are the only party opposed to the Iraqi/Afghanistan war and the only party that's patriotic and standing up for our soldiers."

A spokesman for the BNP's national headquarters, slammed the MP's intervention as "undemocratic".

He said: "We are a recognised political party with elected representatives but in some areas we are forced to book venues under an assumed name because of local reaction. In other areas we are completely open and up front about it and accepted. The reaction of certain people is not our fault. It's unfair and undemocratic to ban our meetings. Many of our members are ex-servicemen and the British Legion should be more patriotic and less political."

Leighton Buzzard Online

7 comments:

irishtony said...

"We are the only party opposed to the Iraqi/Afghanistan war "

?????????????

Clearly this idiot is not up on their politics.

they should read a bit more methinks

Anonymous said...

The BNP should change their name to the BFP, British Fraud Party. £100,000s of pounds have been filtered away under Gri££in and Darby. Only 15% of membership have renewed and the party is in DISARAY. lol

iliacus said...

"There was nothing mysterious or sinister about it"

So why book it under a false name ???

Prats!!

dave said...

From the BBC: -

Graffiti attack on Stoke mosque ahead of race rally
A mosque in Stoke-on-Trent was sprayed with graffiti referring to an upcoming English Defence League rally.

Mosque administrators discovered the daubed message at 0630 GMT on Saturday and had removed it within two hours.

Staffordshire Police said a criminal damage investigation was under way into the incident in the Normacot area.

A police spokesman said: "The community haven't reacted to it, so it hasn't achieved what the person who did it wanted to achieve."

An English Defence League rally in Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday resulted in three people being charged with race offences.

Erik said...

Some of the worst racist comments on YouTube are made by the high ranking EDL member called: -

0Made1nEngland0

He's a filthy racist neo-nazi scumbag who thinks he can incite racial hatred and violence on the internet with impunity.

Wren said...

Just came across a British BNPer discussing and defending the Northern League on a politics discussion board, trying to tell message board viewers they are not racist:

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/ukip/66213-about-lega-nord.html

Then he comes up with a totally sickening turn of phrase which approves of beating up and murdering Roma people: -

"Do they hate southern italians? - They usually bash Roma and southern politicians but not people".

Fuckin' fash scum always like to dehumanise Roma, Black people, Jews and Muslims as not being people.

ex-fascist said...

What I like about this is that they have specifically said it is the BNP that is not welcome. None of this hand-wringing, mealy-mouthed, semi-skimmed crap about not being political and not wanting any political party to use its premises. Leighton RBL has effectively said "others are welcome but you're not because you are fascists, so fuck off".

All power to Leighton RBL for doing that.