August 14, 2010

BNP owes half a million pounds

Nick Griffin has admitted that the British National Party has liabilities of half a million pounds, or 25% of its claimed annual turnover.

The revelation, made at a party meeting in Tameside, comes on the eve of a meeting of the party’s Advisory Council at which full details of the party’s financial state are supposed to be revealed.

Whether the party treasurer, the incompetent David Hannam, will provide any figures is now in doubt, following the sacking of Ken Booth, the party’s North East regional organiser, from the Advisory Council. It was Booth who was the prime mover of the call to open the party’s books at the meeting on 14 August.

It is unclear whether the BNP leader actually had the power to sack Booth. The party’s constitution states that all regional organisers sit on the Advisory Council and there appears to be no provision for Griffin unilaterally to dismiss anyone.

The other man sacked from the Advisory Council, Richard Edmonds, had burnt his bridges with the party last month when he revealed that Jim Dowson, the convicted criminal who now owns the BNP, earns £162,000 a year from the party. Saturday’s meeting was also supposed to be shown Dowson’s contract, a document that no one has ever seen but that Griffin claims exists.

According to Eddy Butler, who failed to win enough nominations to challenge Griffin for the party leadership earlier this week, the letters dismissing Booth and Edmonds were sent on Wednesday 11 August, the same day that Griffin assured Andrew Brons, who was acting as scrutineer for the nomination process, that he would welcome critics being able to see the books and study the accounts to give the party a clean bill of health. Butler says it is clear from this that Griffin had no intention to open the books.

The BNP’s £500,000 of debts place the party in a serious financial situation. The widespread discontent among activists, coupled with the fact that it is much more difficult for the party to raise money outside an election campaign, means that the party has little prospect of becoming solvent.

The seriousness of the situation is clear from the tone of Griffin’s latest fundraising appeal letter, also sent on Wednesday. Admitting that the party is “cash struck”, which, in an attempt to exert the maximum pull on supporters’ purse strings, he blames on the legal action over the party’s racist constitution brought by the hated Equality and Human Rights Commission, Griffin implores: “if you don’t give, we can’t fight … and if we don’t fight we will be shut down and killed off”.

Butler thinks that the sackings are also intended to prevent the Advisory Council voting by a two thirds majority to impeach Griffin. “He is a frightened man”, says Butler.

However there does not appear to be any provision in the party constitution for impeachment or even suspension of the chairman, who holds absolute power. The powers of the Advisory Council are limited to appointing the party’s auditors, requesting that its financial records are made available for inspection by any individual member of the council at a meeting, and, on a two thirds majority vote, calling a general members’ meeting. Such a meeting can discuss resolutions put by members but only with the consent of Griffin.

Nevertheless, despite the constitution, which Griffin forced through a general members’ meeting earlier this year without actually showing anyone the provisions that increased his powers and made it virtually impossible to challenge his leadership, he will find it hard to carry on if enough influential party activists turn against him.

The latest to do so is Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s sole London Assembly member, who stated today that he would from now on sit as an independent member of the Assembly. Explaining his action, he said he remained a “loyal and dedicated” party member, but could not continue to represent the party until “allegations of serious wrong doing concerning senior British National Party officials” are “the subject of an internal independent and transparent BNP investigation”.

Butler said today: “More revelations about severe financial wrongdoings are about to be made public,” adding to the pressure on Griffin to investigate the allegations of sexual assault made against Dowson and tell party activists the truth about what has been going on inside the BNP.

Searchlight / HOPE not Hate by Sonia Gable

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Nick Griffin has admitted that the British National Party has liabilities of half a million pounds, or 25% of its claimed annual turnover."

The BNP pulls in 2,000,000 a year! Bollocks!

Ben Trunch said...

BNP having a fire sale?

Everything must go, including Nick PigPen!

http://www.bnp.org.uk/news/help-clear-publication-backlog-hq-and-spread-message

We must all work to ensure he does not get re-elected to the Euro Parliament, then no pension for him. He can try to survive on all the money he has allegedly salted away from the BNP sheeple.

Green Arsehole is pressing the sheeple to donate - obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception? Sounds like fraud to me...

There she blows!

Ben Trunch said...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/13/richard-barnbrook-bnp-resigns-whip

This should be on every front page - so long as the sheeple don't bale out these alleged fraudsters...

iamthelaw said...

ben,
S16 of the theft act has been replaced by s2 of the fraud act, 2006. for guidence see: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/fraud_act/#a09
s.12 might be worth a look as well!

Anonymous said...

I know it's nearly 4 years away but at the rate the BNP is collapsing there is little chance of Griffin getting back in. There could well be another far-right party set up out of this mess to rival him by then. Plus with Labour out of government their vote should hold up better than it did in 2009. I don't want to sound complacent but internally and externally things are getting very bad for Griffin's re-election chances.

redneckspy said...

Can we vote for the BNP in this years itv soap awards?

DisgustedOfTunbridgeWells said...

Funding has obviously been turned off by the tories.

Anonymous said...

The BNP are hundreds of thousands in debt but Gri££in announces he is running a mini RWB on August bank holiday.

Nick says the undisclosed site (anyone know where it is) is limited to 499 people. If he gets a100 turning up it will be a micicale.
How many thousands is this going to cost?
Pease,someone,take the cheque book off him.

Anonymous said...

Mind you the prospect of a conviction for trading whilst insolvant thrills me - it may well be that this could remove cyclops from the European gravy train.

Old Sailor

Anonymous said...

If Dodgy Dowson is being paid £162,000 a year by the Nazzers then something is most definitely afoot.

And with the sexual assault claims pending, maybe Dodgy's going to try doing a runner to the Costa del Crime?

Anonymous said...

the mini rwb was advertised on the green arrow site about a month ago - think its in wales?

Anonymous said...

oh please let a ocnviction rob him of his eu salary if anyone deseves a fall from grace its griffin

iliacus said...

Putting on my scholarly hat of forensic accountancy [purchaed for a very reasonable fee from a Mr Dowson in Belfast] I would caution against the asssumption that 25% of turnover = £500,000.

Remember, all that Griffin said was that their debts were 25% of turnover.

Given Griffin's loose hold on mathematics [or 'fings to do wiv numbers' as it's known in BNP circles] I would advise caution.

Having said that, his claim that their position is just like every other political party in Western Europe is a load of tosh. Firstly, because some parties do not have debts, or debts that are only a tiny fraction of turnover. Secondly, mainstream political parties are able to obtain overdraft facilities. The BNP struggles to obtain an account!

Flea said...

two million quid a year turnover? that's got to be false cos guttwobble griffin would have had a gastric band fitted by now. i'd personally like to fund a band round his throat...