Departures leave BNP future in doubt

The British National Party’s communications officer has left the party, following the abrupt departure of its fundraising and management guru Jim Dowson.

Paul Golding was the BNP’s sole district councillor in southeast England. His exit leaves the racist party with only 23 councillors compared with the 28 it had after the May elections.

The two walked out following a major fallout between them and senior party staff, in particular its moronic national organiser Clive Jefferson and Patrick Harrington, leader of the rival Third Way party, who has wormed himself into a position of growing influence in the party, upsetting several employees and members in the process.

Golding’s BNP membership had briefly been suspended in summer for writing a nasty blog attacking Eddy Butler, who unsuccessfully challenged Nick Griffin for the party leadership. The move was widely seen as an attempt by Griffin to appear “fair” between his own supporters and those of Butler. But later, when many of Butler’s suspended supporters were expelled, Golding was reinstated.

The departure of Dowson and Golding leaves the BNP with no one capable of writing the begging letters that have brought in large sums in donations during Dowson’s three years at Griffin’s side. The party will also be unable to exploit its “Bring Our Boys Home” recruitment campaign by turning the 25,000 names on petition forms into voters and members. People signed anti-war petitions at the BNP’s stalls in shopping centres around the country, not realising that they were sponsored by the BNP, but despite the party’s claims to use cutting-edge technology, Jefferson is incapable of transferring the information into a usable electronic format.

Butler reports that Dowson rang to tell him that his departure was complete and immediate. Dowson is known to have texted and phoned numerous other people.

Quite where this leaves the BNP’s Belfast call centre and administration centre is unclear. The office is run by Dowson and Griffin’s daughter Jennifer Matthys, who is also a director of Dowson’s main front company, Adlorries.com. Dowson is believed to have alternative Belfast premises for any new venture he undertakes.

Dowson was in charge of obtaining the secret four-star venue for the party’s annual conference to be held somewhere in Derbyshire over the weekend of 10-12 December. Stories are circulating that as he was about to dump the party Griffin offered him £10,000 to complete the arrangements, which he rejected. There must now be doubt over whether it will go ahead. If it is cancelled, members who have already paid the up to £299 cost of attending are likely to lose their money.

Dowson believes the party will not last beyond the end of the year, leaving those who have forked out £395 for life membership in its current special offer receiving very poor value for their money.

Searchlight / HOPE not Hate by Sonia Gable