Ex-BNP boss behind anti-abortion group

Ex-BNP mouthpiece Jim Dowson is putting his weight back behind his anti-abortion fundraising.

He’s turned the old BNP Belfast bunker into a fundraising office for a controversial anti-abortion pressure group who like to hand-out shocking pictures of aborted foetuses to make their point.

Dowson denies being at the helm of the UK Life League which raises thousands of pounds a year. But when we called the secretive ‘not-for-profit’ organisation on Wednesday it was Dowson who answered the phone.

Meanwhile his daughter, who until last month was working for the BNP, is the only named employee on their website. Alice Kernaghan – who got married earlier this year – is named at the end of an anti-abortion campaign letter as the UK Life League’s ‘National Coordinator’. Dowson is also pictured on the website protesting on the steps of Stormont holding a picture of an aborted foetus.

Convicted criminal Dowson walked away from the BNP after a fall-out about funding. He had enjoyed a rocky road with the English-based race hate party which is led by his pal Nick Griffin. This week he told us he was “glad to be shot” of the BNP. And he continued to claim he was never a member of the party – adding that he dislikes what they stand for.

“No I’m not running it – I’m just doing a bit of design work for them [the UK Life League],” said Dowson on Wednesday. I’m glad to be shot of the BNP. It was a very difficult three years. I’m turning my attention to a private marketing project in Spain. But I’m very much a big supporter of the UK Life League.”

The rabid self-proclaimed reverend, originally from Cumbernauld in Scotland, first hit the headlines eleven years ago when he quit his post at the head of anti-abortion group Precious Life over his involvement with loyalists. The Catholic Church, which had previously supported Dowson’s antiabortion stance, distanced themselves from him after he was revealed as the organiser of a flute band which recorded a tape in honour of UFF Milltown Cemetery killer Michael Stone.

For the last three years Dowson has been effectively running the fundraising and membership wings of the BNP. He set up the Belfast office on the outskirts of Belfast where he hoped he could operate without attracting any attention. But in the summer of 2009 the Sunday World infiltrated the office and we later revealed how BNP leader Nick Griffin had sent over his own daughter Jenny to help run things.

The Sunday World understands that the UK Life League has attracted tens of thousands of pounds in funds throughout the last three years – despite being virtually inactive.

Sunday World