Fascist group’s secret Irish bank account

The BNP is funnelling all its cash through a secret Northern Ireland bank account, we can reveal.

And we can further reveal the party – which has debts of around £500,000 – is busy setting up phoney groups to channel money and assets through in case the party folds under the financial strain. The party’s ‘Doomsday Scenario’ is also hiding money from an ever-growing list of disgruntled creditors.

A Sunday World investigation has found the race hate party – run by convicted racist Nick Griffin – is putting all its money through an account with the Bank of Ireland. However the Sunday World understands the bank doesn’t know because the account is in the name of an accountant based on the outskirts of Belfast.

Bank chiefs at the bank are believed to be looking into the claims although publicly they told the Sunday World they couldn’t comment on an individual’s account.

Meanwhile there have been rumblings that the party is using the vast sums both their MEPs are getting from the Brussels gravy train to prop up the BNP. Leader Griffin and former NF pal Andrew Brons won seats at the European Parliament last year. The election success has brought hundreds of thousands of pounds into the BNP coffers.

An MEP is entitled to a monthly salary of €4299 plus a staggering €304 ‘subsistence’ allowance for every day they attend which they aren’t required to show any receipts for. And that doesn’t include the €19,709 which they receive every month which is designed for staffing costs. Yet last year Nick Griffin was forced to send out a grovelling begging letter to all BNP members saying the party needed donations or else it would fold.

“The BNP are totally insolvent with debts of around £500,000 yet they continue to trade incurring more debts and seriously damaging many small unsuspecting British and Irish businesses,” said a source.

“They are unable to pay the few remaining employees not shunted onto the European parliament payroll. Of the 23 employees they have 17 of them are being paid with European money. Griffin and Co have also left the staff recently paid off in Belfast and Nuneaton with not even the back wages they are entitled due – the only thing propping up the rotten edifice is the European Parliament payroll money.

“This huge pot of cash is strictly and legally only to be used to pay for European staff exclusively. Around 75% of all BNP staff are on the EU payroll, even though they work primarily for the BNP itself.”

And he says the BNP had great difficulty getting any bank to open an account on their behalf.

“No bank wanted to touch the BNP so they managed to set it up through a local accountant. He then doles the money out to the party people and nobody is any the wiser. This £40-50 grand per month is all that is keeping the BNP and Griffin afloat. The accountant was originally blamed by Griffin for the financial problems which beset the party even though it had nothing to do with him.

Sunday World by Steven Moore

Fascist fund raiser quits broke party

Nasty right-wing thug Jim Dowson has quit the BNP forcing the party to pull its fundraising wing out of Ulster.

And last night he had the bare-faced cheek to tell the Sunday World he would have ended it sooner if we hadn’t written so much about him!

In a bizarre conference call involving party chief Nick Griffin, he confirmed he was finished with the BNP.

He then added: “I would have ended it sooner if you hadn’t kept writing stories about me.

“What are you gonna write about now that I’ve gone?”

But we can confirm part of the reason Dowson has quit is that his nose was put out of joint by a former National Front leader called Pat Harrington – who was once forced out of Ulster by the UDA for backing the IRA.

Harrington has been interfering in the call centre and is a close pal of Griffin from the old days in the National Front.

Dowson did confirm that the Belfast BNP fundraising operation would be closing and all party fundraising would be carried out on the mainland.

MASSIVE

It’s a massive blow for the BNP and Dowson personally who fought to bring the fundraising wing to the quiet suburbs of Belfast but found it impossible to get local staff to work in the office.

“Most BNP members are glad to see the back of him,” said anti-fascist campaigner Matthew Collins last night.

“The party looks like it’s facing bankruptcy and members are just walking away in disgust.”

Last night Dowson complained that we had been unfair to him as all he ever was, was a contractor for a political party of which he remains adamant he was never a member.

However when we put it to him that his rousing speech at a BNP fundraiser in Blackburn, where he summons up an image of Britain facing destruction due to immigration, showed he was more than a mere contractor – he said he couldn’t remember what he had said!

Instead he did concede: “I am a very strong British patriot who’s sympathetic to the party.

“But I have left the party in a better state than when I joined – certainly administratively – where they now have all the tools at their disposal.”

When we asked Jim about the dire financial situation which had put the future of the BNP in jeopardy he added: “Financially the party is not in a fantastic state.” But controversial leader Nick Griffin chipped in: “At least we’re not in £20m debt like the Labour Party!”

The beleaguered British National Party has been rocked by Dowson’s walk-out amid a bitter split which has ripped the party in two.

Dowson walked away from the party on Friday and has blamed outside interference for his resignation.

SORROW

In a brief statement to a right wing internet blog Dowson announced: “It is with deep sorrow and regret I have to inform you that I’m off when my contract ends.

“This will cost me tens of thousands but my love for my people, this country and the party is worth far more to me.

“I did my level best and remain 100% loyal but I don’t tolerate outside fools. PERIOD!”

The “outside fool” he mentions here is Pat Harrington.

When we asked if this statement was accurate he said to take it “with a pinch of salt”.

But Dowson has form for making drunken phonecalls late at night and the Sunday World understands the statement, made to former BNP man Eddie Butler, is true.

The 45-year-old self-proclaimed ‘Reverend’ – who used to campaign against abortion and gay marriage – had the fundraising contract for the far right party until the end of this year.

He was regarded as a close personal ally of BNP leader Nick Griffin who thanked him personally and publicly for his efforts in getting two BNP members into the European Parliament.

On Monday staff at the BNP’s Belfast bunker – where fundraising and membership are coordinated for the whole of the UK – were left stunned when they couldn’t get into the office.

Locks had been changed at the inconspicuous Dundonald industrial unit which was rented, staffed and organised by Dowson.

The Sunday World understands that the BNP took over the rent of the unit after Dowson had made them aware he was quitting but they then failed to pay the bill to the landlord.

The situation was resolved and it was business as usual by the next day.

The news it will be closing will be music to the ears of BNP members in England who hated Dowson and were disillusioned with the Belfast office.

The Belfast office came under heavy criticism for a string of cock-ups in the run up to the General Election which saw the BNP fail miserably.

Dowson himself came under increasing pressure because of a number of blunders – not least the gaffe with Marmite.

Dowson came up with the idea to use the spread with the famous slogan ‘you either love us or you hate us’ to promote the party in election adverts.

But Unilever, who make Marmite, protested and when Dowson refused to remove the slogan they sued – leaving the BNP no choice but to settle out of court at great cost – although Dowson said last night that all they had paid to Unilever was a “token amount”.



RIGHT WING NUTTER

THIS is the right-wing nutter who forced right wing nutter Jim Dowson out of right wing nutter party, the BNP.

He’s former National Front leader, and IRA fan, Pat Harrington.

Posing in front of an IRA memorial on the Falls Road is not what is usually expected from a right-wing fascist.

The 46-year-old Londoner has been offering support to the staff at Dowson’s Belfast call centre amid rumours, now confirmed, that Dowson was quitting and the office here will soon shut.

There have also been claims that Dowson and Harrington have come to blows about the running of the office.

This week Dowson confirmed he was leaving and blamed “outside fools” for interfering in the call centre he set up last year in Dundonald.

On his Facebook page recently Harrington openly criticised plans to close Belfast saying: “Patrick Antony Harrington is concerned by reckless threats made by Eddy Butler to the jobs of members working for the BNP in Belfast. The rights of our members will be defended.”

But Harrington’s close, and long term, friendship with BNP leader Nick Griffin appears to have won out and on Wednesday night Dowson and Griffin met over a bottle of port to sort out the details of his leaving.

Harrington and Shankill fascist David Kerr are rumoured to want to run the BNP in Ulster.

Harrington’s story is a bizarre one.

Despite being a prominent NF leader 30 years ago he was one of three fascists who made a controversial trip to Libya to meet Colonel Gadaffi.

In a Channel Four documentary, Disciples of Chaos, Harrington refused to condemn the IRA as terrorists.

His support for Irish Republicanism didn’t sit too well with the loyalists of Ulster – especially at a time when the Provos were at their most active – and he was ordered out by the UDA.

In 1984 Harrington, who cuts an extremely camp figure, caused mayhem at the Polytechnic of North London where he was studying philosophy.

Students picketed his lectures to protest that he was allowed to study while being a prominent member of the National Front.

Harrington left the National Front during a bitter split at the end of the 1980s but continued his strange mix of right wing and prorepublican politics.

Several years ago Harrington had hot coffee thrown in his face when he was serving drinks on the London-Edinburgh train after he was identified by an anti-fascist.

Harrington and Shankill fascist David Kerr have been pals for years as they become prominent in the Third Way – although in 2004 the party only had 20 members according to the Electoral Commission.

Thanks to Hope not Hate and Steven Moore at Sunday World

I have edited the article slightly from the original
John P

BNP money man quits after model accuses him of groping her in hotel room

THE BNP's chief fundraiser has sensationally quit the party after being accused of groping a blonde activist.

Jim Dowson denies claims by one of the far-right party's Westminster hopefuls that he pawed her after luring her to a hotel room during a party roadshow.

Shelley Rose, who once modelled for lads' mags, posted a dramatic video online claiming she woke to find Dowson, the party's treasurer, on top of her.

The former BNP candidate for Bedfordshire put a video on YouTube in which she claims Dowson lured her to a hotel under false pretences before making unwanted advances.

She said: "I decided it was safer to stay with him, as it was too late to get home, because he was a religious and family man and didn't think there would be a problem.

"We both had on our nightclothes. I felt these clammy, sweaty hands crawling up my leg.

"He was kissing me. Then he got on top of me and I told him to stop.

"I said: 'Jim, please stop.' Eventually he got off but rather than apologise he started to verbally abuse me and told me I was frigid, had emotional issues and was a wreck."

Dowson, 45, who runs a call centre in Dundonald, East Belfast, which processes BNP memberships, yesterday confirmed he no longer worked with the party.

He claimed Shelley was "a daft wee lassie" who invented the story as part of a dirty tricks campaign.

The father of four said: "This woman is talking nonsense. Her pictures show she is far from being the Miss Jean Brodie type at all.

"There was a dirty tricks campaign in the party and this was all part of it. I ended up in the firing line.

"There is a real power struggle between hardliners and people like Nick Griffin who want to open the party to Asians and other groups.

"It has caused a lot of grief. I knew from the start Shelley could not be trusted and suspected her motives. I still have grave doubts about what she was trying to do.

"She was taking part in a stage show but had to be thrown out of that as there were doubts about her. She was very bitter about that."

Dowson, of Cumbernauld, who was Griffin's trusted right-hand man, has a string of convictions, including breach of the peace, possession of a weapon and criminal damage.

He has close links with loyalist groups in Belfast and has produced f lute band tapes which celebrate loyalist Michael Stone, who killed three Catholics at a Belfast funeral.

The BNP is in financial meltdown following a number of legal cases, including a £170,000 pay-out to the makers of Marmite.

Dowson said: "I have not renewed my contract with the party but there has been no acrimonious split. I just want to get away from politics.

"I was in Brussels this week with Nick to discuss arrangements about ending our relationship.

"I was never a member of the party but they have a mandate. One million people voted for them, probably more than voted for Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland or the SNP in Last year, Dowson by police for an employee a photo himsel f apparent armed with a shotgun. He said it was a toy.

A BNP spokesman said: "Mr Dowson's contract with the party expires at the end November. He decided not to seek renewal. Shelley Rose no longer a BNP member."

Daily Record

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

Michaela Mackenzie sticks the boot in once more.

I'm getting the feeling that Griffin & Dowson Enterprises might have made a monumental cock up when they unlawfully sacked Michaela Mackenzie.

A couple of weeks after she released her Employment Tribunal Statement which can be found here she went a step further yesterday in her utter condemnation of Dowson and his business practices within the BNP.

In a speech lasting over 20 minutes at an Eddy Butler leadership campaign meeting she outlined her sacking and the incompetence of Griffin and Dowson and the three videos are worth watching.

Daddy's little drummer girl

This is Jennifer Matthys, daughter of the British National Party leader Nick Griffin, who is allegedly being groomed to take over from her father when he quits as chairman, dressed in the uniform of an Ulster loyalist "Kick The Pope Band".

Jennifer, who lives in the province so that she can work at the BNP's cash, sorry call centre, was doing more than "playing dress-up" for the cameras. The 24-year-old marched on 12 July along with thousands of others in parades celebrating Protestant ascendency that yearly lead to violent clashes across Northern Ireland between the Catholic and Protestant communities. Many Catholics object to the parades by the Protestant-only Orange Order on the grounds that they are sectarian.

Jennifer, on the far left of the picture, posed seemingly unaware that Searchlight has known for over a year that she is heavily involved in the Goldspring Young Defenders flute band, something that seems at odds with the BNP's supposedly non-sectarian all-embracing love of all things Christian.

Jennifer took the risk of being photographed as she thought she would be safe in the small loyalist village of Ballygowan, despite the fact that many members of the band object to the involvement of both her and family members of Jim Dowson, Nick Griffin's consigliere, who runs the BNP's Belfast call centre and has helped Griffin bring the BNP to its state of insolvency.

In recent years the BNP has attempted to make inroads into the Anglo-Irish community in Britain, partly by distancing itself from its past association with loyalist paramilitaries. In the north west in particular, the party has some high profile Irish members and has even taken to depicting the Irish tricolour on some of its banners.

The truth is, for the diehard BNP, old habits die very, very hard.

We are not identifying Dowson's daughters because of their ages.

Searchlight / HOPE not Hate by Matthew Collins