The BNP's little hidey-hole

Watch it full-screen - it's better

A few weeks ago, one of our readers asked if anyone had ever actually seen the BNP's Wigton office - the centre of its activities. My reply was that yes, we had taken a very brief look a few months ago, and were not overly impressed. Much to our surprise, a number of readers wanted to see the (very) short piece of film we took at the time.

Fair enough. The film though, doesn't er, show the whole picture, so to speak. The industrial estate which houses both the BNP's storage unit/office and Nick Griffin's official NW office as MEP, is tucked away at the edge of Wigton, a tiny and attractive little market town deep in the heart of Cumbria. It is believed that Griffin only managed to get the two units on the estate because one of the people who works in management happens to be one of his entourage - or at least used to be. In common with most of Griffin's chums, she seems to have fallen out with him recently.

We made two visits to the industrial estate; one at about 10.30am, when both units were closed, and the other sometime after lunch, when almost everyone in the BNP seemed to have woken up or sobered up and arrived to do something. As we drove into the gated estate, we were very aware that we were closely watched by at least four people: two outside Griffin's office, one directly ahead of us and another opposite the office. The latter two are not shown on the film.

We drove around the corner into a stretch of empty units. To be honest, more units were empty than were occupied and frankly the industrial estate looked like it was on its last legs (which is probably why it allowed Griffin and his ever-dwindling party to establish a base there).

As you can see from the film, we were treated to a glimpse of Clive Jefferson's crappy old Jaguar (still using the illegal number plate, are you, Clive?) and even spotted Porky himself getting something out of his car. As you watch the film, the BNP's centre of operations is on the left, and Griffin's NW MEP base is on the right - the building with the two bodyguards outside. Quite why Porky needs bodyguards, we've never fathomed. Apart from a pint of beer and an egg being thrown at him (separately), he's never been at risk of attack, despite his constant claims of violent anti-fascists always being on the lookout for him.

Because his mob ARE a bunch of violent freaks and psycho's, we didn't hang around, particularly when we realised that the camera had obviously been spotted.

So there you have it. The centre of the BNP's operations happens to be a couple of small industrial units on a run-down industrial estate in the middle of, well, not nowhere, because Wigton's actually a pretty nice place, but certainly nowhere significant. The main question I'd like to ask is why doesn't the MEP for the North West have an office in a place where he can be easily visited by the public whom he was elected to serve? Is he afraid to meet the voters? I think you know the answer to that one.

Britain’s Most Expensive Party?

With the BNP in terminal decline, you would have thought that Nick Griffin would be trying his hardest to hang onto what is left of the party’s membership?

Apparently not, and with the BNP’s finances in a terminal nosedive, Griffin and Co. have devised a cunning plan to milk the remaining few members of every penny they possess. They have increased the membership rates by a whopping 60% and in turn have become Britain’s most expensive political party to join.

From December 1st the standard membership fee has shot up from £30 to £48 per year. That in itself is a huge rise; however the BNP are actively encouraging its members to pay monthly via direct debit with BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson explaining “I cannot emphasise enough the importance of moving the membership over to a monthly collection payment system. It will help the members by making membership affordable to all”

That’s an interesting concept by Clive, and one that perhaps explains why the party is in financial meltdown. He actually aims to make the membership more affordable by charging the members more?

Using the monthly direct debit scheme which costs £4.50 per month, members will be paying a gigantic £54 per year for the privilege of seeing the BNP potentially shrivel and die. That is an 80% increase from the standard £30 membership.

According to the BNP, “One-off annual payments can also be made but are not going to be encouraged because steady monthly income makes budgeting and management much easier, and ALL new members will have to join using the monthly payment method.”

What is also means is that the BNP will have your bank details and with the way the finances have been run over the years, that is not a position most financially astute people would want to be in. So let’s compare the current BNP membership rates to other well known political parties in the UK:

Figures shown are for new members.

The BNP: Standard Membership = £54 (Existing members can make a one off payment of £48)

The Labour Party: Standard Membership = £41 (This is over a 12 month period. You are not charged extra for paying via direct debit)

The Green Party: Minimum Membership =£31 (This is over a 12 month period. You are not charged extra for paying via direct debit)

UKIP: Standard Membership £30

Plaid Cymru: Minimum Membership = £24 (Plaid Cymru do not charge extra for direct debit)

The Conservative Party: Standard Membership = £25

The Liberal Democrats: Minimum Standard Membership = £12

Scottish National Party: Standard Membership =£12 (The SNP do not charge extra for direct debit)

So, £54 to join Britain’s fastest shrinking but most expensive party. To see it go “belly up” however, remains priceless.


Hope not Hate

The beating of the BNP in Belfast

Marion Thomas has won her employment tribunal against the BNP. Surprisingly, after three days of public embarrassment and allegations the tribunal did not take the initially quoted six weeks to reach its decision. The tribunal concluded that Mrs Thomas was "automatically unfairly dismissed for non-compliance with the statutory dismissal procedure".

This tribunal was held earlier this month. It had two missing ingredients: the real protagonists. This case was always about Nick Griffin, the increasingly desperate and unpopular leader of the far-right BNP, and his one time financial crutch, guru and indeed ‘consigliere’, Jim Dowson. Both Griffin and his daughter Jennifer Matthys were criticised by the panel for failing to attend.

Instead, the employment tribunal at Killymead House, conveniently sandwiched between Belfast’s Republican Short Strand and Loyalist Donegal Pass, had to make do with second best. It’s a shame really, as this was the perfect geographical location for a no holds barred, all encompassing exploration of how the BNP crushed ideologies, shattered political ambitions and in no small way, descended into acrimonious tribal conflict and civil war.

Both the meteoric rise and the final devastating fall of the BNP were orchestrated here in Belfast in that fateful tie up between Griffin’s BNP and Jim Dowson. The basis of the unfair dismissal claim was as much a case of who is to blame for the failures, and who was to blame for the mountain of debt that has crippled the party. Taking on the BNP was Marion Thomas, Jim Dowson’s softly spoken sister in law. The nervous Scot was as good as on her own at the tribunal, once her nephew in law was quietly paid off before the hearing began on the first day.

Of course, Belfast can be a challenging place. It has an often intimidating geography for outsiders, even to those who purport undying love for the extreme fringes of Irish society. The tribunal panel commented on as much in its ruling but it was also quick to point out “this was, in truth, a banal and ordinary employment tribunal claim alleging unfair dismissal and non-payment of holiday pay, overtime, expenses and notice pay."

For those of us who squeezed into room ten, it was anything other than “banal”.

When having a call centre in Belfast worked for the BNP, it worked exceptionally well. Taking advantage of a low wage economy on an industrial estate in Dundonald, few people felt the desire to trawl across suburban east Belfast to poke around there. Prime and paramount for the BNP was secrecy. We did poke around however, and from almost the very moment we made it our business, we had almost two years of excellent non-stop exclusives detailing almost every squalid and shameful shenanigan going on inside the BNP’s call centre. Some of what we found out was too sensitive to print, some of it was just breathtakingly degenerate.

From the village of Comber where the BNP set themselves up in flats and homes and joined “Kick The Pope” bands and even toyed with the idea of moving the whole party machinery there, we reported how a lonely and insecure Jennifer Matthys (nee Griffin) plotted and schemed against her rivals, namely the Dowson family. We forensically investigated Jim Dowson’s financial dealings, his shady past and dubious political friends. We predicted an acrimonious parting and worked as hard as we could to facilitate one.

And so it came to pass that the very geography that the BNP courted became their undoing. They burnt their bridges in an unforgiving environment either by sheer arrogance, or just stupidity. The cost is not just £2500 for Marion Thomas but also whatever it cost for Nick Griffin to send seven BNP officials to Belfast on his behalf now his business arrangements have turned so sour.

Marion Thomas’s primary complaint was that she was unfairly dismissed and owed eight days holiday pay plus out of pocket expenses. The BNP argued that Thomas was only actually employed by the BNP for six months, excluding her from entitlement to both redundancy payments and any compensation. For good measure, the BNP admitted they would have dismissed her anyway. But just to confuse matters further they claimed that they also offered Thomas the opportunity to discuss a transfer to the “mainland” after the relationship between Griffin and Dowson broke down, which led to the inevitable closure of the Dundonald office. But Thomas had refused to travel to Britain to discuss any prospective move. She claimed she had not believed that the BNP would honour their pledge to pay reasonable expenses as she was already owed money by the party.

Neither side denied there was an absence of formal employment contracts and so, on this issue, it becomes apparent that with the disappointing absence of both Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson from the hearing, Thomas could only claim that Griffin, his daughter Jennifer Matthys and Jim Dowson all gave verbal employment assurances. The BNP’s legal representative could only claim that either Nick Griffin did not make such offers, or that Jim Dowson was not in the position to make such offers. The ins and outs of what date it was that Thomas actually began getting paid by the BNP and not by Dowson’s front company are, of course, not as interesting as what the BBC describes as the “secretive world” of the BNP.

It’s fair to say that no matter what extremism still exists in Northern Ireland, that the BNP was viewed locally as a most unwelcome addition. The case received uncomplimentary cross community coverage, including a front page on the Belfast Telegraph for two consecutive days. The revelations were sensational. “I was sacked by BNP after dispute with Griffin’s daughter”, led the Belfast Telegraph. Thomas, nicknamed the “matron” for her role in overseeing up to thirty employees at the Dundonald office during the 2009 European elections, admitted with some chagrin that she regarded herself as a junior to Jennifer Matthys once the leader’s daughter had moved to Northern Ireland. Thomas, who was never a member of the party also alleged that she was promoted to the BNP’s treasury team with a focus on ringing around creditors to try and make arrangements for the clearing of some initial £275,000 of debt. It was in this capacity that she says she felt obliged to report to Jim Dowson that Jennifer Matthys had “borrowed” some £900 from a BNP account after a mistake by her husband Angus Mathys who worked in the post room. Thomas claims that this money was set aside to pay creditors.

Thomas also repeated the claim that she made to the BBC’s Panorama programme that party treasurer Clive Jefferson demanded that invoices that were unpaid be stamped as “paid”. Jefferson who was in the tribunal room hurriedly approached the BNP’s legal advisor with a written note soon after. The Belfast Telegraph described the atmosphere in the tribunal as “charged” with the “imposing presence of several heavyweights of the BNP lining the back row”. The BNP did not appreciate having somebody from Searchlight recording the proceedings either.

For most of the three days there was a heavy focus on the bizarre and almost comical circumstances surrounding the alleged holding of Thomas against her will. As the split between Dowson and Griffin grew more and more acrimonious last year, Thomas alleged that she was asked to “mediate” between the two sides. In November of last year she met three BNP officials in the car park of Tescos in Comber twice on the same day. On both occasions large amounts of cash exchanged hands, £2500 in the first instance and then, later in the day, a further £5000. It would appear that the BNP was buying back its own membership details and computer server and while waiting for the equipment to arrive Thomas got into a van driven by former Yorkshire Regional Organiser Ian Kitchen with Clive Jefferson and Adam Walker. Thomas alleged that she was told she was not allowed to leave the van and that Jefferson in particular was “agitated”. Upon the arrival of the equipment, Thomas further alleged that Jefferson, the BNP’s treasurer, removed £200 from the £5000 as compensation for his “inconvenience”.

Of further inconvenience to the BNP would appear to be Dowson’s new political venture which Thomas described as a “Nationalist campaigning group”. Interestingly, the group was described by the BNP as a “commercial rival” and not a political rival. The intimation by the BNP appeared to be that Dowson still had access to the BNP’s membership files and was running his organisation with the BNP’s data. Thomas denied this and claimed that Dowson is in fact using the BNP membership list that was leaked on line in 2007. The BNP’s legal advisor said that the BNP has since made a series of “test calls” to the BNP’s old offices in Dundonald and alleged that Thomas was now answering the phones for their bitter “commercial rivals”. Thomas denied this. The Scottish accent she claims the BNP heard was in fact the voice of her sister Anne, Dowson’s wife.

The BNP were represented in Belfast by the mildly competent Patrick Harrington. The faux trade union leader is a former close comrade of Griffin from when they ran the NF together back in the 1980’s. Harrington struggled with some areas of the tribunal’s processes and had to be guided by the Vice president of the panel, Mr Noel Kelly. Harrington has something of a love-hate relationship with Belfast himself. He has been the constant focus for one newspaper there that has printed the allegations, rife in far-right circles, that Harrington holds Republican sympathies. While the rest of the BNP party had to be admonished for their constant whispering and disruptions on the first day, Harrington conducted his defence for the respondent (the BNP) with a modicum of professionalism even if it was slow, monotone and often judged irrelevant by Thomas’s solicitor. If anything, Harrington was revelling in some kind of role as the sadistic schoolmaster, trying to trip up the housewife who has taken to answering every question and counter accusation with “rubbish”. In the week leading up to the hearing the BNP had alleged that Thomas and Dowson were in fact lovers and not just brother and sister in law. When questioned abut her living arrangements, Thomas appeared ready to explode violently to a loaded question. Marion Thomas was being goaded.

On the second day, Harrington woke up to find his features prominent in the Belfast Telegraph. Arriving at the tribunal with his wife “Mish”, (Some of you may know her better by her stage name "Mish Bondage" or if it suits, “Frightening Fanny”!)

He became entangled in an exchange with two Irish trade unionists, one of whom was holding the flag of the International Brigades. Whether he has some kind of post traumatic disorder relating to his controversial days at the Polytechnic of North London or not, I do not know, but Harrington reacted very badly to being called a fascist and so began a lot of pushing and shoving before his wife Mish decided to physically launch herself at people wildly, apparently upset at her husband’s picture having been in the paper that morning.

Sackings and expulsions from the BNP are never straightforward and normally have a heavy hint of intimidation, humiliation or violence. Who can forget one former employee from the Belfast office who claimed that she was threatened with a shot gun, or how the leakers’ of the 2007 membership list had their house ransacked by the BNP’s security team?

In Belfast, the BNP had sent some of their “finest”. They sent men who were not immune to violence and who were in fact, quite adept at it. They also sent Angus Matthys, Nick Griffin’s son in law. How did Angus get to marry the prized daughter of the Fuhrer. Were other suitors too politically ambitious? Angus carried all of the boxes into the tribunal - and out again. When he worked at the offices of the BNP in Northern Ireland his main task appeared to be donning rubber gloves and poking through thousands of letters that contained, among other things, excrement and razor blades in the search for cash. He swept up, made tea and also went to the post office and the supermarket for teabags. He was not known as the “dynamo”. One source we had in the office at the time told us that Angus was called “Trigger”, but only when he was well out of ear shot, because anything he did hear went straight to Jenny and nobody wanted a forty minute ticking off from her!

Giving evidence on the second day, it was clear that Angus achieved a major victory in just getting dressed that day. He reminded me of Frank Spencer. Angus claimed that he and his wife had been “run off the road” in Cumbria (where they had fled to once they decided to leave Northern Ireland), and that, sadly, his wife felt too intimidated to come to Northern Ireland and that there was a court case pending. Of course, being the BNP and this being Northern Ireland, there would have to be an alleged paramilitary angle to it. Across town was also about to begin one of the largest trials of paramilitaries Northern Ireland had ever witnessed, the place is still awash with them. Angus could not remember much else about his time in Northern Ireland, not surprisingly, seems that he spent most of it cooped up in the BNP’s post room or a tiny flat above a service station in Comber.

Throughout the tribunal the BNP gave the impression that Nick Griffin was “out of the country” (I presume they meant England). While Angus was having some quite severe memory loss, Nick Griffin was on the way to Blackpool lamenting on twitter that he was stuck on the M6. Dowson was in Swansea himself, not fancying the glare of publicity in his adopted home town. It was more than apparent too that Griffin did not fancy hot-footing it to Belfast either. He’d tried all kinds of things to avoid coming back. The BNP’s legal advisor Harrington had warned, not two weeks before, that I would be “punished” should I dare mention that Nick Griffin was too scared. Oh well, poor Angus..

On the third and final day, sixty Trade Union activists picketed the tribunal. BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson claimed that the party operated in circumstances of “extreme stress and intimidation”. He denied allegations that he held Thomas against her will and that he also demanded she stamp invoices “paid” when they were not. Bizarrely, he claimed also that an “incendiary device” had been fired at the BNP as they entered Killymead House. Nick Griffin, on twitter, claimed it was a firework.

The media had come however, not to hear Clive “Rodney” Jefferson, not even Adam Walker. They wanted Mark Walker, Adam’s baby brother. The BNP’s European Researcher had sat through two days of the tribunal without a word. There had been some excitement in media land after the second day as news was reaching us that Walker had been banned from the classroom after a hearing in England that day. The Professional Conduct Committee heard that he had used school computers to send a vulnerable 16-year-old former pupil a sexually explicit message. He had used language understood to mean that he wanted to have sex with the girl.

Sadly, Mark did not turn up. He’d apparently had a “bereavement” overnight. The case fizzled out slightly. Ian Kitchen gave some light relief when asked about the alleged holding of Marion Thomas against her will. He became outraged. Kitchen had spent the previous two days chatting away at the back of the tribunal not just to the annoyance of the panel but it would seem also to his racial comrades there with him too. “I’m a family man” he protested and even the BNP members guffawed at that one. Four days later a local paper was to give some prominence to Kitchen’s links to “Granny Porn”.

For the BNP, its Northern Ireland experiment is over. I’d like to think we helped crush it. I know we did. We began by exposing the use of employment agencies by the party to recruit strangers to work on their sensitive documents, to the internal arguments between rivals, even to female escorts working out of their offices.

Marion Thomas, now a 49 year old housewife, described the “utter shame” at having the BNP on her CV. She was never a member. She worked for an advertising company that also did anti-abortion work that then took the BNP on for a client. Her claims for overtime, holiday pay and mobile phone expenses were dismissed.

In its decision the panel referred to some of the colourful testimony during the hearing.

"The tribunal heard allegations of blackmail, threats, cars being forced off the road, information being sought about political rivals, electoral malpractice, paramilitary involvement and that staple of Irish political life, the passing of money-filled envelopes in strange locations and in even stranger circumstances”.

The settlement Thomas will receive is made up of four week's pay, one week's notice pay, postage expenses incurred taking the case and £760 for the failure of Mr Griffin to provide a witness statement to the panel.

For the last two days, the BNP’s Simon Darby has been fighting off another Irish embarrassment which he is desperately trying to pass off as a joke to the journalists going to press with it. Steve Parkes, a BNP candidate at the recent elections wrote on his facebook page last week about going out to harass gypsies and as well as posting a “White Power” symbol on his profile and making disgusting references to black women.

I’m proud to say, we found and passed that on to the media here too.

Matthew Collins at Hope not Hate

All hail say-nothing Simon

Former BNP Deputy Fuhrer and also former treasurer Simon Darby spends most of his time whining on his blog these days about what a hard time the BNP has. The Marxist BBC, the terrible Trots, the tyrannical Tories, Muslims, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

He is nothing if not ingenious however. After the rather public shellacking the BNP took at the hands of the BBC's investigation into his party's sordid financial affairs last month, he must have been about the only person in the country who thought that the best way to respond to the Beeb was for people to throw more money at the BNP.

Perhaps Simon is the BNP's ideas man as well as its monotone spokesperson? "I need a little help from a couple of volunteers to test a new lottery syndicate system I am setting up" he boldly stated today.

"With the name "Half to the Party" this syndicate needs little explanation as to what it is setting out to achieve" he continued. Only half? Bloody hell, I know current treasurer Clive Jefferson allegedly charges £200 when he is inconvenienced (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1989/i-was-sacked-by-bnp-after-dispute-with-nick-g) so what will happen to the other half?

Well, it's not going to go to the many, many people that are facing Christmas on the dole because the great British National Party didn't pay their British employers for services, is it? Nooooooo. They're almost totally forgotten about. In fact "collective amnesia" is one way to describe how the BNP deals with news about the BNP.

There's been not a word from the BNP about the recent shenanigans at the Northern Ireland employment tribunal, and rightly so. Something so dark, so rotten on such a public display just would not do.

No word from the BNP either on the case of its "European Researcher" Mark Walker, and his own tribunal result (here: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1990/bnp-activist-banned-from-teaching-after-sendi ). Not a word. Nothing, nowt, nada. Not even from Simon Darby, the BNP's very own "naturist". He constantly warbles on and on about wildlife in his back garden, but in this case he couldn't even raise a Dicky bird.

Instead, still on the theme of his "half for the party" lottery idea, Simon is making some of those enormous plans that probably got the BNP into strife in the first place. " If we have a touch on the HFTP syndicate maybe I can book a suite at the Dorchester" he writes. So it's going to be a case of winter in a palace for Simon (if he can get a "touch" from the party lottery) and potentially a winter in a blanket for those who took a gamble on doing business with the BNP. Many of those poor creditors will probably feel they've played a losing game of Russian Roulette with the BNP.

Elsewhere on Simon's dynamic daily diatribe, he lauds the great English diet, one of his favourite topics. Hardly a day goes by that Simon doesn't offer us the opportunity to inspect his low budget palate. And surprise, surprise, his goods often come from Tescos. (What is it with the BNP and Tescos? http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1994/bnp-member-denies-he-helped-hold-woman-in-com )

Simon then goes on to commend his favourite foods to the world, in particular those who are "lagging behind us English". However, I do detect a bottle of Australian red among Simon's recommendations. But that's not where his geographical or perhaps Imperialist confusion ends. In particular, he recommends his "English diet" to "Scots, Welsh, Ulstermen and Irish".

Whether it's his ignorance of geography and history I have no idea. Perhaps it is just more of that BNP arrogance. Right across the nine counties of Ulster, the overwhelming majority of "Ulstermen" (and women) are already Irish.

And by the way, who did win that car that the BNP were raffling? Answers on a postcard...

Thanks to Matthew Collins at Hope not Hate

BNP member denies he helped hold woman in Comber car park

A senior member of the BNP has denied that he helped hold a former employee of the party against her will in a car park in Comber. Clive Jefferson also told an industrial tribunal he had not ordered the woman to falsify election expenses.

Marion Thomas is claiming unfair dismissal from her job at the party's fundraising centre in Dundonald. She said Mr Jefferson had ordered her to stamp unpaid bills as "paid".

Mrs Thomas told the tribunal on Monday that she was sacked after questioning the party leader's daughter Jennifer Mathys, for covering up a mistake made by her husband, Angus, which had cost hundreds of pounds.

Mr Jefferson, who is the BNP's treasurer, told the hearing on Wednesday that Mrs Thomas was trying to damage the party. He said he had travelled to Northern Ireland to compile the organisation's financial returns following the 2010 general election. He said he was "horrified" by the level of debt the party had accumulated. Cheque books and statements were missing and the returns he eventually made to the electoral commission were fully qualified, meaning he could not stand over them.

Mr Jefferson also denied claims by Mrs Thomas that he had helped members of the party hold her against her will in a lorry in Comber.

Her barrister Barry Mulqueen accused Mr Jefferson of being "dishonest".

Judgement in the case was reserved.

BBC

I was sacked by BNP after dispute with Nick Griffin's daughter

A FORMER employee of the British National Party (BNP) claimed she was unfairly dismissed by the party in Northern Ireland after a row involving party leader, Nick Griffin’s daughter.

The tribunal opened in Belfast yesterday in which former administrator, Marion Thomas, who worked at the BNP’s call centre in Dundonald, in east Belfast, is claiming unfair dismissal, breach of contract and unauthorised deduction of wages.

At yesterday’s hearing Mrs Thomas, from Comber, Co Down made a number of criminal allegations against her former employers including that:

- she was “held against her will” in a van in Comber on 26 November 2010;
- on the same date she was given a total of £7,500 in cash from the BNP in a Tesco car park;
- she was made to stamp invoices to suppliers as paid when they weren’t.

Her niece’s husband, Neil Kernaghan, also from Comber, had also taken a case against the BNP but settled yesterday for an undisclosed sum.

A barrister for Mrs Thomas, Barry Mulqueen, described how she had been employed with the right-wing party from 20 November 2009 until 21 December 2010.

“She was employed in the position of an administrator in December 2010 when the respondent (the BNP) closed the operations in east Belfast,” Mr Mulqueen said. “We simply allege that the claimant’s dismissal was unfair. Her dismissal was procedurally unfair - she was not given adequate notice. There was no consultation process. There was no effort to offer alternative employment.”

The BNP was represented by Patrick Harrington who argued that Mrs Thomas wasn’t dismissed but was made redundant and that the party tried to offer her a job at one of their offices in Britain.

“We say the procedure that followed was a reasonable one,” Mr Harrington said. “Alternative employment was offered. Employees were asked for alternative suggestions for how redundancies could be avoided.”

Mrs Thomas told the tribunal that she had never been a member of the BNP. She said she worked for a marketing company called Ad Lorries Ltd, owned by Jim Dowson, which had been based on the Upper Newtownards Road. The company took on the BNP as clients in 2009 and moved to new premises in Dundonald. Mrs Thomas described how the Dundonald offices became “the main fundraising centre of the BNP”.

“There were about 30 employees in east Belfast at one time,” she said. “It was the main fundraising centre of the BNP. It sent out appeals. The call centre drummed up more membership. It was very successful.”

Mrs Thomas claimed that none of the BNP employees had a contract.

The panel heard Mrs Thomas was told she had been sacked on 26 October 2010 in a phone call from her original employer, Jim Dowson.

“Mr Griffin had been on to him (Dowson) in relation to his daughter and the outcome of the advisory council meeting in which I asked for an item to be raised,” Mrs Thomas said. Mrs Thomas explained that she had questioned Mr Griffin’s daughter, Jennifer Matthys for covering up a mistake made by her husband, Angus Matthys.

“He had put the wrong postage on mailing which meant it was £900 short,” Mrs Thomas said. “She (Jennifer) has access to the BNP bank account and she did a transfer online.”

Two weeks later Mrs Thomas was reinstated and her “sacking” was put down to a “misunderstanding”.

The panel was told yesterday that Mrs Matthys had declined to attend the hearing, saying she felt intimidated. However, the tribunal later heard there was a major fallout between Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin which led to the BNP being put out of the Dundonald offices last November. As a result of this Mrs Thomas acted as a “mediator” between Mr Dowson and BNP members which culminated in two meetings on November 26 in Comber when computer equipment, including the BNP database, and £7,500 in cash were transferred in a Tesco car park.

Mrs Thomas met Clive Jefferson, BNP national elections officer, in the car park in the morning where she was given £2,500 in cash to give to Mr Dowson.

“I was asked to check certain items of property were delivered to Mr Jefferson,” she said. “The money was agreed between Mr Dowson and Mr Griffin.”

She was then told to return in the afternoon to collect the rest of the money. Mrs Thomas then repeated allegations she made on a recent BBC Panorama programme that she was “held against her will” for an hour in the cab of a van by BNP members until the computers arrived.

She described how Mr Jefferson, Adam Walker, party manager and Ian Kitchen, a security man sat with her in the van and told her she couldn’t leave until the computers arrived.

“I felt uneasy because Mr Jefferson was getting agitated,” she said and described how there were several phone calls between him and Mr Griffin while they waited. When the equipment arrived, she described how Mr Jefferson took £200 from the £5,000 cash and said he was “keeping it for the inconvenience”.

BNP representative, Patrick Harrington told the tribunal these are “very serious criminal allegations” and revealed that Mrs Thomas had never reported the incident to the police.

The tribunal also heard that the BNP was in serious financial difficulty and that the party owed £275,000 to suppliers, including many Northern Ireland firms.

“They were very, very deeply in debt,” Mrs Thomas said. “I was to contact the suppliers to come to a manageable agreement with them.”

Mrs Thomas was asked specifically about an east Belfast printing company called Romac Press.
Mrs Thomas told the tribunal that dates were changed on invoices to show the company had been paid within the specified time for the Electoral Commission.

“Some were stamped ‘paid’ and they were not,” she said, claiming Mr Jefferson authorised this. “I said to Mr Jefferson you can’t do that, you can see they have not been paid. He said just keep on doing it.”

The tribunal heard that a meeting was held in a Newtownards hotel last December in which Mr Harrington argued Mrs Thomas was offered redundancy or a relocation package. However, Mrs Thomas described these suggestions as “rubbish”.

The tribunal heard that a letter from Nick Griffin stated that Mrs Thomas’ employment was only from April to December 2010 and as she had worked for less than a year, was not entitled to bring a claim of unfair dismissal. The BNP representative argued that Mrs Thomas would
have been dismissed anyway for a number of reasons. One of these was for using the BNP’s database for a rival organisation, the nationalist campaigning group, Britain First which Mrs Thomas admitted she works for voluntarily.

The hearing continues today (Tues)

Party's Ulster links and how early success turned sour

The British National Party (BNP) opened a call centre in 2009 in Northern Ireland to raise funds and membership around the UK and was very successful. At its peak it had up to 13,000 members but since then this has fallen dramatically to around 2,000 members.

The employment tribunal taken by the former call centre administrator charts the difficulties the BNP found itself in at the end of last year. The party ran up massive debts during the 2010 general election campaign.

The tribunal in Belfast yesterday heard the party owes £275,000 to many of its suppliers. One of those companies is the small family firm, Romac Press, which went bust recently after being owed £44,000 by the BNP.

BNP chairman Nick Griffin, the party’s most high profile member, recently claimed that the party now owes just £52,000.

A BBC Panorama programme last month explored the shady financial dealings of the party. It obtained evidence that Mr Griffin, elected as an MEP in 2009, ordered then party treasurer David Hannam to inflate fictional costs so that the party could keep as much of the European grant money as possible. Mrs Thomas also appeared on this programme alleging the incident she repeated at the tribunal yesterday that she was “held against her will” in Comber, Co Down.

The BNP is under investigation by both the European Union and the Metropolitan Police following allegations of fraud and breaches of electoral law. The BNP has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Griffin had a close relationship with Belfast-based business man, Jim Dowson, who became a party fundraiser in 2007 and has helped set up BNP offices all over the UK. Mr Dowson helped set up the BNP call centre in Dundonald and appointed his sister-in-law, Marion Thomas as office administrator. Dowson claims to have severed links with the party when he became aware that they were not paying their bills.

Air charged but most famous face is missing

The air was charged as the industrial tribunal got under way in Room 10 of the Gasworks site in Belfast yesterday. The tiny room seemed even smaller with the imposing presence of several heavyweights from the British National Party (BNP) lining the back row.

In the foreground sat the lone figure of Marion Thomas, the BNP’s former administrator at the Dundonald call centre, where she claims she was unfairly dismissed. In a strong Scottish accent, Mrs Thomas, who now lives in Comber, Co Down, gave a gripping account of her dealings with the party in the run-up to her dismissal last year.

Throughout the hearing yesterday she referred to party chairman, Nick Griffin, but the BNP’s most familiar face was not in attendance. Instead Mr Griffin was represented by his best pal and former National Front leader, Patrick Harrington.

Mrs Thomas alleged that she was originally sacked by the party after a row with Mr Griffin’s daughter, Jennifer Matthys. However, the panel was told Mrs Matthys had declined to attend the hearing, saying she felt intimidated.

As Mrs Thomas gave graphic details of BNP fallouts, false invoices and fishy meetings in a Comber car park, the back row began whispering loudly.

Tribunal chair, Noel Kelly, ticked them off as if they were insolent pupils in a classroom. They were in fact five of the BNP’s nine leading organisers. Among them were brothers, Adam and Mark Walker, the party manager and political research officer respectively. National elections officer and treasurer, Clive Jefferson, who hobbled in on a stick.

Ian Kitchen, Yorkshire regional organiser who was present when Mrs Thomas alleges she was “held against her will” in a van in Comber. And Angus Matthys, Griffin’s son-in-law, who worked in the Dundonald call centre before it folded.

An anti-fascist protest had been expected outside the tribunal offices yesterday but demonstrators are expected to appear as the hearing continues over the next two days.

Belfast Telegraph

Here is a BBC News report from last night

A Very Sordid Affair

Jennifer Matthys: Too intimidated to attend tribunal

The BNP v Marion Thomas employment tribunal held in Belfast finished just before 4pm today.

Everyone who observed the proceedings agreed that tension, bitterness and hatred lay thick in the air like a poisonous cloud. Patrick Harrington, the BNP's legal advisor, who earlier did not want to discuss Marion Thomas's allegations of being held against her will by officers of the BNP, chose to return to that very subject for the afternoon's session.

What transpired is that the BNP exchanged £7,500 in cash for what appears to be their membership database and server in a Tesco's car park in Northern Ireland. Local newspapers tomorrow will lead on this and also Adam Walker's alleged description of the town of Comber being like a "dump".

Harrington, the former NF leader had to be helped with procedure by the chair of the panel, but managed to confuse the complainant Marion Thomas nearly as much as he confused himself. The key question remains was Marion Thomas held against her will by three agitated BNP members who were exchanging cash for property ?

Another allegation made by Thomas is that the BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson helped himself to £200 because of his "inconvenience" at having to allegedly hold her against her will. Or did he give it to Ian Kitchen?

On a number of occasions Thomas's legal representative queried Harrington's line of questioning. Harrington contends that Thomas was only employed by the BNP for six months and therefore can claim neither unfair dismissal or claim for redundancy pay.

As we have reported before, there appeared to be no love lost between Marion Thomas and Jennifer Matthys, daughter of the BNP leader Nick Griffin. Jennifer has refused to attend the hearing saying that she feels intimidated.

Tomorrow should be fun if not a little uncomfortable for one BNP witness.

Hope not hate

BNP ratpack hold secret Scots summit as they plan new far-right party

Far-right fanatic Jim Dowson and other BNP ratbags slunk into Scotland yesterday to launch a new party full of hatred.

The former BNP treasurer pitched up in Perth at a secret Scots summit to launch Britain First, clutching a cardboard box crammed with far-right propaganda.

Britain First claim to offer a “new moderate approach for British nationalism”, free from the “toxic brand” of the BNP. But the small band of activists who turned up for the lunchtime talks at Perth’s Grampian Hotel all had key roles in peddling the BNP’s racist message.

Dowson, from Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, was BNP leader Nick Griffin’s right-hand man and chief fundraiser before he quit the party last year after being accused of groping a blonde activist. Previously, Dowson was the public face of the Life League, who published online details of people they believed encouraged abortions. He has convictions including breach of the peace, possession of a weapon and criminal damage.

Britain First campaign manager Paul Golding, who joined Dowson in Perth, is a former communications officer for the BNP. He won a council seat in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 2009 but quit this year after putting in just three appearances in a year. Golding had returned to the party after being expelled in 2004 – for allegedly attacking their only ethnic minority councillor.

Dowson and Golding arrived in Perth first – with Dowson unloading boxes of pamphlets and banners as well as a full Highland dress outfit from the boot of his car.

They were followed by Richard Payne, who fought the Banff and Buchan Westminster seat for the BNP at the last general election – and by black-shirted Gary Raikes, who heads Britain First’s Scottish arm. Raikes was an army cadet officer who trained teenagers. But he was drummed out in 2007 after being exposed as the leader of the BNP in Scotland. He was accused of abusing his position to peddle the BNP’s vile views.

Raikes claims Britain First is the “start of a new moderate approach for British nationalism in Scotland”. And he says party chiefs “carefully vet” all their members – “to ensure that no cranks and unsavoury types encountered in the BNP are allowed to join.”

But Gerry Gable, editor of anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said: “There is nothing in Jim Dowson or Paul Golding’s history that shows them as being moderate. They can dress themselves up in new clothes, but in the end it comes down to the same ideology of hate. They will always find someone fresh to hate.”

Dowson quit working for the BNP last year, and claimed in a BBC Panorama documentary this month that BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson asked him to help get fabricated documents to be used against a political opponent. He also claimed Griffin raked in thousands of pounds through fund-raising drives based on lies. Jefferson denied the claim and said Dowson had no credibility within the BNP.

Daily Record

Thanks to Zaahid and others for the heads-up

Trouble Brewing...

Nick Griffin awarding Debbie Stafford the position of "Councillor Representative"

It seems there is a storm forming in deepest Cumbria.

Debbie Stafford the BNP's councillor representative (Not that they have too many left) has quit the party after she labelled the BNP as being run in "a disreputable manner" and as a "family business".

Stafford sent a stinging resignation email announcing her intentions yesterday, the same email has been replicated on a website run by Andrew Brons MEP.

Brons just this last weekend held a conference in Leicestershire,where it was announced that he and his followers will run a "parallel" organisation within the BNP with the intention of bypassing party leader Nick Griffin.

Stafford who was awarded the position of councillor representative last December was elected unopposed with her husband Paul onto Wigton Town Council in April this year. For your amusement we have included the resignation email in full.

From: Debbie Stafford

Subject: resignation letter

Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2011

Dear All

I have resigned both my position as Councillor representative and my membership of the British National Party.

My reasons for doing so are quite simple. Neither the party nor the chairman has any respect for Councillors and elections. The party is run as a family business with a ‘job for boys’ attitude that will never change!

I have seen firsthand how the party is run from the Wigton office. It is conducted in a disreputable manner with dirty tricks being the order of the day. I feel I can no longer support such actions.

The National Executive is supposed to consist of elected Regional Organisers, yet I am still the only elected representative sitting on it (apart from Nick Griffin). You elected me onto the executive to give you a voice, not to be a yes-man.

However they have deliberately excluded me from NE meetings. I have not been invited!

I believe the reason they did this was precisely because I am not a yes-man. That is exactly why I was not invited to the previous NE meeting.

I have only ever been invited to two previous AC meetings, on both occasions as an afterthought with just a few days notice. This time I did not even get that. I heard nothing at all about the meeting until a councillor got in touch with me to ask how it had gone! To say I was shocked would be a lie, as nothing the party does would shock me now.

I feel this behaviour shows the lack of respect Nick Griffin holds for the councillors of the party. I am only there as your representative. To not invite an NE member that you voted for is disgraceful and shows a complete lack of organisational skills. The party truly has no organisational ability at the centre.

I am aware that at a recent North West Regional Council Meeting , Clive Jefferson decided that Nick Griffin’s son-in-law is to be the next Councillor Rep on the NE, and he will arrange this with a block vote of North West councillors at the forthcoming National Conference which will be held in the North West.

I do wish Angus Matthys luck with his upcoming position. At least he will definitely be informed about everything that is happening and he is personally a nice young man. Even though he has only been a parish councillor for a few months and is totally politically inexperienced. But I am afraid they just want someone on the NE to vote they way they want them to vote.

However I can no longer stay in a party that is run in this manner.

Kind Regards

Debbie Stafford.

Hope not hate

BNP facing accusations of fraud

Mr Griffin accused the BBC and Panorama of bias in the reporting of the BNP

The British National Party is under investigation by the European Union and the Metropolitan Police for alleged fraud and breaches of electoral law.

The dual investigations come as a former BNP administrator told the BBC's Panorama programme that she was instructed to falsify invoices. Those invoices were then submitted by the BNP to the Electoral Commission. The BNP has strongly denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.

The allegations come as the party struggles with debts run up during the 2010 general election campaign. Internal party documents seen by Panorama reveal that 12 months ago the BNP owed creditors more than £570,000. Party chairman Nick Griffin recently said the party now owes just £52,000.

Former party worker Marion Thomas said after the 2010 general election she was instructed by the party's treasurer, Clive Jefferson, to alter invoices and in at least one case stamp an outstanding invoice as "paid". The invoices were submitted to the Electoral Commission and had been altered, Mrs Thomas said, in order for it to appear that the BNP had complied with the law on election spending. Asked how she felt about doing this, Mrs Thomas said: "I made my objections known."

She added: "You can't do that, you cannot do that. That is fraud."

Mr Jefferson told the programme that Mrs Thomas' allegations are "untrue".

Mrs Thomas, who now works for Britain First, a rival political organisation, has since been interviewed about her claims by detectives from the Metropolitan Police who are investigating alleged breaches of electoral law by the BNP. That investigation began after Richard Barnbrook, who used to be the BNP member of the London Assembly and Mr Griffin's 2010 election agent, went to the High Court to say that he had submitted printing invoices totalling nearly £10,000 as paid when they too were outstanding.

Mr Griffin also signed those returns. Both he and Mr Barnbrook, who has since been expelled from the party and now sits as an independent in London, have said they acted in good faith, believing the bills had indeed been paid. The High Court judge has referred the case the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Metropolitan Police were notified.

Another former party worker, Alistair Barbour, was recruited to Mr Griffin's European staff after he and one other BNP candidate were elected members of the European Parliament in 2009. Mr Barbour was hired to work on European Parliament business and was to be paid out of the £260,000 pot of EU money that each MEP has available to them to pay for staff and expenses. He told the programme that some money intended for MEP business was diverted to help bolster the party itself.

"Europe was the big cash cow you know, 'let's get our noses in the trough and see what we can get out and... see what we can fund the party with,'" he said of the approach to the MEP funds. He added: "This is what it was all about, party work and just trying to figure out what expenses we could get out of the European Union."

Other party insiders have told the programme that at one point electricity from Nick Griffin's European constituency headquarters on an industrial estate in rural Cumbria was siphoned to the unit next door which served as the BNP's national headquarters.

When the European Parliament's fraud unit, OLAF, travelled to Cumbria five months later to investigate the allegations they found no evidence of an electricity scam but Panorama understands that they continue to investigate other allegations of misuse of European money by the BNP. The BNP has denied using money from the European Union to fund national party work.

Panorama: BNP - The Fraud Exposed, BBC One, Monday, 10 October at 2030BST and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC

Nick reveals another 'state sponsored pressure valve'

Nick Griffin's homestead might be in for a cold winter after an incident involving him ripping a 'state sponsored' pressure valve out of his home's heating system.

BNP news reported:

"Nick Griffin MEP discovered a state plot to plant a state sponsored pressure valve in the heart of his political empire. Our gracious leader acted swiftly, destroying the valve to ensure it couldn't leech any votes off the massive BNP political machine.

The plot had all the hallmarks of a LibLabCon conspiracy to confuse voters by offering a phony alternative, one which doesn't have the true intentions of preserving the Indigenous British people at the heart. They will try anything to stop us making our massive gains!

Nick is advising all loyal patriots to open up their boilers and pull out any other state sponsored pressure valves so they can be destroyed. Don't listen to the advice of a qualified Gas-Safe engineer as they're all state agents. Donate now to stop this happening in the future."

Turkey Breath investigated the story: It all started with a routine visit from a gas engineer who informed Jackie their heating system needed a new part if it was to run soundly through the winter. Jackie said "Nick was away on the gravy train, and I didn't want to have a cold winter, I don't know anything about boilers or valves so I told the engineer to do what it takes, I got the company credit card out and let him get on with it, how was I supposed to know he was a state sponsored agent?".

Upon returning home and hearing of the news, Nick was said to be livid, Jackie said "I told him we had a new pressure valve installed and he got all paranoid, asking who installed it and if Clive had given the go ahead for the work. I told him no, but that it was a reputable engineer and that if we hadn't had it done it could have exploded, he didn't want to know, he was sweating and swearing and blaming me for the BNP's electoral decline. Nick pulled the boiler cover off and wrestled the valve out, it was like watching a hungry bear rip open a car door, I haven't seen him so angry and so strong in years! He went outside, got a gun and started shooting at it".

We spoke to the engineer who told us "a boiler can be very dangerous without a pressure valve, it's only a matter of time before it will explode. Fortunately for Nick, he buggered the boiler anyway, so it won't work at all. Seems like a waste of money to me, but if he won't take my word for it what can I do? The payment bounced anyway, I phoned the BNP and they just laughed at me, telling me to join the queue, all seems very unfair".

Jackie had to phone for an emergency engineer to come back out as Nick hadn't shut the gas off, and the house was slowly filling with gasses leaking from the ruined boiler, she added that in order to avoid another state agent getting into their home they're planning on installing several wood burning stoves throughout the house, "we have years worth of BNP court documents to get burning, and the accounts, we should probably get rid of them too".

Turkey Breath

Missing: the BNP’s 2010 accounts

The British National Party has again failed to submit its accounts on time in contravention of electoral legislation. This is the fourth time the party faces fines for late accounts and news of it emerged just ten days after Clive Jefferson, the party treasurer, claimed in a document issued in support of Nick Griffin’s campaign to retain the party leadership that criticism of the BNP’s financial position was merely “black propaganda”.

This time, however, the BNP might face more than just the fines of £1,200 it usually pays for submitting accounts nearly six months after the deadline of 7 July. Announcing the absence of the 2010 accounts of the BNP and the Christian Party, the Electoral Commission said it was now “reviewing the circumstances of these cases” and that “late submission of accounts without reasonable excuse is a breach of party funding rules”.

It went on: “The Commission has a range of sanctions enabling it to deal with those who do not comply with the rules. These include issuing substantial fines and serving compliance notices requiring parties to take specific steps by a required date to ensure compliance with their obligations in future; where a party does not comply within the timescale set, they may face additional fines.

“When deciding what sanction is appropriate the Commission considers a range of factors including whether parties have failed to comply with their obligations in the past. Repeated non-compliance is an aggravating factor which can significantly increase the penalties issued.”

A fourth failure in five years, coupled with the fact that the 2009 and 2008 accounts when they did turn up contained material deficiencies, must surely attract the highest sanction.

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said: “The rules on party funding are intended to ensure that voters can see where political parties get their funding from, and how they spend it. The 2010 statements of accounts which we have published today help to provide transparency about the finances of the larger parties and their organisations, covering the period during which the campaigns for the 2010 UK general and local elections took place.

“The majority of parties and accounting units have complied with the law by submitting their accounts on time. However, despite the guidance and advice we offer to help parties comply with the law, two parties have yet again failed to provide accounts on time. This is not acceptable. We have commenced formal case reviews into the circumstances; if we are satisfied that the rules have been broken and the parties concerned do not have a reasonable excuse, we will use our new powers to impose sanctions in accordance with our published enforcement policy, to ensure future compliance with the law.”

Hypocritically, Jefferson had boasted about the party’s “financial transparency”. In an attempt to show that the BNP’s accounts were reliable, he explained that political parties with a turnover of more than £250,000 must have their accounts audited by an independent firm of chartered accountants before they are submitted to the Electoral Commission where they are “examined in minute detail … to ensure that the highest of standards and financial transparency are met”.

He added: “In previous years, the British National Party has had advice from the Electoral Commission and the Auditors, and, each time we have acted on advice, our system has become more robust and open.”

It is now very clear that the BNP’s accounting systems are far from “robust and open” and that he and the BNP are barefaced liars. Griffin had already secured election as party chairman for four years three days before the Electoral Commission’s announcement. The timing of the BNP’s leadership ballot is unlikely to have been accidental.

When Jefferson’s document and an accompanying Myth Busters leaflet, which claimed the BNP hardly had any debts, were published, we noted their silence on the 2010 accounts and concluded, correctly as it turned out, that it was business as usual for the BNP treasury department.

Jefferson ended his document by stating that the BNP intends “within the next few months” to publish its management accounts in a quarterly report to members and online. If its financial records are in such a dire state that it cannot even produce its annual accounts, Jefferson and the “retired chartered accountant” he says the BNP has employed are unlikely to be able to produce up-to-date management accounts, at least not accurate ones. That would Jefferson’s promise just another lie in support of Griffin’s campaign to stay in post despite all the disasters over which he has presided.

Thanks to Sonia Gable at HOPE not Hate/Searchlight

BNP may face court action over unpaid printing bill

Calls have been made for the leader of the British National Party to step down in a row over a £16,000 debt to a North-East printing firm.

The BNP owes the money to the Newton Press, a community newspaper based in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, for the printing of posters and leaflets during the run-up to last year’s General Election and publication of the party’s Voice of Freedom newspaper.

The company’s owners are now so fed up of waiting for the debt to be paid, they have released emails exchanged between the company and party leader Nick Griffin.

On January 1, last year, Stuart Howarth, print sales manager of the Newton Press, sent an email to several members of the BNP which said: “Still nothing from any of you, unbelievable.”

Six months later, he received a reply from Mr Griffin, which said his party officials were working on the matter. Mr Griffin, MEP for North- West England, wrote in his email: “In the meantime, please accept my most sincere apologies, both personally and organisationally, and assuance (sic) that you will get all your money as soon as possible.”

In August, payment had still not been received and the Newton Press instructed its solicitors to take legal action. The last email from Mr Howarth, on June 30, this year, said: “Anybody paying this bill or do I have to take even more action than I already have?”

Andrew Brons, BNP MEP for North Yorkshire and Humberside, who is challenging Mr Griffin for the leadership, said: “It is wholly unacceptable that honest businessmen, who supplied their services in good faith, are treated in such an appaling manner. This reflects badly not just on the current chairman, under whose watch these abuses of trust have taken place, but on all of us. We are all smeared by association.”

Ken Booth, a BNP member in the North-East, said the debt was the national party’s and was nothing to do with the local members. He said the situation was a disgrace and Mr Griffin should resign. “One of our main passions is local jobs for local people, yet the party can’t even pay a local printer. It makes a farce of our values.”

Clive Jefferson, BNP party treasurer, said: “We will be paying all our outstanding debts. I have a timeline for repayment worked out.”

Northern Echo

Der Untergang

British National Party declares war...on itself

Just over a year ago, the Brits woke up to discover that Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons from the far right had been elected as MEPs. Party leader Griffin declared that this was the beginning of a brave new world and got pelted with eggs on his way out of the count. Today, if there is any egg on their faces it is because they put it there themselves.

Since their arrival in Brussels the party has met with several challenges, not least a series of court cases, often from disgruntled former employees and the party is believed to be heavily in debt. One of the creditors is said to be a printing firm in Northern Ireland, who are rumoured to have sent some heavies round to Griffin’s home, demanding repayment.

With growing concern about the management of the party among members, Eddy Butler, one of Brons EP staff, challenged Griffin for the leadership, alleging financial irregularities and, amusingly for a party with a background in neo-fascism, accusations of a lack of internal democracy and alleging that Griffin was acting like a dictator. This led to a purge of anyone suspected of supporting Butler.

After the failure of the Butler campaign a new challenger arose, Richard Edmonds, formerly the editor of Holocaust News, which denied the genocide had occurred. He also has convictions for racial violence and told a journalist that the BNP was “100% racist”.

The battle in Brussels

Now, Brons has said he will challenge Griffin for the leadership of the sinking ship and has alleged that the leader has repeatedly tried to misuse EU funds. “In 2009, I was asked by our Chairman to share the expenses, from my European Parliamentary funding, of an office in Edinburgh for the use of Solidarity Chief and leading member of the National Liberal Party, Patrick Harrington,” Brons said.

“Furthermore, in December 2010, at the Annual Conference, a table was provided for the display of my first annual report and my MEP newsletters. I was not asked whether or not I wanted to have this facility; I was simply provided with it. Three weeks later I received an invoice for the sum of £500 from the Chairman’s wife.

“I was told that I should pay this amount from my General Expenditure Allowance – my office account. I refused to do, although I did seek advice on the matter from the financial authorities of the European Parliament. I have recently been informed by Clive Jefferson that I might be taken to the County Court for refusing to misuse European Parliamentary funding!

“In December 2010, I was asked by our Chairman and Clive Jefferson to employ, with European Parliamentary funding, Christopher Barnet, who was in charge of the Party’s Alfred programme to put canvassing returns onto a data base for future elections.

“I was told that he would ‘look after’ my website. I said that I wanted to know, from him, what precisely he would be doing for his salary. He never contacted me. Very recently, I received an invoice from Clive Jefferson for £2000 that was supposed to represent five months of ‘services.’ I told him that I had not entered into any contract with Mr. Barnet and to pay for unspecified services from European Parliamentary funds would be fraudulent.

Brons also revealed that OLAF are investigating Griffin.

In retaliation, Brons was asked to remove the BNP logo from his website, which may be a prelude to adding him to the long list of those ejected from the party.

The last throw of the dice

Griffin has announced a new campaign that will resurrect the party - a petition for a referendum on EU membership. He’s been a bit slow, UKIP, Nikki Sinclaire, Dan Hannan have already set up rival petitions on exactly the same call.

But there is something different about Griffin’s. He is boasting that he is using EP funding for it, but the website and all literature carry the same wording:

“We, the undersigned, demand a referendum on British membership of the European Union.

By signing this petition, I authorise Nick Griffin to send me further information on this and future campaigns”

It is impossible to opt out of this authorisation. It is likely that the real aim is to find potential new supporters and donors to the party. At the EU taxpayers expense. Those considering signing may wish to reflect on the party’s inability to keep its databases secret, there being several instances of supporters details being put online.

In the meantime, the membership is shrinking, the voters are ignoring them and the creditors are knocking on the door.

New Europe

Clive Jefferson Unleashes New Fundraising System

Clive Jefferson, the BNP's national treasurer, today unveiled a range of new measures to improve the BNP's fund-raising ability. Through the BNP website he announced ten 'highly effective' and 'groundbreakingly brilliant' initiatives which will 'revolutionise' their donations system and take the BNP into a new era of financial capability, a system which will leave the BNP's enemies and political adversaries 'quaking in their boots'.

We received a leaked copy of the article before it went to press on the BNP website,

Clive, I've gone through your article and edited the spelling mistakes and typos, it took me three fucking hours so you had better appreciate this, also, Nick says if this doesn't work don't expect to be invited to his Big, Bad, Boys Only BBQ in July.

The edit follows:

Clive Jefferson has today announced a new set of initiatives which will drive the BNP forward through financial ability and take the party into a new era of electoral breakthroughs. The new scheme, which is the brainchild of Jefferson, has been in the planning for several months, and is now ready to be rolled out.

The new fund-raising system has ten varied and very unique parts, however, they all fall under the same umbrella, the idea is to make it manageable, as being such a large organisation we had to implement a realistic system, however, we're confident that these new initiatives will quadruple our donations overnight and make much more money for Nick.

The ten elements are listed below:

• Strategy One: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the George and Dragon in Little Aversham
• Strategy Two: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Anglers Rest in Woodhouse Mill
• Strategy Three: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Bridge Inn in Heacham Vale
• Strategy Four: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Three Stags Head in Yeovil
• Strategy Five: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Big Tree Public House in Hartland
• Strategy Six: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Royal Oak in Somerton
• Strategy Seven: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Alma public house in Corsham
• Strategy Eight: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Nag's Head in Peckham
• Strategy Nine: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Red Lion in Tiverton Park
• Strategy Ten: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Horse and Cart in Fawley

We estimate the scheme will take around five months to fully implement, and are asking for donations to help us set up the donations tins, and also asking for any spare donations tins people may have, or even just roses tins with a hole in the top, just so long as they aren't too dented.

In the inevitable success of this scheme we plan to expand with a roll out of a further set of initiatives which will increase our system capacity by another 20%!

Simon Darby upon hearing of the new initiative announced: "Our enemies are going to shit when they see this, ten new and unique strategies which will allow the BNP to smash the Labour party up and down the country! Gone are the days of me and Nick standing on street corners with a bunch of commoners in cheap clothes and no culinary taste!"

Comments on the article were largely in praise of the new system, one member saying "Why didn't we think of this before? It has been right under our noses! For years we've been giving pennies to orphans and dogs and of course immigrants!!!!!!! Now the money can go where it is needed!". Another said "A brilliant idea, Clive should be awarded hardest working official in the BNP, shame that one has already been given to Nick this month, maybe next month?".

Turkey Breath

Jackie Griffin offers Insight into a Strange Marriage

'Well, I'm so proud of him, I mean, I'm not even sure what he does over there, even he doesn't seem sure, but I'm very proud, I watch his videos sometimes, so charismatic, this is the reason I married this man, one day soon, he'll be running the EU!

The other day he got home, he had been away a good few days, he came in and made some joke about the gravy train, and then ran into the toilet. He called me over, I love talking to him through a door, he was saying that there are some very important delegates coming over soon and that we must put on a banquet for them. I asked him who was coming and he said it wasn't important, but that they were important and that we would have to impress them.

I went out to the shops, it took me a good few hours and two journeys to buy everything Nick wanted. I was so nervous as well, we're always having important people call round, Simon Darby came in the other day to charge his iPhone, and Clive Jefferson came in for a cheese sandwich, but this was the big one. Important delegates from the European Parliament, I had to impress them! Again I asked who was coming, he told me Jacques Pierre de Gaulle and Heinrich Schmidt amongst others. I had no idea who they were, for all I know, he could have been making them up, but this is why I'm the wife of the leader of Britains fourth largest political party and not the leader of Britains fourth largest political party, or its most popular and hard working MEP!

Anyway, hours later, the banquet was ready, I went into Nicks office, he was sat there sleeping, he is so cute when he snores, he works so hard you know! I gently woke him up, he jumped up and shouted for the Green Arrow to put down weapons. Nightmares again, it's all the pressure the state put him under. He couldn't even remember what banquet I was talking about. I told him, the one with the very important delegates, all twenty of them coming over hungry to talk about important political things, this seemed to jog his memory, he ordered me to leave and said that he would be through shortly to greet them. I heard him pick up the phone as I left, but my mind was distracted by the house phone suddenly going off. I answered it 'The Griffeeeen residence, lady of the house speaking..' as we do here, and was told by a French man, I'm assuming Jacques Pierre de Gaulle, that the important delegates wouldn't be able to make it any more. Oh how devasted I was, not because I had been up for six hours preparing the food, the table, the house and the pets, but for Nick. He was in his office waiting for them to arrive and was so very excited!

He came out and looked at me, he had this weird look in his eyes, he said, who is it? I told him it was Jacques Pierre de Gaulle and that the important delegates wouldn't be able to come over. He said to me, what, the twenty important delegates won't be able to come round and talk about important political stuff any more? I told him no. I went to hug him, but he walked into the dining room and sat down. He said, 'well no point letting good food go to waste', and started eating. I asked him if he wanted me to ring Simon up so he could come round and talk about important political stuff, but he said he'd rather just eat on his own. I went back into the kitchen and started to tidy up, I had a lot to do, it's amazing how much mess you can make preparing a meal for twenty important European delegates.

These important European delegates you know, they do this at least three times a week, I'm always preparing massive banquets for them, and they're always letting him down. It's just as well he is a kind and patient man, if I was him I wouldn't even invite them round any more but he doesn't learn, still, at least the food doesn't go to waste, Nick can eat most of it, and what he doesn't he puts in a doggie bag for Jefferson along with the scrapings.'

Turkey Breath

Cumbrian Villagers Launch Legal Bid To Thwart BNP Candidate

A LEGAL challenge is under way to try to prevent a British National Party candidate taking an uncontested seat on Seascale Parish Council.

An appeal is being made through the High Court on the grounds that Sellafield process worker Malcolm Southward’s nomination for a place on the council is legally invalid. The appeal has been made by Coun David Moore on behalf of the parish.

He said: “We believe the information given on the nomination form is fraudulent. It says Mr Southward has worked in the parish of Seascale while employed by Sellafield for the past 12 months. This is false. Sellafield is in the parish of Ponsonby and Beckermet, not Seascale.

“We have brought this to Malcolm Southward’s attention. In fairness we are giving him the opportunity to resign and that would be the end of the matter. If he fails to do so then the right course of action is to call in the police to investigate under electoral law.”

Asked whether Mr Southward would be resigning, the BNP’s national nominations officer Clive Jefferson said: “Absolutely not. It’s sour grapes. The Electoral Commission has already told us the nomination is valid, we went to them after a previous complaint.

“At the end of the day Seascale is the postal address for Sellafield. We are not in the business of falsely submitting anything.”

Coun Moore said: “This is not about Mr Southward being a BNP candidate, it is to do with false information on a nomination. There are no politics on Seascale Parish Council but it is fair to say there is a huge amount of concern in the parish over this issue.”

As there are 12 candidates for the 12 seats on Seascale Parish Council, there is to be no election in the parish when Copeland goes to the polls on May 5.

Whitehaven News

At Last! A Sure-Fire, Solid Gold, Guaranteed Election-Winning Strategy For Clive Jefferson!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while: Busy with the Day Job...

I don't mind telling you that I'm getting pretty worried by Clive Jefferson's radical new election strategy.

Early days yet, but so far the BNP have swept to victory, trailing clouds of glory, in a number of Parish Council seats.

Under Clive “The Kingmaker” Jefferson's Svengali-like guidance and deep understanding of the Dark Arts, his charges have finally taken the reins of power.

Me? I'm terrified.

Jefferson is vindicated. All those late nights and the months of hard work (how does he do it? Where on earth could he be getting his boundless energy from?) have paid off, and it finally looks as though we were wrong all along and the BNP are, indeed, safely on the road to power.

It's a simple strategy, to be sure, but devastating in its ruthless efficiency.

All the Candidate must do is stand in a seat – and here's the knack – where no-one else is standing.

Quite brilliant!

Not only that, but Jefferson can then write (or get a grown-up to do it for him) that the Candidate has “won” a seat in an “election”.

And the Faithful are loving it!

(I'd like to announce, at this stage, that I have just been elected, by a staggering majority of 100%, to the position of “Bloke Who Makes A Cup Of Tea For My Wife”. A solemn duty I pledge to carry out with diligence and pride.)

Roll on the May round of elections, and I fear the position could get even worse: All those BNP Candidates standing in Seats with no other Candidates standing are probably going to do very well indeed.

Of course, if there happen to be other Parties who have shown the ill-will, Machiavellian instinct and sheer pettiness to actually put themselves forward, the picture might not be quite so rosy.

In fact, given their record over the past couple of years, the BNP might not find things very rosy at all.

In my own Borough, Amber Valley in Derbyshire, they've mustered five Candidates. Nearby Heanor (next door to where the last couple of “Red White & Blue” hatefests have taken place) currently has two Borough Councillors - Lewis “The Boy” Allesbrook and Cliff “Creepy” Roper (as they're known by Council Staff). Neither of them are very effective, of course, and they cut a sorry sight at Council Meetings as they sit together in their own island of gloom, in turns ignored and derided by the other Councillors.

And they're hoping to be joined by others after May 5th, including Roper's wife, and the ghastly local White Supremacist, conspiracy theorist and hate blogger Maria Riley-Ward. This crew are concentrating their efforts on just two towns within the Borough – Alfreton and Ripley. Luckily, they've all got people from Real Parties standing against them, so they don't actually have a chance.

(I've just been elected, by an overwhelming majority, to the vital office of “Member In Charge Of Putting A Load In The Washing Machine”. I vow to live up to this signal honour by repaying fully the boundless trust placed upon my by my Electorate, and to check the temperature, because there are woollies in the pile...)

Of course, there's always the chance that, between now and Election Day, all of the other Candidates will either withdraw, change their allegiances, leave the country forever or meet with unfortunate accidents, in which event Jefferson can chalk up another series of stunning victories.

In fact, there's the distinct possibility that, between now and the next General Election, a series of catastrophes could befall anyone thinking of standing for any of the Real Parties, and Griffin could be handed the keys to Downing Street unopposed.

Which is, it so happens, the way he likes to do things anyway.

(I'm honoured to discover that I have been elected, by a massive landslide, to the esteemed position of “Man Who Puts The Wheelie Bin Out”. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my faithful Electorate, my hardworking Staff and the Returning Officer.)

In the Meantime, Chris Vanns finds himself as one of the Guardians of graffito'd bus shelters across Habergham Eves Parish.

Let's hope the power doesn't go to his head.

Of perverts and idiots...

A couple of interesting emails have arrived over the past two days, one of which asked what proof we have that Tom Holmes attempted to get off with a fourteen year old girl, the other of which is supposedly from someone close to Clive (sniff-sniff) Jefferson, who allegedly overheard Nick Griffin's pet moron on his mobile whining to either Mark Walker or Pat Harrington.

The former is pretty clear so we'll deal with that one first. Twenty-six year old Holmes has just been booted out of the BNP after evidence was revealed that showed he was grooming an underage girl. Quite why Holmes got the boot when the likes of Paedo Collett and his idiot chum David Hannam were allowed to get away with their little attempt at underage sex, who knows. However, Holmes is still going on about his innocence, claiming both that he wasn't interested in having sex with the girl even if she was sixteen and that he acted appropriately at all times. Holmes has tried this one over at the British Democracy Forum, too, stating very clearly,

'Never mentioned anything about getting her to have sex with me when she's 16, actually.'

Oh dear, what a terrible liar Tom has become. And here's the proof, from his Facebook page...

Click on image for full-size

Tom's remark "Awww :( 2 years" shows pretty clearly that he's perfectly well aware of the girl's age, the pervert.

Holmes is apparently still claiming that he intends to stand as an Independent in his next local election, handing the seat over to the BNP if he wins. He won't, of course. The public doesn't take too well to men approaching thirty making remarks about fourteen year olds opening their legs for him, even if he is only hoping it will happen two years hence. As far as I recall, that's referred to as grooming.

Talking of perverts, we hear that Clive Jefferson, the stupidest man in the BNP, has apparently begun to bow under pressure from increasingly angry party members (and a hostile media) and has been begging Mark Walker or Pat Harrington to support him in persuading Porky Griffin to give the Kitchens the boot ASAP, preferably before even more information about Granny Kitchen's porn hits the media. Quite what anything in the BNP has to do with Harrington, we don't know, but he seems to have an uncommonly tight hold on both Griffin and the party. Perhaps Mrs K has been giving him lessons.

The interesting thing about this, assuming it's true, is that Jefferson wants to kick the Kitchens out but appears to be unable to. Why? As far as we know, he's been booting people out of the party wholesale for months - what makes the Kitchens so special?

Our correspondent suggests that the Kitchens will be gone by this weekend. Maybe but we doubt it. Martin Reynolds has been involved in porn and all kinds of shit (literally) for years and he's still around. Still, things could hot up in more ways than one as Spring approaches - we're told that there are quite a few more BNP-related revelations on their way. Can't wait.

Meanwhile, GrannyGate has claimed a victim. Paul Morris (not that one), the BNP's Eastern regional organiser, has jacked in his job in disgust at the adverse publicity that the Kitchens have spawned and the party's apparent unwillingness to get rid of them post haste. I doubt very much that he'll be the last to go - this story seems set to carry on a while yet.

BNP plays musical chairs

Nick Griffin has reshuffled several of the top positions in his dysfunctional British National Party in an attempt to maintain control, reward his supporters and sideline any criticism of his dictatorship.

Chris Beverley has been sacked as regional organiser of the big Yorkshire and The Humber region, one of the two that elected BNP representatives to the European Parliament in 2009. His replacement is Ian Kitchen, the party’s Wakefield organiser and Griffin loyalist. The BNP claims this will allow Beverley to spend more time on his European constituency job for Andrew Brons, the region’s BNP MEP.

Eddy Butler, who was expelled from the BNP after unsuccessfully challenging Griffin for the leadership last year, took a more jaundiced view. Claiming the party was desperate for Beverley not to show up Jefferson by achieving a better result in the coming Barnsley by-election than in Oldham, he added: “Chris Beverley was one of the last remaining competent Regional Organisers, one of the last capable election campaigners and one of the last independent voices left on the Advisory Council. As such his replacement was inevitable and long overdue.”

Stephen Squire has taken over as the party’s London organiser after serving a six-month apprenticeship under Griffin himself, who stepped in as the acting London organiser after the party’s May election debacle and the departures of a series of previous organisers.

Clive Jefferson has given up his job as North West regional organiser, to spend more time on the elections department, according to the BNP. The party’s elections function is sorely in need of competent leadership after a string of by-election failures, but whether Jefferson will be able to devote any more time to it is unclear. He also heads the BNP’s failing treasury department, which for three years has failed to maintain anything near adequate financial records, resulting in the party failing to achieve clean audit reports for 2008 and 2009, with 2010 expected to be similar.

In addition Jefferson, who has difficulty writing coherently, has just been appointed editor of the party’s Voice of Freedom newspaper, replacing Martin Wingfield, who Butler says is very “much out of favour”, though he remains communications and campaigns officer for Griffin’s European constituency.

Jefferson’s replacement in the North West region is Mike Whitby, the party’s Liverpool organiser. Whitby became Liverpool organiser at a heated branch meeting last July when Jefferson kicked out all the existing officers in a purge of dissidents. They had committed the crime of supporting Butler’s challenge.

Whitby seems suitably qualified to move the party towards the “increased militancy” that Griffin promised last December. After clashes between BNP activists and anti-fascists in Liverpool, which resulted in an assault conviction for one BNP man, Whitby promised that anti-fascists’ identities would end up on “a website far worse than Red Watch”, the hate site that encourages supporters to attack anti-fascists and their homes and families.

Another post Jefferson has given up is National Organiser, which has gone to Adam Walker, who also regains his job as staff manager. Walker works closely with Patrick Harrington, Griffin’s old mate from their days in the National Front Political Soldiers. Harrington was appointed the BNP’s head of human resources last autumn, but appears to act more as a general manager for Griffin. Many party members resent Harrington’s presence at the helm because he remains leader of a rival political party, albeit a very small one.

Butler claims that Walker was promoted “just to boost his profile in case he is needed as an alternative Chairman, should something ghastly in the realms of the judiciary happen to Nick Griffin”.

Finally, Jennifer Matthys, Griffin’s eldest daughter, is gradually assuming a greater role and now runs all party operations from a small office in Wigton, Cumbria. But according to Butler, “not enough money is coming in each week to cover the basics, via the appeals that Pat Harrington is now tasked with producing”. Perhaps engineering the departure of Jim Dowson, Griffin’s fundraising consultant, and Paul Golding, the party’s former national communications officer, was not one of Harrington’s smartest moves.

After Griffin announced last summer that he would relinquish the leadership of the party in 2013, speculation mounted that he was grooming her as his replacement, following the example of Marine Le Pen, who has just succeeded her father as leader of the National Front in France. However unlike Ms Le Pen, a lawyer who has held senior roles in the party for over 12 years and has built a firm political base as a regional councillor, Matthys has few qualifications for leadership and is unlikely to be accepted by party members in that role for some considerable time.

Searchlight / HOPE not hate by Sonia Gable