Southend Councillor Suspended Over English Defence League Claims

A Conservative councillor in Southend has been suspended amid claims he attended a meeting of a far-right group.

Essex MEP Richard Howitt formally wrote to Southend Borough Council's Leader and Chief Executive calling for the inquiry in to Kursaal ward councillor Blaine Robin. It's over allegations published by the national political website Political Scrapbook which detailed individuals who supported the English Defence League.

In the letter, Richard Howitt cites the report as showing clear evidence from Facebook and from a YouTube video that Cllr Blaine Robin took part in a meeting of the EDL while they were planning their recent demonstration in East London. During that demonstration 60 arrests were made including for assaulting the police, and Cllr Blaine was apparently praised personally by the EDL's leader on camera at the meeting.

In a statement Rochford and Southend East Conservative Association told Heart they 'abhor and condemn far-right groups such as the English Defence League'.

"We have recently been made aware that one of our members, Cllr Blaine Robin, attended a meeting of the EDL and as a result of this we have decided to temporarily suspend his party membership pending an internal investigation by the Conservative Party.

"We would like to make it clear that Blaine has been active in fighting against racism and intolerance for many years and that at this stage it appears his behaviour in associating with the EDL represents a serious error of judgement but no more. However, given the controversy surrounding this group we feel it is appropriate that we take this action in order to fully reassure members of the community who may be concerned."

heart

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Face of Tory "Become a Councillor" campaign is EDL sympathiser

The face of the Conservative Party’s official “Become a Councillor” campaign is an EDL sympathiser who attended an organising meeting for their controversial Tower Hamlets demonstration, Political Scrapbook can reveal. Cllr Blaine Robin was publicly praised by EDL leader Tommy Robinson for his presence at the meeting in Southend-On-Sea.

The gathering of EDL organisers included leaders of all the group’s so-called “southern divisions” and was designed to build momentum for the action in Tower Hamlets which cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to police and led to sixty arrests for offences including assault on a police office, common assault, drunk and disorderly and affray.

Video footage below shows Tommy Robinson appearing to point to the councillor while saying he was “proud” that he attended the meeting. Robin is prominently featured on the Conservative Party website as part of the Become a Councillor campaign, which encourages people to stand as Tory candidates to “make a difference to their local community”.

“I’m proud that the first politician, I’ve ever met who actually represents his constituents was a man outside … who’s a local politician in Southend [points to person in crowd] … It’s even greater to see that he has heard the free message of the English Defence League not the distorted media attempt [sic]”

While Blaine has denied being an official member of the EDL, the councillor’s sympathies can not be in doubt, having praised the far right group’s “good intentions” on his Facebook page and posted their propaganda on his website. David Cameron has claimed “there’s none sicker than the EDL”.

But it seems that not all Conservative politicians agree.

Political Scrapbook

Thanks to NewsHound and others for the heads-up

My party should end its war on multiculturalism

'Labour isn't burdened with the legacy of Enoch Powell's 1968 speech, which the
Conservatives have never quite shaken off.' Photograph: Channel Four

Tory attacks on multiculturalism send out a confused message – it's time for the party to drop the word from its rhetoric

Theresa May will reply to the home affairs debate at the Conservative conference today in the wake of the publication of The Future of Conservatism, a collection of essays about the party's future edited by David Davis. The hall will resound to familiar Tory calls for stronger immigration controls and longer prisoner sentences. It wouldn't be at all surprising if they were joined by a denunciation of multiculturalism – one which the new Davis-edited book, seen as it doubtless will be as blue meat for the party faithful, will be expected to echo.

For the best part of 10 years, I represented the largest number of Muslim voters of any Conservative MP. During the last parliament, I was the party's spokesman on integration in the Commons. I worked happily with people on the left who took an uncompromising view of Islamist extremism, agreeing with them that since it saw no distinction between religious and secular law it was incompatible with liberal democracy. So my article for Davis's book could reasonably be expected to excoriate the M-word.

I agree with some on the left and most on the right that integration is a good thing and cultural relativism a bad one. For example, female genital mutilation shouldn't be tolerated in Britain simply because it's a cultural custom in parts of Africa and Asia. But I have come to see that the ultimate modernisation for the Conservative party isn't to back gay marriage or promote more women. It's to end the Tory war on multiculturalism. In saying so, my essay for The Future of Conservatism therefore bucks the stereotype, and is based on a simple truth: that multiculturalism means different things to different people.

To some, it means Mohammad Siddique Khan, the British-born 7/7 suicide bomber, a chilling example of what can happen when integration fails (though, blessedly, a very rare one). To others, it means the Notting Hill carnival or Manchester Pride – or the Bible, that meshing of Jewish, Greek and Roman culture. But it's no great mystery to guess what Tory condemnations of multiculturalism mean to many ethic minority voters. When Conservative lips mouth "multiculturalism", they hear multi-racialism – a verbal assault on people of a different ethnicity.

It is no use for the Tory speaker to claim that this is wrong – even though, as it happens, it is – or insist that this isn't what is meant. For this is what is heard, and it's what's heard that matters. In which case, wouldn't the Conservative party be wise to drop the term altogether? No Tory prime minister has ever aped BNP language by promising "British jobs for British workers", as Gordon Brown did, but Labour isn't burdened with the legacy of Enoch Powell's 1968 speech, which the Conservatives have never quite shaken off. All going on and on about multiculturalism achieves is making it even more difficult to do so.

David Cameron knows this only too well. That is why he has been careful only to knock state multiculturalism. But to do so is to build an unstable halfway house. Discussion of what constitutes state and non-state multiculturalism might make an interesting thesis, but it makes a tangled argument. The concept is designed to face two ways at once. To the Tory faithful, it signals opposition to multiculturalism; to ethnic minority voters, only when the state does it. Neither are stupid and both are unpersuaded.

The core Conservative vote is about a third of the electorate. Resistance to the party's message was greatest at the last election in Scotland, among public sector workers – and members of ethnic minorities. The number of the latter is growing faster than that of the majority community. They doubtless contribute significantly to a striking recent poll finding: that 70% of the population would consider voting Labour but only 58% voting Tory. Yet the Conservative message on lower taxes, faith schools and support for marriage might have been crafted for black churchgoers or Britain's young Muslim population, who are set to share a significant part of the tax burden. The reflexive denunciation of multiculturalism is helping to prevent it being heard.

Paul Goodman at Comment is free

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

Tory couple from Dudley quit party in row over 'racist' doll

These are the photos that caused two prospective Tory councillors to resign from the party

Bill and Star Etheridge are seen posing with a controversial golly doll. 41-year-old Mr Etheridge was due to stand for the Tories in the Dudley Council elections in May along with his wife Star, aged 39. But a Conservative Party disciplinary committee suspended the pair after a complaint from party volunteers. The couple have now resigned from the party and Mr Etheridge said he was joining UKIP instead.

Mr Etheridge said he posted the pictures on Facebook to promote a “healthy debate” about the toy after the couple bought one on a market stall. He and Star organise their local branch of The Campaign Against Political Correctness.

“We thought we’d post pictures of it as an interesting talking-point and to provoke a healthy debate,” said the dad-of-three. “We never said ‘bring back gollies’. I’m aware some people may be offended, but they’re offended on behalf of someone else – they’re do-gooders.”

Conservative disciplinary committee secretary Stephen Phillips wrote to the pair about their 30-day suspension on Friday. He said: “The committee is satisfied that the complaint raises serious issues that might bring the party into disrepute and/or that you may be guilty of conduct not compatible with membership of the Conservative Party.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Following a complaint by members of the voluntary party in the area, two Conservative members have resigned from the party.”

Mr Etheridge added: “We do not intend to be silenced and will increase our campaigning against political correctness.”

And UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass said he would be welcomed into their party. He said: “Bill’s decision to join UKIP is yet another boost for the party and an endorsement of all the good work we have done here.”

Birmingham Mail

Might UKIP succeed where the BNP has failed?

By Dr Robert Ford of the University of Manchester and and Dr Matthew Goodwin of the University of Nottingham, co-editor of The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain. The authors would like to thank Joe Twyman at YouGov for assistance with the data.

The BNP’s attempt to become a ‘modernized’ radical right party has failed. The party is in turmoil, and Nick Griffin faces a growing grassroots rebellion. A disappointing general election, empty war chests and costly legal battles have left its foot soldiers demoralized and divided: some demand a re-launched (and Griffin-free) BNP; others have deserted to establish a rival party; and some are even calling for a merger with their arch rival, UKIP. Even Griffin concedes they are ‘sick and tired of losing’ and, in an attempt to quell the rebels, has announced he will step down by 2015.

To add to his problems, at the recent by-election in Oldham the party saw its support slump to 4.5% (down from 11% in 2001), even losing its deposit in an area it once described as “our territory”. The party was also pushed into fifth place by UKIP, a particularly hard pill for BNP activists to swallow. Despite a decade-long effort by Griffin to rehabilitate his party, upwards of 80% of Britons continue to express negative feelings toward the BNP. Put simply, the BNP will never be seen as an acceptable option by most voters. As one BNP blogger urged his fellow members, ‘it’s time to wake up’.

But if the BNP declines, the causes which propelled its rise – public anxiety about Islam and immigration and hostility to the political mainstream – remain in place. Since 2001, they have also been joined by a financial crisis, parliamentary expenses scandal and, more recently, seemingly ‘new’ issues such as ‘Muslim sex gangs’. These issues look set to remain salient. Will public concern over them find a new outlet if the BNP falls apart?
Analysts of British politics have long suspected (though never proven) that UKIP is the ‘second home’ for far right voters, and is seen by a larger portion of the electorate as a ‘polite alternative’ to the toxic BNP. Academics suggest that while both parties share a mutual hatred of each other, they are ‘part of the same phenomenon’, and recruit supporters who share a similar profile and are concerned about the same cluster of issues.

Nigel Farage rejects the ‘BNP in Blazers’ tag, but has recently ‘cautiously welcomed’ comparisons with the far more successful radical right model of the French National Front (FN), now led by Marine Le Pen. But is UKIP really all that different from the BNP, and could it join the successful radical right family?

As we show in our study, despite Farage’s protestations the reality is that both UKIP and the BNP are drawing on remarkably similar bases of support. Not only is UKIP well positioned to hoover up the BNP vote, but it is also well placed to attract a broad and relatively diverse coalition of voters, like those mobilised by radical right parties in Austria, France and the Netherlands.

UKIP draws its strongest support from middle-aged, financially insecure men who formerly identified with the Conservatives. While these voters are of course very hostile to the EU, UKIP is not simply a haven for Eurosceptics. Contrary to what many Conservatives might like to believe, UKIP is not a single-issue party. It is also successful attracting to its banner Britons who are hostile toward immigration, feel threatened by Islam, and disaffected with the mainstream parties.

Indeed, we find two very different kinds of UKIP supporters. On one side are ‘strategic defectors’, who vote UKIP at European elections, but then return to the Conservatives at domestic general elections where more is at stake. These voters tend to be more economically secure, more middle class and motivated mainly by their Euroscepticism. On the other side, however, are the ‘core loyalists’ who vote UKIP in Westminster elections as well as European Parliament polls. It is the ‘core loyalists’ who have most in common with BNP supporters: they are poorer, more working class and more dissatisfied with the main parties. This electorate resembles those voting for far more successful radical right parties elsewhere in Europe.

UKIP also has an important advantage over the BNP – it is not tainted by a violent, fascist past. Free of extremist baggage, it is able to appeal to groups of voters such as women who regard the BNP as unacceptably extreme. Evidence of UKIP’s broader appeal can already be seen: it won nearly twice as many votes as the BNP at the 2010 general election; and nearly three times as many votes at the 2009 European elections.

So what does all this mean for the Conservatives? It suggests UKIP has now emerged as a potent competitor on two very different fronts. On the one hand, UKIP is tapping into widespread Conservative scepticism about Europe to win over large numbers of Tory voters at European Parliament elections. But in Westminster elections, UKIP is also attracting a very different following. The party is becoming an outlet for the frustrations of voters who are angry about rising immigration, anxious over the presence of ‘threatening’ Muslim communities, and cynical about mainstream politics, but repelled by the BNP’s reputation for racism and fascism. For example, more than seven out of every ten UKIP voters in our sample agreed councils allow immigrants to jump the queue for social housing, believe immigration has not helped the economy, and do not trust their local MP. Also, almost two thirds think Islam poses a serious danger to Western civilization.

If UKIP chooses to embrace this electorate, its future looks bright: continued public concern over immigration, growing anxiety over settled Muslim communities; and continuing popular outrage over issues like bankers’ bonuses provide a rich array of domestic issues to capitalise upon. Clearly, UKIP is aware of the potential appeal of radical right messages: like the BNP, at the general election it advocated a halt on immigration (via a five year freeze), the ending of policies to promote multiculturalism and bans on the burka and niqab. It also invited the Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders over to show an anti-Islam film in the House of Lords.

UKIP has already demonstrated the electoral power of Euroscepticism in the last European Parliament elections, where it overtook Labour to secure second place. If the party chooses to focus on a broader populist agenda - embracing the concerns of voters buffeted by economic insecurity, alarmed by the challenges of immigration and Islam and hostile to a Westminster elite they see as complacent and out of touch - they could also prove a potent competitor to the mainstream parties in domestic elections.

The established parties ignore this challenge at the peril – in recent years populist right wing parties have pulled off dramatic victories across Europe, dramatically altering the political landscape in longstanding bastions of moderation such as the Netherlands and Sweden. One day soon, UKIP might pull off the same trick here.

Conservative Home Comment

Spot the difference: BNP steal Conservative logo in party rebrand

The nation’s foremost bunch of racists are now extending their franchise to plagiarism – essentially stealing the Conservatives’ logo. The new livery forms part of a broader rebranding for the far right party, which will also drop use of the BNP acronym in official literature.

British National Party leader Nick Griffin has unveiled the party’s new official logo, a Union flag emblazoned heart with the party’s name, on the first official day of the party’s annual conference in the East Midlands.

“This logo will illustrate exactly what this party is about,” Mr Griffin told the 200-strong conference.

A brush-effect Union Jack logo. Where have we seen that before?

Spot the difference? The Union Jack version of the Conservatives'
2006 tree logo appears to have been appropriated by the BNP

The BNP have already spent up to £170,000 settling a lawsuit with Unilever after the party used a Marmite jar in a party political broadcast.

With this latest cock up Griffenführer may well have another court case on his hands.

UPDATE: As a reader points out in the comments, calling Barack Obama an “Afrocentrist racist bigot” didn’t stop the BNP from stealing his website design earlier in the year.

Political Scrapbook

Hitler costume council leader suspended

The leader of Harrogate Borough Council has been suspended from the Conservative Party after being photographed dressed as Adolf Hitler.

Mike Gardner, who was pictured giving a Nazi salute at a fancy dress party, said he had done "nothing wrong". He has vowed to remain as leader of the Conservative-controlled council, serving as an independent. Conservative Party headquarters said he had been suspended pending an investigation into his conduct.

Asked why he had chosen to wear the Nazi-style uniform, Mr Gardner said: "It's one of those situations, you had to be there. There was nothing wrong, it was just good fun. I was at a fancy dress party, it was nothing more."

He said the Conservative Party's decision to suspend him had been "very improper".

The images were taken from a Facebook page, which Mr Gardner said was a "total violation of my privacy".

He said: "I am a councillor who represents the people, politics is not my thing, serving the people is my game. I am disgusted about what the Conservatives have decided to do. I serve the people of Harrogate and serve them very well actually. If I have gone wrong I will apologise now to the people of Harrogate, if I have offended them in any way."

A council spokesman confirmed that Mr Gardner was still leader but nobody from the local authority was available for further comment on Friday.

BBC

Tories blame Labour for BNP threat

The Conservatives have blamed Labour for the prospect of a historically strong performance by the British National party in Thursday’s elections, as new research suggests support for the far right is strongest in Old Labour heartlands.

The Tory intervention marks a shift in the traditional bipartisan approach to fighting the BNP. All three main party leaders are urging people to shun the far-right fringe party amid fears a low turnout could combine with protests against MPs’ expenses to give the BNP at least one seat in the European parliament.

The complex proportional representation system used in the European poll means the BNP needs only an 8.5 per cent vote share to get an MEP elected in the north-west or London – its principal targets. Recent polls show a dramatic post-expenses rise in support for “others”, putting the eurosceptic UK Independence party on 10-19 per cent and the BNP on 5-7 per cent.

The Tories, battling against the erosion into their own vote from the seemingly resurgent Ukip, accuse Labour of inadvertently creating an electoral opportunity for the BNP.

“That people are considering voting BNP is symptomatic of the neglect that the Labour party has shown in their heartlands. It is a shame Labour has simply abandoned so many of their traditional voters,” Eric Pickles, the Tory chairman, told the Financial Times.

Gordon Brown rejected this assertion. “The BNP. . . stand against everything that makes this country great,” the prime minister said on a campaign visit to Worksop in the east Midlands. “There are some people who argue that Labour has somehow abandoned the white working class. Nothing could be further from the truth . . . we are on the side of people on middle and modest incomes.”

A Labour source accused the Tories of “political point scoring”, saying it was “incumbent on all mainstream parties to push up voter turnout to lessen the chance of the BNP gaining any success”.

But new research suggests the BNP is performing best in Labour heartlands – areas of high unemployment and low education with large Pakistani and African populations. The typical BNP supporter matches the Old Labour profile of a middle-aged, working class northern male, according to research by Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin of the University of Manchester. Their analysis of aggregated polling data on self-identified BNP supporters found that more than 90 per cent of the fringe party’s strongest constituencies have Labour MPs.

“The BNP is emerging as a significant challenger to the Labour party among social groups and in geographical areas where Labour has traditionally been dominant,” Mr Goodwin said. “Labour faces a serious threat from the large-scale defection of traditional heartland supporters to the BNP.”

Labour appears divided over how best to respond to this threat. MPs on the left of the party, such as Jon Cruddas, say Labour needs to offer more direct support to the working class to counter the threat of “class politics of the far right”.

But Denis MacShane, former Europe minister, said business had compounded the failure of the main parties to “talk about Europe intelligently” and sell its benefits. “The biggest beneficiaries of the workers who have come from Europe have been employers but the CBI, EEF and BCC are like trappist monks . . . when it comes to campaigning on this,” he said. There was an “unfortunate coincidence” between the BNP’s anti-European, anti-immigration core messages and the campaign being run by Ukip, which, he stressed, he was not accusing of being racist.

The Tories have stepped up the rhetoric against what David Cameron termed a “bunch of fascist thugs”. But the Tory leader took a softer tone with Ukip: “I know you may be thinking of voting Ukip but look what they’ve achieved over the past five years [in the European parliament] – precisely nothing.”

Financial Times

Former Labour, Tory and Lib Dem members on BNP list

• 'Nine ex-Conservatives' on leaked files
• Merseyside police officer suspended from duty

The leaked British National party list contains the names of individuals who are former members of all the mainstream political parties in England, it emerged today.

A former constituency chairman for the Conservatives, a former Labour prospective parliamentary candidate, and a church minister who had been at various times a Green, a Conservative and a Liberal Democrat, all went public on why they had switched parties in the wake of the leaking of a BNP members' list.

Lionel Buck said he was chairman of Ashfield Conservative association in Nottinghamshire for about four years, joining the BNP two years ago. He told the Guardian: "The way the country is at the moment, there is no major party, whether it be Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat, looking after the indigenous population."

Andrew Emerson said he had been due to fight Chichester in Sussex for the Labour party in 1997 before illness ruled him out, but joined the BNP in 2005, when he had been the party's candidate for Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. He had since tried to get elected to Chichester council, in his last attempt last month gaining 12.3% of the vote in the ward. The main reason for changing parties was "my unhappiness with the [Labour] party's open-door immigration policy, making no attempt whatever to control immigration ... and to properly control our borders".

John Stanton, who heads the Rock Dene Christian Fellowship in his home town in Rochford, Essex, with a congregation of 22, had also been a Green, a member of Ukip, a Lib Dem councillor in the 1990s and a member of the Conservatives in the 1970s. He told the Press Association that "the flood of immigration" was a problem, as was Islam and the European Union. He said he had been with the BNP for eight months.

A worried Labour MP, whose constituency is about 98% white and appears to have the most BNP members, told the Guardian it was sometimes difficult to address concerns of communities "stirred up by malicious and false information".

Colin Challen, MP for Morley and Rothwell in Yorkshire, where there are 90 members according to the list, said it was "very disappointing that local people, even to that extent, have been persuaded to believe the racist claptrap and hate politics of the BNP".

But research indicated, he said, that "sadly it is very often the case that areas which have a very small ethnic minority population and large working class population have developed pockets of support for the British National party".

It was a "matter of shame" that a seat on Leeds city council that fell within his constituency was held by a BNP member. The main political parties had to understand the concerns of communities and work to address them, even in the face of inflammatory information.

The Labour party said it would expel anyone found to be a member of the BNP; the Lib Dems "deplored" its beliefs and tactics; and the Conservatives said all mainstream parties "have an obligation to address the voter alienation and disillusionment that fuels support for extremism".

Nine people on the BNP membership list are said to be former Conservatives, but the party said it only knew of six, and they had been associated with party some years ago.

Meanwhile, a police officer whose name appeared on the BNP list was tonight suspended from duty by Merseyside police, a spokesman for the force said. PC Stephen Bettley, who worked as a driver for the chief constable, Bernard Hogan-Howe, in 2006, returned early from a holiday abroad tonight to help the force with an investigation into his alleged involvement.

Police are banned from becoming members of the far-right party because it conflicts with obligations under race relations laws.

Guardian

High IQ Greens, Low IQ BNP voters

The Guardian has got hold of the following academic research:

"On a party-by-party basis, the average (childhood) IQ scores for 2001 voters were:

Green - 108.3
Liberal Democrat - 108.2
Conservative - 103.7
Labour – 103
Plaid Cymru - 102.5
Scottish National - 102.2
UK Independence - 101.1
Did not vote/None of the above - 99.7
British National Party - 98.4"

Tory Diary

BNP vicar "seeks asylum"

THE CHURCH and fascism do not normally mix, but one Reverend has clearly rejected the command to "love thy neighbour" in favour of racial hatred.

Former Conservative Party councillor Rev'd Robert West is standing for the British National Party for the first time after defecting to the neo-Nazis in protest at David Cameron's "A-list."

His candidature, in the east Midlands district of South Holland, is one of several eyeraising choices as council candidates made by Nick Griffin's party.

Rev'd West claimed his action was sparked by a desire to "seek "refuge from political correctness by applying for asylum with the British National Party - Britain's finest and most decent party - in our country's hour of need."

Ironically Rev'd West taught political philosophy and equal opportunities law at the universities of Nottingham and East Anglia, was also a member of the Lincolnshire Council for Racial Equality.

But, switching to the BNP, he claimed Cameron's A-list, an attempt to boost numbers of women and black candidates, was "discrimination of the worst kind."

The part time supply teacher is the only name publicly associated with the Christian Council of Britain, a front organisation set up by the BNP to "Christianise" its message.

The CCB attempted to forge links with Christian Voice at the height of the Jerry Springer - The Opera controversy, in a coalition of right-wing Christian fundamentalists.

Rev'd West, 53, has reportedly been spotted among BNP supporters outside Leeds Crown Court during the trial, on racial hatred charges, of BNP leader Nick Griffin and youth leader Mark Collett, who is also standing for election to his council in Yorkshire.

Rev'd West has set up his own church, based in a house in Holbeach, to preach "traditional bible beliefs" after leaving the Anglican church.

Black Information Link

Stop the BNP in Wales

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