It’s The EDL & British Fluffies Love-In!

Well, well, well, the EDL leadership have finally surrendered and admitted that their demos have been a complete waste of time and are now making a bid for political respectability by linking up with the fluffy fascist British Freedom. The recent demos have dwindled in numbers and many ‘members’ have left in disgust over the constant violence and overt racism of this ‘not racist, not violent, but violently racist’ peaceful protest movement.

The EDL have lost a lot of credibility in the last 6 months. After all their blether about ‘taking’ Tower Hamlets they were humiliated, massively outnumbered and unable to get to where they wanted to go – ‘we go where we want, when we want!’ Not really! The whole of Nottingham EDL were attacked and arrested and their pin-up, Joanne ‘Bus Stop Pole Dancer’ Dickens, fell off the coach and got a kick up the drainpipe. Their Birmingham demo attracted even less and ended up in a drunken brawl with a great many Facebook posters expressing disgust or resigning en masse. The Remembrance day round-up was even more embarrassing and disgraceful and since then Napoleon Lennon has desperately been looking for an out. Tiny Tom was lucky to not get sent down at his last court appearance for the Blackburn headbutt and he certainly wasn’t looking forward to another ‘hunger strike.’ Mrs. Tommy told him that he wasn’t to get into trouble anymore and his recent self-pitying video diary really took the Garibaldi! ‘Me Nan’s ill, me business is stuck, me assets are frozen and I’m having to sleep in the spare room with the unsold hoodies (still available! £10 discount!).’ So he needed a face-saving alternative and the very desperate and tiny British Fluffy Party offered him one: you bring in possible votes, we will give you an exit so you can concentrate on your ‘political career’ before rapidly fading out to ‘concentrate on the family.’

Many EDL are also bothered over Tommy being a prima donna and getting all that publicity: when Tommy is nicked, it’s demos outside the courthouse or prison and ‘Tommy Robinson Defence Fund’ collections (make all cheques payable to the EDL royal couple, Stella and Charlie). When the regular arse clowns are nicked, it’s tough luck boys, you’re on your own. And these cases are frequent let me tell you! Don’t take our word for it, check out the postings on the various court cases on Everything EDL:

Unbelievable.

So Tommy, all too aware of his waning popularity with the EDL and his wife, asked Mrs. Tommy if he could meet up with his chumleys for a ‘Way Backwards’ meeting somewhere in the Midlands on Saturday for an hour after teatime. There was a rumour buzzing about that he was going to stand-down as leader but he realised that this would lose him what little credibility he has left and instead he retained his position whilst offering his support to the British Fluffies. The meeting location was secret and consequently loads of EDL were wandering around confused in Brum which was probably a good thing as one who finally got there was less than impressed:

‘i was at the meeting i traveled a long way the meeting sarted very late was hold in public house so yes thats right by time meeting sarted several edl members had been drinking meeting was a shambles and not many members were even listing to busy having a dring there was very little respect couldlnt even hear quiestions and answers over drunken rabble (Sic!).'

Tommy also successfully ducked any questions over the Zionist connections and the Star of David flags. There is still discord in the EDL however and the North/South divide remains.

Fluffy Fascism

So who are the British Fluffies (BFP) then? Well, they are one of the smallest ones in the alphabetti spaghetti of the far right parties: so far we have BNP (Griffinites), BNP (Bronsites), UKIP, ED, NF, BPP, and the NPP. All are fairly interchangeable policy wise, operate on the cult of leadership principle and have too many Morecambe’s and not enough Wisdom. They all stand in the few places where votes are likely, in direct competition with each other, as the NF and BNP have always done, and split the far right vote. Despite calls for unity, it never happens.

The Fluffies were formed as yet another offshoot of the BNP and feature Simon Bennett, Peter Mullins, Peter Stafford and exUKIP Paul Weston. They have recently purged their leadership clique in a ‘Night of the Pen Knives’ and sidelined the likes of Batty Lee Barnes who has too much holocaust denial baggage and is mental anyway. He is now ‘writing a novel’ about a magic dog that talks. Bennett was the BNP webmeister who famously pulled the plug the day before the General Election and has since been reviled by a great many bitter Nazis. Peter Stafford was hounded out of Liverpool BNP for being gay and having a gay dad and so sought refuge amidst the Fluffies. I Googled Peter Mullins but just got a blank screen. As far as purging well-known Nazis the head Fluffies have operated with some political acumen. However, the Fluffies are now in cahoots with a violent football hooligan who has served time for assaulting a policeman and is under investigation for fraud. Nice one! Suddenly holocaust-denying, magic dog writers sound remarkably tame! This is clearly going to bite the Fluffies on the arse and it is only a matter of time before the usual recriminations start. The Fluffies have clearly been dazzled by the popular support of the EDL although they have come in a bit late as EDL numbers have never been so low and there are a great many EDLers who are unhappy over Tommy, Fluffy endorsement and the fact they are stalwart BNP voters. The EDL clearly haven’t read the Fluffies 20 Point Plan as one reads that they will ‘Ensure that a no class-A drugs policy is enforced.’ Some cheeky wee rascal on Urban75 said that ‘it’s a typo and they meant to say ‘Ensure that no class-A drugs policy is enforced.’ Naughty!

Factions

Apart from deserting members there are other splinter factions which include the 6 or so Liverpool EDL who are too incompetent to change their Facebook page and so are Infidels in all but name. They have been involved in scab activity such as attacking union offices and threatening people who were on strike. To make matters worse, Tiny Tommy’s PA Hel ‘Stomach Band’ Gower, who is 70, has fallen out with Paul Pitt in the Kent Division and they look seriously rocky. Other divisions have folded completely. Some of the more excitable elements have been threatening Occupy sites and attacked a pro-Palestinian group in Glasgow at the weekend. They have also been making noises about attacking workers’ organizations during the strike on November 30th! Scabs by any other name and acting like the fascists in the 1926 General Strike. Oh, and the Combined ExForces imploded rather publicly and spectacularly last week with the CO firing the 2nd in command and the 2nd in command firing the CO. The remaining 3 members are very confused indeed.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/edl-watch.262722/page-198

Post 5928 onwards.

Conclusion

So, despite the initial bloom of romance will the Fluffy/EDL partnership flourish? Tommy has way too much ‘legal history’ to stand a chance in any election so this is clearly a way of backing out nobly whilst he can. The Fluffies have had the ‘Night of the Pen Knives’ and have ‘cleansed’ the ranks of those who were in ‘previously disreputable organizations.’ The EDL are split over those still enjoying the days out on the demos and the gradual realization that they have got smaller and smaller and the only media attention they get is wholly negative. We shall see...

Malatesta's Blog

British Freedom Party secretly discuss EDL

This is an audio recording of Simon Bennett, Lee Barnes, Peter Mullins and Gary Marshall discussing how they can use the EDL. Listen how Barnes tells Bennett to keep hold of the data base he (Bennett) has on EDL members...

...And they thought they wiped this Skype conference off the web? Suckers!

Live Leak

Thanks to LeakMeister for the heads-up

If You Blinked, You Probably Missed It: The Rise & Fall Of The BFP

Once upon a time, there was Oswald Mosley's Hitler-loving “British Union of Fascists”. Following a World War against Hitler, which somewhat dented their electoral popularity (although their vote probably still holds up in rural pockets of North Yorkshire and the Home Counties), Mosley founded the “Union Movement”. Figures from the UM, led by Arch-Nazi A K Chesterton, later split and went on to give it another go with the “League of Empire Loyalists”.

Following more splits, disagreements (and still not a sniff of electoral success) in the LEL, the “National Front” came into being.

The NF, under the rancid leadership of the purple-necked John Tyndall (and by associating itself with the rabble-rousing racism of Enoch Powell), managed to mobilise a brief resurgence of the Far-Right during the 1970's, but were soon shown the door by a massively bigger, broadly-based campaign in the form of the Anti Nazi League and it's hugely successful offshoot, “Rock Against Racism”.

Internal squabbles (and plotting by young leader Nick Griffin) led, in a now-familiar pattern, to the birth of the BNP.

Years of financial mismanagement, despotic behaviour and yet more plotting (this is, after all, a man who probably wakes up, tells Jackie he'd like cereal for breakfast and then spends the next half-hour working behind her back, starting online smear campaigns and forming various short-lived alliances to ensure that he gets eggy bread...) finally, and inevitably, led to the mother of all splits.

And so, in 2010, amid great fanfare, with a shiny, friendly logo, a stock library photo that made its membership look exactly 300% more attractive and pleasant than they actually are and powered by the hopes, dreams and Paypal clicks of slight-witted racists (but not TOO racist – that's their USP, you see...) across the nation, the “British Freedom Party” was born, helped into the world by midwives Simon Bennett and Lee Barnes.

Oh dear.

Sweeping all asunder as it powered its way to the heart of British politics, the BFP soon boasted a staggering (well, at least a couple of them enjoy a drink) 30+ Members. (There are those who say it could be twice that. Tremble, o ye Lefties!) The new force in Nationalism hit the ground running and wasted no time at all in fomenting discord within its ranks and having splits of its own.

Given that the Left has a reputation (albeit somewhat deserved) for splits and divisions (which, I might add, are entirely the fault of the Fabian Society. All the rest of us – especially me and people I happen to like – are completely blameless, you understand...), it's nice to see that our fallings-out pale into insignificance compared to the Permanent State Of Total War that exists at the other end of the spectrum.

Simon Bennett, self-styled hero of the Far Right, has (as has been pointed out before) a few funny little ways about him. In much the same way as the man who used to live in Derby (name of “Cosmic” Ray) and wore a skullcap fashioned from copper wire that enabled him, he claimed, to communicate with the Aliens who lived beneath Stonehenge, had his own “funny little ways”.

Aside from paranoia (a current concern is that he could be subject to attacks from Cornish Jihadists. Of which there are, in his own imagination, many.) , an obsessive nature and a very thin skin, Bennett has something of a temper on him. In fact, if politics were run in the real world like they are in the parallel dimension of the Bennettverse, we might get Hansard recording exchanges like:

Mr Edward Miliband (Lab Doncaster North): Does the Prime Minister not feel that more should be done to ease the burden of the less fortunate of our country, and that it is the rich who should pay?

Mr David Cameron (Con Witney): I thank the Honourable Member for his question, and would remind the **** that I know where he lives and he'll be getting a ******* visit from me and my ******* housebrick if he don't button it. I done it before, I did, and he should see the state I left the **** in that time.

On his own, Simon Bennett (like Griffin before him) is enough to spell doom for any outfit he latches onto. Team him with Barnes, however, and it's as though someone just hit a fresh, rich vein of new chuckles in a comedy goldmine that just opened in your back garden.

(He recently claimed to have "Some people very worried!" No-one's "worried", as yet, by the mighty army of the BFP. Very, very amused, maybe, but not exactly "worried".)

Barnes, with his background of wonderfully inept poetry, execrable attempts at novels and Tourettes-like swearing, sees himself as the intellectual wing of the Party, and he's long argued the case for the Far Right to “reach out” to the electorate by presenting as friendly and approachable a face as possible.

A notable example of Barnes p.r manner was this friendly, approachable post:

“Now shut the **** up you pathetic whining maggots.”

Or how about “Just shut the **** up you boring gobshite ****.”

Gosh. It's like Kofi Annan, reborn.

With this pair beavering away behind the scenes, it's little wonder that the BFP have been shedding personnel (Chairs, Treasurers, etc) like there's no tomorrow. Or like the BNP. Which actually amounts to much the same thing.

The Holy Grail, of course, for all of the movers behind any of these short-lived, shabby little outfits, is to draw a salary and make a living from their followers. Griffin has set the benchmark here, as the first “Nationalist” since the days of Mosley to make a (very) comfortable living off the backs of racists and, as the BNP ship sinks there are sure to be plenty of others looking to take up where Griffin left off...

Born from splits, and they're dying the same way. In the case of the BFP, however, as they get ever smaller, there's at least the consolation that scientists will possibly use the phenomenon as the impetus to develop ever more powerful detection equipment; machines that can detect particles tinier that hitherto dreamt of...

Personally, my money's on a “relaunch” sometime soon before finally imploding at some point in 2011.

On the plus side: Once the BFP are out of the way, we can at least get back to taking the piss out of the Green Arrow.

The webmaster, the thugs and BNP-Lite

Simon Bennett, the BNP's former and now much-loathed webmaster, has always had a strange and manic desperation for recognition. Several weeks ago, when the British Freedom Party (or BNP-Lite) had only existed for about twenty minutes and had less than ten members, he appeared on TV as a representative of the BFP pontificating about whatever the current disaster was in the British National Party, which he had only recently left. As is common with many on the far-right, his complete devotion to his former party and its crooked leader turned to an all-consuming hatred almost overnight, and he found himself unable even to mention the BNP without exploding in all directions in his fury.

Having completely fallen out with the BNP, he then joined the BFP, a tiny far-right grouplet made up solely of BNP rejects and swivel-eyed lunatics like Lee Barnes, the BNP's former legal officer and resident fruitloop.

The BFP is a curious entity: it has done nothing of any consequence, has no real policies, has stood in no elections and has a membership that currently stands at around thirty, all of whom are committed losers, yet it seems to be sneaking around behind everyone's backs, trying quietly to gain some indefinable power from somewhere. Anywhere, in fact. And now it has bumped up against (and linked up with, if our correspondents are correct) the English Defence League.

Bennett's only claim to fame (apart from being a rabid fantasist - remember the BNP's very own James Bond plot?) is that he can put together a website that appears to work relatively well, even though it only runs as fast as Martin Reynolds after a heavy lunch. This talent appears to be much-valued on the far-right and Bennett therefore has a skill that others want to exploit - which one imagines is why the Islamophobic EDL is suddenly interested in Bennett and his little gang, and why Bennett is now running the EDL's website.

Rumour has it that the EDL is planning, in the near future, on moving more into politics and away from incessant street confrontations. The group's leaders can hardly have failed to notice that attendance at their numerous rallies is trending downwards (though the Luton demo this coming weekend is expected to be a biggie) and it is said that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and the other twats who lead the EDL would like to gain some political recognition before it loses any more of its momentum.

Thus, they are seeking advice on how to break into politics. And who are they seeking this advice from? Yes, the barely-visible British Freedom Party, that doesn't have a clue about politics and couldn't break into a wet tissue with a chainsaw.

Political realities aside, the BFP has its own troubles to deal with at the moment in any case, having split over a suggestion that Bennett may have walked off with £752 from one of its bank accounts. One half appears to believe he has already paid the money back while the other seems to think he's nicked it. It's not the first time Bennett has been caught up in money troubles - one of the accusations that followed him after his separation from the BNP was that he had walked off with a pile of money earned by badge sales. In fact, the far-right is and always has been rife with accusations of theft and fraud - all the way from Porky Griffin's spectacularly sticky fingers right down to Yaxley-Lennon and co being accused of diverting money from T-shirt sales.

Missing dosh aside, it's easy to see why the BFP wants to jump on the current EDL bandwagon but it's hard to see what's in it for the EDL apart from the embarrassment of being associated with the likes of Simon Bennett and the BFP. Rumour suggests that the EDL is also involved in talks with another far-right group, the English Democrats. Though just as crap as the BFP, the ED at least have had the experience of standing in the occasional election (readers may recall that in the recent Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election they scooped up a staggering 0.4% of the vote).

Asking the likes of the BFP and the English Democrats for political advice is about as currently sensible and completely pointless as entering Nick Clegg into a popularity contest - and having Simon Bennett involved in anything at all is a disaster waiting to happen.

Hmm, maybe Bennett's lot and the EDL could be a marriage made in heaven, after all - for us, anyway.

The impecunious Mr Griffin?

The strange world of the British National Party leader’s legal team

Facing many court cases, Nick Griffin appears to have turned to a charity for his legal affairs; Legal Action, a registered charity in the UK, number 1100780, also has the working name of Charles Henry & Co. Their official registration says that their purpose is to “relieve impecunious persons, by providing them with legal facilities particularly in connection with a possible or actual claim or defence, before a tribunal in England & Wales, for which they could not otherwise obtain, by reason of their impecunosity”.

Can anyone imagine an MEP without a euro in his pocket? That is just the beginning of the strangeness.

According to people with a knowledge of the charity, it appears to be run by Kevin Gregory, who, like his father, is a trustee according to their registration with the Charity Commission in the UK. He has an interesting background for such a position. He used to be a Conservative Councillor, but was thrown out of the party after a series of scandals and court appearances. These included being charged with harassment of an ex-girlfriend, whom he believed a fellow Tory councillor, who used hypnotism, to charm her away from him.

Gregory has also a line in pretending to be a solicitor, suing an ex-girlfriend for legal advice he claimed to have provided. He also falsely represented he was a solicitor in front of a High Court judge, which led to a Law Society Tribunal, which ruled that, “he had described himself as a “trainee solicitor”, and as “a solicitor” or as an “acting solicitor” when he was none of these things.”

Office space

People very familiar with Gregory say that bailiffs pay him regular visits, but these gentlemen deserve some credit - they can find his offices! Their website - www.legal-action.org- lists four offices, by postcode, but only one has a phone number, which is a dead line. The registered office phone is rarely answered.

The website designer describes that the client for the website is another charity that has Gregory as a trustee, the Augustine Housing Trust and through their telephone number - an 0845 redirection service - New Europe spoke with a man who called himself John Sullivan, who said he worked for Legal Action. He refused to say who else worked for the charity, or even where their office was. When it was put to him that he should know this information because he is listed as a trustee, he claimed that there had been a mistake and the real trustee was John O’Sullivan.

We were also contacted by someone who said they were a coordinator for the various Gregory charities, but refused to say who she worked for or who else was working for the charity. However, she didn’t recognise the name of Mr O’Sullivan or Raymond Hosegood, who, on documents provided to New Europe, signs letters with a signature that appears to be “PP Kevin Gregory.”

Legal firms are often discrete, but the wall of silence put up by the charities associated with Gregory, where people won’t even answer the most basic of queries is unusual.

The right solicitor

How did the far-right MEP end up with such unusual people? The connection appears to be one of the 4 Legal Action solicitors, Jane Stanley Phillips, now with 'Iverson, Stanley Holmes Ltd'. She has also helped a charity, The Steadfast Trust, which aims to “relieve poverty amongst the Anglo-Saxon community of England”. She has previously represented the BNP leader, according to the BNP’s ex Legal Affairs Officer, the excitable Lee Barnes.

Barnes describes her rewriting the party’s constitution, after it was judged to be illegal because it only allowed white people to join the party. Her revised draft has also been judged illegal and the party is anxiously awaiting the ruling from the appeal. Losing could bankrupt the party. Barnes also failed to appreciate her legal acumen, “After I pointed out a serious flaw in her legal strategy that would have allowed the court to undermine our case, she flew into a rage and refused to speak to me anymore.”

Phillips also made an appearance on a British TV documentary, 100% English, where her DNA was tested. She was told that the expert described her sample as “absolutely typical of a Romany gypsy”. She threatened the programme makers with a law suit, but failed to prevent the broadcast. Griffin has well known and strong views on gypsies.

Enter The Commission

Legal Action have something else in common with the BNP, a failure to deliver their accounts on time. The latest return, due at the Charity Commission is 306 days late. Their finances look odd. In 2005, they had no income, yet spent almost 45,000 GBP. 2006 saw 11,000 go in and 47,000 spent. A legal expert says these figures only make sense if they are operating on a no win, no fee basis.

The Charity Commission are now investigating the charity. Meanwhile, Griffin has a series of court cases ahead of him and his party.

There have been longstanding rumours about the imminent collapse of the British National Party, both financially and as a political organisation. Recently the party has written to creditors, offering them 20 pence in the pound on the party’s debts to suppliers etc.

Some may think that this unusual legal team may yet save the party, but they are likely to be a minority and the BNP don’t usually warm to minorities.

New Europe

New BNP appointments will not stop party sinking

Disillusioned British National Party activists are ignoring most council by-elections and achieving little in the few places they do stand. In October the party fought just two by-elections, obtaining 6.2% and 2.9%.

The party did relatively better with 9.3% in a Walsall by-election on 11 November, but the following week Peter Tierney, who recently completed a sentence of 100 hours of unpaid work for a violent assault, managed only 4.7% for the BNP in Croxteth ward, Liverpool.

With little else to do, BNP activists continue to set up stalls in town centres to gather signatures for its supposed “Bring our boys home” petition, in reality the party’s autumn recruitment drive, as its leader Nick Griffin openly admitted. So far there has been no sign of the campaign moving on to its next stage, which was to include a “whirlwind tour” of the UK by the party’s misnamed “Truth Truck” advertising lorry and a mail shot to “opinion formers” with a special “Bring Our Boys Home” brochure. One can only assume that Griffin’s appeal early in October for £22,000 to fund these activities was either a sham or a failure.

Instead, the BNP leadership is busily shuffling the deck chairs before the party ship sinks and filling posts vacated by the large number of officers who have left or been pushed out. Last month Griffin, an MEP for North West England who made himself London regional organiser in August on the basis that “I pass by while on the way to Europe anyway”, appointed Steve Squire as deputy organiser in the capital.

However, Griffin accident-ally revealed his true plans on Twitter: “He’s now deputy RO but I hope to confirm him as full one in January. In meantime, treat him as being in charge”. Bob Bailey, well known drunk and failed BNP councillor, is the party’s new London elections officer.

Unimpressive

Squire comes with an unimpressive track record. In the council elections in May he stood in Enfield Lock and came tenth out of ten candidates with 6.3%.

In the BNP’s Eastern Region Pat Richardson, the party’s last representative on Epping Forest district council, was appointed membership secretary at her first regional council meeting, which she attended with Rod “Mr Angry” Law, a Loughton town councillor.

Also in a new role is Kieren Trent as Eastern regional press officer. Trent was one of a group of BNP activists who helped Bailey attack three young Asians in Barking and Dagenham just before polling day last May. BBC video footage showed a clearly visible Trent landing blows and kicks to someone on the ground. No charges were brought.

In North Wales a new organiser and fundholder (treasurer) relaunched the party’s Wrexham branch just six months before the Welsh Assembly elections next May. In 2007 the BNP came within 2,580 votes of winning a seat in North Wales in the regional list part of the election, which is fought under proportional representation. Lack of funds and a haemorrhaging membership will make it hard for the party to improve on that result.

Meanwhile Griffin has launched yet another appeal for donations to continue his legal battle with the Equality and Human Rights Commission over whether the party had complied with a court order in March to remove racially discriminatory clauses from the party’s constitution. Griffin absented himself from a High Court hearing on 8 and 9 November after being admitted to hospital with suspected kidney stones, though recovered rapidly to join a large BNP group on a two-night trip to Belgium for Armistice Day.

“Simply lying”

His current barrister, David Reade QC, argued that there was no case for the party to answer as the court order was ambiguous. Robin Allen QC, appearing for the EHRC, accused Griffin of “simply lying” when he said he did not know the terms of the order. He described Griffin as a “persistent offender” who had repeatedly failed to comply with various orders to change the constitution.

Judgement was reserved and there will now be a further two-day hearing in December. If the BNP loses, it is likely to face crippling legal costs, adding to its debts, which are believed to be at least £600,000 so far.

It would appear, however, that Griffin has given up the fight in his failing legal action against four former BNP employees who rebelled against the party leadership in December 2007. His withdrawal from the case against Steve Blake, Kenny and Nicholla Smith and Ian Dawson is expected to leave the party with tens of thousands of pounds in legal costs. The BNP has still not paid the substantial settlement it agreed with Michaela Mackenzie in front of an Employment Tribunal in June.

One piece of better news for the beleaguered party leader is the return to the fold of Richard Edmonds. Griffin booted the veteran nazi off the BNP’s Advisory Council in summer after he revealed the huge sum – £160,000 a year – that the party was paying its unpopular management and fundraising consultant James Dowson.

Edmonds was refused entry to a BNP meeting in Dagenham, east London, in August and in September attended a “Reform Group” conference held by Eddy Butler, the unsuccessful challenger to Griffin’s leadership. But by November Edmonds was the guest speaker at a BNP meeting in Somerset where he urged: “Everyone needs to support the BNP as Britain needs it more than ever and before it’s too late”.

Griffin needs all the support he can get, even that of an old Holocaust denier, and has presumably forgiven Edmonds’s indiscretion since his own big fallout with Dowson, which has meant a rapid exit of the party’s call centre out of Belfast to Nuneaton. Griffin’s closest henchmen are constantly bickering with each other as Clive Jefferson, promoted far beyond his capabilities, struggles to carry out his myriad party roles.

Andrew Brons, Griffin’s fellow MEP, continues to employ Butler on his European Parliamentary staff, while Butler sits on the sidelines exposing and attacking Griffin’s mismanagement of the party. Brons has recently been running a “consultation” on possible changes to the BNP constitution, to which Butler has contributed at length. Brons has put forward options for “fairly modest reforms” and “more far reaching reforms”, but it is not clear whether the proposals will ever be put to the members or whether the exercise is designed only to give the appearance of democracy in the fascist party.

No impact

Although Butler maintains his belief that the BNP can be rescued from Griffin’s deathly grasp, some of his erstwhile supporters launched a new rival party at the end of October. The British Freedom Party has made no impact so far and has distinguished itself only by appointing its second national treasurer in less than a month. John Savage, about whom the BFP boasted it was “probably the first time in decades a nationalist party has a qualified accountant as its treasurer”, resigned “during the early hours” of 6 November after an intem-perate article by Lee Barnes appeared on the BFP website.

Barnes had advocated hanging Abu Hamza, whereas Savage pointed out that under British law he first had to be tried by a court and found guilty. Unlike others in the BFP who are “spellbound” by Barnes, Savage instantly recognised him for the lunatic he is.

“For some strange reason which I am unable to quite fathom,” wrote Savage, “Mr Barnes, who has never joined the British Freedom Party, seems to have a great deal of dominant influence and hold over my former colleagues in the party. However … arguing with him is like trying to push back a tornado with one’s hands. He will not give any quarter nor listen to any other viewpoint or argument other than his own …

“I regret that the British Freedom Party is not at all the party I thought I was involved with in setting up. Mr Barnes seems to have now ensconced himself so deeply into it that no other opinion is possible.”

In true fascist tradition the BFP quickly wrote Savage out of its short history. An announcement praising the appointment of its new treasurer Michelle Marshall, not an accountant but a former assistant adjutant in the Royal Air Force, made no reference to her predecessor.

Sonia Gable in Searchlight

Far-Right Talkboards: A Whole Other World Out There...

I wouldn't make a very good spy. In 1985, I thought it would be a good idea to pop along to a pub in Ilkeston and melt into the background during a National Front meeting.

I'd have got away with it, too, if I didn't have long hair, flares and an Afghan coat. If nothing else, the smell would've given me away.

A couple of weeks ago I registered on of the Far-Right Talkboards. Under my own name (I've never really seen the point of pseudonyms), with no hidden agenda, and no motive other than wanting to understand why people think the things they do (and this particular Board seemed to have a few Members who might be able to actually argue the toss, rather than just go for name-calling and dark, sinister – if seemingly never acted upon – threats).

When the World History of Pointless Exercises is written (presumably by Giles Brandreth, with an hilarious forward by Richard Stilgoe), there might be room for a tiny sidebar sandwiched somewhere between a chocolate manufacturer changing the pronunciation of their name from “Nessuls” to “Ness-Lay” and the entire acting career of David Bowie. That's where you'll find My Heroic Foray Into The Alternative Universe Of The Ultra Right.

Ultra Right, I found for starters, isn't so much a political delineation as a philosophical stance: Most people are willing to accept that they've got it wrong occasionally. It's not very nice, but it goes with the whole “Being Human” territory. Not these people, though. On any subject, no matter how trivial. They aren't just “right” they're very, very, very right. All the time. About everything. Loudly. In their own imaginations.

Call me naïve, but I actually believed it may be possible to engage in some debate: A sensible exchange of views, coolly yet cogently expressed, based around a central theme. But waiting for a suitable juncture to drop my two penn'orth in was like hanging around outside a phone booth for a tramp to stop having a dump inside it: The waiting around was unpleasant enough, and I wouldn't have fancied going in afterwards, anyway.

The nature of the “debate” on the Forum often follows a pattern:

A) This is my point of view.

B) Frankly, I disagree with your point of view.

A) Sorry to disappoint you, but I still hold to my original point of view.

B) As do I.

C) Neither of you are True Nationalists, unlike myself, and I have it on good authority that you both enjoy the practise of ____________ , which you are wont to pursue in the company of _________, who likes to ___________ while you both insert ___________ into one another's ___________.

From this point onwards, things tend to go downhill rapidly.

The Lunar Society it ain't.

One of the few interesting things about the Board is the insight it gives into the various splits and factions among the Far-Right. There's the...

BNP Loyalists (“Griffinites”). These are the people, most of whom have joined the Boards only recently, who see their job as being to derail any debate that may be going on as soon as it becomes uncomfortable to their stance. Which is all the time. Their typical tactic, to this end, is to either use distraction, by sending things off on an entirely unrelated (but harmless) tangent (“Has anyone seen any good movies lately?”), or to just take the straightforward “I seen your Mum _________ with a __________!” approach.

There are the BNP Reformers (“Butlerites”). These are still Members, but detest Griffin and genuinely believe that they will somehow be able to wrest control of the dying enterprise from his tightly grasped claw.

Michael Barnbrook (“of the Yard” - I always expect him to end his posts with “Mind how you go” or “Keep 'em peeled”...) is a Reformer (and of the minority on the Board who actually seems to understand the concept of “debate”). He's also someone with form (to dig into my own vast experience of Met' argot: years of watching The Sweeney finally paying off there...) within his Party. Whatever the role he actually played in the Expenses Scandal (which will be debated for years to come), being on the side of the Taxpayer isn't something to be knocked, whatever your politics. He does, however, display a touchingly childlike innocence in his fond belief that, should he become Leader (he intends to stand), there might actually be something to inherit other than a pile of unpayable iou's and a brand name slightly less respected than Enron.

As a sidenote: The Griffinites routinely refer to Butler as “Brothel” Butler, or just “Buttler”. Waggish sophisticates that they are.

Then there are the Unaligned Nationalists. They aren't members of any faction, but they've done more for “Nationalism” over the years than anyone else and they're more patriotic than You. Fact. End Of. Got It?

Unaligned (now, at any rate) is one Jim Dowson, who recently posted (as “The Bruce”) a series of incoherent, grotesque rants and taunts. Aside from their entertainment value (“Griffo is the mighty king and I am his prince!”), they show his mental state to the World better than a team of burly men chasing him with a straitjacket and a butterfly net.

A recent showing on the Board is the BFP. Indeed, the Board is about the only place they exist (yesterday's “Launch” doesn't seem to have happened) and, as their “raft of policies” are distinguishable from the BNP's only with DNA analysis and a Hadron Collider, they've got their work cut out for themselves in making any kind of impact whatsoever.

And then there's (ex-BNP Webmaster) Simon Bennett. To describe him as “a bit of a strange one” is like saying Howard Hughes had the odd "funny little way" about him. In the days and weeks following his defection from the Party (a result of the Marmite fiasco), he was a Very Angry Man. But this was the kind of anger that soon turns into a Crusade For Justice. I have a friend who got a parking ticket in 2003 and has since compiled a dossier on that particular parking space that could rival the Collected Papers and Investigations of the Royal Society for exactitude, detail and pedantry. On the one hand, his Crusade against the Parking Enforcement Department of Nottingham City Council has paid off – no warden will ever mess with him again. On the other hand, he doesn't get invited to many parties anymore.

So with Bennett. At first, he seemed to be an interesting character; knowing where the bodies were buried, and always (it seemed) on the brink of marking them on a big map. But little more has come of it, and he's become yet another “Nationalist”: Albeit the self-proclaimed Guru of the Boards, who will shout down any perceived opponent and endlessly defend his own stance with an obsession (at times he seems to be on there 24/7) bordering on the unwell, and a (self-proclaimed) taste for violence and threats that doesn't so much “border” as “take up residence at the centre of” psychotic (a recent missive to someone who seems to have irked the touchy fellow ran: “Post one more time and my bat will connect with your f*****ng head you c***. I know your IP and your address you f*****g c**t”). As an asset to any emergent party (he's closely associated with the pre-doomed BFP) he can be ranked alongside Lee Barnes (whose rantings have already led to the resignation – after just over a week – of their much-trumpeted, straight-arrow Treasurer, John Savage).

If anything, the Boards demonstrate that the Far-Right are just as good (if not even better) at falling out and fragmenting as the Far-Left ever were. Once upon a time, there were three of us would (attempt to) flog the Socialist Worker (pronounced “Sooooo-Shlist Work-Ah!”) in Derby. If we'd only devoted a fraction of the energy to plotting against Thatcher that we spent planning one another's downfall, the Old Bag would've been finished by 1986.

The Boards will continue to be a useful resource for us. It's on there that the splits, the bickering, the petty squabbles and the (very) occasional useful lead are laid bare.

I think I'll rather just watch from the sidelines from now on, though...

Here Come The New Lot, Same As The Old Lot

The best thing about Anti Fascism is that it's never dull. Just as things look like they're getting boring and formulaic, something invariably turns up to jolly things along.

Attacking the BNP at the moment, for example, is getting a bit like going out to hunt kittens with a high-powered sniper rifle: The poor, bedraggled old fascists, soundly rejected by the very country they once dreamed of saving, led by the most inept bunch of criminals since the Ant Hill Mob and reduced to begging for pennies from their dwindling band of Supporters, are now the political equivalent of some drooling old wino going on at passers-by that “I'm a respected politician, you know...”

The EDL have settled into their predictable routine of delivering coachloads of hooligans to perfectly nice towns, like some horribly twisted courier service, who then charge around yelling and throwing things at anyone who isn't White before fishing out a suitably Asian spokesman to mumble something for the TV about how “we're not racist, honest.” Not only have they already had their cards marked by everyone from the Home Office to the Local Government Association, but they're about as well-loved and popular with the General Public as Heather Mills and George Osborne driving a Humvee at top speed through a busy children's playground. While playing the jingle from the “WE BUY ANY CAR DOT COM” advert at 200 decibels.

And now, along comes the British Freedom Party. The brainchild of a handful of disaffected ex-BNP stalwarts, it so far exists only as a registration form at the Electoral Commission and a shiny, bland logo above a (stock) photograph of a happy, smiling, multicultural crowd.

Giving an indication of the ineptitude and mayhem that may yet follow is the always-entertaining presence of self-styled guru of the Far-Right, dreadful novelist, worse poet, foul-mouthed blogger and “lawyer”, Lee John Barnes.

Starting a new party with Barnes as an integral part of it is a little like developing a new aircraft which incorporates Ryvita as a structural component. It probably isn't going to get very far.

Headed up by ex-BNP Organiser Peter Mullins and ex-BNP employee Michaela MacKenzie, the new outfit claims to be a “Civic Nationalist” party, who make much play of having a real accountant – John Savage (Please note: That's not the John Savage who had his legs cut off in The Deer Hunter) as their Treasurer, and a promise of ensuring greater financial probity that their last party. Although, next to the likes of Dowson and Griffin, a Pyramid Selling scheme run by Terry-Thomas would look a safe bet.

Predictably, the chatter has already begun on the Far-Right talkboards and chatrooms, with Griffin's trained apes attacking from one side (because it'll mean even fewer donors – sorry - “Supporters”), Butler's Reform Faction taking a different tack (claiming that people should still stick with the BNP because they'll run it one day, they really will) and even their own Supporters banging on about how they should never, under any circumstances, refer to the party by its acronym, because “BFP” is a bit too similar to “BNP”. This last one's a bit of a puzzler.

One might even suggest that someone could've thought that one through a bit more before it was too late.

Or maybe those in charge only noticed it when they proudly logged onto the Electoral Commission website and simultaneously clasped their hands to their foreheads and shouted “Doh!” as they saw it for the first time in black and white.

They are, of course, right; it is a bit similar. In fact, having checked this out with the Campaign for the Deacronymisation of Britain (the CDB), I can confirm that, even now, Anti-Fascists everywhere are preparing to chant “BFP! BNP! They Are All The Same To ME!” whenever they show their (strangely familiar) faces in public.

If they ever get that far.

They've already been nicknamed “Fluffy Fascists”. To judge from what has already appeared by way of “policy discussion” (courtesy of Barnes – and you won't be entirely surprised to learn that the first thing on their agenda is “Immigration”), they're just the same old Fascists the BNP ever were.

With a fluffy logo.

Bradford and ‘Anti-Asianism’

Theresa May’s decision to ban any marches in Bradford next weekend will not stop the English Defence League turning up to cause bother. They have been bigging this one up so much that they cannot afford a damp squib and defying the cops and the ban is all part of the fun. Of course, the ban does not cover the static demo which the EDL have organised but it is highly likely the cops will use the same tactics they used before the Scottish demo by turning back any vanloads of EDL before they get to the city. West Yorkshire plod are well versed in such tactics which they fine-tuned during the pit strike of 84/85 to impede flying pickets. Counter-demonstrators could be met with similar methods however a large section of the local community will oppose the EDL. The attitudes of local constabularies have been monitored on the EDL web forum and they know that these vary from county to county. The actions of West York’s police will illustrate their attitude on Saturday but they know that relations with the local community are fragile and they are seen negatively by many locals after the riots in 2001 (something which the darker forces behind the EDL are hoping to recreate).

The ban also covers any anti-fascist march but there will no doubt be a static counter-demo with members of UAF, Antifa and local Muslim youth – who have proved themselves to be very militant in the past. The Hope Not Hate campaign have been calling for people not to demonstrate whilst UAF and more militant antifascists have said the opposite. Whatever your opinion there will be a lot of tension in town that night with the EDL attempting to inflame the local Muslim community and the cops and local youth responding with physical force, although obviously not for the same reasons.

Vanity Operation

The English Defence League are not defensive but provocative. Why else go to Birmingham, Bolton or Bradford except to wind up the large Asian communities? It is crucial to understand that the EDL are ‘taking liberties’ which is very much part of the football hooligan mentality which they share. Taking liberties means occupying the opposition’s pub, smashing it up, taking over part of the home fans’ end or some other gesture. The idea of going into areas with large Asian communities and provoking them is part of this mentality, i.e., getting away with it. Consuming large amounts of lager from the local Wetherspoon’s (who seem perfectly happy to be the unofficial HQ of the EDL), shouting a lot and goading each other on to break the police lines is the point. And the more publicity the better. The EDL is a vanity operation and the thugs love to get their (masked) faces on the TV or photos in the paper so they can glue them into their little scrapbooks. Their use of ‘black and white unite’, Israeli flags and ‘peaceful protest’ is heavily ironic but also another example of ‘taking liberties.’

Fascists?

The EDL still claim to have nothing to do with the BNP despite their leaders being exposed as former members. Many dislike being called ‘Nazis’ and indeed many are not, the EDL has a broad political spectrum from conservative through to neo-Nazis. There are posters on the neo-Nazi forums who support the EDL for taking to the streets. Batty Lee Barnes, humiliatingly sacked from the BNP last week, has also been telling the EDL how best to organise on his blog. But he is mad so they may not take much notice. Other Nazis are less enthusiastic and see the EDL as a Zionist front. But they say that about everything from the BBC to Marxism. The fact that they utilise the same tactics as Moseley’s British Union of Fascists seems to have escaped the EDL: lots of bullyboys marching into a targeted area to intimidate residents, lots of inflammatory rhetoric and lots of public disorder and consequent publicity. The EDL have also been turning up at anti-EDL meetings attempting to disrupt them much like the BUF did with communist and anti-fascist meetings. So the EDL are not fascist by name – only in everything they say and do. Most EDL members would say they weren’t fascists because they do not understand the ideology and they are out simply for a beer, a scrap and taking the piss seeing as they can’t do it at football anymore.

Despite the EDL’s ‘multiracialism’ and Jewish division the vast majority on the demos are aggressive white males. The EDL have managed to get about 2,000 out but recent demos have been less successful hence the trumpeting of Bradford as the ‘big one’ to make sure we all know they are still there. Despite their paper membership on Facebook the only ones who count are the ones who turn up on the day. The EDL have been on about their Jewish division, gay division and now Anarchist division which is so contradictory it has to be a wind-up. They only count on the cobbles. Any idiot can sign up to Facebook.

Anti-Asianism

The EDL have been reckless on their demos and many of them have been arrested and charged, filmed, photographed or had their details taken by plod. The EDL are helping the state monitor and contain far-right extremists whilst echoing the anti-Islamic sentiment that is required for the ongoing tragedies of Iraq and Afghanistan (and Iran in the future!). The EDL’s politics are nonsensical to say the least: they claim they are against extremists in the various communities but do not name any; they claim they are against Sharia law which does not affect them in any way; and they claim they are protesting against militant Islam which is a media-created moral panic with which they are happy to collude.

The EDL claim they are not racist and point to their 1 Sikh member and their mixed race youth leader but these characters remain unconvincing and appear confused. The EDL represent a more modified form of popular racism – Anti-Asianism. In hooligan history black firms like the Man City Kool Kats or the mixed Birmingham Zulus have shown they are game and therefore ‘alright.’ The influence of black players and black popular music has also ratified this status. However, Asian players and Asian music have made little impact on the lives of the EDL and they tend to see everyone with a brown skin as a ‘paki’ regardless of where they are from. They view the Asian communities with suspicion and use the guise of ‘militant Islam’ as a cover for their Anti-Asianism in the same way other right-wingers use anti-Israeli sentiment as covert anti-Semitism.

Conclusion

So what will happen this weekend? There will be a large counter-demo of local people and activists; plod will probably prevent a lot of EDL coming in, as they have done in the past; the static protest will go ahead but with limited numbers; and if the EDL are feeling particularly perky they will no doubt attempt to break the police lines like they did in Stoke and Dudley to get at the counter-demo and/or the Asian community. The result? Lots of publicity, the EDL egos revived after recent disappointments and ‘legal trouble’, the cops being very heavy handed with everyone and a large bill for the local community to pay for. Well done!

‘Malatesta’

BNP leadership challenge fails

Eddy Butler has failed to obtain enough nominations to challenge Nick Griffin for the leadership of the British National Party this year. After several weeks of campaigning he says he collected 500 signatures from activists and officers around the country on his own forms, which the party does not recognise. He would have needed the support of 840 party members of at least two years’ standing.

Butler says he will not take legal action against the BNP over the unconstitutional rules that Griffin imposed for the challenge because “it would be very costly for us and for the party”. Butler is no doubt influenced by the fact that the BNP is insolvent and already has many unpaid legal bills, so even if he won he would be unable to recover his costs.

Urging his supporters to stay in the BNP, Butler writes: “Rather than get embroiled in legal action we will continue our battle to save our party from destruction at Griffin’s hands through other means”. He also hopes that his supporters will stay in their party positions if they can square it with their conscience.

Butler says that the requirement to obtain the support of 20% of long-standing members was “an impossibly high total”, which is why Griffin imposed it. He also claims that many members did not receive their nomination forms because the BNP’s membership database is “incompetently run” and that Griffin’s action in persuading two “stooges” to stand for the leadership as well complicated matters.

Griffin also used “political intimidation” by suspending many supporters of Butler. For that reason he has not handed in his forms as he does “not wish to compromise anyone”.

On the official forms, which members had to complete and send individually to the party’s official scrutineer, Andrew Brons MEP, Butler only obtained 214 signatures. The stooge candidates, Richard Barnbrook and Derek Adams, got 23 and four signatures respectively, while 971 people ticked the box indicating that they were satisfied with Griffin’s leadership.

The failure is testament to the fact that most BNP members do not go to party meetings or follow the various blogs that have exposed the gross mismanagement in the party and the way in which Griffin and his consiglieri, Jim Dowson, are using it as a cash generating machine for themselves. Griffin’s main interest now is in securing re-election to the European Parliament in 2014 so that he qualifies for a pension when he eventually leaves office.

Whether Griffin will allow any Butler supporters to remain in official party positions is unclear at this stage; likewise whether Butler’s supporters will want to stay in a party in which Griffin and Dowson are now even stronger than before.

Many activists, though not the bulk of the ordinary members, are now well aware that Dowson owns the BNP, that the party is insolvent and has been managed incompetently, and that Griffin never hesitates to lie blatantly to preserve his position. Many have already said that if Butler’s challenge fails they will leave, though most are undecided whether to join one of the tiny opponents of the BNP on the far right or to form a new party. Neither option is attractive for them.

Lee Barnes, the BNP’s former legal officer who resigned yesterday, can be expected to reveal more about what has been going on in the BNP, now that he has seen the truth about Dowson, whom he has described as the “Gollum” of the BNP and Griffin’s “cut price Rasputin”.

Most recently Barnes has described Arthur Kemp’s March of the Titans, a huge tome much praised by Griffin’s BNP, as “a regurgitated sub-SS handbook” and its author as a “Rhodesian Nazi terrorist” who “hates everyone and everything and believes everyone on the planet is below him”. According to Barnes, Kemp was known in the party as Napoleon. We look forward to further insights such as these.

Searchlight / HOPE not Hate by Sonia Gable

A Few Lines on the Tragic Last Days of the British National Party

William Topaz McGonagall was a singularly poor 19th Century poet.

I like to think that contemporary aficionados of grimly amateurish and wrong-headed verse have found our champion in Lee Barnes LLB (Hons).

A Few Lines on the Tragic Last Days of the British National Party

by Lee Topaz McBarnsigall

T'was in the benighted year of 2010,
that the BNP did fall apart (again),
and the pair of villains who oversaw its demise,
were Dowson (James) and Nick with one-eye.

For they did steadily drain the party of money,
while claiming that all was milk and was honey,
and they took on court cases right, centre and left,
'til funds were depleted and members bereft.

And then there arose a man name of Butler,
to challenge the power of this pair of hustlers,
but all who then backed him were purged from the party,
'til few members left. Things were not hale and hearty.

And in the last days, as bankruptcy loomed,
No-one could deny that the Party was doomed.
So Nick sent final emails of great passion and weight
to his last few members. They all ended “Donate”.

Griffin accused of fraud by former BNP legal officer

The British National Party’s legal officer Lee Barnes (left)has resigned, citing a list of complaints including an allegation of potential fraud against the party leader Nick Griffin and his right-hand man, the convicted criminal Jim Dowson.

His resignation comes on the last day for receipt of nominations for Eddy Butler’s leadership challenge against Griffin and follows suspensions of several of Butler’s supporters. Butler needs the signatures of 840 people with at least 24 calendar months’ membership of the fascist party for an election for chairman to go ahead, but the support of suspended members will not count.

Barnes, who has a degree in law but is not a practising solicitor or barrister, has joined a growing list of BNP members who oppose the takeover of the party by Dowson, who is not even a member. “Jim Dowson now controls the BNP membership database, the BNP donor database, the BNP treasury department, the BNP subscriptions operation, the BNP media & communications operation and the BNP website,” writes Barnes in his long letter of resignation, which is free of his usual inane and extremist ranting. “This is completely unacceptable and legally questionable.”

Pointing out that Griffin does not have the power to move party assets into the hands of a non-member, he declares: “If party assets have been moved out of the party and into companies owned by Jim Dowson by Nick Griffin then this is potentially defined as ‘Fraud by abuse of position’ and is defined by Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006. This is such a case where a person occupies a position where they are expected to safeguard the financial interests of another person such as BNP members, and abuses that position; this includes cases where the abuse consisted of an omission rather than an overt act.

“In such cases of potential fraud, it requires that for an offence to have occurred, the person must have acted dishonestly, and that they had to have acted with the intent of making a gain for themselves or anyone else, or inflicting a loss (or a risk of loss) on another. The fact that such issues may have potentially arisen means the party is at serious risk of investigation and prosecution,” says Barnes.

Barnes is also incensed at the party’s failure to investigate allegations by Shelley Rose, a young activist, that Dowson sexually assaulted her when they were away on party business and Dowson allegedly failed to book a separate hotel room for her. Barnes says he called on Griffin to initiate a “full and transparent investigation”, but Griffin ignored him.

“The BNP cannot ever be seen as a party that protects perverts or a party that refuses to address allegations of such a serious nature from a female member,” asserts Barnes.

“If Jim Dowson was found guilty of bringing the party into disrepute, Gross Misconduct and sexual assault,” continues Barnes, “then he should have been dismissed and sacked from all party offices he holds.

“Instead what has happened is that Shelley Rose has been suspended, no investigation has been initiated and no sanction applied against Jim Dowson.”

Barnes accuses Griffin and Dowson of repeatedly breaking “the most obvious of laws”, resulting in “hundreds of thousands of pounds … squandered on avoidable court cases”. As well as the matters often mentioned by Butler – the use of the Marmite image, the Equalities Commission action and the unlawful dismissal from employment of Michaela Mackenzie – he reveals that the unlawful use of stock images from a photoshop company during the European election also resulted in legal action against the party.

Showing his displeasure at being sidelined by Griffin, he complains that: “Legal issues that were once dealt with internally within the party have been ‘outsourced’ from the party to individuals paid by Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin, resulting in the parties internal legal affairs no longer being scrutinised or run by the BNP Legal Unit,” which he headed.

Like others, Barnes has been threatened with violence by Dowson, whom he accuses of being “a convicted criminal, with links to Loyalist terrorism and terrorists with a string of failed companies to his name who bought his ‘reverend’ title off of the internet”. When Barnes complained to Griffin about the suspension of Peter Mullins, the party’s former South West regional organiser, he “was threatened by Jim Dowson with violence for putting the parties legal interests first as he was the person pushing Nick Griffin to expel Peter Mullins and others. …

“It appears that when Jim Dowson doesn’t get what he wants he likes to threaten people with his connections to loyalist killers and terrorists in Northern Ireland in order to intimidate people into doing his bidding.”

Barnes points out that Griffin acted unlawfully in his move last Friday to suspend a long list of party members who support Butler. “Unfortunately, as the Peter Mullins case revealed, Nick Griffin thinks the law as regards the unlawful expulsion of members does not apply to him, even though he was shown by the courts during the John Tyndall case [when Griffin tried to expel his predecessor as party leader] that the law does apply to the BNP.

“The decision yesterday to unlawfully suspend dozens of activists simply for them standing against Nick Griffin in the leadership contest is the action of utterly irresponsible incompetents.”

As the BNP constitution was rewritten specifically to ensure that no one can ever remove Griffin as party leader, explains Barnes, Griffin is “tactically inept” in suspending Butler’s supporters as they “can now launch new legal actions against the party.

“The law is clear. BNP members have a constitutionally protected right to stand for party leadership. To suspend them for doing so is unlawful. The way they have been suspended is also unlawful.

“I have no doubt that they will now unite to form a class action against the party thereby incurring more legal costs and damages against an already virtually bankrupt party whose debts far outweigh its income,” declares Barnes.

Explaining his resignation, Barnes writes: “I cannot remain as the Legal Officer of a party that acts unlawfully towards its own members, that rewards years of party loyalty with unlawful suspensions and expulsions, that covers up serious allegations of sexual abuse by senior officers, that expels long standing members who ask for financial transparency within the party and that refuses to act to protect its own officers when they are threatened with violence by other senior officers.

“Such a political party cannot be trusted with political power in our society.

“If I stay on within such a party then it will appear as though I am supporting and condoning such actions,” concludes Barnes, no doubt mindful of the legal consequences of remaining the party’s legal officer.

Butler’s blog lists 31 people who have been suspended or expelled, or have resigned in anticipation of being suspended. The comments to his post add several other names and many people write they will leave the party or do nothing for it while Griffin remains in charge.

Butler also reveals that “due to the collapse of the party’s finances, approaching £100,000 worth of General Election expenses have still not been paid” in contravention of electoral law, which sets a stringent time limit on the payment of election expenses.

Furthermore, says Butler, the party’s candidates and agents were “lied to by the leadership” and wrongfully stated on their own election returns that all expenses have been paid, leaving them liable to a fine or imprisonment.

The expenses are apparently owed to printers and courier firms that transported the party’s election leaflets. Although, writes Butler, “our branches, groups and regions paid had the necessary funds in their accounts to meet these expenses … Head Office has stolen this money to pay for the bloated central bureaucracy – particularly to pay for the over staffed and highly costly Belfast operation [Dowson’s call centre] and also to pay for the court cases which we are embroiled in due to Nick Griffin’s incompetence and irresponsibility.”

According to Barnes, donations have dried up and the party is “technically insolvent”. However Griffin and Dowson will not suffer. “If the party is made bankrupt then the BNP membership as a whole will be directly financially liable for its outstanding debts as an unincorporated association and not Nick Griffin or Jim Dowson.

“This is because Nick Griffin has no assets and Jim Dowsons financial assets are probably hidden away in some Spanish or Swiss bank account outside the UK.”

Whether or not Butler gets enough nominations to continue with his leadership challenge, it seems that the BNP is unlikely to recover from the effects of the serious financial mismanagement of the party and the revelations that have emerged over the past few weeks.

Sonia Gable at HOPE not hate

Lee Barnes jumps ship

BNP legal officer Lee Barnes has deserted Nick Griffin's rapidly sinking ship, posting his resignation letter online this morning. The letter is reproduced below, without amendment. Back later with something more substantial.

* * *

My Resignation Letter From the BNP

Formal Resignation Letter.
10th August 2010.


Just over a month ago I won a court case for the BNP against Greenwich Council that not only changed the entire basis of electoral law in England, it also saved the party around ten to fifteen thousand pounds in legal costs and damages.

The legal arguments I drafted up and sent to the court ensured that the BNP won the court case.

For those idiots who will seek to attack me on the grounds of me being a red / traitor / unqualified crank (tick the usual pejorative as applicable) I mention this legal case I won for the party so as to ensure that decent people, and not the idiot sock puppets we see on the VNN Forum and Green Arrow site who are the vermin in the gutter of British Nationalism, understand that until yesterday when news of the mass suspension of party activists and organisers was announced I was still a loyal officer and supporter of the party.

I have pleaded with people to put the interests of the party first and before their own personal animosities and feuds.

As this has been ignored I have no choice but to take this action.

Over the last few years since the arrival of Jim Dowson into the party, Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson have repeatedly chosen to break the most obvious of laws including such debacles as ;

1) The Marmite Case

2) The unlawful use of stock images from a photoshop company during the European Elections

3) The EHRC court cases

4) The unlawful sacking of Michaele Mackenzie

5) The illegal suspension of Peter Mullins and many others

All of these were done under the orders of both Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson.

Regardless of how much income the party has had over the last few years, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been squandered on avoidable court cases.

Whilst party income has undoubtedly rose since Jim Dowson became involved with the BNP, so has the vast amount of money paid out by the BNP in legal costs incurred by the BNP.

Legal issues that were once dealt with internally within the party have been ’outsourced’ from the party to individuals paid by Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin, resulting in the parties internal legal affairs no longer being scrutinised or run by the BNP Legal Unit.

This ‘outsourcing’ of legal issues and cases, such as the drafting up of the new BNP constitution and dealing with the Marmite Case, have resulted in the party wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds on fighting legal cases that could have been avoided, had the party debated and addressed those legal issues internally.

What was particularly galling for me was the Michaela Mackenzie case.

I informed Nick Griffin on the day he sacked her that what he was doing was unlawful.

Not only did he ignore my advice, he later went to an Employment Tribunal and called me a ‘crank’ as a way to ‘explain’ why my advice to him was ignored.

The actions of Nick Griffin in this case alone has cost the party over twenty five thousand pounds, and as of Friday last week the money owed to Michaele Mackenzie has still not been paid.

This means the party will now be dragged back into court and probably bankrupted as a result.

As far as I am aware the party is now technically insolvent.

Outstanding court costs, wages bills, election expenses and also forthcoming legal cases against the party mean the BNP is now technically bankrupt.

As far as I am aware donations to the party have flowed to a trickle as well as party renewals and new inquiries.

This means the party should be avoiding creating new legal cases and liabilities, not rushing into them as though the party is awash with money to fight such legal cases.

Bankruptcy of the party will have very serious implications for the BNP membership.

If the party is made bankrupt then the BNP membership as a whole will be directly financially liable for its outstanding debts as an unincorporated association and not Nick Griffin or Jim Dowson.

This is because Nick Griffin has no assets and Jim Dowsons financial assets are probably hidden away in some Spanish or Swiss bank account outside the UK.

In relation to the illegal suspension of Peter Mullins and others, I spent months trying to get Nick to see sense on this issue.

It was only after months of arguments that Nick Griffin was forced to relent, drop their suspensions and re-admit them.

During this time I was threatened by Jim Dowson with violence for putting the parties legal interests first as he was the person pushing Nick Griffin to expel Peter Mullins and others.

I am not the only BNP member or BNP officer to have been threatened with violence by Jim Dowson.

It appears that when Jim Dowson doesn’t get what he wants he likes to threaten people with his connections to loyalist killers and terrorists in Northern Ireland in order to intimidate people into doing his bidding.

My complaints to Nick Griffin about Jim Dowsons threats of violence directed at me and other party members have been ignored.

All I can say is that Peter Mullins is a decent, honourable man whilst Jim Dowson is a convicted criminal, with links to Loyalist terrorism and terrorists with a string of failed companies to his name who bought his ’reverend’ title off of the internet.

These facts are easily ascertained off the internet, as the media have undertaken investigations into Jim Dowson and published this information widely.

Unfortunately, as the Peter Mullins case revealed, Nick Griffin thinks the law as regards the unlawful expulsion of members does not apply to him, even though he was shown by the courts during the John Tyndall case that the law does apply to the BNP.

The decision yesterday to unlawfully suspend dozens of activists simply for them standing against Nick Griffin in the leadership contest is the action of utterly irresponsible incompetents.

Nick Griffin knew before the leadership challenge even began that he could not be removed as leader of the party.

The BNP constitution was re-written specifically to ensure that no-one can ever remove Nick Griffin from his role as chairman.

Therefore to suspend the people who supported the leadership challenge is both unlawful and tactically inept.

The people who supported Eddy Butler would have been facing the choice of either knuckling down or resigning from the party.

Instead they have been unlawfully suspended and therefore can now launch new legal actions against the party.

The law is clear.

BNP members have a constitutionally protected right to stand for party leadership.

To suspend them for doing so is unlawful.

The way they have been suspended is also unlawful.

I have no doubt that they will now unite to form a class action against the party thereby incurring more legal costs and damages against an already virtually bankrupt party whose debts far outweigh its income.

The tragedy is that Andrew Brons has been dragged into this idiotic affair, for he will have no choice but to do as Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson say and declare that the leadership challengers did not get enough nominations and so cannot stand against Nick Griffin for a leadership election.

But what has most sickened me over recent weeks is the way that the serious allegations of sexual assault from the BNP member Shelley Rose have been ignored by Nick Griffin.

I have never met Shelley Rose, nor have I ever spoken to her.

I do not know the truth or otherwise of the allegations she has made.

As soon as I saw the Youtube video of her allegations I sent an e mail to Nick Griffin, and spoke to him on the phone, asking that in order to ensure the party and its public image is protected that both Shelley Rose and Jim Dowson be suspended as members and as party officers and that a full and transparent investigation is initiated.

The BNP cannot ever be seen as a party that protects perverts or a party that refuses to address allegations of such a serious nature from a female member.

Any allegations of sexual assault by any female BNP member against any male BNP member must be treated with the utmost seriousness and an full investigation begun.

Failure to do that allows the media to attack and undermine the party and its public image.

Jim Dowson is not a member of the BNP, so therefore in order to demonstrate that the party was taking these allegations seriously then he should have been immediately suspended as a party officer and from all party offices until the investigation and disciplinary procedures into the allegations were finished.

If Shelley Rose was found to have lied then she should have been expelled.

If Jim Dowson was found guilty of bringing the party into disrepute, Gross Misconduct and sexual assault then he should have been dismissed and sacked from all party offices he holds.

Instead what has happened is that Shelley Rose has been suspended, no investigation has been initiated and no sanction applied against Jim Dowson.

Instead of having a transparent investigation into the allegations, the internet attack dogs on sites like the Green Arrow website and the VNN Forum have been set upon Shelley Rose and abused her name and reputation.

They have slandered, threatened and vilified her and by so doing have disgraced not just the BNP but British Nationalism as a political movement.

This is intolerable.

The BNP cannot be seen as a political party that punishes the victim of a sexual assault whilst protecting the perpetrator of the crime.

All such allegations have to be treated with the utmost seriousness.

All such allegations must be investigated.

The issue is simple enough to understand.

Any married BNP party officer in a senior position who spends the night in a hotel room with a BNP female member other than his wife must be sacked.

This must be done for one simple reason.

A party officer lured into a secret affair opens himself up to being blackmailed or manipulated.

Such a scenario creates a fundamental conflict of interest between their personal life, their professional duties and their political responsibilities that is simply unacceptable.

A party officer who is in charge of the BNP finances via its income, who controls the BNP membership lists and who has such influence over the chairman of the party must be entirely above reproach at all times.

If it had been someone working for MI5 who had lured Jim Dowson into a sexual assignation in a London hotel room and then filmed him with hidden cameras and used that film to blackmail him, then MI5 would now be in control of the BNP’s finances and income and have access to all our membership data bases and be able to virtually control the party.

And we would never know about it.

Any married man foolish enough to have been discovered having stayed the night in a hotel room with a young woman other than his wife, and especially a ’reverend’, is an individual who may also have done so in the past and therefore is not suitable to be in that position.

In the world of business, and in the education system and police, any senior manager who has an affair with a junior member of his staff that threatens the good name of the organisation is guilty of Gross Misconduct and dismissed.

Whilst it may be acceptable for the Tories, Lib Dems and New Labour to act in such a manner it is not acceptable for senior officers of the BNP to do so, especially senior officers in charge of BNP finances and income and the membership data base.

But it appears that Jim Dowson is an ’untouchable’ in the party and that whilst Nick Griffin is prepared to sacrifice dozens of loyal members with decades of party loyalty, he will not deal with Jim Dowson.

It therefore appears that Nick Griffin no longer wishes to receive any counsel from anyone who wishes to put the legal interests of the BNP, its members, our public image and our future electoral expansion before the interests of Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson.

I cannot remain as the Legal Officer of a party that acts unlawfully towards its own members, that rewards years of party loyalty with unlawful suspensions and expulsions, that covers up serious allegations of sexual abuse by senior officers, that expels long standing members who ask for financial transparency within the party and that refuses to act to protect its own officers when they are threatened with violence by other senior officers.

Such a political party cannot be trusted with political power in our society.

If I stay on within such a party then it will appear as though I am supporting and condoning such actions.

Unless the BNP begins ;

1) An immediate fully transparent investigation into the ongoing allegations of financial mismanagement within the party which allows BNP members and officers to ascertain exactly what the party finances are, where party assets have gone and what the background behind the legal costs of recent legal cases have been. This is required in order to ensure that internal party mechanisms are in place to protect the party from such legal liabilities and allegations of financial impropriety in the future.

2) An immediate and fully transparent investigation into the threats of violence made against any party members and officers by Jim Dowson.

3) An immediate and fully transparent investigation into the allegations made by the BNP member Shelly Rose against Jim Dowson.

4) An immediate and fully transparent investigation into who authorised the unlawful suspensions of BNP party members Peter Mullins and others and also whether the present suspensions of members and organisers suspended for being involved in the leadership challenge are also legal. As part of the inquiry it must establish whether an independent body within the party should be established that vets and checks any orders for the suspension of members and officers of the party issued by the chairman or other officers are legal before the suspensions or expulsions are authorised and issued. This is required to protect the party from legal potential legal liabilities.

5) The establishment of an internal ‘BNP Reconciliation Committee’ which allows all BNP members and officers to air their grievances and discuss issues about issues of concern to officers and the membership without fear of suspension and expulsion so as to allow us to move forward as a united party.

6) An immediate party inquiry into how the party can establish an internal mechanism for protecting the employment rights of party officers from arbitrary dismissal so as to ensure no more legal cases and legal costs are imposed against the party.

7) An immediate party inquiry into establishing an internal party mechanism that requires the chairman of the party to discuss and debate with senior officials of the party any financial or business actions that may impinge or impact upon the party directly or accrue legal or financial liabilities for the party before those decisions are taken.

8) Jim Dowson now controls the BNP membership database, the BNP donor database, the BNP treasury department, the BNP subscriptions operation, the BNP media & communications operation and the BNP website. This is completely unacceptable and legally questionable. There is no power in the constitution for the chairman to devolve such internal party offices or party operations to an individual who is not a party member. The BNP constitution does not give the chairman the power to allow a non-member of the party to hold, have access too or have power directly over BNP party finances or confidential information relating to party members. Nor does the chairman have any power to move party assets owned by the party outside the party and especially into the hands of an individual who is not a member of the party. Therefore all financial assets owned by the party and under the control of Jim Dowson must be declared and returned to the party. No officer of the party, either member of non-member, should be ever again be allowed to have such internal control and influence over such a vast amount of essential internal BNP operations now or in the future. Such over centralisation of power around Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson means the party is now vulnerable.

If party assets have been moved out of the party and into companies owned by Jim Dowson by Nick Griffin then this is potentially defined as "Fraud by abuse of position" and is defined by Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006. This is such a case where a person occupies a position where they are expected to safeguard the financial interests of another person such as BNP members, and abuses that position; this includes cases where the abuse consisted of an omission rather than an overt act.

In such cases of potential fraud, it requires that for an offence to have occurred, the person must have acted dishonestly, and that they had to have acted with the intent of making a gain for themselves or anyone else, or inflicting a loss (or a risk of loss) on another. The fact that such issues may have potentially arisen means the party is at serious risk of investigation and prosecution.

I do not believe the list of assurances that I believe the party requires in order to allow it to move forward as a united organisation will be given by Nick Griffin.

In all good conscience I can therefore no longer remain as an officer of the party.

If I stay on as an officer of the party then I will be seen as condoning the above issues and problems.

I am not prepared to do that.

I hereby quit my role as BNP Legal Adviser with immediate effect.

L. J. Barnes LLB (Hons)

British National Party goes upmarket to target white middle class

Legal defeat prompts far-right party to 'refocus its propaganda on a new front'

The British National Party is attempting to cloak its image as a party of violent, racist thugs by appealing to middle-class voters at the general election.

Nick Griffin, the BNP's leader, has signalled a radical change in strategy for the forthcoming campaign after his widely derided performance last October on BBC1's Question Time, which draws a large middle-class audience. It will attempt to capitalise on disillusionment with both Labour and the Conservatives over the expenses and lobbying scandals.

The BNP's legal officer, Lee Barnes, in an article sent to activists, claims the BNP has "won over" the white working class and that it is now time to use "propaganda" to reach out to a wider circle of voters. Yet the strategy remains targeted at white voters, with Mr Barnes telling activists they must appeal to the "white liberal middle class" and the "white Tory middle class".

The move is a sign that the court defeat inflicted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission over the BNP's ban on non-white members has forced the party to modify its election campaign strategy away from race to broader issues of class. Yet critics described the plan as a cosmetic move to cover up its racist beliefs and showed that the BNP had gone as far as it could in picking up working-class votes.

Last week Robert Grierson, a barrister, was selected to stand as a candidate for the BNP in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, where the Conservatives have a majority of more than 12,000. After his selection Mr Grierson was forced to resign from St Philips Chambers in Birmingham where he has worked as a tax barrister for 10 years. "I felt I had to stand up and take the flak I will no doubt get. This shows that the BNP is not a party of skinheads and knuckle-draggers," he said. But Sutton Coldfield's MP, the Tory frontbencher Andrew Mitchell, described his BNP opponent as "an extremist in a suit".

The BNP's top target seats remain the working-class constituencies of Stoke Central and Barking, and the strategy is unlikely to have a significant effect. Last year, however, a BNP candidate won a shock victory in a council seat in Sevenoaks, Kent, the heart of Middle England.

In his article, Mr Barnes dismissed the "smug, selfish, apathetic, politically correct parents" of middle-class voters, but said it was time to appeal to the next generation who are under 45. He claimed this group were suffering "racial discrimination" when applying for university places. He wrote: "As a result of the Equality Commission case we must now refocus our propaganda on a new front – that of the Nationalist Classless Society and the creation of a meritocracy as opposed to the racist multi-cultural system. Even though we have failed to market ourselves properly to the White Working Class we have won them over.

"But we must now also reach out [to] the children of the White Liberal Middle Class and White Tory Middle Class and explain to them how mass immigration, New Labour and Cameron's Tories and multiculturalism have betrayed them."

The BNP is fielding 300 candidates at the general election, expected on 6 May, and more than 1,000 in the local elections on the same day.

A spokesman for Searchlight, the anti-fascist organisation, said: "This is an indication of Nick Griffin's desperation as he is unable to break through to the extent he had hoped following the European elections and he is casting around for a new strategy. This will inevitably increase divisions within the BNP which have already been created by his disastrous Question Time performance and his defeat at the hands of the Equality and Human Rights Commission."

IoS

BNP's constitutional change means nothing

Swiftly following on from the announcement that the BNP is changing its constitution to 'allow' non-whites to join the ranks of anti-semites, Islamophobics, nazis and racists in the party, a black face appeared in among the site members, claiming to be one Daniel Muranbuti.

Daniel included a brief note about himself:

'I am a young and laid-back kinda guy, I like reggae and poetry, and I fully support your aim to keep Britain British, now I know you ain’t racist and against my People. We’re all on the same side, and I just know it won’t be long before we can celebrate together like the Americans do with their black president.'

Fair enough. If Daniel (pictured, left) is stupid enough to join a notoriously racist party that's packed with nazis and has a leadership that almost entirely consists of ex-National Front activists, that's his problem. Or rather, it isn't. Because there's no such person as Daniel Muranbuti.

The picture that the mythical Daniel supplied is actually that of Oscar Grant, a young father who was killed by a police officer on a crowded BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train returning from San Francisco after a New Year's Eve party.

Oscar died on January 1st 2009. He was shot in front of numerous witnesses, many of whom filmed the event on digital cameras and mobile phone cameras, and who had started recording because they believed BART officers were acting too aggressively.

One wonders at the mentality of someone who chooses a victim of murder as their avatar - until we remember that Oscar Grant was black and the BNP seems to applaud the violent deaths of or attacks on non-whites.

Regular readers may recall Lee Barnes, the BNP's unqualified and certifiably insane 'legal officer' posting a video of Rodney King on his blog, which he described as 'brilliant'. In the post from June 2009, he added, 'the beating of Rodney King still makes me laugh'.

King was attacked by police officers back in March 1991 and severely beaten. In fact he was rather more than severely beaten. A video of the event shows that he was tasered twice, received six kicks and the horrific total of fifty-six baton blows. He suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle and numerous bruises and lacerations. King later stated that he had also suffered '11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken [bones and teeth], kidney damage [and] emotional and physical trauma'.

If this kind of nightmarish attack on an unarmed man can give Lee Barnes a good laugh, should we be surprised that a supporter chooses another victim of a similar and murderous attack to use as an avatar? No, of course not, because - changes to the constitution notwithstanding - the BNP always has been, is now and always will be a racist organisation that enjoys seeing the people it most despises suffer.

The BNP's constitutional change is as cosmetic and worthless as its change from boots to suits - a fact that is amply illustrated by the page of another BNP site member (below).