One Flew Over The Pig Farm: the BNP and us in 2008 - July

Even the meanest of the BNP's councillors conform to the party's petty racisms, as was shown in early July when Simon Deacon, a Markyate Parish Councillor and former leading National Front activist, voted against the council's Equal Opportunities Policy, describing it as a waste of time. No great surprise there.

Another non-surprise, was the complete collapse of Colin Auty's leadership challenge: Auty didn't even manage to get the required number of nominating signatures for the challenge to go ahead.

Griffin, clearly nervous of Auty's popularity (not something that the pig farmer has ever experienced), enlisted the help of the big battalions in the dubious forms of fruitcake Lee Barnes and 'election guru' Eddie Butler, both of whom wrote possibly illegal letters to the entire membership warning it to avoid Auty like the plague, Butler referring to Auty as a 'joke candidate' while Barnes stated that anyone who supported the challenge would be 'tried for conspiracy and treason'. Such power.

Meanwhile, Dicky Barnbrook, who takes his politics very seriously indeed, learns to ride a bike with fruit on it...

Dukinfield Labour councillor John Taylor apparently earned the ire of the BNP's Andrew Gatward, the party's West Lindsey organiser, and promptly found himself on Redwatch complete with death threat.

'Congratulations, you're on Redwatch. I am going to take you out. Six .22 rounds in the back of your head should do the trick. I would bring my .38 special but it makes one hell of a mess. I'll be seeing you.'

Whether it was Gatward who put Taylor on Redwatch is impossible to know but the fact that the former writes the occasional hate mail to the latter should give us a clue. As should Hexapla's article about the bizarre and violent fantasy world that Andrew Gatward seems to inhabit.

July saw us asking questions about how closely Nick Griffin and the BNP were working with Patrick Harrington and his micro-party, the National Liberal Party. Certainly there's a strongly incestuous relationship between them which becomes even more intimately entangled when the BNP's fake union Solidarity, its fake PR company Accentuate and Third Way are factored in. More investigation needed, if anyone wants to take it on board.

To no-one's surprise at all, Dewsbury East's BNP councillor Colin Auty quit the party (and eventually his seat) after his failure to get a leadership challenge going, moaning about the lack of democracy in the BNP. Odd how it hadn't bothered him up to this point. His campaign manager Roger Robertson also bit the dust, though in his case he was expelled for bringing the party into disrepute by setting up the challenge to the leadership and having the audacity to talk to the press. Bringing the BNP into disrepute? You couldn't make this stuff up, could you.

Racists and anti-semites Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle are convicted of publishing racially inflammatory material on a website. Both face further charges though mid-July saw them in the news again, this time for not turning up in court. It emerged that the pair had run off to the US, seeking political asylum across the pond.

An old friend reappears in court (albeit briefly), to answer a charge of attacking a pub landlord. Football hooligan, violent thug and former Burnley BNP councillor Luke Smith, hits the news again by doing what he does best - creating havoc. A couple of days later, Smith is found dead, having hanged himself.

Clive Jefferson, who desperately wants to run the BNP's security because he's a tough guy, brought some of his more idiotic pals down from Cumbria to Lancaster just to irritate shoppers by illegally setting up a stall in Market Square and getting in everyone's way. After a kicked-over table, numerous leaflets covered in spilled fizzy and a very noisy spontaneous demo, Jefferson and his morons buggered off - though not before the police nicked him for driving around in a car with an illegal numberplate (for which he was done the statutory £80).

Drifting towards the end of July and we see Nick Griffin writing to the December rebels trying to get them to back off from the forthcoming court case. In his letter, Griffin appears to libel the rebel's barrister Adrian Davies in a number of ways - though Mr Davies doesn't seem too keen to take the pig farmer to court on his own behalf. What Griffin is trying to avoid, of course, is showing the world that he can no longer afford to pay for decent legal representation and may have instead to rely on his own quick wits and those of the party's legal lunatic Lee Barnes. Gawd, I almost feel sorry for him. But not quite.

Too late to make any difference and presumably in angry response to Griffin's letter, Sadie Graham suddenly pops her head over the parapet to declare that

'I truly believe that there has never been a political leader in this country so hated by his own people.'

Her statement, posted on the Voice of Challenge blog, rips into Griffin, calling him a liar and a coward, but the overall effect is that it is too little, too late. Had she issued such a statement six months before, she would have got a massive and positive response. In fact, it comes across as the death knell of the rebellion - which in fact it turns out to be.

Yet another financial scandal within the BNP is uncovered by Searchlight - this one centering on the much-vaunted 'Truth Truck' or Lie Lorry. BNP members were asked to donate towards the purchase of a brand new advertising vehicle, effectively a mobile hoarding, which would help spread the BNP's lies even further. Members were asked to donate a staggering £40,000 to this appeal and many responded though BNP members on its own forum sounded a note of caution, wondering what had happened to the battle bus, a similar idea that was used to obtain donations a few years back.

Eventually, it was discovered that the BNP had conned its membership - again - and that the truck was actually being shared between the UK LifeLeague, an anti-abortion outfit based in Belfast, and the party.

We'll let the late Luke Smith round off July. His funeral seems to have followed the pattern of his life, being marred by vandalism and violence. Around forty drunken so-called 'mourners' were dispersed by police after they were found hurling bricks off a bridge on to a road below, presumably in tribute to Smith being a well-known thug and hooligan throughout his life.

Steve Smith, uncle of Luke, former member of the BNP and now leader of the utterly insignificant England First Party, said of his nephew;

'He was a lovely, lovely lad who, like a lot of people, was just too sensitive to exist in what is effectively an extremely cruel world...'

Whatever.

Meat stolen for Burnley BNP man’s memorial BBQ

A prolific conman stole more than £200 worth of meat for a gathering in memory of a former BNP councillor.

Norman Jones, a former leader of the notorious Burnley Suicide Squad and convicted killer, stole the haul from Tesco before a barbecue for former borough councillor Luke Smith.

Ex-Lanehead councillor Mr Smith, 26, of Brunshaw Road, Burnley was found hanging off Yorkshire Street last month. Like Jones, Mr Smith was a convicted football hooligan and he was forced to resign as a borough councillor in 2003 after allegations of violence at a British National Party event in Sawley.

His funeral was held at St Catherine’s Church, Todmorden Road, on July 29.

Trouble flared following the service, with objects hurled off the Yorkshire Street bridge but no arrests were made by police, who dispersed the mob.

Jones, 58, formerly of Colne but now living in Williams Road, Burnley, admitted theft of the meat, valued at £216, and was given a three-month curfew, from 7pm to 7am, with £75 costs. A district judge told him even if he wanted to give Mr Smith a good send-off, items on the shelves at Tesco had to be paid for and were not for the taking.

Richard Taylor, defending, said Jones, who has a number of previous fraud convictions, had recently been diagnosed with angina and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and the property had been recovered. Mr Taylor added: “He is getting too old for this kind of thing and he knows it.”

Jones is banned by the courts from collecting for a fictitious children’s ju-jitsu club after he was caught carrying out a scam in Burnley and Pendle in January. He has previous convictions for falsely collecting money for a fire victim and children’s charities across East Lancashire.

Lancashire Telegraph

Disturbance after ex-Burnley BNP councillor's funeral

Police were called after reports that mourners were hurling objects off a Burnley bridge following the funeral of a former BNP councillor.

Officers arrived at the Yorkshire Street bridge at 9pm on Tuesday after being told around 40 youths were causing a disturbance. The mourners had attended the funeral of Luke Smith, 26, of Brunshaw Road, who was found dead last week, police said. The convicted football hooligan, who was forced to resign as a councillor after continued allegations of violence, was said to have been suffering from psychological problems when he appeared in court earlier this month charged with assault.

Sgt Phil Carter, of Burnley police, said: “Police dispersed the group on Tuesday soon after arriving and no arrests were made.”

It is believed the mourners had been drinking in the Lounge pub, in nearby Higgin Street, following Mr Smith’s funeral. Yesterday a large banner was hung from a bridge in Yorkshire Street with the message “Luke Smith lives forever”.

Speaking last week, Mr Smith’s uncle, Steve Smith, who was the BNP leader in Burnley when his nephew was elected, and is now leader of the far-right England First party, said: “He was a lovely, lovely lad who, like a lot of people, was just too sensitive to exist in what is effectively an extremely cruel world. Things had gone downhill for him.”

Mr Smith was 21 when he was elected as councillor for Lanehead ward, in May 2003. But he was suspended from the BNP less than three months later, after it emerged previous football-related violence had earned him a lifetime ban from Turf Moor, and he was alleged to have been fighting at the party’s Red, White and Blue festival in Sawley in July that year.

In September 2004, after a full investigation by the Standards Board for England, he was banned for three years from becoming a member of any council across the UK.

Earlier in 2004, the former gas engineer had been given a two-and-a-half year football banning order, and he was jailed for 11 months in March 2006, after breaching the order and being involved in football-related violence in Manchester, Blackpool and Burnley. His football banning order was extended to six years.

In his latest court appearance, on July 14, he was charged with assault after an attack on the landlord of the Princess Royal – the pub near where he was found dead.

Lancashire Telegraph

Inquest opens into death of ex-BNP councillor

A post-mortem has been held following the death of former Burnley councillor Luke Smith.
The 26-year-old was found hanged from a tree on a bridle path next to the Princess Royal pub in Yorkshire Street on Sunday. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 5-43 p.m. The post-mortem was carried out at Burnley General Hospital on Tuesday, but toxicological tests are also being carried out. An inquest has been opened and adjourned while tests are carried out.

The former British National Party councillor was voted into the Lanehead ward in 2003 but resigned the same year over what he claimed was lack of support from the party's national leadership. At the time of his death he was said to be suffering from mental health problems.

Mr Smith, of Brunshaw Road, was a former pupil at Towneley High School, had previously trained as a gas fitter and was a lifelong fan of Burnley Football Club. His funeral service will be held on Tuesday at 11-15 a.m. at St Catherine's CE Church in Todmorden Road, and then at Burnley Crematorium at noon.

Burnley Express

Updated: Former Burnley BNP councillor Luke Smith found dead

We've just spoken to the coroner's officer in Burnley, who has confirmed the death of former BNP councillor, Luke Smith. Smith was found hanged in Burnley's Yorkshire Street at around 4pm yesterday. An inquest will open on Friday though the verdict is likely to be suicide. Smith was 26.

The last report we had of Smith's behaviour was when he suddenly reappeared from obscurity a few days ago, after being convicted of attacking a pub landlord. In the article that we reprinted, it was revealed that Smith's mental health was fast-deteriorating and the court was told that he was said to be suffering from adjustment disorder, brief reactive depression and a mental and behavioural disorder due to misuse of substances.

Smith had a long history of football-related violence behind him, and was jailed for 17 months in March 2006 after being convicted of violent disorder in relation to incidents surrounding a World Cup qualifier in October 2004 and later violence in Blackpool. He was also banned from football grounds for six years. This followed on from a two-and-a-half year football banning order, imposed for being involved in over 20 violent episodes in five years. Following his 17 month conviction, the BNP rallied around him saying that he was not a man of violence.

Smith was also one of the youngest BNP councillors, resigning his seat on the then BNP flagship Burnley council (on which they had, at the time, eight councillors) in 2003 following an incident at that year's Red, White and Blue booze-fest, when a drunken and belligerent Smith attacked then Leeds organiser Martin Reynolds (now Head of Security) with a bottle, smashing it into Reynolds' face and opening up a gash close to his left eye that required seven stitches, subsequently dealt with by Leeds Royal Infirmary. This fracas earned Smith his expulsion from the BNP and a three-year ban on holding public office by the Standards Board.

Former Burnley BNP cllr assaulted landlord

A former Burnley councillor who attacked a pub landlord is suffering from mental health problems, a court has heard.

Convicted football hooligan Luke Smith, 26, is awaiting sentence at Burnley Magistrates Court after punching the landlord and his solicitor told the court there had been a marked deterioration in his mental health.

The former Lanehead councillor made national headlines in 2003 after he was kicked out of the British National Party for fighting at the organisation’s national festival in Sawley. Smith, of Brunshaw Road, Burnley, is now said to be suffering from adjustment disorder, brief reactive depression and a mental and behavioural disorder due to misuse of substances.

The defendant, who handed himself into police on Monday morning, after going missing from court the Friday before, has admitted common assault in court on May 11. The court was told Smith had been ejected from the Princess Royal pub on Yorkshire Street, Burnley, but went back in a few minutes later drunk. When the victim took hold of him, he took a swing and struck him, breaking his glasses.

Smith was bailed until August 5, for a pre-sentence report and the bench said they were thinking of a medium community penalty. He must not go within 100 metre of the pub and not contact witnesses.

Dylan Bradshaw, defending, said Smith went to hospital on June 23 and was kept in until July 3. He was seen and diagnosed by a consultant psychiatrist. Mr Bradshsaw said Smith’s life had spiralled out of control. He had earlier left court because he could not face the proceedings and he had surrendered himself at the police station later.

The former town hall member was banned from being a councillor for three years by the Standards Board for England after being caught fighting at the Red, White and Blue Festival in Sawley in August 2003. He had earlier been kicked out of the party following internal meetings over the Sawley incident - a decision which prompted leading BNP organiser Steven Smith to quit. He now heads the Cliviger-based England First Party.

Luke Smith was also jailed for 17 months in March 2006 after being convicted of violent disorder in relation to incidents surrounding a World Cup qualifier in October 2004 and later violence in Blackpool. He was also banned from football grounds for six years.

Previously the former gas engineer, who is barred for life from Turf Moor, had been serving a two-and-a-half year football banning order, imposed for being involved in over 20 violent episodes in five years.

Lancashire Telegraph

BNP cracking the whip to get attendance up at the RWB

News reaches us that senior officers in the BNP are having to hassle the troops to attend the annual booze-fest, the BNP's Red, White and Blue event.

After the refusal of the former landowner to allow it to go ahead on his property (thanks in part to a massive outcry on Indymedia when it became known that the RWB and the Northern Green Gathering had shared the same space, and partly due to the fact that the landowner could make more from a couple of car boot sales than he ever could from the near-bankrupt BNP) the event was moved from its former home at Clitheroe to the field owned by BNP-waster Alan Warner at Denby in Derbyshire.

Obviously none too happy about this, the BNP membership is staying away in droves, meaning that Phil Edwards, the BNP's liar-in-chief (spokesman) is going to have to exaggerate somewhat when reporting on the attendance figures.

The figure of ten thousand has already been suggested and appears to be the baseline upon which the success or failure of the August 4th/5th event will be judged. This seems far from likely - many BNP members despise the whole RWB thing as appealing to the very worst elements in the party, particularly after former BNP councillor and well-known football hooligan Luke Smith glassed a member of Nick Griffin's security team in the face a couple of years back.

Apart from the ever-present possibility of violence breaking out, there are continuous problems with fat drunken nazis wandering around, improperly supervised firework displays, lack of provision for dealing with medical emergencies, no criminal checks on the people the BNP have got looking after the children on site and the possibility of accidentally having to listen to a crap band like Red Claire, led by the utterly-appalling Paul Cromie, Bradford BNP councillor and mandolin-plunker. And as if all this isn't dodgy enough, there's also a risk of having to sit and endure hours of speeches by Hitlerite cretins like Mark Collett.

Naturally people are not finding the prospect all that enticing and our correspondents are telling us that aggressive calls are being made to some local organisers to get their people over to Derbyshire this weekend by hook or by crook or, and the threat is clear though undefined, there will be trouble.

Nick Griffin, ever-paranoid, will be wanting to use the weekend to reassure the troops that all is well at HQ and he will no doubt remind them again and again of his 91% win over Chris Jackson in the recent leadership challenge (no doubt conveniently forgetting to mention that well under half of the voting members in the party could be bothered to return the ballot forms). Perhaps he'll also explain why the accounts haven't yet been submitted to the Electoral Commission, incurring unnecessary fines that the membership have to subsidise out of their fees.

We've had it reported to us again and again that morale in the BNP is at rock-bottom. No by-election wins for years, no new councillors at the last elections (despite a record number of candidates standing), constant accusations of financial chicanery, ludicrous new business ventures popping up like mushrooms, prominent members resigning following deeply offensive but seemingly approved verbal attacks by Griffinite bully-boys and BNP-approved fruitcakes being banged-up for storing bomb-making materials in their houses. And now the membership is being bullied into going to the RWB! It's no wonder morale is a tad on the low side.

We all know the RWB is going to be a disaster - particularly if the rain heads over that way at the weekend - but for Griffin in particular the stormclouds seem to be gathering and looking decidedly ominous.

Spinning the truth - the BPP and the 'White Nationalist' (nazi) Forum

The British People's Party (BPP) made much of the proposed White Nationalist Forum that was long-planned for Saturday March 24th. It was to be a get-together of senior nazis to discuss how they could work together to achieve whatever insane plans they have at the moment. It was to be, we were told, an example to everyone in how groups with similar aims but disparate methods could work in unison.

The BPP took the leading role in this forum, planning it and advertising it everywhere they could. They even persuaded Gunter Deckart, the Holocaust-denier, to fly over from Germany especially for the meeting.

As expected, the BPP reported on its website that the forum was 'a resounding success', attended by people from the National Alliance (NA), the BPP and the England First Party's only remaining member, its leader Steve Smith (about to stand in the local elections on May 3rd in the Cliviger with Worsthorne ward on Burnley Borough Council). Steve Smith of course is famous for being uncle to Luke Smith, ex-BNP councillor, football hooligan and violent thug, and for being the former organiser for Burnley BNP and doing six months for electoral fraud as a result.

Gunter Deckart must have been disappointed (like we care), having flown from Germany expecting to speak at a 'conference' only to find himself stuck in the back room of a pub with seventeen idiots, at least one of whom was drunk and abusive. According to a report we've seen, Sid Williamson (pictured), for it was he, was 'pissed out of his head' and caused havoc at several points in the meeting, apparently yelling that he was second in command of the BPP on several occasions, much to the irritation of all there.

Sid, you might remember, used to be a moderator on the appalling VNN nazi forum but was forced out last year when he unaccountably joined the BNP. His dalliance with Nick Griffin only lasted a couple of months. Although Griffin was prepared to ignore Williamson's racist rants against blacks, Asians and Jews on the swastika-strewn VNN, he drew the line at an attack on the Irish and was promptly thrown out of the squeaky-clean British National Party.

The forum was rather more interesting for who wasn't there - Kevin Watmough, the leader of the BPP and the nazi creep who runs Redwatch, Unsteady Eddy Morrison, the alcoholic 'National Political Advisor' of the BPP (who had apparently been on a bender all week and was unable to attend because he was still sloshed), just one from the Nationalist Alliance (but none of its leadership), no-one from the British First Party/N9S, no-one from the Wolf's Hook White Brotherhood and no-one from the British Movement (or whatever's left of it).

In fact, despite the BPP's claim that the forum was a 'resounding success', it seems to have been a complete washout, the only bright moment being when Sid nearly fell off his chair, then suddenly jumped up and demanded to speak.

Sadly, this laughable event has only been reported on the BPP's main website, Nobody has posted about it on the BPP's forum, which hasn't seen a new post in over a month, and no-one has bothered to send a report in to Stormfront. You can't blame them really.

NNP? BPP? EFP? More letters than members...

A brief round-up of what's going on at the periphery of the UK nazi scene.

Is the BNP bovvered by the NNP? Well yes, actually.

Readers who frequent the blogs and forums where BNP members are allowed to vent their communal spleen have observed both a marked increase in verbal attacks on Sharon Ebanks' group of BNP-rejects, the New Nationalist Party (NNP), and an even larger increase in the amount of venom expended per attack.

One of the nastier and openly pro-BNP sites on the internet is named, believe it or not, Covert Undercover Nuisance Tactics (you work out the acronym) - as rabid a bunch of thugs as you could have found in the National Front in its heyday, though the activism in this case is solely internet-based. This charming group took such exception to a Stormfront poster writing in support of Ebanks and her party that they printed his name and address for all to see - and this is someone who is well over on their side of the political spectrum! Not content with that, they have also uncompromisingly attacked Ebanks herself, posting a swathe of virulent articles complete with pictures of black TV stars labelled with her name - an obvious and hardly subtle reference to the persistent rumour that her late father was black.

Stormfront, the largest of the nazi forums, is suddenly awash with anti-Ebanks/anti-NNP posts, many of them direct attacks and insults (including one attack on the NNP deputy-chair Dave Cheetham, who was called a traitor - there being no worse insult in the disturbing world these people inhabit).

As far as Lancaster UAF and other observers can ascertain, these attacks are coming almost exclusively from the BNP members - some very prominent members indeed - who are also members of Stormfront (despite the party's proscription on membership of the forum). Which leads one to wonder why the BNP is so obviously bothered about what it describes dismissively as 'a micro-party'.

There are probably two reasons. The BNP was hoping to get its claws into Birmingham and almost did last year, when a miscount temporarily put the then BNP's Ebanks into a seat by mistake. The party is desperate to get there, despite last year's fiasco which not only lost them the seat but also Ebanks after a furious row about money. Unfortunately for the BNP, the NNP have every intention of standing in Birmingham and for all that Ebanks is as vile as racist as you could find, she also happens to put in her work in the ward, which frankly is more than can be said of practically all BNP councillors or would-be councillors. If the choice is between the nationally high-profile BNP and the locally high-profile Sharon Ebanks, it's difficult to see which way the voters would jump. The most likely outcome - and the most desirable for us, is that neither get in and the seat goes to a hard-working member of a bona-fide party without a fascist axe to grind.

The other reason for all the attacks on Ebanks revolves around her continual threats to reveal all she knows about Nick Griffin. We all know a lot about him, particularly his moral (and fiscal) bankruptcy, but Ebanks claims to have information that will destroy his so-called political career. While she teases the nazi world with the threat of startling revelations to come (maybe), her attackers are frantically destroying her credibility on the far-right. By the time she reveals all, no-one will be around to listen to her. All of which indicates that she might have something worth saying but, if she has, she'd better say it quickly.

Lancaster UAF blog readership goes up by nearly one

News reaches us that Unsteady Eddy Morrison, the laughable 'National Political Advisor' for the British People's Party (now run by Mr Inept himself, Kevin Watmough), has started reading our blog. Well, he's got nothing else to do, the poor old sod. Running over the memories of his undistinguished career in the nine hundred far-right political groups he's been a part of must have taken him all of five minutes.

Oddly, he wrote on his own blog about our reference to the BPP as a 'three man and a very large dog' party, which segues very nicely into the next item...

The England First Party is easily confused

Steven Smith (the owner of the very large dog, pictured left) is a member of the British People's Party. So why are we writing about him here? Because he is also the new Leader of the England First Party, following Mark Cotterill's resignation from the post. We have no information on which party the dog belongs to though so far it's joined its owner in the BNP, the BPP and the EFP - it's no wonder it looks depressed.

In an attempt to clear up any confusion that may have arisen from Smith's role in both parties, EFP posted a statement on its website:

'Whilst he is a member which, his joining was a show of solidarity it is not true for him to be described as a senior member he does not have any influence or input into the political direction or internal workings of the party and is 100% committed to the England First Party only.'

Which almost, but not quite, makes sense.

Steven Smith, you may recall, is the uncle of the football hooligan and violent thug, ex-BNP councillor, Luke Smith. Uncle Steve was alleged to have left following nephew Luke's expulsion from the BNP after he glassed a member of Nick Griffin's security team in the face at the BNP's family fracas, the Red White and Blue Festival. That was a fib though. Smith left the BNP because he was about to be done for electoral fraud, an act that earned him six months and a five-year ban on standing for council.

Now that the ban has ended, Smith intends to stand and to help himself has taken on the role of leader of the fast-collapsing EFP. Quite how an electoral fraudster expects to win an election is beyond most of us with brain cells but apparently he's full of confidence - even given the fact that both of the EFP's Blackburn councillors have resigned to move elsewhere.

It's no wonder Smith is a member of the BPP as well - he can obviously see there's absolutely no future for the EFP. Even less now he's involved.

England First Party's new chairman is convicted electoral fraudster

The England First Party (EFP) chairman Mark Cotterill, has resigned and is handing over the reins to convicted electoral fraudster Steve Smith. Smith, the former organiser for the British National Party's Burnley branch, has taken over immediately, following Cotterill's announcement that he is leaving to take up a new job in Preston.

Steve Smith followed the usual path of the English nazi, first being involved in the BNP, moving away from that when he was about to be convicted for electoral fraud and into the British People's Party (a more hardcore nazi group led by alcoholic Eddie Morrison and moronic Redwatch organiser Kevin Watmough), then drifting on to the EFP when he realised that the BPP was a dead duck.

EFP have managed to con the voters into putting two third-rate councillors into office in Blackburn, Cotterill himself and pub-owner Michael Johnson, and Smith is obviously hoping the party can build on that and add him to the list.

Smith's pedigree is just about what one would expect from a veteran of the BNP, BPP and EFP. A couple of years back he resigned from the BNP, ostensibly over its treatment of his nephew Luke Smith, former Burnley BNP councillor, football hooligan and violent thug extraordinaire. Following an incident where he smashed a bottle into the face of someone with whom he was having a disagreement at the BNP's annual 'family' do, the Red, White and Blue Festival, the BNP unceremoniously dumped him, much to Uncle Steve's chagrin. The BNP seemed perfectly content with Luke Smith's record of hooliganism; it just didn't like it when he got a bit more personal. The party of law and order, huh?

The real reason Steve Smith resigned was that he was about to be convicted for electoral fraud, which led to his being sentenced to six months on January 16th, 2002. He admitted to allowing false nominations to be submitted for the 2001 elections and received the sentence plus the statutory five-year ban on standing for public office.

Mark Cotterill, the outgoing EFP Chairman, is the main former fundraiser for the BNP via the now defunct American Friends of the BNP, who went off in a huff to start his own group, the England First Party (EFP), after a major fall-out with Nick Griffin over, rumour has it, large quantities of cash disappearing. Curious how most of the more prominent ex-BNP people resigned over money issues (with the dishonourable exception of Tony Lecomber), particularly given ex-bankrupt Nick Griffin's personal financial history.

The skills that Smith displayed when he was a BNP organiser will hopefully cause chaos in the EFP. His proteges include his ghastly nephew Luke, Maureen Stowe, who eventually resigned and led a campaign against the BNP, and the truly appalling Brian Turner, a violent racist who was convicted of assaulting his wife and a police officer in September 2005, a conviction that he can add to his previous eleven and his most recent, of racially abusing a group of Asian men in May 2006.

With the supremely untalented Smith in charge, we should see the demise of the England First Party within a year or two. We look forward to it.

Note: The '14 words' message on Smith's T-shirt refers to a corruption of a statement in Volume 1, Chapter 8 of Mein Kampf, commonly given as 'We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children'. A well-used nazi phrase.