BNP Councillor Resigns

A BNP councillor has ended his three-year association with the far right party claiming it is corrupt and led by a Nazi dictator.

Simon Deacon, BNP councillor for Markyate, took the decision to resign saying he could no longer support the party's leader Nick Griffin, who he branded a 'Nazi dictator'.

Councillor Deacon, who will now stand on Markyate parish council as an independent, told the Review: "There are a lot of people who are not happy with the way the party is being run by Nick Griffin.

"Anybody that has been outspoken and criticised him have found themselves suspended. I feel with the way people are being treated within the party I couldn't support Nick Griffin any longer. I couldn't vote for that party at the moment - not the way Nick Griffin is running the BNP.

"If he's going to suspend his own people as soon as they speak badly of him, then how could you trust him as Prime Minister? We (BNP) have been labelled in the past as Nazis and facists and I feel at the moment that label is correct.

"I'm not a fascist or a Nazi and I don't want to be associated with them. I agree with the BNP's policies, it's just the people that are implementing them."

Councillor Deacon joined the National Front in 1992 before jumping ship to the BNP three years ago. He added: "My loyalty is to my country, not a political party - I have always made that perfectly clear.

"When I joined the party the BNP was the only hope left for this country now I feel there's no hope."

St Albans Review

Anti-fascist alliance keeps far-right crusader at bay

On Tuesday 10 March the Royal Anglian Regiment were heckled by a fringe group of extremist Muslim demonstrators as the soldiers marched through Luton Town Centre. This predictable action frustrated and angered nearly every section of the community – above all the local mosques, which had already banned the 15 individuals. The blaze of negative publicity produced strong comment both locally and nationally, with robust condemnations from town hall politicians and a forthright debate in the letters’ columns of local papers.

Soon afterwards it was possible to distinguish the comments intended to heal from those that sought to open up division and further an entirely different agenda.

One ex-soldier, James Yeomans, started to organise a “Respect the Troops” march to take place three weeks after the original incident. Far from a troublemaker, Yeomans intended this to be a genuine gesture to express regret at the incidents on 10 March and thus go some way towards repairing the reputation of the town. Unfortunately, individuals started to emerge from the darker corners of Facebook and other sites, chewing over the possibility of using the occasion to create a confrontation with the town’s sizeable Pakistani and Bangladeshi population. Keyboard warriors encouraged fellow group members to “bring their tools”, going on to say “it’s going to be messy”. Momentum was gathering to the extent that coaches were being booked to carry protesters from as far away as Chester and Portsmouth. Even “The Welsh Defence League” pledged attendance, although you get the feeling that its entire membership would fit snugly into a single Ford Mondeo.

Alert at every opportunity to create division, the BNP hauled Peter Fehr back from retirement to do what he does best – leading the branch into oblivion. Despite telling a supporter in 2008 “I’m no longer active. I go to the occasional meeting in Biggleswade or sometimes Aylesbury and no longer organize anything,” Fehr began to swing the 80 local members behind the march. He quickly organised a branch meeting (the first in six months) at the sympathetic King Harry pub for the day after the march and rounded up three out-of-towners (parish councillor Simon Deacon, bottle-blonde Shelley Rose and Steve Sherwood from Milton Keynes). He wrote to members on 15 March: “I would therefore ask all members/patriots to attend this parade and support OUR troops. Please bring a Union Jack flag with you and fly it proudly when the troops parade. Lets all rally together and lets make this a day to remember.”

Sensing events were running out of his control, Yeomans cancelled the march. In an attack destined to feature in our leaflets for months to come, he cornered on the fascists:

“How do people make the link between respecting our troops and a fascist parade? It’s pitiful. We had invited people from all corners of the community. Including Muslim leaders. These people call themselves patriotic and proud to be British but I wonder what they have ever really done for our country? It makes me sad that they seem to have a copyright on the Union Jack. If they want to come to Luton to have a fight they need to have a look at their sad lives.”

Indeed.

Despite being told that the march was off, much online sabre-rattling could be heard and pledges were made by local hooligans to ignore the police and carry on regardless. In response, Three Counties UAF decided to mobilise around our usual weekly stall in the town centre. On the day we had a good number of supporters from the trades council, Labour Party, Asian community, UAF and an elderly couple inspired by the HOPE not hate website to start their own local campaign. In a 90-minute operation we maintained a lively presence, gave out a good deal of literature and managed to deal with the few dozen football hooligans who skulked around before being moved on by police.

In the aftermath, the motley online crew of BNP supporters (and those simply up for a fight) were apoplectic. Who could blame them? In a single week the local freesheet carried the banner headline “Fascists Stealing a March”, the BNP meeting the next day was cancelled and their patriotic mass parade was turned into an anti-fascist rally with a report on Anglia TV thrown in for good measure.

In desperation, they turned to Paul Ray, aka “Lionheart”, to leave his fantasy world of dragon-slaying and put together a march of their own on St George’s Day that no one would pull at the last moment. To be fair, this idea had its merits. Ray was committed to the cause and had notoriety for producing his own long-running anti-Islamic blog. Secondly he was local – living in Dunstable – this was close enough to have influence but sufficiently far not to have to live with the consequences. Thirdly, he acted as a lynchpin for the various strands of nationalism in the area – from the football-orientated Luton MIGs (Men in Gear) to those drawn into BNP membership.

Thankfully, that’s where it all started to go wrong.

Mistake 1 – put the wrong people in charge

To apply for a parade, you need to make the case before a sub-group of the borough council, with representation from Community Cohesion and the police. Bad idea therefore to have the person in charge (ie Ray) currently being investigated by the CPS for inciting racial hatred in articles on his blog. Worse still to have the number two in your organisation, one Laurence Jones, a declared supporter of the BNP. Final nail in the coffin, to have the support of the “March for England” organisation with its links to the Portsmouth 657 hooligan element.

Mistake 2 – get everyone confused over dates

In wades Peter Fehr to announce another march on Bank Holiday Monday, 13 April. In an email to supporters he does a reasonable job of organising the event, saying:

“This Demo is being well publicised all over Great Britain and over 20,000 people are expected to descend to Luton on the 13th April to show their disgust towards Muslim extremists. So please attend and bring friends, relatives and work colleges, and show your support by bringing along a Union Jack flag. The 13th is on Easter Monday, so this is a bank holiday, so no excuses, turn-up and show your support.”

On the other hand, later in the email he goes to some lengths to distance the BNP from the event, saying:

“I MUST STRESS THAT THIS DEMO IS NOT BEING ORGANIZED BY THE BNP. Please do not wear any BNP badges if you plan on going to this event.”

Hiding behind the false name of “Peter Fisher” in the letters column of The Luton News, Fehr is given space to state, ludicrously:

“Many of your readers will be aware that a demonstration is going to take place in Luton on Monday April 13th …. The British National Party wishes to make it clear that we will not be attending in any way, shape or form.”

Who are you kidding Peter?

Furthermore, a flyer for the march on the 13th was sent to the Searchlight offices on Blood and Honour notepaper. On it was a phone number, which turned out to be that of NF activist Stuart Hollingdale, the person who was jailed for three months in 1999 for daubing the Stephen Lawrence memorial with white paint. Hollingdale said that his erstwhile NF chum, none other than BNP parish councillor Simon Deacon, was briefing him on events in Luton.

Thankfully, Ray’s application for a march on St George’s Day appears to have hit the buffers. A few individuals will probably try to stir up trouble on both the 13th and the 23rd, but the police undoubtedly have contingency plans up their sleeves.

Three Counties UAF aim now to move from a defensive to offensive posture, mindful that the European and County elections are a mere eight weeks away. Unity between different strands of anti-fascist support in the town has been a distinct feature of our success to date and this pooling of expertise and resources gives us good reason for looking to the future with confidence.

HOPE not hate

BNP councillor's democracy vow

A BNP councillor has vowed to put his personal views aside and follow the democratic process despite telling the Review he would stand against Markyate Parish Council over an equality policy.

 Simon Deacon, BNP councillor and former leading National Front activist, still holds the view that an equal opportunities policy is a “waste of time”. But he has promised to abide by it after the council democratically voted to support it.

 He said: “I’m totally against it because of the heavy flaws in it, but I will abide by it because it was a democratic vote.”

 The council was hit with complaints after Councillor Deacon made comments slamming the policy in the Review on July 2. He branded the policy “unfair” and vowed not to support it.

 In a letter to the council, read out at a council meeting last Tuesday night, anti-BNP campaigners urged Mr Deacon to put on record whether or not he supported the policy. Speaking after the meeting at Markyate Parish Hall, a BNP protestor who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “Either he votes against it or he supports it. If he votes against it, should he be a member of a council that is signed up to that policy?”

 Despite the backlash from campaigners over his comments, Councillor Deacon still strongly objects to the policy.

 He continued: “If you have been a member or ex-member of the BNP or a known supporter or activist in anyway it is against the law to join the Metropolitan Police. To me that’s discrimination, but the equal opportunities act doesn’t cover that sort of discrimination? Everybody is complaining about me, but nobody is shouting from the roof tops that BNP members are discriminated against in everyday life.”

 He added: “Everyone in this country should have the right to say what they want, the problem is we are having that right taken away from us.”

St Albans and Harpenden Review

BNP councillor set to stand against council

A BNP councillor will stand against a policy to promote equality within Markyate Parish Council at a council meeting tonight.

Simon Deacon, BNP councillor and former leading National Front activist, called the Equal Opportunities Policy a waste of time and vowed not to support it.

Speaking before the meeting he said: "I'm totally against it. Why do we have to have all this bureaucracy? "People come here with work permits and they are supposed to be put on an equal footing. Therefore somebody goes for a job and those other people who have been here for a matter of months can apply for the same job - that is what the Equal Opportunities Policy is all about. It is unfair.

"I have gone against things before with the council - that is democracy, that is politics. "I have to do what I think is right. I am sorry if that offends others but I have to go with my gut instinct and go with what I believe in, otherwise I'm a hypocrite."

But campaigners argue Deacon should resign from the council if he does not agree with the policy. Jon Berry, of Three Counties Unite Against Facism, said: "He purports to be a representative of the community and it is absolutely clear that he regards some members of the community more important than others."

This is Hertfordshire

BNP Parish Councillor Faces The Crunch

Deacon (facing camera, to the left of the person giving salute)
on a National Front activity before his election

Bedfordshire campaigners are organising to confront the racist politics of British National Party Parish Councillor Simon Deacon and will be scrutinising his response to the Equal Opportunities Policy being laid before the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 1st July.

On Tuesday 1st July Simon Deacon, British National Party (BNP) councillor for Markyate Parish Council, will be asked to give his assent to the body’s Equal Opportunities Policy. This will create an impossible situation for Deacon, the former leading National Front activist who told the St Albans Observer (25.4.07) on his election

'England was a white country – we think it should be returned to that.'

The Equal Opportunities Policy contains many statements that stand totally opposed to his racist ideology, particularly the clause on cultural diversity that states:

'the council recognises that we live in a multicultural society and believes that cultural diversity should be viewed positively.'

Apart from Deacon’s personal prejudice, this very mild and reasonable statement stands against the policy of the national BNP, which calls for “an immediate halt to all further immigration...and the introduction of a system of voluntary resettlement whereby those immigrants who are legally here.”

You can hardly value another culture if you want it moved out of town.

The Policy sets very high standards for councillors, stating that “the principle behind the statement must be reflected in all of our behaviours and practices.” Three Counties UAF feel that belonging to a Party that undermines a policy in its everyday business is a practice that is incompatible with being a Parish Councillor.

It is Deacon’s declared intent to get the BNP active in Hemel Hempstead and campaigners feel that his activity on the parish council is merely a smokescreen to further his wider electoral ambitions.

Markyate has shown itself to be a village free of prejudice in the manner that it returned an Asian woman, Jayshree Patel, onto the Parish Council long before Deacon walked into the post last May.

Three Counties UAF say that if Deacon agrees to the Policy then he should resign from the BNP, but if he disagrees then he should resign from the Parish Council. This action is the first in a campaign of action by Three Counties UAF to raise awareness of the threat posed by the BNP to the well-being of the village.

Notes:

1. The attached photo shows Deacon (facing camera, to the left of the person giving salute) on a National Front activity before his election. The person doing the salute is Stuart Hollingsdale, an NF member who was jailed in 1998 for smashing up the Stephen Lawrence memorial plaque in Eltham, South London.

2. Deacon was elected unopposed to the seat in May 2007 when only 9 nominations were made for the 10 vacancies on the parish council.

Three Counties UAF

Loughton result confirms BNP's downward trend

Ever since the May local elections, when eight out of nine of its sitting councillors lost their seats, the BNP has looked in vain for electoral cheer in a series of summer by-elections. They thought they'd find it in Nuneaton and Bedworth's Slough ward, and shamelessly hyped their chances of winning the seat, only to find themselves broken against the in-built strength of the Labour vote in a former mining town with deep Labour (not New Labour) and trade union traditions.

The BNP were further disappointed when one of its sitting councillors resigned his seat on Loughton Council, Essex, necessitating a by-election in the town's Alderton Ward.

The racist party needed this by-election like it needed a hole in the head. It needed to retain the seat to save face and to bolster the sagging morale of its supporters, and was perhaps heartened by the fact that the history of municipal by-elections shows that it is more difficult to lose a seat than it is to win one.

The BNP duly fought the Alderton ward by-election last Thursday, and won. Since then the party has been crowing to the high heavens with news of its 'victory', its members gleefully posting the result wherever they can on the Internet.

But this wasn't a 'victory'. The BNP did not increase its vote - if it had, some serious questions would need to be asked. As it was the result passed off without a great deal of comment for the simple reason that nobody seriously expected the party to lose its own seat.

What is worthy of comment is the fact that even though they retained the seat the BNP vote fell by 5% - a pretty steep drop in anybody's book and one that would have most political parties seriously worried.

To the BNP, retaining the seat on a reduced vote represents an apparent success. Well, all political parties spin bad election results, and nobody has more reason to spin than the BNP, especially in the case of its Alderton ward result, since here we (and they) have ample confirmation of what we saw in May - that the BNP has stalled and that its vote is falling.

No amount of spin can disguise the party's continuing downward electoral trend, though you'd never know there was such a trend if you were to read its own report of the by-election at its style-challenged website. Here we read that the result is an 'unprecendeted win' made against overwhelming odds - according to the whinge-prone BNP just about every other party ('who invariably choreograph their campaigns') fighting the by-election attacked it, and there is an attempt to link the party's only serious challengers in Alderton ward, the Independent Residents Association, with the anti-racist organisation Redbridge and Epping Forest Together.

Add in a few swipes at the rump UKIP, the busted flush against which the BNP likes to measure its supposed success, don't mention the massive resources the BNP poured into its campaign, and you have a long piece of nonsense designed to bolster internal morale by creating the illusion of a great victory gained in the teeth of the massed ranks of the party's opposition.

It's so much whistling in the dark. If there had been the slightest evidence of any increase in BNP support we would have seen it in Alderton ward. We did not. We saw a 5% slump in their vote, and nothing at all to justify the BNP's hyperbole.

There's still a long way to go and there may be some nasty surprises to come, but the BNP's May results, its summer by-election results, and latterly the Alderton ward result all irrevocably point to the slow but steady evaporation of the BNP's vote.

But the business of spin extends beyong simple vote-juggling. The need to bolster the seriously-flagging morale of the average BNP branch is forcing the party to madly applaud anything that can be manipulated into some show of success, no matter how ephemeral. A couple of days ago, its Regional Voices page had one example of the puffery that has become necessary to blow any little event up into something that the leadership hopes will dispel the gloom.

'Hot on the heels of the Epping Forest victory comes new [sic] of yet another recruit to add to [the] Eastern Region’s tally of local councillors. Sitting Parish councillor Simon Deacon has formerly joined the BNP and notified his parish clerk of the change...'

Simon Deacon is the only councillor in the 40-year history of his former party, the National Front. He took his position of Parish councillor completely unopposed, not a single vote being cast to let him take the seat because nobody else could be bothered to stand given the political inconsequence of the average Parish councillor.

Such is the reality of the BNP's much-vaunted recent 'successes' - a seat kept but with a 5% drop in the vote and the gain of an unelected Parish councillor from one of the most virulently racist parties in the UK. The Emperor has no clothes and these are certainly no great successes, no matter how hard they are spun.

(Article by Denise G and Antifascist)