Neo-Nazi group hoodwinks state into selling it mansion

Officials in the former East Germany have been stung by revelations that they were hoodwinked into selling a listed 19th-century manor house to a neo-Nazi group which used a frontwoman posing as a practitioner of alternative medicine to complete the deal.

The disclosures in yesterday's Der Spiegel are a major embarrassment for the once communist state of Thuringia, which spends €2.6 million ($4.5 million) a year combating extremism in a region renowned for neo-Nazi politics and far-right violence. The neo-Nazi group plans to use the mansion as a centre for far-right extremists and Holocaust deniers.

Martina Renner, a spokeswoman for Thuringia's opposition Left Party, said the sale of the property was scandalous. "The state Government will have to explain how such a well-known building could be sold off to right-wing extremists without anyone realising what was going on," she said.

The manor in the small village of Guthmannshausen, 50km northeast of Weimar, is a neo-classical property containing a pillared banqueting hall, a sauna and numerous outbuildings. It was sold in May to a dubious neo-Nazi organisation called Gedachtnisstatte [Places of Remembrance], based in the western state of Lower Saxony. None of the officials involved realised that the buyer was a far-right group.

Yesterday, it emerged that Wolfram Schiedewitz, who is the president of Places of Remembrance, is an extremist with a track record of propagating pro-Nazi views and Holocaust denial which goes back two decades.

"We have finally found a new home," Schiedewitz declared in a message to his supporters. "We want to fill it with memory of our World War II civilians who were the victims of bombardment, expulsions and prison camps."

But experts said the group intended to set up a rallying point for the far right. The group's clandestine purchase fits a well-defined strategy which has enabled neo-Nazis to gradually increase their presence in the former communist East since Germany's reunification in 1990.

State security officials in Thuringia say the purchase of the house was most probably masterminded by a female neo-Nazi named only as "B". She posed as an alternative medicine practitioner and duped officials into believing she wanted to hold seminars in the building and rent it to other users.

However, the security officials, who insisted they were not consulted during the sale, said yesterday that "B" was not only a member of Places of Remembrance but also had close links to a Nazi group called the Society for Free Communication, the country's "largest far-right cultural organisation".

NZHerald

The Truth Truck of Doom strikes again!

I'd be willing to bet that Nick Griffin frequently rues the day that he ever had the idea of conning the membership of the BNP into donating to the so-called Truth Truck appeal. Ever since it appeared, the truck has been nothing but trouble, only encouraging thick idiots like Clive Jefferson to disturb the peace by driving around while shouting incoherent rubbish at a bewildered public.

But that's been far from the worst problem - the main one being the question of who actually owns the bloody thing. Griffin raised the money on the back of a purchase of a new truck, apparently changed his mind (without telling anyone) and decided a decent second-hand truck would be better value for money, and has since been vilified for apparently leasing the truck from Dowson instead, rather than fulfilling his side of the bargain and buying one, second-hand or not.

One of Griffin's main problems is that he is a liar in a party of liars. It must be hard to be consistent (or indeed, coherent) in one's lies if everyone else is lying and changing stories all the time. Thus, at times, tales of fraud and incompetence within the BNP disappear into the ether not because they are untrue, but because they get lost in a swirling mish-mash of truth, lie, bullshit and ignorance. But just occasionally, a lie reveals a greater lie...

In a post on the BNP website in which Griffin refers to his intention to stand down as party leader in 2013 (assuming he isn't booted out or jailed before then), he has decided to clear the air about a number of things, among them the ownership of the Lie Lorry. He says;

'The Truth Truck is owned by the BNP, contrary to internet rumour-mongers, a fact confirmed in person by the BNP treasurer who paid for the vehicle, Jennie Noble.'

Fair enough. So why, on May 22nd 2009, was it reported that;

'...High Court Enforcement Officers attempting to seize the vehicle [the truck] to settle judgements on behalf of freelance journalist Mark Croucher were informed that the vehicle did not, in fact, belong to the BNP. This was confirmed in a subsequent letter from the BNPs solicitors, Gilbert Davies & Partners of Welshpool who wrote, “the goods referred to are registered in the name of another person who…has no connection with the judgement debtors”.'

If the Lie Lorry does in fact belong to the BNP, Mark Croucher was lied to and, incidentally, so were the BNP's solicitors, who would hardly have told Croucher what they did unless they believed it to be the truth. If the Lie Lorry does NOT belong to the BNP, the party is lying to the public and its membership, and Jennie Noble appears to be complicit in that lie. Either way, this whole Truth Truck/Lie Lorry scam smacks of fraud hastily and untidily being covered-up.

Heads the BNP is lying: tails the BNP is lying. Take your pick.

Image courtesy of this great thread on b3ta.

BNP man's home paid for by German embassy

Bob Bailey - defrauding the taxpayer from here to Germany

The London organiser of the BNP is the husband of a German Embassy diplomat and benefits from accommodation and allowances provided by the German taxpayer. Bob Bailey also enjoys some diplomatic immunity as the family member of an envoy - though this is limited as he remains a British citizen.

He married Martina Borgfeldt in Australia in 1999 after meeting her while serving in the Royal Marines in Africa. The latest issue of the Diplomatic List shows she is an "assistant attaché" at the German embassy.

Mr Bailey is leader of the opposition on Barking and Dagenham Council, which he hopes to take control of at next month's elections. He gives his main home as an address in Barking and Dagenham, east London, but lives in embassy-provided accommodation in west London. This appears to breach rules which say that council candidates must live or work in the same borough.

One source close to the embassy said that Mr Bailey had never told his wife that he was a BNP leader and she found out when confronted recently by her superiors. Mr Bailey yesterday refused to deny this, or his marriage to Mrs Borgfeldt, or that he lived with her in a home paid for by the German embassy, though he insisted he did live in Barking.

Telegraph

BNP short of candidates to take Barking and Dagenham

The British National Party's hopes of seizing Barking and Dagenham council suffered a blow today after it emerged it is fielding only 34 candidates

The far-right party holds 12 seats and would need 14 more to take the council, but eight of the wards it is contesting are Labour strongholds. Until a few days ago it was confident it would have candidates standing in all 51 wards. There are questions over several BNP hopefuls after it was reported they registered at “front addresses” to get round rules that candidates must live in the area.

Dagenham Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: “It's clear on the doorstep that local residents are turning away from the extreme politics of the BNP. The fact that they have really struggled to get local candidates to stand in the council elections, suggests the chances of them creating the political earthquake they said they would in the borough, are diminishing by the day.”

London Evening Standard

Burnley BNP councillor tried to defraud insurance company

A serving Burnley councillor could face criminal charges after a civil court judge ruled he tried to defraud an insurance company.

Coun. Derek Dawson, the British National Party councillor for Gannow, made a claim against Zurich Insurance which would have initially been worth up to £30,000. The claim related to an accident in 2003 at Zurich customer Mr Stephen Hargreaves' house in Whalley, where it was alleged Coun. Dawson's severely fractured ankle was caused by a ladder being knocked onto his leg by a car driven by Mr Hargreaves.

As it was a civil trial no punishment was handed down by the court, but Zurich was granted permission to pursue Dawson and Hargreaves for Contempt of Court proceedings through the Attorney General. If successful, this will attract a criminal penalty.

But Burnley's BNP leader Coun. Sharon Wilkinson defended Coun. Dawson, calling him "an excellent councillor" and even questioned whether the judge was influenced by Dawson's "political persuasion".

During the case, which began last year before starting again this month, Deputy Circuit Judge John Morgan heard evidence at Burnley County Court, which proved the fracture was caused by Dawson falling off a ladder rather than Hargreaves' car knocking the ladder onto him.

Coun. Wilkinson said: "At the start of the case, the judge was made aware Derek was a BNP councillor. He then chose to believe the evidence of Zurich's expert engineer and not Derek's expert engineer as to how his injuries were caused. Whether the judge was influenced by Derek's political persuasion we can only speculate. Derek is an excellent councillor and I don't think this will affect his position."

But Burnley Council leader, Coun. Gordon Birtwistle called for Coun. Dawson's resignation saying: "Any councillor that attempts to commit fraud is not a fit and proper person to be a councillor."

Mr Stephen Langton, representing Hargreaves, appealed against the judge's decision, which was not granted. Mr Langton and Mr James Hurd, representing Dawson, also appealed against the imposition of court costs, but again the judge found in favour of Zurich. The costs, which are expected to run into tens of thousands of pounds, will be decided later.

Mr Simon McCann, representing Zurich, argued: "Dawson and Hargreaves colluded together to defraud Zurich. Fraudsters should not benefit."

Mr Scott Clayton, claims fraud and investigations manager for Zurich, said: "Fraud is something we take very seriously as this case shows. Unfortunately, some people will go to great lengths to secure financial gain. We challenge fraud because the costs in challenging these cases are spiralling at the expense of the honest customer."

Burnley Express

British National Party Voters Don't Exist

In fact NONE of them are anything to do with the BNP frauds

In the last few days the British National Party (BNP) have started to deliver their campaign leaflets. There are at least two varieties but they are both quite similar and their main campaigning point is against immigration.

You can see leaflets delivered by the BNP around the UK thanks to The Straight Choice a website dedicated to mapping campaign leaflets. The current leaflets feature a section titled “Why we’re all voting BNP” with photos accompanied by a bit of text, presumably this is to encourage people to think BNP voters are just like you. Unfortunately for the BNP none of these voters are real and you can prove it by using web-based reverse image searches.

The Doctor

“I’m voting BNP because I see what immigration has done to the NHS. As a Doctor I want to see an end to ‘health tourists’ and to make sure British nurses are employed and paid fairly.”

Search for this image on tineye and you’ll quickly find out that this image has been used on a number of websites and that you can buy it to use royalty free from a stock photo website. The image was taken by an American photographer probably in 2006.

The Pensioners

“We’ve seen how this country has declined under the present government and we’re voting BNP because they will put pensioners before asylum seekers and ensure our future. We’re with the British National Party because it’s not fair that people who’ve worked hard and paid in all their lives are pushed to the back of the queue behind bogus asylum seekers.”

Search for this image on tineye and lo and behold it is available from the same stock photo website. Looking at the stock photo website you can find out the models are called Deanna and Mario.

The Soldier

“We’re fed up of being sent ill-equipped into foreign wars. The BNP will bring our troops home and ensure that British soldiers are not abused on the streets of our cities by Muslims.”

Again, search using tineye you can find that it’s from a different stock photo website. What’s particularly amusing here is that the photo is of an Irish guardsman, which is funny because the Irish are not British, Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. [Some mistake there, surely]

The Mother

“As a mother and wife I want to ensure that our children have a future. Our taxes should be invested in education and job creation, not wasted on paying bureaucrats or bankers’ bonuses.”

Searching tineye once again tells us this photo is entitled “Love my Mommy!” and was taken by another American photographer. The only conclusion I can make is that no real BNP voters were keen enough to appear on the leaflets.

The BNP are not the first people to send out leaflets with fake people on, when there was a decision to be made on whether Manchester should have city centre congestion charging leaflets were printed encouraging people to vote ‘YES’ with case studies showing how people would be better off, again, none of the people were real (Manchester Evening News: C-charge ‘locals’ don’t exist).

Newspeak

BNP man in fraud probe

Police and council officials are investigating allegations that a newly-elected BNP councillor has broken strict election laws.

John Burgess was elected to represent the far-right party in the Meir Park and Sandon ward on Stoke-on-Trent City Council on May 1. But concerns have been raised about statements he made on his nomination papers.

It is claimed he incorrectly stated he had a business interest at an address in Stoke-on-Trent.

Mr Burgess lives outside the city, in Blythe Bridge, and has been a BNP councillor on Staffordshire Moorlands District Council for a year. But he used a business connection in Longton to stand for election in Stoke-on-Trent.

He stated that his military memorabilia business, J & J Antiques, operates from a premises in Wood Street, as well as from his home address in Crossfield Avenue. But a Meir resident claims he has breached the Local Government Act 1972 and the Representation of the People Act 1983 by making false declarations on his nomination papers.

Now Staffordshire Police, the city council and the district council are all investigating complaints about Mr Burgess's conduct.

A police spokesman said: "Officers from our economic crime unit, which oversees electoral issues for the force, are liaising with Stoke-on-Trent City Council following a complaint concerning the May local elections."

City council head of legal services Paul Hackney said: "We have received a complaint which we are investigating. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

The district council has passed the matter to its standards committee, which is assessing whether to investigate further. Breaches of the Local Government Act can see defendants jailed for up to a year or given a heavy fine.

An Electoral Commission spokesman said: "We do not investigate breaches of the Act, as they are a police matter."

Mr Burgess vehemently denies any wrongdoing over his nomination papers and insisted the election campaign and result were legitimate.

He said: "I won that seat fair and square. This is just sour grapes from someone. I make pottery at the building in Wood Street, and although I don't have a rental agreement, I have an arrangement with the owners where they let me work there in return for some of the pottery I make.

"I also hold a military memorabilia fair twice a year at Longton Town Hall, which I rent from the city council, and I've done that for nine years. I'm not worried about these allegations and will continue to serve my ward and the city council as normal."

Stoke Sentinel

The One Big Vast Huge Onion

Patrick Harrington, general secretary of the One Big Vast Huge Onion, Solidarity, has joined up with the Green Bigot's forum, putting the membership of the Green Bigot not very far behind that of the hijacked One Big Vast Huge Onion itself.

Posting as Completelyblank, an entirely appropriate name, the Great Fantasist got himself in a tiz about our report on the fantastic progress of the One Big Vast Huge Onion, which put on an amazing 111 members out of a potential (alleged - they're liars, remember?) 10,000 from the BNP in the last year alone.

This puts the One Big Vast Huge Onion on a par with the membership of the Hemsby and Winterton branch of the Amalgamated National Union of Beetroot Scrapers, Clock Winders and Toe-nail Removal Engineers (meetings Thursday nights in the shed behind the barber's shop). Or to put it another way, more people will visit Enver's Turkish Kebab House in Gorleston High Street in the next thirty minutes and ask for a bowl of pickled corn flakes with rasberry flavoured Angel Delight topping than have joined the Great Fantasist's play union in a year.

But the Fantasist never says die - not when there's the question of £60 a year in subs due from dupes who join the One Big Vast Huge Onion, who get told to clear off and seek legal advice somewhere else because the One Big Vast Huge Onion is even more useless than a bucket with a hole in the bottom. The Fantasist reckons 500 members by the end of the year is a realistic target - but we've been seeing Harrington's "realistic targets" for years, and we reckon that by the time the One Big Vast Huge Onion signs up its 500th victim the Sun will have become a Red Giant and life on Earth will have ceased.

With the services of the massively successful Accentuate PR company (the one with the Yahoo webmail address) working tirelessly on the One Big Vast Huge Onion's behalf you'd have thought that they'd have secured the Great Fantasist a page of refutation in the Times at least, if not ten minutes with Paxo on Newsnight.

Instead the Fantasist ended up whining on the Green Bigot's free speech forums (the ones where you get kicked off if you don't say "Jack Black" while sticking pins in a voodoo doll). Joining the not so comradely comrades, he posted acres of dribble that twists this way and that and never comes close to the truth or ever gets anywhere near answering the points we made.

"Atreus shows his grasp of arithmetic by multiplying the monthly membership subscriptions by twelve," he whinges.

Erm, yes, guilty. £60 per year x 210 members and a BNP leader comes out at £12660 whichever way you shake it - maybe not in right wing loopy land though, but right wing loopy land is a tad notorious for dodgy accounting practices. Anybody reckon the excuses are being cooked up early...?

Anyway, the Accentuate PR company presumably staying in bed for the day and the One Big Vast Huge Onion's general secretary having an important declaration to make, the Great Fantasist decided his post was worthy of a greater audience than the Bigot, Brighton Dross and sock puppet Sarah, and begged the Bigot to put the post up on his blog - required reading for anybody in need of a good laugh.

The Bigot obliged and the Fantasist can spend the next six months reading himself 60 times a day, while the Bigot can go about saying he knows somebody really really important who knows Nick Griffin, doncherknow boyo.

I wonder if Sailor Bigot and Bosun Rock, who spend a lot of time supporting the One Big Vast Huge Onion (or say they do) have ever actually joined it? Nah, not if their BNP records are anything to go by. The Rock was so afraid of a few "poofters" in Brighton that he made his excuses and left Sid Williamson to get in the way of a soft drink can being disposed of by a Pride marcher, so we don't see him joining the picket lines anytime soon.

Back to the Fantasist. He ends his declaration: "As Solidarity members they have the strength of a militant fighting union behind them. 'Together we are strong' is not an empty phrase dreamed up by Norfolk Unity's supposed 'Great Fantasist'. It's a plain fact."

Yeah, okay - we fell of our chairs, too.

Here's a few quotes direct from the One Big Huge Vast Onion's website ((c) P. Harrington - why?):

The kind of activities that Solidarity are involved in include the following:

Picket Protesting
Campaigns against companies that off-shore a large percentage of call centre jobs abroad as well as organisations that that employ large numbers iof cheap foreign workers.

Pressure Local Councils

Lobby MP's

Pensions Crisis
Through the use of Posters / Leaflets and Flyers we shall highlight the risks that workers face due to the reduction of a decent pension scheme, particularly postal workers

Helping Members Secure Work
We shall aggressively demonstrate around the country against companies that don't employ native workers, or who replace them with cheap imported labour

The truth is, the One Big Huge Vast Onion has been involved in none of these things.

It's a plain fact.

Extracted from Norfolk Unity's tour of la la-land (March 17th)

See also Huge growth for BNP's one big union

The photo Harrington doesn't want you to see is here

Where next for the BNP's amoeba-like Solidarity union?

Following the fraudulent Extraordinary General Meeting held by the breakaway Solidarity union on Sunday, there is speculation about what will happen to both it and the original Solidarity from which it split. Both organisations are claiming the name, both are carrying on business as usual and both are purporting to be the Solidarity. Confusion is rife. To avoid making it worse, we'll refer to them as Solidarity A and B, A being the original union and B being the one stolen by Nick Griffin and Pat Harrington.

In a typically BNP-style News Bulletin, Solidarity B printed this little gem on its website yesterday;

'Solidarity members have reclaimed their Union at an Emergency General Meeting. The meeting heard how all members of Solidarity had been notified of the meeting called constitutionally by 2/3rds of the membership. Notices were published on the Union website, text messages sent to mobiles and email and postal bulletins sent.'

So two-thirds of the membership called for the EGM, did they? We're assured by three correspondents (writing to us completely independently as far as we can tell) who are all in the union, that they were not contacted in any way at all, either by text, post or phone, and if they had been they would certainly have voted against the changes. One wonders how this two-thirds figure could be proven and whether the BNP actually bothered to get in touch with anyone it thought might possibly be in opposition to its great takeover plan.

One of our correspondents also asked exactly how many people attended the EGM - an interesting question which we would love to have answered. Perhaps Harrington (who has posted on here using the apt name 'doublethink') would like to post some details.

'Those who may have been frightened to attend had been offered personal guarantees of their safety and dedicated security to allay their fears.'

This is clearly BNP-inspired 'by implication' bullshit that ranks alongside the fake assassination attempt on Nick Griffin as entirely stupid and completely unnecessary. The BNP is always claiming threats and intimidation, though it's usually alleged that it's 'reds' that have carried them out. Who is it this time - Tim Hawke and Clive Potter?

Regardless of all this, Nick Griffin has, using a couple of other people, regained control of what he sees as his union. Yes, Griffin, not Harrington. In fact, Griffin's grubby, chubby mitts are all over this fiasco, as you can easily tell when you consider how Solidarity has been snatched from those who wanted it to be almost an ordinary union (even though it would be supportive of the far-right) and placed in the hands of those who simply wish to exploit it for their own ends.

Though starting off on the wrong foot with a sacked General Secretary, rumours of financial mismanagement at best and theft at worst, the very clear theft of the membership list, the Paypal account and the website, Solidarity B is patently going on to better things, with a completely illegal EGM and the unconstitutional election to the Executive of two people who were either not members at all or certainly hadn't been for three months, Lindsey Nieuwhof and Simone Clarke.

Lindsey, you may recall, is the wife of Lambertus Nieuwhof, the new(ish) BNP web guru and school-bombing terrorist who, at Harrington and Griffin's instigation, locked Potter and Hawke out of the Solidarity website. Simone Clarke is the ballet dancer everyone made such a fuss about a few months back - generally disliked in the BNP because her (ex?) partner and the father of her child is Cuban-Chinese and they just don't like that sort of thing.

All this, though a laugh for us opponents of the BNP and its allied idiots, is really beside the point. This whole fiasco was all caused when Potter and Hawke decided there was something dodgy in the accounts so rightly suspended Harrington pending an investigation. Since then a takeover has been engineered in collusion with the BNP through theft after theft - surely making the whole Solidarity B formation non-financial fraud on a fairly grand scale? If we were in the same unhappy position as Potter and Hawke, we would immediately begin seeking advice for a legal challenge to the ownership of Solidarity via the High Court.

Naturally, there is a financial angle to all of this. Well there would be - Nick Griffin's involved. Apart from the poor bloody members of Solidarity B, who are about to be ripped off for every penny they can spare via all the schemes that Griffin and Harrington will think up between them, another body from Harrington's Third Way mob has suddenly popped up from nowhere with a nice little potential earner.

Before we get into this one, we ought to state that we have seen evidence that not only supports this next part of the Solidarity disaster but also leads off to a couple of interesting tangents that we'll be picking up on in the very near future. That said, here's the next part of the story...

While he was General Secretary of Solidarity A, Pat Harrington was anxious to get the union to make use of a PR company named Accentuate. For various reasons - mostly to do with cost - this proposal was rejected by Harrington's fellow EC members. Probably just as well because Accentuate, which is run by Graham Williamson - former treasurer of the National Front and old chum of both Nick Griffin and Pat Harrington - appears to be a one-man PR company with absolutely nothing behind it. In fact, as far as we can ascertain, Williamson has no experience of PR beyond a single mention (from 2004) we could find on the internet, where his name is plugged in connection with one Dave Stephens (a fellow-member of the Third Way and one of the so-called Metric Martyrs) and the Customary Measures Society, one of those archaic groups that oppose the unnecessarily long and gruelling change to metric measurement.

Despite this, Williamson was keen to be associated with Solidarity A and indeed, intended to work for the union for one day a week for the princely sum of £100! No doubt, now that Solidarity B appears to be off the ground and under Harrington's control, Williamson will get his way.

Some way down the 'Strategy' document for Solidarity's PR requirements, which looks like it was largely gleaned from the Ladybird Book of PR Tips, mention is made of monitoring media reports of Solidarity's activities;

'...the first would be on the basis of ‘hits’ from press statements. This can be identified through using a firm like Durant’s who would monitor the media and supply us with identified coverage. I think this is a must regardless since we need to monitor what is being said about the Union. Whilst it will be very limited at present an active PR campaign will increase it significantly.'

We've no idea who 'Durant' is, though it wouldn't surprise us in the least if it turned out to be another ex-NF colleague of Griffin and current Third Way colleague of Williamson and Harrington, Dave Durant, who has stood for Third Way in a couple of elections (Hornchurch 2001 and Upminster 2005). More info on this would be appreciated.

Solidarity B has hardly been in existence for a few days and already the theme that is emerging is the familiar BNP theme of jobs for the family and friends. Harrington was, with Griffin's encouragement, demanding a wage for the work he was putting in despite the fact that everyone else was prepared to work for nothing in an attempt to enable the birth and growth of the union, and seems to be wangling a job for Williamson. If Durant is who we think he is, that's another one sorted - and so it goes on.

And who pays for all these fake jobs for these losers? The Solidarity membership, of course.

But jobs for the boys and financial shenanigans isn't all we associate with anything tainted by Nick Griffin. He's a great lover of political stunts too, as witnessed by the gag he wore at the first 'free speech' trial last year. Williamson seems to be on Griffin's wavelength because he's suggesting that Solidarity does what Griffin himself has done with the BNP - introduce a non-white character to deflect accusations of racism. The only real surprise is that they haven't (yet) got a Jew to come along too.

'The first ‘stunt’ should be a Press Conference launching the Union in Essex unveiling our first Sikh member Pramjit Sadra. This of course helps to counter the racist...accusations.'

Slightly out of date because the Third Way site mentions that Sadra actually joined Solidarity on or around April 20th of this year. Curiously Sadra, just like Nick Griffin, seems to be into all kinds of bizarre get rich quick schemes - search Google and take a look. It's interesting reading.

We'll leave this story for the moment because things are cooking in the background which might well mean there's a lot more about to happen. However, nil desperandum and all that jazz - we'll leave you with something to read in the form of Graham Williamson's great PR plan for Solidarity. Most of it seems to be the kind of stuff a schoolboy could have come up with in his lunch break but as the Solidarity B membership may well end up forking out £100 a day for this tosh, they should have the chance to see it first. Read on...

'PR STRATEGY FOR:

SOLIDARITY- The British Workers Union

The Union needs publicity in order to raise awareness. This will facilitate recruitment but also help create a ‘general’ (preferably positive) image, particularly to those ‘undecided’ and ‘outsiders’.

There are only three ways of reaching out to the general public, ‘Advertising’, ‘In-house’ promotion and Publicity.

Advertising

This will take the form of leaflets, both general and industry specific, but could include adverts in magazines (whether political or trade).

The advantage is that we control the message; the disadvantage is the limited coverage this can give us. Minor political parties struggle to get their message across when relying on leaflets and it might, for various reasons, be even harder to get our leaflets into the hands of a workforce (although it may only take one leaflet to bring a sympathetic worker ‘out’?).

Leaflets can also be costly and advertising even more so. Obviously however leafleting is still an absolute necessity since we can guarantee our address is given out, gives all members a role and is the only medium we can control. Beyond recruitment the impact will be negligible.

‘In-house’ promotion

This takes the form of advertising, promotional articles etc. within sympathetic circles e.g. BNP and Third Way events and publications..

Being a captive market this can initially boost membership and ultimately provide a steady stream of new recruits. The disadvantage is that it might a) raise questions of ‘entryism’ or accusations of being a front group b) make it more difficult to be independent.

It is a short circuit to increased membership but needs to be balanced at the earliest opportunity with parallel recruitment outside of politically sympathetic circles.

Publicity

The majority of the public’s awareness stems from what they read in the media, whether in print or on TV (and to a much lower extent on the radio). In comparison to direct advertising, including printed material, ‘third-party endorsement’ (or at least neutrality) is seen as more credible.

A good Public Relations strategy will seek to maximise its ‘horizontal’ hits i.e. volume of coverage as well as its ‘vertical’ i.e. positive hits in the media.

The ability to achieve positive coverage will rely upon the content and layout of any Press Release/feature and the relationship (even image) between the Union (or host PR company) and the media.

Press Release

This could either be about an event e.g. demonstration/AGM etc or a position e.g. on general industry matters e.g. minimum wage or on something specific e.g. a company’s labour relations.

To begin with it will be more of the latter but as we grow there will be more opportunities to be more active.

There is a ‘right’ way and style of writing any press release: Headline - who, what, why, where (preferably in a popular style) – quotes (harder to twist through fear of libel) – conclusion. You have to take account of the average journalists’ routines e.g. they cut from the bottom, prefer e-mails, like to put a face or voice behind a release etc. This comes with experience and professional interest i.e. tricks of the trade.

Features

Features on the Union or personalities will increase public credibility and tend to ‘humanise’ the organisation.

Such Organisational features rely upon a USP(s) (Unique Selling Point). For the Union this would be opposition to outsourcing, cheap migrant labour and PC. It will sell better if linked to actual events i.e. move of a call centre or factories e.g. “We oppose the loss of 200 jobs at British Gas’s Kettering Regional HQ because Management prefer using cheap labour in Malaysia. It’s deceiving the British public and putting people out of work”

It also has mileage being a Moral and Libertarian Union e.g. “the Fire Brigade sacked these officers but we welcome them because their personal or political views are no concern of ours”. Again examples of actually recruiting such people would help.

Personalities can be used because of who they are or where they come from. When Mick Shaw became Fire Brigade President one of my Regional papers did a page spread on him. The only link being he was born in Romford. It would be possible to get publicity for Solidarity officials. It can even use controversy in its favour. Again it humanises the Union.

Quotes

Quotes will be sought by journalists if they think you have something useful and credible to say. This might be direct to Head Office or a Press Office but can also be to known officials. At the last fuel protest I was contacted for a quote merely because I worked for a haulage company and I had credibility in the eyes of the journalist. I can imagine many such opportunities for Union officials with the right ‘priming’.

All the above can occur if a positive relationship with the media is achieved through regularity, personal contact and credibility. The latter has the same dynamic as between the public and the media. If the recipient believes you ‘have clean hands’ they will take more note. By using a PR company you immediately excite the snob in the journalist i.e. this organisation is serious (might actually pay for the privilege!) and a belief that such a company is likely to be a little more objective than his client.

THE STRATEGY

Defensive as well as Positive

Whilst the Union has now been well and truly born most of the publicity so far has been rather negative i.e. it’s a BNP front-group. Whilst there has been good defensive work on the blogs and to a lesser extent with some of the media it is going to difficult if we are always chasing our tail and reacting to events rather than creating them.

Of course the Union faces opposition because a) of its patriotic position b) BNP links. They are attempting to limit the Union’s freedom of action vis a vis neutral actors (businesses, media etc) and put-off potential recruits. They are treating the Union as if it were a political party by ascribing to it policies i.e. a 'scab' or 'racist' union. This however can be turned to our advantage (see later).

We need to minimise the number of opponents and their effectiveness. There will be a war of position with and within them. I believe our PR strategy will not only achieve this aim but of course create lots of positive publicity at the same time, leading to more recruits and a better image, leading to improved coverage translated into more recruits etc.

Positive

In the first year we need to in the:

Short term

a) Send out National Press Releases introducing the Union.
b) Organise ‘Stunts’ to attract interest.
c) Continue with defensive activity on blogs and appropriate press releases.

Medium term

This occurs once we have actual campaigns under way and appointed officials. We can then bring in event press releases, features and quotes.

To begin with we need to prepare Press releases on selected issues e.g. off shoring, whilst targeting sectors e.g. trade journals and the like.

The first ‘stunt’ should be a Press Conference launching the Union in Essex unveiling our first Sikh member Pramjit Sadra. This of course helps to counter the racist and ER accusations.

This conference should be largely for a selected local press (and any sympathetic journalists we may know of). In this way we can control the output and minimise opposition. We should tape/record the event for showing on web and promoting to the media at large.

Remuneration

There are only two ways; piece or daily rates. The first would be on the basis of ‘hits’ from press statements. This can be identified through using a firm like Durant’s who would monitor the media and supply us with identified coverage. I think this is a must regardless since we need to monitor what is being said about the Union. Whilst it will be very limited at present an active PR campaign will increase it significantly.

The other way of remuneration would be daily rates say of £100. Initially say one day per week. Although the work wouldn’t/shouldn’t be restricted to one specific day i.e. it would be carried out as and when it is a simple way of controlling expenditure. The evidence of the effectiveness of the PR strategy would still be required even if not directly tied to ‘hits’ at this stage.

Conclusion

I am keen to launch the PR strategy because a) I need to try and build my business b) explore all my skills and ideas c) I believe the Union has a massive potential and that a great deal of its success will rely upon an effective PR campaign(s) d) I am a member of the Union and wish it to succeed.

I await your deliberations.'

Don't hold your breath, is our advice.

Something "not very nice" about the BNP says former organiser

British Nationalism "sleazy at the highest level"

Grudges die hard on the ever fractious far-right, where factional in-fighting and petty personal squabbles are a way of life.

Long after his departure from the BNP, former Humberside and Lincolnshire organiser Dr. David Michael continues to nurse grievances first aired at the time of his resignation. Michael has since washed up on the shores of the eccentric Sharon Ebanks's tiny New Nationalist Party, and supplies The Thunderbolt column to its website.

The latest Thunderbolt column, Five easy lessons for British Nationalists, begins with the easiest lesson of all - don't trust Nick Griffin!

We probably don't need a long-standing supporter of various racist organisations to tell us that, but there is something endearingly honest about David Michael - a kind of bemused outrage normally found in very young children just told there is no Father Christmas. Michael seems never to have got over his discovery that Nick Griffin and the BNP top brass work in decidedly mysterious ways.

Michael's 2002 resignation letter was addressed to "BNP national and regional leaders, key BNP activists in Hull and Grimsby" and made not a jot of difference to the BNP, despite containing numerous allegations against leading members of the organisation, including the ubiquitous Tony Lecomber (recently proscribed, as we report elsewhere).

Detailing how he found Humberside and Lincolnshire BNP "a tragic mess", Michael's resignation letter also speaks of "bitter feuding" between leading members Tony Braithwaite and John Brayshaw, then tells of how he (Michael) and others resurrected the unit into something like effectiveness - "Organized nationalism was flourishing in Hull for the first time in 60 years".

But this is the British National Party, and things are never so simple.

Michael claims that "Special Branch and its fellow travellers launched a two-pronged attack on us". The details given by Michael suggest nothing more than a routine information gathering exercise on the part of the Branch such as all small political groups - left and right - are subjected to. That, apparently, constitutes the first prong of the "attack". The second prong seems to have come from within the BNP itself.

According to Michael: "Mr John Brayshaw was undertaking a serious programme of destabilization against our resurgent unit. This consisted at first of petty actions, such as the refusal to release our local funds to East Midlands branch to help in their general election campaign, and petty gossip and tittle tattle, some of which got back to us by various means."

Michael recognises this "as an attempt by the Establishment to cause trouble".

Brayshaw is accused of "working on [Tony] Lecomber", who "was going to go into 'dirty tricks' mode" (no surprise there, then), and as a result Michael stepped down to save Lecomber the bother of forcing him out.

All of this was wrapped up in the tale of David Hannam and (yet again) missing BNP cash, which forms the first part of David Michael's "Five easy lessons..." Thunderbolt essay.

"A few years ago I had the dubious honour of being the Humberside and Lincolnshire organizer of the BNP," writes Michael. "In due course I handed over the job to a young fellow, one David Hannam, giving him my full support. I did not know him particularly well but he appeared keen and very active; ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ as the saying goes. Hannam subsequently went to live with the then local treasurer, Diane Bridgeman, who is now his wife. The relevance of this will soon become apparent."

Michael relates how he was told that money put aside for the payment of leaflets had not been paid to an aggrieved printer by Hannam and Bridgeman, and asks: "So what had happened to the money? To the hard-working members’ money?" Apparently, Michael was told, the dubious duo had used it to pay their telephone bill.

Incensed, Michael attempted to contact Nick Griffin. Unable to do so, "I telephoned Hannam. He confirmed that he had not paid for the leaflets. He had no coherent explanation. I told him that unless he returned the money to the party and resigned as organizer then I would complain to the police. I gave him a short deadline.... Hannam duly returned the loot and resigned from the position of local organizer. I subsequently received an email from Tony Lecomber, then BNP branch liaison officer, thanking me for my good offices in getting the money back."

But - again - this is, as we so often note, the British National Party, because then "strange things started to happen."

"The gentleman who was the regional organizer for the area at the time made it very clear that he was not happy with my line against Hannam and that he wanted him reinstated. He felt that Hannam had just made ‘a mistake’. I sent Nick Griffin an account of what had happened. It eventually became very clear that Griffin also wanted to accept Hannam’s account of the incident as ‘a mistake’.

"Now, consider this. Hannam had apparently used money intended for leaflets to pay a telephone account – nobody denied this to me when I pointed it out. It is rather difficult to see how this could be done by mistake. When threatened with police action if he didn’t resign as local organizer, Hannam resigned. If he had simply made an innocent mistake (rather than committing a crime) why would he do this? Surely he would only resign in response to such a threat if he knew that prosecution and a possible prison sentence for theft awaited him . . ."

Hannam and Bridgeman's story then changed: "They started putting it about that Hannam had decided that leaflets were a bad idea and a waste of money. The problem with that story, of course, is that not only does it conflict with the earlier version of the incident as ‘a mistake’ but it spectacularly fails to account for why the decision was taken AFTER the leaflets had been ordered and printed, or how the money for the leaflets ended up in Hannam’s personal account!"

These points were put to Griffin, says, Michael, but to no avail. It was then put to Michael that Griffin wanted the local elections contested in Hull, and Diane Bridgeman being the candidate, any action taken against Hannam might scotch that plan.

Michael wasted no time: "My response was swift and sure. It seemed obvious that Hannam had stolen money from the local party – from good, decent, fellow nationalists. Griffin was trying to cover up for him. I was not prepared to go along with such sleaze. How could I criticize the other parties, the Establishment, the system, for being rotten to the core when the leader of the BNP was behaving in a manner that was every bit as damnable? I promptly resigned from the BNP."

The words "sleaze", "Griffin" and "BNP" frequently being found in close proximity, usually in the same sentence, we can only wonder why it took so long for the penny to drop. But more surprises were to follow for David Michael:

"After several months had passed I was saddened to see that Hannam was reinstated as organizer of the local BNP. However, my sadness turned to amazement when I later learned that Hannam had been promoted to the position of deputy treasurer of the BNP. I could only assume that Griffin had permitted this because he wanted a loyal crook in the treasury – perhaps someone who could be trusted to keep dirty secrets."

"Am I telling the truth?" Michael plaintively asks. "I have made very serious allegations against the leader of a political party and against its deputy treasurer. I have accused the deputy treasurer of the BNP of apparently attempting to steal money – of apparently knowingly and deliberately misappropriating party funds for his own personal use. I have accused the chairman of the BNP of knowingly appointing someone who apparently attempted to steal money from his fellow nationalists to the position of deputy treasurer. If those allegations are false then let Mr Griffin or Mr Hannam sue me. In fact, I dare them to do so. Not only that but if they do not do so I assert that the electorate is entitled to wonder why not! (In fact I can tell the electorate what Griffin’s problem is. He knows that numerous emails and other documents were flying around any one of which could prove damning should it surface in court.)"

"How can one be loyal to men who steal from their comrades or who conspire to hide such treachery?" Michael demands. "Let the truth be told and let it be heard far and wide!"

And Sharon Ebanks is one person Michael can rely upon to ensure that the "truth" is indeed heard far and wide - she could barely wait to get the link to Michael's article up on Stormfront.

Michael notes Griffin's credentials as an alleged "moderate" (in far-right terms), but immediately returns to the attack: "But now here’s something strange. As various enemies ranging from the BBC to the Anti-Nazi League have pointed out, Mr Hannam served a prison sentence for putting out some politically incorrect leaflets in June 1999. Normally putting out politically incorrect leaflets would be praiseworthy. The problem is that in this case, the leaflets were so rabid that they made Heinrich Himmler look like the Pink Tooth Fairy in comparison. They tell us, inter alia: ‘Jews are in England unlawfully since the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 has never been repealed.’ (How Pat Richardson, the Jewish BNP councillor for Epping, would love that one if she knew about it! And what would Griffin’s poor little legal beagle, Lee Barnes, think?) It goes on to tell us ‘Now these illegal immigrants completely control our news and TV . . .’ and it continues in similar vein."

Michael is generous enough to pass this off as a "mistake" on Hannam's part, but "...it was the sort of ‘mistake’ that only a complete idiot would make. And only a complete idiot would appoint someone who makes that sort of ‘mistake’ to the position of deputy treasurer of something purporting to be a serious political party.

"Unless, of course, there is some reason why a thief and an idiot might come in handy occupying such a position . . ."

Well, we can only speculate, but this might be the time to draw your attention to certain "unsettling accounts" as provided by the BNP to the Electoral Commission, and dissected here by a disgruntled BNP member (unformatted text document). It makes for extremely interesting reading, and has certainly given many BNP members pause for thought before putting their hands in their pockets.

Tales of dodgy accounting are hardly new to the BNP. Elsewhere we note the case of Sharon Edwards, one-time deputy to Nick Griffin, who, along with husband Steve (West Midlands organiser) and - perhaps more importantly - BNP National Treasurer Mike Newlands, left in disgust after clashing with Griffin over financial irregularities.

Since their departure, Griffin (described by Sharon Ebanks as "a corrupt thief") has greatly strengthened his hold over the party, and there's no room in it for anybody who asks difficult questions - such as why did a "thief and an idiot" come to be Deputy Treasurer of the British National Party?

As David Michael is left to conclude: "British nationalism and white nationalism have become sleazy. Horribly sleazy. And they have become sleazy at the highest level."

Footnote: Ebanks's Stormfront thread linking to David Michael's article has been pulled. Now who would want to do that?

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.