BNP leaflets will go undelivered

The extremist British National Party face the prospect of seeing their election leaflets go undelivered, the postal workers leader has warned.

Billy Hayes, who leads the Communication Workers Union, sent a reminder that his members are fully entitled to refuse to handle any BNP material. Hayes told OBV: “The union’s position is we negotiated a conscience clause where every individual members is entitled to refuse to deliver if the find it offensive to deliver leaflets for fascist parties.”

Asked whether that could mean widespread refusal to deliver BNP leaflets, he said: “It’s quite common, yes. You don’t get many people in Stockwell [for instance] wanting to deliver BNP leaflets.”

The union leader was speaking during a visit to Operation Black Vote’s east London offices. Hayes stressed that it was important for political parties to get his members on their side, but added that he had no intention of following his predecessor into politics.

Asked if he was ever tempted to follow the CWU’s former general-secretary Alan Johnson, he replied: “Only in so far as representing my members. I have no desire to be the Home Secretary just yet.”

OBV

Man acquitted in BNP 'threats' case

A businessman who confronted British National Party members when they put a leaflet through his door has said he feels "vindicated" after being found not guilty of threatening the men.

Mohammed Latif, 38, was accused of swearing at Duncan Warner, 44, and Gerard Williams, 54, and calling them "Nazis" before trying to snatch their leaflets. But the business manager, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, who is married with two young children, insisted he did not use any foul language. And the court believed his version of events - that he was actually trying to hand the pamphlet back.

Mr Warner, organiser for the party's Stockport branch at the time, and Mr Williams, who has been a BNP member for five years, were delivering pamphlets on April 9 this year when the incident happened. The pair were distributing flyers in Broadstone Road, Stockport, when a "Muslim man" approached and asked if they were responsible for the material, Mr Warner told Stockport Magistrates' Court.

"I ignored his question and walked away. He came back and called us Nazi f***ers, and shouted "hey, I'm talking to you d***heads," he said. "I was very offended by this insult because members of my family died in the war fighting the Nazis."

But Mr Latif said he was handing the leaflet back because he did not want his wife or two young sons to see it. He said he only approached them to ask why they deliver leaflets without checking who lives in the houses.

"Maybe if I wanted to plaster my bedroom in BNP leaflets I might have taken them. I wanted a civil conversation. I didn't threaten to follow anyone home. In fact I told the police I was worried for my own safety, in case there were any reprisals," he said.

Speaking after the case, Mr Latif urged people to stand up for what they believe in. He said: "I feel vindicated. I was an innocent man who was dragged through the courts, causing a lot of distress to my family and friends. I do not want other people to go through what I have been through but everyone should try to find a voice to defend their beliefs. It is so important."

Huddersfield Daily Examiner

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

Hope not hate European election leaflet

Click on images to see them full size

The new hardhitting HOPE not hate leaflet designed for the European elections is available now. It exposes the fascist core at the heart of the BNP and how they want to link up with other hardline fascists and racists in the European Parliament. A4 folded to DL size, full colour.

Check prices and order from here or the leaflet can be downloaded for printing from here (830kb pdf).

Row erupts over BNP 'race discrimination' claims

A council chief is demanding to see evidence of racial discrimination in a row over a British National Party election leaflet.

Burnley Borough Council chief executive Mr Steve Rumbelow has branded the leaflets, which claims that the council discriminates against white job candidates in favour of black and ethnic minority candidates, "wildly inaccurate". He has issued an edict that the leaflets be revoked and corrected. But BNP leader Coun. Sharon Wilkinson is holding firm with the message: "We stand by our literature."

Mr Rumbelow is now demanding to see evidence and said: "If the BNP believe that these claims are right, then I would be very interested to see the evidence so that I can investigate it."

In a statement, Mr Rumbelow refutes the claims of positive discrimination. He says: "It has come to our attention that a leaflet containing wildly inaccurate information regarding council employment policy is being circulated by the BNP. The leaflet makes misleading claims about how the council treats job candidates from different ethnic backgrounds. The council does not discriminate in the way that it recruits its workers. By law, we employ the best person for the job, irrespective of their ethnic background. There can be no excuse for this material being published in an election leaflet and the BNP should withdraw the leaflet and correct it."

But Coun. Wilkinson cites one of the council's strategic objectives, which aims to "increase the percentage of council employees from minority ethnic communities to 8.5% by March 2008" as the basis for the party's claims.

She said: "Fact: The council's stated intention is to employ more people from ethnic minorities. To employ by reason of ethnicity cannot be anything less than racial discrimination. People should be employed on ability and competence and for no other reason."

But Mr Rumbelow has been swift to point out that this policy is aimed to ensure that the council's workforce better represents the borough's population, but is not an active target.

Mr Rumbelow, in his role as returning officer, held a briefing at the beginning of the election process to warn political agents about the content of election leaflets and addresses. He stressed that any material that "implies that the council is acting unlawfully in its decisions or in the way that it operates or contains information that is inaccurate about the council" will be "robustly challenged".

Mr Rumbelow added: "Each case will be considered individually, including what action is appropriate."

Burnley Express

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