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.