The beating of the BNP in Belfast

Marion Thomas has won her employment tribunal against the BNP. Surprisingly, after three days of public embarrassment and allegations the tribunal did not take the initially quoted six weeks to reach its decision. The tribunal concluded that Mrs Thomas was "automatically unfairly dismissed for non-compliance with the statutory dismissal procedure".

This tribunal was held earlier this month. It had two missing ingredients: the real protagonists. This case was always about Nick Griffin, the increasingly desperate and unpopular leader of the far-right BNP, and his one time financial crutch, guru and indeed ‘consigliere’, Jim Dowson. Both Griffin and his daughter Jennifer Matthys were criticised by the panel for failing to attend.

Instead, the employment tribunal at Killymead House, conveniently sandwiched between Belfast’s Republican Short Strand and Loyalist Donegal Pass, had to make do with second best. It’s a shame really, as this was the perfect geographical location for a no holds barred, all encompassing exploration of how the BNP crushed ideologies, shattered political ambitions and in no small way, descended into acrimonious tribal conflict and civil war.

Both the meteoric rise and the final devastating fall of the BNP were orchestrated here in Belfast in that fateful tie up between Griffin’s BNP and Jim Dowson. The basis of the unfair dismissal claim was as much a case of who is to blame for the failures, and who was to blame for the mountain of debt that has crippled the party. Taking on the BNP was Marion Thomas, Jim Dowson’s softly spoken sister in law. The nervous Scot was as good as on her own at the tribunal, once her nephew in law was quietly paid off before the hearing began on the first day.

Of course, Belfast can be a challenging place. It has an often intimidating geography for outsiders, even to those who purport undying love for the extreme fringes of Irish society. The tribunal panel commented on as much in its ruling but it was also quick to point out “this was, in truth, a banal and ordinary employment tribunal claim alleging unfair dismissal and non-payment of holiday pay, overtime, expenses and notice pay."

For those of us who squeezed into room ten, it was anything other than “banal”.

When having a call centre in Belfast worked for the BNP, it worked exceptionally well. Taking advantage of a low wage economy on an industrial estate in Dundonald, few people felt the desire to trawl across suburban east Belfast to poke around there. Prime and paramount for the BNP was secrecy. We did poke around however, and from almost the very moment we made it our business, we had almost two years of excellent non-stop exclusives detailing almost every squalid and shameful shenanigan going on inside the BNP’s call centre. Some of what we found out was too sensitive to print, some of it was just breathtakingly degenerate.

From the village of Comber where the BNP set themselves up in flats and homes and joined “Kick The Pope” bands and even toyed with the idea of moving the whole party machinery there, we reported how a lonely and insecure Jennifer Matthys (nee Griffin) plotted and schemed against her rivals, namely the Dowson family. We forensically investigated Jim Dowson’s financial dealings, his shady past and dubious political friends. We predicted an acrimonious parting and worked as hard as we could to facilitate one.

And so it came to pass that the very geography that the BNP courted became their undoing. They burnt their bridges in an unforgiving environment either by sheer arrogance, or just stupidity. The cost is not just £2500 for Marion Thomas but also whatever it cost for Nick Griffin to send seven BNP officials to Belfast on his behalf now his business arrangements have turned so sour.

Marion Thomas’s primary complaint was that she was unfairly dismissed and owed eight days holiday pay plus out of pocket expenses. The BNP argued that Thomas was only actually employed by the BNP for six months, excluding her from entitlement to both redundancy payments and any compensation. For good measure, the BNP admitted they would have dismissed her anyway. But just to confuse matters further they claimed that they also offered Thomas the opportunity to discuss a transfer to the “mainland” after the relationship between Griffin and Dowson broke down, which led to the inevitable closure of the Dundonald office. But Thomas had refused to travel to Britain to discuss any prospective move. She claimed she had not believed that the BNP would honour their pledge to pay reasonable expenses as she was already owed money by the party.

Neither side denied there was an absence of formal employment contracts and so, on this issue, it becomes apparent that with the disappointing absence of both Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson from the hearing, Thomas could only claim that Griffin, his daughter Jennifer Matthys and Jim Dowson all gave verbal employment assurances. The BNP’s legal representative could only claim that either Nick Griffin did not make such offers, or that Jim Dowson was not in the position to make such offers. The ins and outs of what date it was that Thomas actually began getting paid by the BNP and not by Dowson’s front company are, of course, not as interesting as what the BBC describes as the “secretive world” of the BNP.

It’s fair to say that no matter what extremism still exists in Northern Ireland, that the BNP was viewed locally as a most unwelcome addition. The case received uncomplimentary cross community coverage, including a front page on the Belfast Telegraph for two consecutive days. The revelations were sensational. “I was sacked by BNP after dispute with Griffin’s daughter”, led the Belfast Telegraph. Thomas, nicknamed the “matron” for her role in overseeing up to thirty employees at the Dundonald office during the 2009 European elections, admitted with some chagrin that she regarded herself as a junior to Jennifer Matthys once the leader’s daughter had moved to Northern Ireland. Thomas, who was never a member of the party also alleged that she was promoted to the BNP’s treasury team with a focus on ringing around creditors to try and make arrangements for the clearing of some initial £275,000 of debt. It was in this capacity that she says she felt obliged to report to Jim Dowson that Jennifer Matthys had “borrowed” some £900 from a BNP account after a mistake by her husband Angus Mathys who worked in the post room. Thomas claims that this money was set aside to pay creditors.

Thomas also repeated the claim that she made to the BBC’s Panorama programme that party treasurer Clive Jefferson demanded that invoices that were unpaid be stamped as “paid”. Jefferson who was in the tribunal room hurriedly approached the BNP’s legal advisor with a written note soon after. The Belfast Telegraph described the atmosphere in the tribunal as “charged” with the “imposing presence of several heavyweights of the BNP lining the back row”. The BNP did not appreciate having somebody from Searchlight recording the proceedings either.

For most of the three days there was a heavy focus on the bizarre and almost comical circumstances surrounding the alleged holding of Thomas against her will. As the split between Dowson and Griffin grew more and more acrimonious last year, Thomas alleged that she was asked to “mediate” between the two sides. In November of last year she met three BNP officials in the car park of Tescos in Comber twice on the same day. On both occasions large amounts of cash exchanged hands, £2500 in the first instance and then, later in the day, a further £5000. It would appear that the BNP was buying back its own membership details and computer server and while waiting for the equipment to arrive Thomas got into a van driven by former Yorkshire Regional Organiser Ian Kitchen with Clive Jefferson and Adam Walker. Thomas alleged that she was told she was not allowed to leave the van and that Jefferson in particular was “agitated”. Upon the arrival of the equipment, Thomas further alleged that Jefferson, the BNP’s treasurer, removed £200 from the £5000 as compensation for his “inconvenience”.

Of further inconvenience to the BNP would appear to be Dowson’s new political venture which Thomas described as a “Nationalist campaigning group”. Interestingly, the group was described by the BNP as a “commercial rival” and not a political rival. The intimation by the BNP appeared to be that Dowson still had access to the BNP’s membership files and was running his organisation with the BNP’s data. Thomas denied this and claimed that Dowson is in fact using the BNP membership list that was leaked on line in 2007. The BNP’s legal advisor said that the BNP has since made a series of “test calls” to the BNP’s old offices in Dundonald and alleged that Thomas was now answering the phones for their bitter “commercial rivals”. Thomas denied this. The Scottish accent she claims the BNP heard was in fact the voice of her sister Anne, Dowson’s wife.

The BNP were represented in Belfast by the mildly competent Patrick Harrington. The faux trade union leader is a former close comrade of Griffin from when they ran the NF together back in the 1980’s. Harrington struggled with some areas of the tribunal’s processes and had to be guided by the Vice president of the panel, Mr Noel Kelly. Harrington has something of a love-hate relationship with Belfast himself. He has been the constant focus for one newspaper there that has printed the allegations, rife in far-right circles, that Harrington holds Republican sympathies. While the rest of the BNP party had to be admonished for their constant whispering and disruptions on the first day, Harrington conducted his defence for the respondent (the BNP) with a modicum of professionalism even if it was slow, monotone and often judged irrelevant by Thomas’s solicitor. If anything, Harrington was revelling in some kind of role as the sadistic schoolmaster, trying to trip up the housewife who has taken to answering every question and counter accusation with “rubbish”. In the week leading up to the hearing the BNP had alleged that Thomas and Dowson were in fact lovers and not just brother and sister in law. When questioned abut her living arrangements, Thomas appeared ready to explode violently to a loaded question. Marion Thomas was being goaded.

On the second day, Harrington woke up to find his features prominent in the Belfast Telegraph. Arriving at the tribunal with his wife “Mish”, (Some of you may know her better by her stage name "Mish Bondage" or if it suits, “Frightening Fanny”!)

He became entangled in an exchange with two Irish trade unionists, one of whom was holding the flag of the International Brigades. Whether he has some kind of post traumatic disorder relating to his controversial days at the Polytechnic of North London or not, I do not know, but Harrington reacted very badly to being called a fascist and so began a lot of pushing and shoving before his wife Mish decided to physically launch herself at people wildly, apparently upset at her husband’s picture having been in the paper that morning.

Sackings and expulsions from the BNP are never straightforward and normally have a heavy hint of intimidation, humiliation or violence. Who can forget one former employee from the Belfast office who claimed that she was threatened with a shot gun, or how the leakers’ of the 2007 membership list had their house ransacked by the BNP’s security team?

In Belfast, the BNP had sent some of their “finest”. They sent men who were not immune to violence and who were in fact, quite adept at it. They also sent Angus Matthys, Nick Griffin’s son in law. How did Angus get to marry the prized daughter of the Fuhrer. Were other suitors too politically ambitious? Angus carried all of the boxes into the tribunal - and out again. When he worked at the offices of the BNP in Northern Ireland his main task appeared to be donning rubber gloves and poking through thousands of letters that contained, among other things, excrement and razor blades in the search for cash. He swept up, made tea and also went to the post office and the supermarket for teabags. He was not known as the “dynamo”. One source we had in the office at the time told us that Angus was called “Trigger”, but only when he was well out of ear shot, because anything he did hear went straight to Jenny and nobody wanted a forty minute ticking off from her!

Giving evidence on the second day, it was clear that Angus achieved a major victory in just getting dressed that day. He reminded me of Frank Spencer. Angus claimed that he and his wife had been “run off the road” in Cumbria (where they had fled to once they decided to leave Northern Ireland), and that, sadly, his wife felt too intimidated to come to Northern Ireland and that there was a court case pending. Of course, being the BNP and this being Northern Ireland, there would have to be an alleged paramilitary angle to it. Across town was also about to begin one of the largest trials of paramilitaries Northern Ireland had ever witnessed, the place is still awash with them. Angus could not remember much else about his time in Northern Ireland, not surprisingly, seems that he spent most of it cooped up in the BNP’s post room or a tiny flat above a service station in Comber.

Throughout the tribunal the BNP gave the impression that Nick Griffin was “out of the country” (I presume they meant England). While Angus was having some quite severe memory loss, Nick Griffin was on the way to Blackpool lamenting on twitter that he was stuck on the M6. Dowson was in Swansea himself, not fancying the glare of publicity in his adopted home town. It was more than apparent too that Griffin did not fancy hot-footing it to Belfast either. He’d tried all kinds of things to avoid coming back. The BNP’s legal advisor Harrington had warned, not two weeks before, that I would be “punished” should I dare mention that Nick Griffin was too scared. Oh well, poor Angus..

On the third and final day, sixty Trade Union activists picketed the tribunal. BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson claimed that the party operated in circumstances of “extreme stress and intimidation”. He denied allegations that he held Thomas against her will and that he also demanded she stamp invoices “paid” when they were not. Bizarrely, he claimed also that an “incendiary device” had been fired at the BNP as they entered Killymead House. Nick Griffin, on twitter, claimed it was a firework.

The media had come however, not to hear Clive “Rodney” Jefferson, not even Adam Walker. They wanted Mark Walker, Adam’s baby brother. The BNP’s European Researcher had sat through two days of the tribunal without a word. There had been some excitement in media land after the second day as news was reaching us that Walker had been banned from the classroom after a hearing in England that day. The Professional Conduct Committee heard that he had used school computers to send a vulnerable 16-year-old former pupil a sexually explicit message. He had used language understood to mean that he wanted to have sex with the girl.

Sadly, Mark did not turn up. He’d apparently had a “bereavement” overnight. The case fizzled out slightly. Ian Kitchen gave some light relief when asked about the alleged holding of Marion Thomas against her will. He became outraged. Kitchen had spent the previous two days chatting away at the back of the tribunal not just to the annoyance of the panel but it would seem also to his racial comrades there with him too. “I’m a family man” he protested and even the BNP members guffawed at that one. Four days later a local paper was to give some prominence to Kitchen’s links to “Granny Porn”.

For the BNP, its Northern Ireland experiment is over. I’d like to think we helped crush it. I know we did. We began by exposing the use of employment agencies by the party to recruit strangers to work on their sensitive documents, to the internal arguments between rivals, even to female escorts working out of their offices.

Marion Thomas, now a 49 year old housewife, described the “utter shame” at having the BNP on her CV. She was never a member. She worked for an advertising company that also did anti-abortion work that then took the BNP on for a client. Her claims for overtime, holiday pay and mobile phone expenses were dismissed.

In its decision the panel referred to some of the colourful testimony during the hearing.

"The tribunal heard allegations of blackmail, threats, cars being forced off the road, information being sought about political rivals, electoral malpractice, paramilitary involvement and that staple of Irish political life, the passing of money-filled envelopes in strange locations and in even stranger circumstances”.

The settlement Thomas will receive is made up of four week's pay, one week's notice pay, postage expenses incurred taking the case and £760 for the failure of Mr Griffin to provide a witness statement to the panel.

For the last two days, the BNP’s Simon Darby has been fighting off another Irish embarrassment which he is desperately trying to pass off as a joke to the journalists going to press with it. Steve Parkes, a BNP candidate at the recent elections wrote on his facebook page last week about going out to harass gypsies and as well as posting a “White Power” symbol on his profile and making disgusting references to black women.

I’m proud to say, we found and passed that on to the media here too.

Matthew Collins at Hope not Hate

Christmas blues come early

It would seem that not just BNP party central is running out of funds. Having been bled dry by head office, a number of their local branches are pleading extreme poverty too. Some are just suffering from a total lack of interest..

Spare a thought for the North East region. There may be some snow up there this Christmas time, but not a lot of cheer to go with it. Having previously been the most infamous of all BNP branches (just nudging out Barking and Dagenham) for festive boozing and brawling, some idiot has forgotten to book this year's collective Yuletide yawn. And the natives are not happy..

Martin Vaughan normally organises the party for the North East but this year he has not bothered, due to "lack of interest". Some of us find that hard to believe. What with the Walker brothers being a constant source of local entertainment, I was certain that almost every local journalist and housewife would be positively queuing up. Apparently not, even the Regional Organiser already has somewhere else to go. Probably anywhere.

For some, this has spoiled Christmas beyond repair. Natasha Malley and her mum, for one. They might not get out much because according to Natasha's mum "a disco keeps everybodies (sic) interest in the party going". Yes it does, just by adding alcohol there is often a national newspaper interest in the region's shenanigans.

Don't even mention Christmas to Yorkshire BNP. What they need is an ideas man or woman with some urgency. Serial super-brain Danny Cooke has just launched an on-line appeal for postage stamps. He needs £38 worth of stamps so that he can post out an appeal for funds. Did he never hear the song that goes "There's a hole in the bucket"?

Still, any BNP members who do have a spare bit of cash floating around at the moment may want to pick themselves up a bit of political history. A certain motor car that was once the property of an MEP is up for grabs at a very reasonable price. That's right, Griffin's repossessed Skoda goes under the hammer on the 8th December. One very careless previous owner..

As is the case with almost every BNP humiliation, there often follows a rank hypocrisy. Pete Molloy of the BNP had himself photographed outside the sitting MP's office in Spennymoor, County Durham today. Little Pete was handing in a petition demanding 'Local jobs for local people'. Molloy, who has moved to the area from Liverpool is the prospective BNP candidate for the Tudhoe ward in Spennymoor, presumably at the expense of people who were born and bred there.

But never mind 'Local jobs for local people', how about the BNP actually paying the thousands of pounds it owes to British businesses? Let's not forget with Christmas approaching, that there are people on the dole because of how much money the BNP still has not paid their employers.




Hope not Hate

I was sacked by BNP after dispute with Nick Griffin's daughter

A FORMER employee of the British National Party (BNP) claimed she was unfairly dismissed by the party in Northern Ireland after a row involving party leader, Nick Griffin’s daughter.

The tribunal opened in Belfast yesterday in which former administrator, Marion Thomas, who worked at the BNP’s call centre in Dundonald, in east Belfast, is claiming unfair dismissal, breach of contract and unauthorised deduction of wages.

At yesterday’s hearing Mrs Thomas, from Comber, Co Down made a number of criminal allegations against her former employers including that:

- she was “held against her will” in a van in Comber on 26 November 2010;
- on the same date she was given a total of £7,500 in cash from the BNP in a Tesco car park;
- she was made to stamp invoices to suppliers as paid when they weren’t.

Her niece’s husband, Neil Kernaghan, also from Comber, had also taken a case against the BNP but settled yesterday for an undisclosed sum.

A barrister for Mrs Thomas, Barry Mulqueen, described how she had been employed with the right-wing party from 20 November 2009 until 21 December 2010.

“She was employed in the position of an administrator in December 2010 when the respondent (the BNP) closed the operations in east Belfast,” Mr Mulqueen said. “We simply allege that the claimant’s dismissal was unfair. Her dismissal was procedurally unfair - she was not given adequate notice. There was no consultation process. There was no effort to offer alternative employment.”

The BNP was represented by Patrick Harrington who argued that Mrs Thomas wasn’t dismissed but was made redundant and that the party tried to offer her a job at one of their offices in Britain.

“We say the procedure that followed was a reasonable one,” Mr Harrington said. “Alternative employment was offered. Employees were asked for alternative suggestions for how redundancies could be avoided.”

Mrs Thomas told the tribunal that she had never been a member of the BNP. She said she worked for a marketing company called Ad Lorries Ltd, owned by Jim Dowson, which had been based on the Upper Newtownards Road. The company took on the BNP as clients in 2009 and moved to new premises in Dundonald. Mrs Thomas described how the Dundonald offices became “the main fundraising centre of the BNP”.

“There were about 30 employees in east Belfast at one time,” she said. “It was the main fundraising centre of the BNP. It sent out appeals. The call centre drummed up more membership. It was very successful.”

Mrs Thomas claimed that none of the BNP employees had a contract.

The panel heard Mrs Thomas was told she had been sacked on 26 October 2010 in a phone call from her original employer, Jim Dowson.

“Mr Griffin had been on to him (Dowson) in relation to his daughter and the outcome of the advisory council meeting in which I asked for an item to be raised,” Mrs Thomas said. Mrs Thomas explained that she had questioned Mr Griffin’s daughter, Jennifer Matthys for covering up a mistake made by her husband, Angus Matthys.

“He had put the wrong postage on mailing which meant it was £900 short,” Mrs Thomas said. “She (Jennifer) has access to the BNP bank account and she did a transfer online.”

Two weeks later Mrs Thomas was reinstated and her “sacking” was put down to a “misunderstanding”.

The panel was told yesterday that Mrs Matthys had declined to attend the hearing, saying she felt intimidated. However, the tribunal later heard there was a major fallout between Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin which led to the BNP being put out of the Dundonald offices last November. As a result of this Mrs Thomas acted as a “mediator” between Mr Dowson and BNP members which culminated in two meetings on November 26 in Comber when computer equipment, including the BNP database, and £7,500 in cash were transferred in a Tesco car park.

Mrs Thomas met Clive Jefferson, BNP national elections officer, in the car park in the morning where she was given £2,500 in cash to give to Mr Dowson.

“I was asked to check certain items of property were delivered to Mr Jefferson,” she said. “The money was agreed between Mr Dowson and Mr Griffin.”

She was then told to return in the afternoon to collect the rest of the money. Mrs Thomas then repeated allegations she made on a recent BBC Panorama programme that she was “held against her will” for an hour in the cab of a van by BNP members until the computers arrived.

She described how Mr Jefferson, Adam Walker, party manager and Ian Kitchen, a security man sat with her in the van and told her she couldn’t leave until the computers arrived.

“I felt uneasy because Mr Jefferson was getting agitated,” she said and described how there were several phone calls between him and Mr Griffin while they waited. When the equipment arrived, she described how Mr Jefferson took £200 from the £5,000 cash and said he was “keeping it for the inconvenience”.

BNP representative, Patrick Harrington told the tribunal these are “very serious criminal allegations” and revealed that Mrs Thomas had never reported the incident to the police.

The tribunal also heard that the BNP was in serious financial difficulty and that the party owed £275,000 to suppliers, including many Northern Ireland firms.

“They were very, very deeply in debt,” Mrs Thomas said. “I was to contact the suppliers to come to a manageable agreement with them.”

Mrs Thomas was asked specifically about an east Belfast printing company called Romac Press.
Mrs Thomas told the tribunal that dates were changed on invoices to show the company had been paid within the specified time for the Electoral Commission.

“Some were stamped ‘paid’ and they were not,” she said, claiming Mr Jefferson authorised this. “I said to Mr Jefferson you can’t do that, you can see they have not been paid. He said just keep on doing it.”

The tribunal heard that a meeting was held in a Newtownards hotel last December in which Mr Harrington argued Mrs Thomas was offered redundancy or a relocation package. However, Mrs Thomas described these suggestions as “rubbish”.

The tribunal heard that a letter from Nick Griffin stated that Mrs Thomas’ employment was only from April to December 2010 and as she had worked for less than a year, was not entitled to bring a claim of unfair dismissal. The BNP representative argued that Mrs Thomas would
have been dismissed anyway for a number of reasons. One of these was for using the BNP’s database for a rival organisation, the nationalist campaigning group, Britain First which Mrs Thomas admitted she works for voluntarily.

The hearing continues today (Tues)

Party's Ulster links and how early success turned sour

The British National Party (BNP) opened a call centre in 2009 in Northern Ireland to raise funds and membership around the UK and was very successful. At its peak it had up to 13,000 members but since then this has fallen dramatically to around 2,000 members.

The employment tribunal taken by the former call centre administrator charts the difficulties the BNP found itself in at the end of last year. The party ran up massive debts during the 2010 general election campaign.

The tribunal in Belfast yesterday heard the party owes £275,000 to many of its suppliers. One of those companies is the small family firm, Romac Press, which went bust recently after being owed £44,000 by the BNP.

BNP chairman Nick Griffin, the party’s most high profile member, recently claimed that the party now owes just £52,000.

A BBC Panorama programme last month explored the shady financial dealings of the party. It obtained evidence that Mr Griffin, elected as an MEP in 2009, ordered then party treasurer David Hannam to inflate fictional costs so that the party could keep as much of the European grant money as possible. Mrs Thomas also appeared on this programme alleging the incident she repeated at the tribunal yesterday that she was “held against her will” in Comber, Co Down.

The BNP is under investigation by both the European Union and the Metropolitan Police following allegations of fraud and breaches of electoral law. The BNP has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Griffin had a close relationship with Belfast-based business man, Jim Dowson, who became a party fundraiser in 2007 and has helped set up BNP offices all over the UK. Mr Dowson helped set up the BNP call centre in Dundonald and appointed his sister-in-law, Marion Thomas as office administrator. Dowson claims to have severed links with the party when he became aware that they were not paying their bills.

Air charged but most famous face is missing

The air was charged as the industrial tribunal got under way in Room 10 of the Gasworks site in Belfast yesterday. The tiny room seemed even smaller with the imposing presence of several heavyweights from the British National Party (BNP) lining the back row.

In the foreground sat the lone figure of Marion Thomas, the BNP’s former administrator at the Dundonald call centre, where she claims she was unfairly dismissed. In a strong Scottish accent, Mrs Thomas, who now lives in Comber, Co Down, gave a gripping account of her dealings with the party in the run-up to her dismissal last year.

Throughout the hearing yesterday she referred to party chairman, Nick Griffin, but the BNP’s most familiar face was not in attendance. Instead Mr Griffin was represented by his best pal and former National Front leader, Patrick Harrington.

Mrs Thomas alleged that she was originally sacked by the party after a row with Mr Griffin’s daughter, Jennifer Matthys. However, the panel was told Mrs Matthys had declined to attend the hearing, saying she felt intimidated.

As Mrs Thomas gave graphic details of BNP fallouts, false invoices and fishy meetings in a Comber car park, the back row began whispering loudly.

Tribunal chair, Noel Kelly, ticked them off as if they were insolent pupils in a classroom. They were in fact five of the BNP’s nine leading organisers. Among them were brothers, Adam and Mark Walker, the party manager and political research officer respectively. National elections officer and treasurer, Clive Jefferson, who hobbled in on a stick.

Ian Kitchen, Yorkshire regional organiser who was present when Mrs Thomas alleges she was “held against her will” in a van in Comber. And Angus Matthys, Griffin’s son-in-law, who worked in the Dundonald call centre before it folded.

An anti-fascist protest had been expected outside the tribunal offices yesterday but demonstrators are expected to appear as the hearing continues over the next two days.

Belfast Telegraph

Here is a BBC News report from last night

Day 2: A summary.

As day two at the employment tribunal draws to an end, I'll try and give a very brief summary of today's proceedings before something a little longer later..

As earlier reported, Mrs and Mrs Patrick Harrington turned up at the hearing in what can only be described as a foul mood. I can only guess that they were a little perturbed to see the front page of the Belfast Telegraph this morning.

First up to give evidence was Angus Matthys, son in law of Nick Griffin and married to Griffin's eldest daughter Jennifer.

Angus sounds like he struggled to get dressed on his own, never mind give evidence in a complicated employment tribunal. To say he struggled would perhaps be an understatement. How he keeps his job must be a mystery to even himself.

Matthys claimed his wife refused to attend the tribunal as she felt intimidated due to the fact the couple had been run off the road in Cumbria and blackmailed. The intimation is of course that this is the work of alleged Northern Irish "Loyalists".

Next up was the rather odd Ian Kitchen. The former Yorkshire organiser who had to stand down after we revealed his wife Linda was a "Granny Porn" star cut an angry witness before the tribunal panel, reacting rather badly under cross examination when he was labelled a liar.

Adam Walker was next to give evidence. Walker seemed to struggle with filling in the gaping holes in the BNP's story.

One question everyone seems to be asking is where is James Dowson?

Dowson, the one time consigliere to Nick Griffin would lend weight to his sister in law Marion Thomas's case against the BNP.

Has Dowson and Griffin agreed before the tribunal not to have a "face off" ?

The case should conclude tomorrow.

Thanks to Matthew Collins at Hope not Hate

A Very Sordid Affair

Jennifer Matthys: Too intimidated to attend tribunal

The BNP v Marion Thomas employment tribunal held in Belfast finished just before 4pm today.

Everyone who observed the proceedings agreed that tension, bitterness and hatred lay thick in the air like a poisonous cloud. Patrick Harrington, the BNP's legal advisor, who earlier did not want to discuss Marion Thomas's allegations of being held against her will by officers of the BNP, chose to return to that very subject for the afternoon's session.

What transpired is that the BNP exchanged £7,500 in cash for what appears to be their membership database and server in a Tesco's car park in Northern Ireland. Local newspapers tomorrow will lead on this and also Adam Walker's alleged description of the town of Comber being like a "dump".

Harrington, the former NF leader had to be helped with procedure by the chair of the panel, but managed to confuse the complainant Marion Thomas nearly as much as he confused himself. The key question remains was Marion Thomas held against her will by three agitated BNP members who were exchanging cash for property ?

Another allegation made by Thomas is that the BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson helped himself to £200 because of his "inconvenience" at having to allegedly hold her against her will. Or did he give it to Ian Kitchen?

On a number of occasions Thomas's legal representative queried Harrington's line of questioning. Harrington contends that Thomas was only employed by the BNP for six months and therefore can claim neither unfair dismissal or claim for redundancy pay.

As we have reported before, there appeared to be no love lost between Marion Thomas and Jennifer Matthys, daughter of the BNP leader Nick Griffin. Jennifer has refused to attend the hearing saying that she feels intimidated.

Tomorrow should be fun if not a little uncomfortable for one BNP witness.

Hope not hate

Are we sitting comfortably?

No doubt every fascist in the country will be stumped up in front of their televisions tonight waiting to see what their party has been up to.

Since learning that Panorama were investigating their finances the BNP has been overdrive trying to cover up its wrong doings and trying to distract attention away from themselves. Diversionary tactics one might call it.

This even included one bizarre interview given by Adam Walker during a rather damp squib BNP picket outside of the BBC where Walker, the BNP's party manager, described comedian Leslie Dennis as a murderer...

One BNP member in London has even been running a gleeful tally on line of job losses at the BNP. (More on his predilections later...)

So you get the hysterical picture that is unfolding.

Yesterday, Griffin's former Consigliere, the Belfast based fundamentalist Jim Dowson emailed an estimated 30,000 people with a string of further allegations about the BNP and its senior party members. At the same time, Griffin loyalists have been on the phone trying to elicit possibly, one final donation from the large number of people who are expected to pack the party in after tonight's programme.

So, it's squeaky bum time tonight for the BNP.

And they deserve every moment of it.

Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

Adam Walker - Committed to Crown Court

A British National Party activist has been committed to crown court concerning claims he drove a Land Rover at a group of children and
threatened one with a knife.

Former teacher Adam Walker, of Winchester Court, Spennymoor, County Durham, is charged with affray, driving a motor vehicle dangerously and three counts of criminal damage.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court yesterday (Friday) committed Mr Walker to Durham Crown Court, on November 7, where he is expected to face a new charge of possession of a bladed article. The 42-year-old has not entered any pleas.

The incident is said to have taken place after a march through Spennymoor, on April 23, by the Spennymoor English Cultural Society, to mark St George's Day.

The Northern Echo

Liverpool BBC Question Time focus of rival BNP and SWP demos

Anti-BNP protestors at Liverpool yesterday

Right wing extremists from the British National Party staged a noisy demo and exchanged insults with counter-demonstrators in protest by the Socialist Worker's Party.

The scenes came outside an arts and leisure centre in Liverpool where an edition of BBC Question Time was recorded. Demonstrators were kept apart by ranks of police and contained in separate areas outside an art and leisure centre in the city.

Tory housing minister Grant Shapps joined the debate with fellow panelists Labour's former Europe minister Caroline Flint MP, Janet Street-Porter, Lib Dem Tim Farron and newspaper columnist Peter Oborne. The debate was held at the Contemporary Urban Centre, in Greenland Street, on the last day of the five-day Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

The BNP, who were mainly from Walkden and County Durham, staged the demo in protest at the decision not to invite its leader and North West MEP Nick Griffin to join the debate. Organiser Adam Walker, 42, from County Durham, used a loud speaker to make his feelings about the BBC known. He said: "A Freedom of Information request revealed to us the BBC is full of child rapists, paedophiles and murderers".

When challenged about who exactly he meant, he said "Leslie Dennis". It is thought Mr Walker meant former EastEnders actor Leslie Grantham who served 10 years in prison for killing a German taxi-driver.

Some BNP protesters were hostile to the press, swearing at journalists until they moved away to the other side of the anti-protesting side of the police barricade. During the slanging match between the two sides, one right-wing extremist told a black protester: "Africa is that way".

Children skating and riding their BMX's on the newly paved New Bird urban skate park looked on. One 14 year-old from Toxteth said: "It's disgusting what they're doing. They're racist."

Merseyside Police also became the target for one protester during the heated exchanges, who refused to give his name. He shouted: "Scum of the streets; racist just like the police," before being moved away from the demo which passed-off without any arrests.

Thomas Jenkins, 55, from Liverpool said: "I think the BNP are a spent force. Nick Griffin is trying to bolster his image in Liverpool but I don't know why. We certainly don't want them on the streets of Liverpool."

Click Liverpool

Oh the irony!

Oh dear Adam...

Troubled BNP party manager Adam Walker attended a protest outside Shrewsbury Crown Court on Tuesday to call for the retrial of nine Telford men accused of being involved in sexual exploitation and child prostitution after their initial trail collapsed due to legal issues.

In their own report, the BNP claimed that 40 BNP activists gathered in the pouring rain to mount their protest. A quick look at their finances makes it abundantly clear that the BNP aren’t too hot when it comes to maths but there is a big difference between their figure of forty and the real and actual figure of 18 activists who did actually show up outside court.

No protest would be complete without the obligatory placards.Most of the BNP rabble had one on the day including Adam Walker, but he failed to realise the irony of the message painted on his. On it was painted the legend “Leave our kids alone” a message no right minded person could argue with. In fact, it reminds one of the famous Pink Floyd song, which actually begins with “Hey teacher”.

The difficulty for Walker is that he appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates court in August after allegedly driving his car at a group of youngsters before brandishing a knife and threatening a child. The court heard Walker, a former school teacher, allegedly chased the children who were riding bicycles over a village green in his Land Rover car having asked them to leave a St George’s Day celebration.

Alison Nunn, prosecuting, told the court that in police interview, the children aged 11 and 12, described being “terrified” during the alleged incident and that “One of the children is clear in his police interview that Adam Walker put that knife to his face and made a threat.”

Walker was charged with affray, driving a motor vehicle dangerously and criminal damage and will reappear back in court in October.

In the BNP footage of the event we couldn’t see if Mark Walker, brother of Adam was present in Shrewsbury. Mark Walker, a former teacher was the subject of an enquiry by the NSPCC in 2008 that uncovered a large number of emails indicating a sexual relationship with a former pupil.

The report, produced by the children’s welfare charity says: “Mr Walker was suspended… following allegations that he and a colleague had accessed adult pornography during the school day, using school equipment.”

It continued “A substantial amount of emails indicating a sexual relationship between himself and a 17-year-old former Sunnydale student have been recovered from Mr Walker’s school laptop and the school server”

The report concluded “The NSPCC believes that there is sufficient evidence from the emails and from previous matters concerning his professional conduct to conclude that Mr Walker’s behaviour has resulted in his conduct being less than one would expect of a teacher placed in a position of trust.”

We wonder what his placard might have said?

Hope not hate

Fish supper and a dry sherry?

Trent: Not waving - saluting!

Invites have gone out for this year's BNP AGM. I'm pleased to inform one and all that I have my invite here in front of me, but it does cause such a dilemma.

I used to go to the BNP's Red, White & Blue festivals and report back on the drunken fights, threats and Nazi songs around the camp fire. Heavens, one year I even had to report how one of the BNP's councillors attacked another member with a broken glass.

It was never quite the highlight of my social calendar, but it got me out of the house and it caused no end of upset to the BNP knowing that I had been there. One year they even stopped proceedings to demand I stand up and reveal myself. I declined, obviously.

So this year, the question is whether I should risk it all by having one last sneaky look into the party's near defunct machinery. But there is another problem, too: I'm allowed to bring a guest with me!!

Normally on boring functions I take Matthew Collins with me. He tends to liven the event, sometimes I even just send him in my place. But to a BNP AGM I don't think that would get past even the BNP's radar. Plus, Matty has been to a few of his own. His book talks about them all Nazi saluting and brawling in the bar at York Hall in London in the early nineties so I don't see him as being much use in sitting quietly at the back munching on his meal deal from Boots the chemist-no matter how much he does like the sandwich combo.

No, for this year it has to be someone quite special. if I'm going to make a weekend of it at £50 per head including a buffet lunch and a gala dinner it will need to be someone who can sit quietly and not ask any questions during the advertised Q&A session. The BNP describe it as an opportunity to "hone your political skills" but everyone knows that asking questions is a sure fire way to get yourself thrown out of the party. And we wouldn't want that. Here's what normally happens when people ask difficult questions at BNP meetings.

I'll be interested particularly in the presentation by "Operation Fightback" currently led by Adam Walker, the BNP officer who is probably more likely to be presenting "giving my car back" given his latest legal difficulties. "Operation Fightback" is, according to the BNP a "counter-attack measures against the enemies of our country, our heritage and our people".

This presentation should be good as we also have the opportunity to meet "charismatic Carlos" the BNP's London candidate for the GLA. Carlos Cortiglia, who is Uruguayan (don't ask me!) spoke out in favour of Argentina during the Falklands war. Translated from an interview given in Spanish, Carlos once said "I am Argentine East, in other words, Uruguayan by birth, and I feel very emotionally linked to Argentina. In 1982 I volunteered to go to the Falkland Islands”. Should be fun...

Then there is the update from the BNP's "number one" MEP (i.e. the only one that still talks to them). That MEP, Nick Griffin, will give an update on the "fight to take Britain out of the EU". Maybe I should take a bookmaker with me? I'll be quids in if I bet that Griffin is out of the European Parliament long before this country is. Of course, I can't take the BNP's very own bookmaker Martin Wingfield, he seems to have also fallen from favour with the party too. Bad Martin, no Argentine corned beef for you!

The real treat will be for me and many others I'm sure, the presentation by "Resistance" the BNP's "militant youth wing" who seem to have a logo very similar to that of the EDL. What with Carlos being "charismatic", I'm sure Kieren Trent will be going all out to beat Carlos with his own presentation skills. Usually these involve Nazi saluting and long winded speeches against homosexuals. I know there will be some at the AGM wanting to have a word in his ear about his other "talents", particularly after his recent attempted foray into the world of Irish republicanism from where he was apparently given short shrift.

So there you have it. Dress down for the occasion and whatever you do, do not ask difficult questions. It's not the great "British" affair of yesterday as the BNP would like to have it, but that says more (thankfully) about Britain than it does about the BNP. This year's AGM is going to be less about talk (well it would be, wouldn't it), and more about "action".

The chances are it will be court action.

Hope not hate

Griffin's large glass house...

As we reported yesterday the clock is ticking for the BNP.

There is an old and familiar saying that Nick Griffin would be wise in taking heed in relation to this matter. The saying goes that “People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones”.

Nick Griffin on his Twitter account wrote today “Banks not only corrupt but stupid. Anyone who gives a young West African access to their bank account deserves to be cleaned out. UBS might just as well have given their details to an email scammer “

That’s more than a bit rich given the state of Britain’s supposedly superior all-white party. It appears the BNP has failed in their attempts to raise the required £45,000 needed to halt the winding up order against the party. No surprises there, then.

So with the bailiffs knocking on the door once again we have to wonder what Nick Griffin and the BNP’s next move may be, perhaps the answer lies in Scotland?

We can reveal that some senior BNP officers have set up two new limited companies at the same Edinburgh address used by the fake BNP trade union Solidarity.

One of the companies “Heritage Protection Concerns Ltd” has some very familiar names listed as it officers. Jennifer Matthys, daughter of Nick Griffin is listed as company secretary, along with her hapless husband Angus.

Also listed is party manager Adam Walker who appears to be named as a director of the company. Walker is already in debt on behalf of the party to the tune of £20,000 .

Another company listed at the address is the rather grandly titled “Europa Social Political & Economic Research Establishment Ltd”.

The Edinburgh address just happens to belong to Patrick Harrington, who runs a tiny political sect called “Third Way”. The former NF leader and General Secretary of the fake trade union Solidarity now acts as a consultant to Nick Griffin while on the party’s payroll in the European Parliament as well as putting candidates up against the BNP when it suits him.

Have these two new companies been set up as a means of protecting the BNP’s assets perhaps?

As for the party’s other assets, they have lost their last remaining councillor in West Yorkshire today too. He held out as long as he could, but it seems that Tom Baites could bear it no more and this morning resigned the BNP whip for Illingworth and Mixenden ward on Calderdale council.

What with Baites gone, there would also appear to be a hunt on for the allegedly missing webmaster Chris Barnett. Apparently he’s just vanished into thin air.

Not that the BNP are telling anyone about any of this. What with Griffin tweeting away about untrustworthy Africans and the party press officer continuing his well worn habit of berating everything and everyone other than his falling Fuhrer, you’d think it was all going like clockwork for the BNP. The problem is, that clock is ticking too fast for them...

One of our sources inside the BNP rung us a moment ago to say that they feel compelled to close all of the windows just to stop BNP officers throwing themselves from them. Still, at least they managed to get their nominations in for a by-election in Barnsley on time. That too is a bit of a gift, and we’ll be blogging about it later today when we have finished laughing.

The party is still trying to carry on regardless, no doubt tweeting that it needs more cash donations etc, etc. But they do have one secret weapon. They have Charlie Wythe from Manchester. He has apparently just stepped into carry out some design work for the party. The freelancer is obviously not expecting payment?

Oops, did I say "secret"?



Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

The party is almost over

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

BNP facing a winding up order

We are hearing that the BNP are facing an urgent winding up order in 14 days, should they fail to pay the courts £45,000.

Andrew Brons on his website “BNP Ideas” claims that an application was heard this week in the Court of Appeal brought by Nick Griffin and Simon Darby against the order of execution which led to the seizure Nick Griffin’s prized Skoda.

If the money is not forthcoming within the 14 days an immediate application to wind up the party will be made, which will place the BNP into administration.

This must leave party manager Adam Walker with a bigger headache than the one he already had, following the order to pay Mark Collett £21,000, a sum Adam Walker was deemed personally responsible for by the courts.

With money already desperately short in the BNP it looks highly unlikely that the party will help Walker in his hour of need, this news will only add to his worries.

With debts mounting on a daily basis, this has to be seen as just the tip of an incredibly large iceberg.

Hope not hate

BNP activist told he is liable for unpaid debt

Adam Walker - broke as well as weird

A judge has ruled a North- East BNP activist is personally liable for unpaid debts following a county court hearing which could have far reaching consequences for the cash-strapped party.

District Judge David Robertson ruled that Adam Walker, of Spennymoor, County Durham, must pay £21,000 out of his own pocket to the party’s former graphic designer, Mark Adrian Collett.

A case brought by Mr Collett against the BNP itself, thought to be £700,000 in debt, was dismissed, but the judgement against Mr Walker could still spell disaster for the party. It paves the way for other creditors to take action against activists, who could be declared bankrupt and therefore barred or even stopped from holding political office at any level.

Durham County Court heard on Monday that Mr Collett, 30, was employed as the extreme far right party’s principal graphic designer and Mr Walker was a senior officer and staff manager.

The BNP was described as an unincorporated association with no corporate identity which left senior officers responsible for contracts.

An agreement was made on September 9, last year, between Mr Collett and both Mr Walker and the BNP, which Mr Collett said had been breached. Mr Collett said he only received £750 from the BNP, instead of the £7,500 he claimed was due at the time and, as a result, said the full amount of £15,750 was now liable.

District Judge Robertson awarded Mr Collett £14,250 plus £7,333.60 costs against Mr Walker, but dismissed Mr Collett’s claim against the party.

The BNP’s money woes were highlighted last year when former chief fundraiser James Downson wrote letters to creditors, seen by The Northern Echo, offering 20 per cent settlements. Mr Dowson told Newton Press, a printing firm in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, which is owed £16,500 for printing its newsletters, that the finances were like a “shipwreck”.

Newton Press confirmed last night that the debt was still outstanding.

Mr Walker, 42, of Winchester Court, Spennymoor, said last night he respected the judge’s decision and would do his utmost to comply with the judgement.

He added: “The contract was signed in good faith as party manager and at that time that was my job. I’m not the treasurer and I don’t decide where the money goes.”

Mr Walker, who represented himself against a barrister and a senior solicitor, said he was grateful the judge dismissed an application for the senior solicitor’s fees.

The former teacher said: “To anybody else in a similar position, I would say they should be very cautious about legal fees.”

Northern Echo

Griffin scrapes through...

Walker (in uniform) as Griffin blows a raspberry

I'm hearing reports that unlike his political hero Colonel Gaddafi, Nick Griffin has managed to survive another day- but not such good news for the BNP's party manager Adam Walker.

Walker is currently up on charges relating to alleged drink driving and chasing youngsters around with a knife. Not bad for a former teacher some might say!

Today I've heard from a good source that Walker's elevation to the higher echelons of the sycophants' who currently surround and protect their glorious leader finally found its price.

Approximately £21,000 it has just cost Walker I'm told, including costs. A court ruled that it was Walker who should foot the bill for the outstanding monies owed to the BNP's former pin-up boy Mark Collet.

People may recall the circumstances surrounding Collet's departure from the party last year, when it was alleged by the Griffin camp that he had among other things, conspired to murder Griffin.

Today Collet had his day in court. Durham County Court to be precise. Poor Adam Walker, facing a possible driving ban was told he now has to foot the bill for the BNP's gung-ho attitude towards the law. After his other "incident", he does not even have his old teaching job to fall back on.

Hope not hate

North East BNP chief accused of chasing children with knife

Nick Griffin blows a raspberry at hardman Adam Walker (right)

North East BNP chief Adam Walker drove his car at a group of youngsters before brandishing a knife and threatening a child, a court heard.

The 42-year-old allegedly chased the children, who were on BMX bikes, over a village green in Tudhoe, Spennymoor, County Durham, in his Land Rover car after asking them to leave a celebration of St George’s Day.

Now the BNP’s national organiser has appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court where he entered no plea to one charge of affray, one charge of driving a motor vehicle dangerously and three of criminal damage charges. It is claimed the disorder occurred during the village celebrations on April 23 this year.

Alison Nunn, prosecuting, told the court that in police interview, the children, aged 11 and 12, described being “terrified” during the alleged incident.

She said: “These three children gave evidence that whilst they were at a fun day they were told to leave and to get off the bouncy castle. They say that Adam Walker chased them in his vehicle. He pursued them across the green in his Land Rover whilst they were on their bikes.”

She also described Walker doing a “handbrake turn” in the direction of the children. Ms Nunn added: “It is then said he had a knife with him and he has brandished the knife.

“One of the children is clear in his police interview that Adam Walker put that knife to his face and made a threat.”

It is just over a year since Walker was cleared of racial intolerance by a teaching watchdog after describing immigrants as “savage animals”. Walker, who also claimed that Britain was becoming a “dumping ground for the filth of the Third World”, said after the General Teaching Council (GTC) hearing that prospective employers would “be knocking on my door to employ me”.

The former teacher at Houghton Kepier Sports College, in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, was brought before a GTC disciplinary panel after posting items on an internet discussion on the popularity of the BNP in February and March 2007. The panel heard that Walker used a school laptop to make the postings and an inquiry launched at Houghton Kepier established that Mr Walker spent up to eight hours using the laptop for purposes not connected to his school duties.

He was cleared of racial intolerance but found guilty of using a school computer for personal use during lesson time.

The panel imposed a Conditional Registration Order which allows Walker to maintain his status as a registered teacher subject to him meeting certain conditions.

Walker, of Winchester Court, Spennymoor, will appear back at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court on October 7.

Journal Live

BNP teacher accused of sending 'inappropriate' emails to ex-pupil

He faces charges of unprofessional conduct after corresponding with 17-year-old girl

A prominent member of the British National Party faces being banned from the classroom by the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) after it emerged he will face charges of unprofessional conduct.

Mark Walker - whose brother Adam, a fellow BNP member and teacher, also fought a high-profile battle with the disciplinary body - is accused of misusing his school computer. Mr Walker, who now works for the far-right political party, is said to have used a school email account for "inappropriate email exchanges" with a 17-year-old female former pupil. He is expected to be charged with unprofessional conduct when he appears before the GTC this autumn.

The former teacher has already lost an employment tribunal case. He has claimed he was unfairly sacked from Sunnydale Community College in Shildon, County Durham, for his political views and involvement with the BNP.

In September 2007, more than 100 people demonstrated outside the school with placards in support of Mr Walker, claiming he had been suspended because of his membership of the BNP.

Mr Walker's GTC hearing was due to take place last week, but instead the panel held a "case management" meeting about his case. The GTC has not yet released details of the charges he faces.

His representative, Patrick Harrington, general secretary of the Solidarity union, told The TES that Mr Walker had referred himself to the disciplinary body because he wants to "challenge" allegations recorded on his Criminal Records Bureau enhanced disclosure form as a result of his dismissal.

"He is resigned to the fact he won't teach again. He feels there is a vendetta against him but he knows it's unlikely any employer would now give him a job," Mr Harrington said. "The school and local authority have flung huge numbers of charges at him, and he wants them to be tested."

A tribunal rejected Mr Walker's case for unfair dismissal, concluding that the school had been justified in letting him go because of his sickness record at the end of 2008.

Mr Walker, a technology teacher, was first suspended in March 2007 after concerns were raised that he and a teaching assistant had watched video footage of "sexual activity" on a school computer.

The allegations made in September 2007 of using a school email account for "inappropriate email exchanges" with the 17-year-old ex-pupil sparked an investigation by children's charity the NSPCC. It concluded that the correspondence suggested a sexual relationship between Mr Walker and the girl, and questioned whether he should be put in a position of trust.

During the same period, Mr Walker became ill and remained unfit for work.

THE WALKERS - In the family

Mark Walker's brother, Adam Walker, who stood as a BNP candidate at last year's general election, was cleared of religious intolerance by the GTC last year, despite posting comments about "filth from other countries" on a website while he should have been supervising pupils.

The drawn-out case cost the GTC £72,746. Mr Walker, who taught at Houghton Kepier Sports College, County Durham, used a school laptop to post his views.

The GTC said he had not broken any rules to bar him from the profession. Education secretary Michael Gove cited this decision as one of the reasons he decided to axe the disciplinary body.

TES

Extremists still allowed in classroom

New teacher standards won’t ban BNP

Schools will not be given powers to sack teachers who are members of extremist groups - including the BNP - under proposed new rules, union leaders have warned.

An overhaul of the standards that all teachers have to meet will not outlaw extremists from the classroom, according to a draft copy of the regulations seen by The TES. The revelation comes despite a pledge last year by education secretary Michael Gove to create new powers to fire BNP members and other extremists who work in schools.

The revamped standards are designed to incorporate the controversial General Teaching Council for England’s code of conduct, which places expectations on how teachers behave in their private lives.

According to the “ethics and behaviour” section of the new standards, teachers will be told that they must be tolerant and not undermine “UK democratic values” (see box). But union leaders have said this will not give schools any significant new powers to deal with extremist teachers.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: “The new standards don’t do anything different to the current frameworks, which means there are still no procedures to prevent teachers with extremist views (from being employed).”

Mr Gove spoke out following the case last year of Adam Walker, a BNP-supporting teacher who used a school computer to post a message describe immigrants as “filth” and “savages”. Despite his comments, the GTC found Mr Walker not guilty of racial and religious intolerance, prompting criticism from Mr Gove. He said at the time that new proposals were needed “to ensure that extremism has no place in our classrooms”.

Ms Keates, who met with Mr Gove last week, wants a change in teachers’ contracts to prevent BNP members from entering the profession, a provision already in force for police and prison officers. She said Mr Gove “seemed keen” on this proposal.

“We have still not got an answer from the Department for Education as to why BNP members can’t be banned from teaching; it’s not as if we would be setting a precedent,” Ms Keates said.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of heads’ union the NAHT, said the new standards would not lead to “vast” changes.

“I think the Government has gone as far as it can without undermining human rights,” he said. “It would be very difficult to ban a political party or ideology, so I sympathise entirely with their intent. There are several different points in the standards which could refer to membership of the BNP, and I think this does strengthen the position of headteachers who don’t want them on their staff, but not by vast amounts.”

John Bangs, senior research associate at Cambridge University and former head of education at the NUT, said the proposed standards were not the way to tackle extremist teachers.

“Teachers absolutely should not be affiliated to extremist roups, but the place to deal with that is in a code of conduct, not within pedagogic standards,” he said. “It’s entirely inappropriate and will make no difference whatever.”

The final draft of the standards are due to be submitted to Mr Gove next month, with a final report expected in the autumn.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “We want to ensure that the necessary powers are in place for head teachers and governing bodies to deal with any teacher who promotes inappropriate views or behaviour or advocates discrimination in schools. The Teachers’ Standards Review will look at how best to achieve this.”

CODE PROPOSALS: Key points

Teachers must:

• Have tolerance and respect for the rights of others, and not undermine UK democratic values.
• Not express personal beliefs, including political, religious or moral beliefs, in ways that exploit pupils’ vulnerability.
• Treat all pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect.

TES Connect

Revealed: Vile hate-filled backgrounds of BNP candidates standing for election to Holyrood

TWO BNP brothers standing for Holyrood are today exposed as vile hate-mongers. Adam and Mark Walker are disgraced former teachers whose shameful conduct cost them their careers.

The Record can reveal BNP third in command, national organiser Adam, has been arrested twice in the last fortnight. The bigot has referred to immigrants as "filth" and "savage animals". Mark lost his teaching job after bombarding a 16-year-old girl with inappropriate emails.
The English pair will contest regional lists in Fife and South Scotland on Thursday. A spokesman for pressure group Searchlight said: "These brothers are among the leading lights of the BNP but they have been sent up to contest an election where they know they have no chance of winning. "The more you know about them, the more you realise what disarray the BNP are in. They are a bunch of bitter racists."
Adam was quizzed by police over allegations he drove his car at youths before behaving in a threatening manner. The ex-soldier, from Spennymoor, County Durham, was bailed on April 23 in connection with the incidents, said to have happened as a rightwing group marched.
He was arrested three days earlier at a demo in Wakefield, where he had a heated row with police. In the past, Walker, 42 - who answers directly to BNP leader Nick Griffin - referred to immigrants as "filth". He posted the comments online while teaching at Houghton Kepier Sports College. Last year, a General Teaching Council panel cleared him of racial and religious hatred. But Adam had resigned in 2007 shortly after the probe into his conduct.
Brother Mark, 40, lost his job amid a torrent of claims against him. An employment judge described his behaviour as "scandalous" after hearing about the seedy emails to an ex-pupil and how he watched porn on his laptop at work. No illegal content was found on the laptop but Walker was slammed for his conduct towards the girl in 2007.
He was sacked for his absenteeism after claiming stress as a result of the action against him. He lost his appeal against the sacking from Sunnydale Community College, in County Durham. A hearing ruled that Walker's illness was triggered by his own actions.

Daily Record

BNP organiser arrested over protest outside housing association

The British National Party (BNP) has held a protest outside the offices of Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) over the company’s reported disciplinary proceedings against employee Colin Atkinson for displaying a palm cross in his work van.

According to the BNP, Mr Adam Walker (pictured) was one of several BNP activists who turned up to hand in a letter of complaint to the organisation, however sources close to the protest say police were called because the activists were trespassing on private property and the staff felt threatened.

It's understood staff at the organisation have received nearly one thousand "abusive emails" since the news about Mr Atkinson was reported and a number have become distressed as a consequence.

The BNP organiser is said, by the party, to have been arrested after being asked to move his van from the entrance of the building. The party claims he was arrested after removing a ticket issued to him by police for driving the car from the entrance to a car park without wearing a seatbelt.

In a statement released yesterday, WDH said: “WDH fully supports the right of our employees to wear religious symbols while at work, and support their right to have religious symbols on their desks.

“WDH simply don’t allow employees to display personal items in our company vans.

“Throughout this case, we’ve acted fully within the law and within the spirit of the law.

“Despite media reports to the contrary, we haven’t commenced formal disciplinary proceedings against Colin, and we sincerely hope that we can reach a satisfactory outcome for both Colin and WDH without doing so.”

The Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Rev Stephen Platten, supported WDH's move. He said: "Having spoken with Kevin Dodd, Chief Executive of Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) I am clear that it fully supports the right of all its employees to wear religious symbols while at work, and indeed their right to have religious symbols on their desks.

"This issue relates to whether Mr Atkinson or any other employee is allowed to display a religious symbol or any personal item on of the company vans.

"As Bishop of Wakefield, I am disappointed that an anonymous complaint led to this issue being raised. A palm cross at the beginning of Holy Week would seem appropriate to be placed in a company vehicle. WDH has stated they have no objection to this being done and have offered this as a solution, but it has not been accepted.

"This time last year I was in a class where all but four children were Muslim: they were learning about the last days of Jesus’ life and no parents were offended by this in any way.

"I realise that the WDH is in a difficult position here but the issue we need to address is how we deal with multiculturalism and allows religions to speak with proper integrity."

24dash.com

Sheffield BNP meeting tonight

Sheffield BNP will be holding a meeting tonight at
The Malthouse Public House
71 Monteney Crescent,
Sheffield,
South Yorkshire
S5 9DP

The BNP's National Organiser Adam Walker will be the main speaker.
Why not telephone the pub on 0114 246 7231 & politely lodge your complaint.
Alternatively you can email @ gemma5438@hotmail.com

Update :- the meeting was cancelled at about 4.30. Thanks to everyone who phoned or emailed.