Hitler admirer's bid to be city MP

Mark Collett shows us what a Hitlerite twat he can be when he tries

A senior British National Party activist - who has previously expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler - is standing for parliament in Sheffield.

Mark Collett, aged 29, was selected by the far-right party to stand against Labour MP David Blunkett in Brightside and Hillsborough, along with three others who will contest Attercliffe, Heeley, and Penistone and Stocksbridge.

Grammar-school educated Mr Collett is the most senior of the four, as BNP director of publicity and a former chairman of the party's youth wing. His views - which include stating Hitler would 'live for ever' - were today condemned by Sheffield politicians from all three mainstream parties.

Former Home Secretary Mr Blunkett said: "The announcement of this fascist's candidature on Holocaust Memorial Day is demonstration enough, if it were ever needed, of the obnoxious, deeply offensive and dangerous character of these people - who are not only in denial but are seeking to inflict their poison on the people of Sheffield.

"We will be revealing over the next three months the appalling and outrageous views of this individual, much of which is an insult to those who have given their lives in defending this country and who find his views on Hitler abhorrent. In this election, in the new, expanded constituency, every vote really will count."

Mr Collett - who took 1,200 votes in Leeds Central at the last election - told The Star: "I'm coming to Sheffield because the BNP is the only viable option in Brightside and Hillsborough. Sheffield people don't want the Tories, and we are the only alternative to Labour in many parts of the city."

Mr Collett's views were exposed in Channel 4 documentary Young, Nazi And Proud in 2002, when he was secretly filmed saying "Hitler will live forever" and said of British black people: "Just because a dog is brought up in a stable doesn't make it a horse."

Millions of people watched the recording of him saying: "I honestly can't understand how a man who has seen the inner-city hell of Britain today can't look back on that era of Hitler's Germany with a certain nostalgia and think, 'yeah, those people marching through the streets and all those happy people in the streets, saluting and everything, was a bad thing'."

The Star

Royal British Legion tell Nick Griffin to stop wearing poppy badge

The Royal British Legion has accused Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, of trying to politicise "one of the nation's most treasured and beloved symbols" after he repeatedly wore a poppy badge during the European parliament election campaign.

In an open letter in tomorrow's Guardian the armed forces charity said it had written privately to Griffin last month "appealing to his sense of honour" and asking him not to wear the badge or any other emblem associated with the legion. Griffin, one of two BNP candidates elected to the European parliament last week, ignored the request and wore the badge at campaign events including the party's televised election broadcast.

Yesterday the British Legion demanded that Griffin stop using the armed forces to further the BNP's agenda.

"The poppy is the symbol of sacrifices made by British armed forces in conflicts both past and present and it has been paid for with blood and valour," the letter says. "True valour deserves respect regardless of a person's ethnic origin, and everyone who serves or has served their country deserves nothing less … [our national chairman] appealed to your sense of honour. But you have responded by continuing to wear the poppy. So now we're no longer asking you privately. Stop it, Mr Griffin. Just stop it."

The legion's demand follows criticism of the BNP from Winston Churchill's family after the party used his image and quotes from one of his speeches in its campaign. Churchill's grandson, Nicholas Soames, described the BNP as "monstrous" and said its use of Churchill was "offensive and disgusting".

The BNP was also caught up in a dispute with 1940s singer Vera Lynn after she objected to the party selling copies of her White Cliffs of Dover CD on its website to fund its European election campaign.

Today's letter states the poppy emblem is the trademark of The Royal British Legion and adds that the charity has remained "scrupulously above the party political fray" for more than 90 years.

"It is vital that everyone - the media, the public and our beneficiaries - know that we will not allow our independence to be undermined or our reputation impaired by being closely associated with any one political party. This is more important now than ever."

Griffin said he had worn the badge in solidarity with injured British soldiers returning from Afghanistan. He added that he would stop wearing it if troops recovering in hospitals in the UK were not charged to watch television.

Guardian