Colwyn Bay, Land of Dreams

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Iliacus. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

Whatever one's view on the 'leaking' of the BNP 'membership' list (it seems more to have been a contact list in fact) nobody can dispute that it gave countless local newspaper editors an opportunity to fill a few column inches, without requiring them to do much work (or thinking).

Headline "Shock at local BNP membership figures"; a few horrified quotes from local political worthies; and phone Simon Darby for a claim that this shows how the BNP is growing to be an unstoppable force in Lincoln/ Ludlow/ or Timbuktu.

I've not given these articles any more attention than they deserve, which is very, very little, but coverage in Colwyn Bay caught my eye (possibly because your scribe was born in the town). It seems that the presence of 18 Colwyn Bay residents on the list got the local paper a bit excited. Six times the number in Rhyl!! To me that underlines the BNP's pathetic showing in Rhyl, rather than indicating great strength in Colwyn Bay.

Anyway, Darby's response was predictably upbeat. News of their local "strength" did not surprise him at all. "We have a very good organiser there", he claimed.

So, let's assess the BNP's recent record in that North Wales seaside town. Firstly, let's consider the place itself, a town which - like so many traditional seaside resorts - has lost its historic role, without finding a new purpose. It has a beautiful bay, but it also has significant deprivation, poor employment opportunities, low incomes, drug and violence issues. Ally all that to a significant influx of retirees from outside the area and the demographic should be quite favourable to elements of the BNP's ideology.

Until about 18 months ago the BNP's profile in the town was pretty low. Then, in September 2007, a member of a local community council [the Welsh equivalent of English parish councils] announced that he (one Pat Pattison) was joining the BNP, having been co-opted in November 2006 without any political affiliation.

His stay with the party was eventful, and brief. By March 2008 he had announced he was leaving the party - shocked by the "intolerable racism" he had found in the party. No surprise there!

For the key May 2008 council elections (Wales only has such elections at four-yearly intervals) three BNP candidates were nominated to the Colwyn Town Council, and found themselves elected unopposed. Just down the road in Kinmel Bay a fourth candidate was nominated.

And then, oh dear ... well, firstly Neil Hughes in Kinmel Bay begged for his nomination to be withdrawn. He had, he claimed, been duped. "I thought I was supporting someone else to stand. I don't want to stand. I'm annoyed about this". And what was his view on immigration? "I don't want to say anything. I'm a bit confused".

Well, I'm not going to argue with that last statement!

So back to Colwyn Bay, where the BNP's Group of Three marched off to the first meeting of the Council ... and promptly announced that they were all now leaving the BNP and would sit as independents, or would resign if the Council preferred ...

So, Mr Darby, this is what goes on in a place where the BNP has "a very good organiser"? One is left wondering what sort of shambles one finds where the local BNP organiser is merely adequate, or even below par?

Oh, and just returning to the question of local membership figures. At the time of Pat Pattison's resignation there were claimed to be "74 members in the Colwyn Bay area" ... or was it 18? Or is it just any figure that comes into a BNP official's head at the time?

The peculiar case of the three lost councillors

Just ten days ago, we reported on the fact that the BNP had lost three of its new and much-overhyped intake of town councillors following the joint resignations of all three who had been co-opted (not elected) on to Colwyn Bay Town Council.

Paul Harley, Sue Harley and John Oddy formally resigned as BNP councillors on May 7th, less than a week after they took office, at their very first council meeting, where all three were represented by Oddy who stated in a post on the icWales forum;

'I attended the meeting to inform the Council that yesterday afternoon all three Councillors had resigned from the BNP and that we were prepared to remain on the Council as Independents, if the Council required it all three of us were prepared to also resign from the Council and allow our seats to be put forward to a by-election that we would not contest.'

When asked why they'd left the BNP, he responded thus;

'My reason for leaving the BNP was my own personal choice, the other two Councillors choose to leave with me. I have always been regarded as a moderate within the party and, as I’ve always maintained, I have never been a racist...'

The reason for Oddy, who was (or possibly still is) the BNP's North Wales organiser, breaking his link with the BNP was made clear on the day after our report when it emerged that he had been fined for using his mobile phone while driving. This didn't, however, explain why the Harveys resigned along with him.

A week later, Oddy and the Harveys were interviewed by the Daily Post, and revealed the apparent truth about the resignations, which seemed to be based on the belated discovery that the BNP is a racist organisation.

Haulage worker Mr Harley, 62, from Penrhyn Bay, who was elected to the Dinerth ward, said:

'When I joined the party I did believe that the party had changed from its former image. I felt the same after attending meetings where racist views were not expressed but in the past few weeks I have found out more about the party and I am not happy with what I have found out. I have always maintained that I was not racist, but individuals that hold racist views remain. My mind was made up before the attack on the house, myself and my wife did not want to be portrayed as racist, which we are not. We only wanted to represent the community.'

The alleged 'attack' referred to is that the words 'BNP Racist Scum' were scrawled across the Harvey's garage and paint stripper was poured on their car.

Harley clearly stated in last week's North Wales Weekly News that the attack wasn't the reason for their exit from the BNP, and claimed to be leaving because of personal reasons. 'We'd already decided on the morning before the attack to leave. I don't feel it's our party,' he said.

John Oddy claimed the three of them had opted out of the BNP because of a disagreement with the party's management. 'I still support the BNP and their policies but when the shit hits the fan they're nowhere to be seen. I've got no faith in their middle management...I feel as I have become more high profile I have clashed with the hierarchy in the party and this has now come to a head and led to my resignation. I am at odds with the opinions of the Welsh branch of the BNP, although I have no quarrel with the party nationally.'

Simon Darby, the BNP's deputy-leader, ignored the accusations of racism (as he always does) and lack of support from the party managers, claiming that the resignations were solely due to the attack on the Harvey's home.

As we all know, the BNP is never in the wrong whether it is supporting violent racists who attack asylum-seekers, shredding dodgy financial records or covering up attempts to have sex with underage girls at its conference, but there certainly appears to be some hasty backing and filling going on in North Wales. According to both of the Harleys and Oddy, the party is racist (like we didn't know it), and according to Oddy, there are disagreements with the party management and a lack of support.

There are peculiarities about these resignations though, that appear to make no real sense. Though it's now nearly three weeks since the elections and Oddy announced at the first town council meeting of the new session that the three were standing down as BNP councillors and would switch to being Independents, they have yet to inform the council officially and are still listed as BNP. Colwyn Bay Town Council clerk John Roberts said until he has been informed formally of the councillors' resignations, they will remain BNP members of the council.

All three remain members of the local golf club, a place where the Colwyn Bay glitterati meet, confer and make deals which, in the words of one of our correspondents, is full of BNP sympathisers, covert supporters and party members, and none of the three protagonists have showed any sign of feeling the need to disassociate from the club - which leads one to believe that this evolution from BNP to Independent is nothing but a cosmetic change, designed simply to allay the fears of the locals that the Colwyn Bay trio may be too close to the BNP and thus they might get grubby by association.

I'll confess that all this sounded a little conspiracy-theory-related to me until someone pointed out that Oddy was as racist a BNP member as they come. Readers might recall that he recently verbally attacked former Llysfaen councillor Pat Pattison for having the temerity to help an Asian family as part of his own duties as a town councillor, stating that the party wasn't happy with him because he'd been 'helping fucking Pakis' and that 'they're Muslim scum anyway'. Pattison left the party properly immediately after discovering its racism.

What a pity the Harveys seem unable to properly follow his example.

BNP three quit party after local elections

British National Party members elected to a town council have resigned from the party. BNP North Wales organiser John Oddy and party members Paul Harley and Susan Harley were elected unopposed to Bay of Colwyn Town Council this month. Yesterday it emerged the three tendered their resignations to the party after the election.

This follows a clash between Mr Oddy and higher ranking members, and a graffiti attack at the home of husband and wife Paul and Susan Harley where “BNP racist scum” was daubed on their garage.

Mr Oddy said: “I feel as I have become more high profile I have clashed with the hierarchy in the party and this has now come to a head and led to my resignation. I am at odds with the opinions of the Welsh branch of the BNP, although I have no quarrel with the party nationally.”

Haulage worker Mr Harley, 62, from Penrhyn Bay, who was elected to the Dinerth ward, said: “When I joined the party I did believe that the party had changed from its former image. I felt the same after attending meetings where racist views were not expressed but in the past few weeks I have found out more about the party and I am not happy with what I have found out. I have always maintained that I was not racist, but individuals that hold racist views remain. My mind was made up before the attack on the house, myself and my wife did not want to be portrayed as racist, which we are not. We only wanted to represent the community.”

The trio offered to stand down from their seats on Colwyn Bay council but their offer was turned down and they will now stand as independents.

BNP spokesman Simon Darby said he believed being a BNP member came with “certain pressures” and the attack on the Harleys’ home had contributed to their resignations.

Daily Post

BNP councillor fined for using his mobile

[Now we know why John Oddy resigned so suddenly as BNP town councillor on Colwyn Bay Town Council (as reported here). The only mystery remaining is why his two colleagues resigned at the same time.]

A BNP town councillor was yesterday fined for using his mobile phone while at the wheel of his car.

Last October a police officer spotted John Oddy, 51, driving along the promenade at Colwyn Bay while using his phone, a court heard. Oddy, of West Promenade, Colwyn Bay, did not appear for the hearing before Llandudno magistrates but was found guilty and fined £100 with three penalty points and must pay £75 costs.

Oddy – driving a Jaguar – was “speaking about a media matter to a friend or colleague,” the court heard.

Oddy has just become a member of Colwyn Bay Town Council, elected unopposed as there were not enough candidates in his ward for an election. But in a Conwy County Borough Council election he came bottom of the poll with 10 candidates for four seats.

Daily Post

BNP loses three after less than a week

Following last week's elections the BNP bragged as loudly as it could at the fact that it had 'won' a further six new councillors in North Wales, putting the total up to nine (all of whom are, incidentally, town councillors, the equivalent of parish, and all of whom walked into office completely unopposed).

According to Bill Murray, the BNP's Welsh Regional Secretary:

'After the hard work of all our activists we will be taking a week break then it will be back to business as usual.'

Indeed it is because three of the new intake have resigned from the BNP.

Colwyn Bay town councillors Paul Harley, Sue Harley and John Oddy formally resigned as BNP councillors yesterday at their very first council meeting, where all three were represented by Oddy who stated in a post on the icWales forum;

'I attended the meeting to inform the Council that yesterday afternoon all three Councillors had resigned from the BNP and that we were prepared to remain on the Council as Independents, if the Council required it all three of us were prepared to also resign from the Council and allow our seats to be put forward to a by-election that we would not contest.'

When asked why they'd left the BNP, he responded thus;

'My reason for leaving the BNP was my own personal choice, the other two Councillors choose to leave with me. I have always been regarded as a moderate within the party and, as I’ve always maintained, I have never been a racist...'

Quite apart from the question of why the Harleys left when Oddy had resigned for 'personal' reasons, there is a question mark over the latter's statement that he has never been a racist. According to Pat Pattison, who resigned from the party after discovering its 'intolerable' racism, Oddy verbally attacked him for having the temerity to help an Asian family as part of his own duties as a town councillor, stating that the party wasn't happy with him because he'd been 'helping fucking Pakis' and that 'they're Muslim scum anyway'. Oddy might not think those remarks are racist but they definitely look like they are from where I'm sitting.

Just a few days ago, I wrote;

'Given the usual disasters the BNP is prone to, we should lose half of the new input of BNP councillors within a year or so.'

At this rate, they won't last the month.