Another disaster strikes the ailing BNP, with the result of the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election continuing the consistently downward trend in its vote. The BNP polled just 1560 votes (just under 4.5%), which means the party can wave goodbye to yet another lost deposit, and was roundly beaten by UKIP (2029, or 5.8%), which will annoy pretty well everyone in the BNP.
It's worth remembering that Oldham was at one point an extremely important seat for the BNP - back in 2001 the party mustered up 11.2% and in the General Election last year they still managed to scrape together 5.7%. So what went wrong? Maybe it was the fact that the few local BNP activists left in Oldham refused to come out to support a candidate who had been foisted on them by Nick Griffin, who had already announced himself as a candidate only to back off rapidly when he realised how embarrassing (and likely) a low vote would be.
Or maybe it was the fact that Derek Adams, the BNP's candidate, is yet another bad-tempered, rude and arrogant shit along the lines of Lee Barnes (though probably not quite as insane). Certainly, Adam's behaviour at the hustings last week, where he took the stage and refused to leave until escorted off by the plods, didn't exactly endear him to the packed audience who booed him as he was hauled off.
Or maybe it's just that the BNP is crap and more people are realising it.
Labour: 14,718 (42.1%)
Lib Dems: 11,160 (31.9%)
Conservatives: 4,481 (12.8%)
UKIP: 2,029 (5.8%)
BNP: 1,560 (4.5%)
Green Party: 530 (1.5%)
Monster Raving Loony Party: 145 (0.4%)
English Democrats: 144 (0.4%)
Pirate Party: 96 (0.2%)
Bus Pass Elvis Party: 67 (0.1%)
It's just as well that many BNP members are delusional - no matter how you look at it, coming fifth and losing the deposit is not a good result. Or it isn't unless you're prepared to spin the result so much that reality doesn't get a look in. Here's a BNP supporter (Nick Griffin himself, I suspect) writing on the British Democracy Forum following the result being announced.
'Onwards and Upwards - Oldham was a good result for the BNP...With Nick Griffin standing we would undoubtedly have saved our deposit but he very selflessly stood aside for Derek, who with Clive's expert guidance fought a very good campaign...dig deep for the greater good of the party and for a just and noble cause...I'm sure genuine, loyal BNP members will join me in congratulating Nick, Clive and Derek, as well as everyone else who put it so much effort, on a fine result.'
Like I said, delusional.
Showing posts with label Derek Adams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Derek Adams. Show all posts
January 14, 2011
This Time, The BNP Blow It In Oldham East & Saddleworth: Those Excuses In Full...
BNP 1,560 (4.4%)
As confidently predicted by everyone apart from the BNP's National Officer In Charge Of Making Stuff Up, the Saviours Of The Nation ™ have, yet again, failed to make any headway at all (and lost their deposit!) in a target seat.
“How could this have happened?” wail the disconsolate BNP Faithful of Oldham. “How could we fail yet again?”
And so the excuses begin...
There Was A Large Postal Vote
That Democracy's a sod, isn't it? Why, it's almost as though the LibLabCon Marxist BBC NWO Elite wanted to give people the chance to vote (for whoever they like, mind you!) in the comfort of their own homes, rather than queuing up at a draughty church hall to put their cross on the paper with the same stub of pencil on a bit of string they've been using since 1974.
It Was Raining
Doughty and steadfast your Oldham Nationalist may be: unfazed by taunts and untroubled by threats. The brightest flowering of our Nation's stouthearted spirit, equally ready to speak out against the myriad foes ranked against these islands as to take to the streets in protest at an injustice to a fellow Kinsman.
Unless it's raining. They hate it when it's spitting.
The Controlled Media Gave Hardly Any Coverage To The BNP Candidate
If only the Electorate had been given the chance to see Derek Adams displaying his statesmanlike demeanour, incisive grasp of political discourse and Shavian command of his mother tongue (or just seen him bang on, yet again, about how his pub being knocked down represented the most sinister exemplar of State Repression since the Stalinist Terror); that would've swung it. Oh yes. (Or, failing Derek Adams (as he will forever be known), we could at least have been treated to yet another sight of Griffin looking like the “before” bit in “The King's Speech”...)
The Nationalist Vote Was Split
I ask you; what's the point of having a democracy when any Tom, Dick & Harry can start up another so-called “Party” and get people to vote for them? It'd all be different if that nice Mr Griffin was in charge...
Massive Vote-Rigging Was To Blame
I suspect the operation by the LibLabCon Marxist BBC NWO Elite involved something as simple as this: After the polls close and the ballot boxes are sealed, they are driven at high speed to a secret depot, where dozens of handpicked lefty Council Staff (all of whom can be relied upon to remain silent about the whole affair until the day they die) lie in wait to open them, count every vote, filter out the ones for the BNP (the vast majority, I'll be bound), replace them with votes for the three (so-called!) “main” parties, reseal the boxes and drive them at breakneck speed to the “official” count. As we know from Barking & Dagenham, this entire operation would only have taken a few minutes. Bloody fast workers, those handpicked lefty Council Staff.
The Other Parties Had Billboards
Because, as anyone who knows anything about modern political campaigning will tell you, nothing, and I mean nothing, wins hearts and minds like a big poster of a fat bloke in a cheap suit leering like someone who wants to rape your cat. As amply proven in Barking and Dagenham.
Where Was The Truth Truck?
As a seasoned observer of Democracy's Rich Pageant, I can authoritatively say that nothing swings an election like a second-hand lorry with a poster and a loudspeaker. So where was it? No doubt there's a perfectly reasonable explanation. After all, Mr Griffin wouldn't raise thirty grand from his Members to buy a Brand New Lorry and then not use it at every available opportunity, would he?
People Voted For Other Parties
There's just no pleasing some people, is there? You give them a shabbily racist party run by a crook who would just as likely sell his own family for cosmetics testing as hand over the Accounts, putting up a candidate with all the polish, easy charm and quick-witted electoral nouse of Arthur Mullard on a particularly slow day, and STILL they won't vote for you.
What do they want? Real politics?
(Please Note: These same excuses may also be used for the forthcoming failure in Barnsley Central.)
As confidently predicted by everyone apart from the BNP's National Officer In Charge Of Making Stuff Up, the Saviours Of The Nation ™ have, yet again, failed to make any headway at all (and lost their deposit!) in a target seat.
“How could this have happened?” wail the disconsolate BNP Faithful of Oldham. “How could we fail yet again?”
And so the excuses begin...
There Was A Large Postal Vote
That Democracy's a sod, isn't it? Why, it's almost as though the LibLabCon Marxist BBC NWO Elite wanted to give people the chance to vote (for whoever they like, mind you!) in the comfort of their own homes, rather than queuing up at a draughty church hall to put their cross on the paper with the same stub of pencil on a bit of string they've been using since 1974.
It Was Raining
Doughty and steadfast your Oldham Nationalist may be: unfazed by taunts and untroubled by threats. The brightest flowering of our Nation's stouthearted spirit, equally ready to speak out against the myriad foes ranked against these islands as to take to the streets in protest at an injustice to a fellow Kinsman.
Unless it's raining. They hate it when it's spitting.
The Controlled Media Gave Hardly Any Coverage To The BNP Candidate
If only the Electorate had been given the chance to see Derek Adams displaying his statesmanlike demeanour, incisive grasp of political discourse and Shavian command of his mother tongue (or just seen him bang on, yet again, about how his pub being knocked down represented the most sinister exemplar of State Repression since the Stalinist Terror); that would've swung it. Oh yes. (Or, failing Derek Adams (as he will forever be known), we could at least have been treated to yet another sight of Griffin looking like the “before” bit in “The King's Speech”...)
The Nationalist Vote Was Split
I ask you; what's the point of having a democracy when any Tom, Dick & Harry can start up another so-called “Party” and get people to vote for them? It'd all be different if that nice Mr Griffin was in charge...
Massive Vote-Rigging Was To Blame
I suspect the operation by the LibLabCon Marxist BBC NWO Elite involved something as simple as this: After the polls close and the ballot boxes are sealed, they are driven at high speed to a secret depot, where dozens of handpicked lefty Council Staff (all of whom can be relied upon to remain silent about the whole affair until the day they die) lie in wait to open them, count every vote, filter out the ones for the BNP (the vast majority, I'll be bound), replace them with votes for the three (so-called!) “main” parties, reseal the boxes and drive them at breakneck speed to the “official” count. As we know from Barking & Dagenham, this entire operation would only have taken a few minutes. Bloody fast workers, those handpicked lefty Council Staff.
The Other Parties Had Billboards
Because, as anyone who knows anything about modern political campaigning will tell you, nothing, and I mean nothing, wins hearts and minds like a big poster of a fat bloke in a cheap suit leering like someone who wants to rape your cat. As amply proven in Barking and Dagenham.
Where Was The Truth Truck?
As a seasoned observer of Democracy's Rich Pageant, I can authoritatively say that nothing swings an election like a second-hand lorry with a poster and a loudspeaker. So where was it? No doubt there's a perfectly reasonable explanation. After all, Mr Griffin wouldn't raise thirty grand from his Members to buy a Brand New Lorry and then not use it at every available opportunity, would he?
People Voted For Other Parties
There's just no pleasing some people, is there? You give them a shabbily racist party run by a crook who would just as likely sell his own family for cosmetics testing as hand over the Accounts, putting up a candidate with all the polish, easy charm and quick-witted electoral nouse of Arthur Mullard on a particularly slow day, and STILL they won't vote for you.
What do they want? Real politics?
(Please Note: These same excuses may also be used for the forthcoming failure in Barnsley Central.)
December 20, 2010
BNP's Griffin Adams Corbett Adams to stand in Oldham East by-election (possibly)
There are times when I worry about Nick Griffin and his happy band of idiots. On the one hand, they claim to be able to run an entire country, while on the other they are clearly unable to organise a piss-up in a pub.
Take the coming Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, called following the eviction of former Labour MP Phil Woolas for telling porkies about one of his opponents. Seeing an opportunity to get his ghastly face before the public again (and seemingly unconcerned at the bewilderment of his Euro-constituents, to whom he is expected to have some commitment) Nick Griffin promptly announced that he was intending to stand at the invitation, he claimed, of the local BNP branch. Though not according to the people in the BNP who communicate with us, who claim that he had parachuted himself in, in the same way that he did in Barking at the General Election, where he won a derisory 4,916 votes despite a full-on campaign in the constituency.
Presumably Griffin has realised that standing and losing in every seat in the country is not likely to enhance whatever credibility he thinks he has, because just a couple of days after the party announced his candidacy, rumour suggested that he had changed his mind and that Derek Adams, a favourite of the idiotic Clive Jefferson and a stooge candidate in the most recent (and most farcical) BNP leadership election, was to stand instead, to the fury of the local group.
Just a day later, long-time activist and liaison to BNP-friendly far-right groups in Germany, Chris Beverley, wrote on his Morley Patriot blog;
Personally, I don't think Griffin has backed off from the seat because of any threat by UKIP or anyone else. Rather, it's that the BNP's disastrous financial situation has got in the way and the party can't afford to get a decent campaign up and running. This is more or less confirmed by Butler, who pointed out in a post on his blog yesterday;
Take the coming Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, called following the eviction of former Labour MP Phil Woolas for telling porkies about one of his opponents. Seeing an opportunity to get his ghastly face before the public again (and seemingly unconcerned at the bewilderment of his Euro-constituents, to whom he is expected to have some commitment) Nick Griffin promptly announced that he was intending to stand at the invitation, he claimed, of the local BNP branch. Though not according to the people in the BNP who communicate with us, who claim that he had parachuted himself in, in the same way that he did in Barking at the General Election, where he won a derisory 4,916 votes despite a full-on campaign in the constituency.
Presumably Griffin has realised that standing and losing in every seat in the country is not likely to enhance whatever credibility he thinks he has, because just a couple of days after the party announced his candidacy, rumour suggested that he had changed his mind and that Derek Adams, a favourite of the idiotic Clive Jefferson and a stooge candidate in the most recent (and most farcical) BNP leadership election, was to stand instead, to the fury of the local group.
Just a day later, long-time activist and liaison to BNP-friendly far-right groups in Germany, Chris Beverley, wrote on his Morley Patriot blog;
'I was in Oldham this afternoon with Andrew Brons and two Leeds activists to help with an activity in the town connected with the upcoming by-election in the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency...Our candidate in the election is long-term local activist Anita Corbett who has stood for election in Oldham on a number of occasions.'Now, a mere two days after this announcement, former BNP elections officer Eddy Butler has further news for us. He writes;
'Clive Jefferson would seem to have got his way and has ran roughshod over the local branch and imposed Derek Adams as the BNP candidate in the forthcoming Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election. I expect Derek Adams to be announced as the candidate at the press conference due to be held later today (Monday).Generally speaking, when it comes to having a pop at Griffin or Jefferson, Butler tends to be on target. And if true, how embarrassing for Griffin's fellow BNP Euro MEP Andrew Brons, who was out campaigning on Saturday with Chris Beverley and Anita Corbett in the latter's bid to take the seat.
It appears that Clive believes that UKIP will out poll the BNP which is why he persuaded Nick Griffin not to stand. It is also apparent that neither Clive Jefferson nor Nick Griffin trust the local officers and activists in Oldham which is why they are imposing Derek Adams.
Clive Jefferson is busy upsetting everyone who he sees as getting in his way. There are a number of senior officers who he is busy denigrating. That is how he operates.'
Personally, I don't think Griffin has backed off from the seat because of any threat by UKIP or anyone else. Rather, it's that the BNP's disastrous financial situation has got in the way and the party can't afford to get a decent campaign up and running. This is more or less confirmed by Butler, who pointed out in a post on his blog yesterday;
'Most printers used to dealing with such orders have not been paid following the last election. Several of our most reliable printers are taking the BNP to court over unpaid invoices involving in total six figure sums...In short there will be a major problem in getting the leaflets printed in time.'So who is actually going to stand for the BNP in this entirely unwinnable seat? A local candidate with no leaflets or a leafletless stooge parachuted in by a moron? Either way, it should be a laugh for us.
August 08, 2010
Democracy's Great Pageant: BNP Nominations About to close in the Great Free & Fair Leadership Contest.
As the deadline for the close of nominations in the BNP's Leadership Challenge draws near, I thought it may be helpful – for the benefit of any passing trolls – to give a quick run-down of the pro's and cons of your various contenders.
Nick Griffin
Con:
Past Baggage: Holocaust denial, a history of making inflammatory, racist statements and the small matter of once having made a speech in which he outlines how the BNP are just going to “pretend” to not be racist bigots, but they are really. No matter how Griffin tries to squirm his way out of this one, it'll always be there, both in print and on video. This alone should bar the man from ever gaining the public trust. In much the same way as my once collecting every album recorded by Donovan should automatically wreck my own chances of ever running for public office.
A Divisive, Dictatorial Party Leader: No leader of a modern political party has ever run his or her outfit in the way Griffin conducts his. Concentrating all power to his own diktat and sacking, suspending and excluding perceived opponents at will, Griffin has alienated so many people in his Party that the result was inevitable.
Choice of Friends: Jim Dowson, Clive Jefferson and Arthur Kemp. Not exactly the Bloomsbury Set of politics.
No Grasp of Media Presentation: From the downright idiocy of the Marmite episode to his bizarre appearance on Question Time – an hour spent wriggling, giggling, propounding his bizarre racial theories and generally demonstrating the kind of incisive grasp of human history we haven't seen since the days of Eric Von Daniken – Griffin may see himself (and be admired by his followers) as a seasoned old TV pro', but to the rest of the Nation he's got all the charisma, presence and easygoing charm of Peter Sutcliffe guest-presenting Loose Women.
Financial Dealings and Allegations of Nepotism: Look. There might be a perfectly innocent explanation for all of the allegations. It could be that everything Griffin and Dowson do is open, honest and above board. It could be. No, it really could. Honest.
Pro:
Owns a suit.
Richard Barnbrook
Con:
Owns a suit. Several suits. All the same. Assuming he's trying for a Martin Bell, Man-In-The-White-Suit-Saviour-Of-British-Politics shtick, the choice of a muddy beige is unfortunate, in that it merely comes across as second-division. It's like Superman couldn't be bothered one day and decided to wear trackies and a polo shirt instead.
An Obvious Spoiler Candidate.
Loose Cannon: Allegedly suffers from a drink problem. Although no-one outside of his close circle will ever know for sure, Barnbrook's appearances at Mayoral Questions and various episodes captured on video in the past certainly point to a man with – how best to say this? - some eccentric ways about him. The very fact that he can share the same room as Boris Johnson and, by comparison, make the Mayor look a model of coherence and gentlemanly decorum speaks volumes.
Pro:
You've got me there.
Eddy Butler
Con:
Lack of Personality: Such a lack in fact, as to constitute a potentially dangerous “Personality Vacuum”, as proposed by scientists a CERN. If, the theory goes, he were to come into contact with another such Personality Vacuum – say, an Orlando Bloom or Michael Gove – the resultant Personality Black Hole could suck in all charisma for miles around. Also, he's the spitting image of Patrick Malahide, who I don't think I've ever seen playing a Good Guy.
Past Baggage: Butler, although he attempts to portray himself as the Fresh Start Candidate, carries much the same baggage as Griffin: The NF past, several less-than-sensitive articles and pieces of writing under his name and a seeming complicity in everything the Leadership got up to until he lost his BNP job. It has been easy for the Griffin Camp to portray Butler as a Man With A Grudge.
Pro:
A level of support among senior Party Figures and influential characters of the far-Right. Richard Edmonds, Jonathan Bowden, Michael Barnbrook, Nick Cass, Scott McLean, etc. Unfortunately, the sad truth for Butler is that while these people might be well-know to anoraks like us, they're probably a mystery to the lumpen majority of Members, whose limited grasp of their own party is that Nick Griffin IS the BNP (and they've never heard or read a bad word said against him, at that).
Derek Adams:
Con:
Who?
Pro:
Who?
So that's it. Not much of a choice. Saying that the BNP tends to attract the Confused, Antisocial and downright Sleazy is a little like saying that the Nobel Prizewinner's Club appeals to fairly bright people, or that there are a surprising number of young, single men at a sci-fi convention. The truth is, of course, that Griffin has so rigged the entire process as to virtually ensure his own continued stewardship of the rapidly sinking enterprise.
A change of Leadership would make little difference to us – they're all cut from the same grubby cloth. The Press and the undemanding Membership may be fooled for a while, but the damage, this time, runs so deep that it's hard to see how they can ever pull back from the brink.
Whatever the next step is, come Tuesday, things look bad for “The REAL Opposition Party”™. Talk of bankruptcy, sex scandals, shady financial dealings, splits, expulsions... What next? The tragic disappearance of Griffin from a French Beach, leaving behind only an extra-large, neatly-folded cummerbund?
The Far-Right will always be riven with factional infighting: It's the one thing they share in common with the Far-Left (as a student I once shared a flat with another Socialist. Within a fortnight the two of us had split into five opposing factions). This time, though, they've decided to take the whole, tottering edifice down with them.
Nick Griffin
Con:
Past Baggage: Holocaust denial, a history of making inflammatory, racist statements and the small matter of once having made a speech in which he outlines how the BNP are just going to “pretend” to not be racist bigots, but they are really. No matter how Griffin tries to squirm his way out of this one, it'll always be there, both in print and on video. This alone should bar the man from ever gaining the public trust. In much the same way as my once collecting every album recorded by Donovan should automatically wreck my own chances of ever running for public office.
A Divisive, Dictatorial Party Leader: No leader of a modern political party has ever run his or her outfit in the way Griffin conducts his. Concentrating all power to his own diktat and sacking, suspending and excluding perceived opponents at will, Griffin has alienated so many people in his Party that the result was inevitable.
Choice of Friends: Jim Dowson, Clive Jefferson and Arthur Kemp. Not exactly the Bloomsbury Set of politics.
No Grasp of Media Presentation: From the downright idiocy of the Marmite episode to his bizarre appearance on Question Time – an hour spent wriggling, giggling, propounding his bizarre racial theories and generally demonstrating the kind of incisive grasp of human history we haven't seen since the days of Eric Von Daniken – Griffin may see himself (and be admired by his followers) as a seasoned old TV pro', but to the rest of the Nation he's got all the charisma, presence and easygoing charm of Peter Sutcliffe guest-presenting Loose Women.
Financial Dealings and Allegations of Nepotism: Look. There might be a perfectly innocent explanation for all of the allegations. It could be that everything Griffin and Dowson do is open, honest and above board. It could be. No, it really could. Honest.
Pro:
Owns a suit.
Richard Barnbrook
Con:
Owns a suit. Several suits. All the same. Assuming he's trying for a Martin Bell, Man-In-The-White-Suit-Saviour-Of-British-Politics shtick, the choice of a muddy beige is unfortunate, in that it merely comes across as second-division. It's like Superman couldn't be bothered one day and decided to wear trackies and a polo shirt instead.
An Obvious Spoiler Candidate.
Loose Cannon: Allegedly suffers from a drink problem. Although no-one outside of his close circle will ever know for sure, Barnbrook's appearances at Mayoral Questions and various episodes captured on video in the past certainly point to a man with – how best to say this? - some eccentric ways about him. The very fact that he can share the same room as Boris Johnson and, by comparison, make the Mayor look a model of coherence and gentlemanly decorum speaks volumes.
Pro:
You've got me there.
Eddy Butler
Con:
Lack of Personality: Such a lack in fact, as to constitute a potentially dangerous “Personality Vacuum”, as proposed by scientists a CERN. If, the theory goes, he were to come into contact with another such Personality Vacuum – say, an Orlando Bloom or Michael Gove – the resultant Personality Black Hole could suck in all charisma for miles around. Also, he's the spitting image of Patrick Malahide, who I don't think I've ever seen playing a Good Guy.
Past Baggage: Butler, although he attempts to portray himself as the Fresh Start Candidate, carries much the same baggage as Griffin: The NF past, several less-than-sensitive articles and pieces of writing under his name and a seeming complicity in everything the Leadership got up to until he lost his BNP job. It has been easy for the Griffin Camp to portray Butler as a Man With A Grudge.
Pro:
A level of support among senior Party Figures and influential characters of the far-Right. Richard Edmonds, Jonathan Bowden, Michael Barnbrook, Nick Cass, Scott McLean, etc. Unfortunately, the sad truth for Butler is that while these people might be well-know to anoraks like us, they're probably a mystery to the lumpen majority of Members, whose limited grasp of their own party is that Nick Griffin IS the BNP (and they've never heard or read a bad word said against him, at that).
Derek Adams:
Con:
Who?
Pro:
Who?
So that's it. Not much of a choice. Saying that the BNP tends to attract the Confused, Antisocial and downright Sleazy is a little like saying that the Nobel Prizewinner's Club appeals to fairly bright people, or that there are a surprising number of young, single men at a sci-fi convention. The truth is, of course, that Griffin has so rigged the entire process as to virtually ensure his own continued stewardship of the rapidly sinking enterprise.
A change of Leadership would make little difference to us – they're all cut from the same grubby cloth. The Press and the undemanding Membership may be fooled for a while, but the damage, this time, runs so deep that it's hard to see how they can ever pull back from the brink.
Whatever the next step is, come Tuesday, things look bad for “The REAL Opposition Party”™. Talk of bankruptcy, sex scandals, shady financial dealings, splits, expulsions... What next? The tragic disappearance of Griffin from a French Beach, leaving behind only an extra-large, neatly-folded cummerbund?
The Far-Right will always be riven with factional infighting: It's the one thing they share in common with the Far-Left (as a student I once shared a flat with another Socialist. Within a fortnight the two of us had split into five opposing factions). This time, though, they've decided to take the whole, tottering edifice down with them.
July 19, 2010
Harrington behind BNP leadership challenge fix?
Putting his name forward as a prospective leadership challenger, Richard Barnbrook has condemned the BNP to eternal rule by Nick Griffin.
Barnbrook, along with Griffin glove-puppet Derek Adams, has not the slightest chance of garnering enough nominations to put his name on the leadership ballot, but that does not appear to be the point.
In submitting themselves to the draconian Griffin-devised leadership contest rules Barnbrook and Adams are strengthening the Griffinite case for declaring Eddy Butler's challenge invalid, since Butler has refused to accept the rules, declaring them "unconstitutional" while continuing to collect nomination signatures on his own forms, holding meetings and maintaining a web presence - all proscribed in an organisers' bulletin issued by Clive Jefferson at Griffin's behest.
Appearing unexpectedly on the BNP website late yesterday, the announcement that Butler, Barnbrook and Adams were seeking nomination seems to be little more than a sop to a notional idea of "fair play" utterly alien to the Griffin leadership but necessary to quell growing doubts amongst the membership at large and to arm Griffin with the right credentials against accusations of a "fix". To that end, each of the three prospective challengers' 150 word statements are published, along with that of incumbent Griffin - who cannot restrain his authoritarian tendencies, referring to "futile, time-wasting elections".
Why the election is "futile" Griffin does not explain, but it really isn't that difficult to work out.
The momentum gained by the Butler campaign has terrified Nick Griffin and those he has promoted to paid positions, who could not expect to survive a Butler win. One such is the execrable Patrick Harrington, now a direct employee of the BNP while remaining head of the joke Solidarity "trade union" and a member of the tiny National Liberals/Third Way. Harrington, as we saw many moons ago, sometimes likes to bank money in the name P.A. Sharp, which he - perhaps uniquely - claims to be his "married name". (We should not care to encourage speculation in regard to which name Harrington/Sharp has thus far employed when claiming his state benefits).
Eddy Butler has been aware of Harrington's interference in BNP affairs (clearly with the tacit approval of Nick Griffin) for some time, and yesterday, speculating the advent of a Griffinite stooge candidate, wrote:
Even those kindly disposed towards Barnbrook would not claim for him either a sweeping intellect or any dim flickerings of managerial talent. Barnbrook would be the candidate everybody likes but nobody will vote for. In fact, hobbling his own chances of obtaining sufficient nominations to put him on the ballot, Barnbrook (or the sneaking Harrington?) begins his 150-word statement: "Famed as ‘the man in the beige suit’, dyslexic and partial to the occasional drink, I know my limitations!"
An inability to know when he is being suckered would appear to be high on the list of those "limitations".
Completing the "fair play" charade is the announcement that the thus far silent Andrew Brons, youthful Nazi and now BNP MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside, is to be the "official scrutineer".
This is indeed a clever move on Griffin's part. Brons has respect within the BNP and has so far (apparently) kept his distance from the Griffin-Butler dogfight. He is seen as intelligent, working hard in the EU parliament, and about as fair and impartial as it is possible to be within the BNP. He lends, as is intended, a bogus respectability and legitimacy to the self-serving Griffin devised rules that will govern the conduct of the nomination gathering process.
Brons (assuming his impartiality is genuine) is as much a patsy as Richard Barnbrook.
The nuts and bolts of the game-plan are fairly clear now. The primary intent is to prevent Eddy Butler's name ever going on to the leadership ballot, since even achieving the 20% voting member requirement would be tacit proof of widespread internal dissatisfaction with Nick Griffin, and would fatally damage his leadership.
To that end, out goes the failed strategy of the smear blogs and in comes something that is on the surface more agreeable but no less poisonous to the Butler challenge.
With fair-minded Andrew Brons superintending the bizarre nominations process, with the popular Richard Barnbrook and one other candidate joining the fray on the terms imposed by Griffin, the process is effectively legitimised. Griffin has but to point out that if the rules are good enough for Brons, Barnbrook and Adams, then why does Eddy Butler not accept them, and why does he continue to operate in clear breach of them?
From there it follows that every nomination signature gathered by the Butler campaign will, as the Griffin/Jefferson bulletin promised, be declared invalid, and with neither Barnbrook or Adams coming close to the 20% requirement there will be no leadership election.
This is going to end in tears. And in court.
Breaking: Eddy Butler's campaign manager, Peter Phillips has been suspended pending an investigation into alleged and, as usual, unspecified "serious breaches of the BNP Code of Conduct".
This, as with all suspensions to date, is clearly against natural justice. Surely, this is one suspension the Butler camp cannot afford to ignore, since it can only demoralise his supporters and give Nick Griffin the green light to pick off other leading members of Butler's circle at will?
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Barnbrook, along with Griffin glove-puppet Derek Adams, has not the slightest chance of garnering enough nominations to put his name on the leadership ballot, but that does not appear to be the point.
In submitting themselves to the draconian Griffin-devised leadership contest rules Barnbrook and Adams are strengthening the Griffinite case for declaring Eddy Butler's challenge invalid, since Butler has refused to accept the rules, declaring them "unconstitutional" while continuing to collect nomination signatures on his own forms, holding meetings and maintaining a web presence - all proscribed in an organisers' bulletin issued by Clive Jefferson at Griffin's behest.
Appearing unexpectedly on the BNP website late yesterday, the announcement that Butler, Barnbrook and Adams were seeking nomination seems to be little more than a sop to a notional idea of "fair play" utterly alien to the Griffin leadership but necessary to quell growing doubts amongst the membership at large and to arm Griffin with the right credentials against accusations of a "fix". To that end, each of the three prospective challengers' 150 word statements are published, along with that of incumbent Griffin - who cannot restrain his authoritarian tendencies, referring to "futile, time-wasting elections".
Why the election is "futile" Griffin does not explain, but it really isn't that difficult to work out.
The momentum gained by the Butler campaign has terrified Nick Griffin and those he has promoted to paid positions, who could not expect to survive a Butler win. One such is the execrable Patrick Harrington, now a direct employee of the BNP while remaining head of the joke Solidarity "trade union" and a member of the tiny National Liberals/Third Way. Harrington, as we saw many moons ago, sometimes likes to bank money in the name P.A. Sharp, which he - perhaps uniquely - claims to be his "married name". (We should not care to encourage speculation in regard to which name Harrington/Sharp has thus far employed when claiming his state benefits).
Eddy Butler has been aware of Harrington's interference in BNP affairs (clearly with the tacit approval of Nick Griffin) for some time, and yesterday, speculating the advent of a Griffinite stooge candidate, wrote:
...news has reached me that the mastermind of the ‘stalking horse’ campaign is none other than our old friend Pat Harrington. Harrington has been busily trying to bamboozle a ‘name’ into putting himself forward. Persuading the ‘name’ that he is ever so popular, that he can be the ‘third way’ candidate to unite the party above the Griffin-Butler factions. The ‘name’ is in a slightly vulnerable situation and can’t see that he is being used by Harrington as a stooge – to derail the nomination process on behalf of Nick Griffin.As Derek Adams is hardly a "name" in the BNP at large, Butler is clearly referring to Barnbrook.
Even those kindly disposed towards Barnbrook would not claim for him either a sweeping intellect or any dim flickerings of managerial talent. Barnbrook would be the candidate everybody likes but nobody will vote for. In fact, hobbling his own chances of obtaining sufficient nominations to put him on the ballot, Barnbrook (or the sneaking Harrington?) begins his 150-word statement: "Famed as ‘the man in the beige suit’, dyslexic and partial to the occasional drink, I know my limitations!"
An inability to know when he is being suckered would appear to be high on the list of those "limitations".
Completing the "fair play" charade is the announcement that the thus far silent Andrew Brons, youthful Nazi and now BNP MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside, is to be the "official scrutineer".
This is indeed a clever move on Griffin's part. Brons has respect within the BNP and has so far (apparently) kept his distance from the Griffin-Butler dogfight. He is seen as intelligent, working hard in the EU parliament, and about as fair and impartial as it is possible to be within the BNP. He lends, as is intended, a bogus respectability and legitimacy to the self-serving Griffin devised rules that will govern the conduct of the nomination gathering process.
Brons (assuming his impartiality is genuine) is as much a patsy as Richard Barnbrook.
The nuts and bolts of the game-plan are fairly clear now. The primary intent is to prevent Eddy Butler's name ever going on to the leadership ballot, since even achieving the 20% voting member requirement would be tacit proof of widespread internal dissatisfaction with Nick Griffin, and would fatally damage his leadership.
To that end, out goes the failed strategy of the smear blogs and in comes something that is on the surface more agreeable but no less poisonous to the Butler challenge.
With fair-minded Andrew Brons superintending the bizarre nominations process, with the popular Richard Barnbrook and one other candidate joining the fray on the terms imposed by Griffin, the process is effectively legitimised. Griffin has but to point out that if the rules are good enough for Brons, Barnbrook and Adams, then why does Eddy Butler not accept them, and why does he continue to operate in clear breach of them?
From there it follows that every nomination signature gathered by the Butler campaign will, as the Griffin/Jefferson bulletin promised, be declared invalid, and with neither Barnbrook or Adams coming close to the 20% requirement there will be no leadership election.
This is going to end in tears. And in court.
Breaking: Eddy Butler's campaign manager, Peter Phillips has been suspended pending an investigation into alleged and, as usual, unspecified "serious breaches of the BNP Code of Conduct".
This, as with all suspensions to date, is clearly against natural justice. Surely, this is one suspension the Butler camp cannot afford to ignore, since it can only demoralise his supporters and give Nick Griffin the green light to pick off other leading members of Butler's circle at will?
----------------
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Two spoiler candidates bid for BNP leadership
“The man in the beige suit, dyslexic and partial to the occasional drink” is Richard Barnbrook’s idiosyncratic way of inviting support for his bid to become chairman of the British National Party. In any other party a leader “partial to the occasional drink” has to resign, but as in so many things the BNP is different.
Barnbrook is one of three candidates who have declared their intention to try to replace Nick Griffin as leader of the racist party. He and Derek Adams are latecomers to the contest, although Eddy Butler, who has been actively gathering support since May, has predicted for some time that Griffin would put up a “stooge” candidate.
Candidates for the leadership have to obtain nominations from 20% of the 4,200 members of at least two years’ standing, something that Butler describes as “incredibly difficult” as most of those 4,200 are “armchair members, unknown to most organisers and activists”. The more candidates, the more difficult it is for any one of them to obtain the 840 signatures needed.
On Sunday Butler claimed that the mastermind of the “stalking horse” campaign was Patrick Harrington, Griffin’s old friend from his National Front days, who is now a member of the executive committee of Third Way, a rival to the BNP. Harrington was recently taken onto the BNP’s payroll in a human resources role, a bizarre position for the general secretary of a trade union, except that “Solidarity” is not a real union but a BNP front. It is unlikely there will be any action soon from Solidarity to represent those BNP employees who were not paid in June because the party has run out of money.
Barnbrook, the BNP’s London Assembly member, is prominent in the BNP in London and the south of the country. It had been thought that he was supporting Butler and had been sacked as the party’s Barking and Dagenham organiser because of it. However Butler says enigmatically that Chris Roberts, the BNP’s London organiser, replaced Barnbrook by an unnamed “hard working and well respected local activist who is, I believe, a supporter of Nick Griffin”, so that Barnbrook could concentrate on his London Assembly role.
Adams, who used to run a pub in Manchester that was used for a BNP victory rally after Griffin’s election to the European Parliament last year, is more likely to attract support among BNP members in the north. His electoral pitch amounts to very little: he loves the BNP, it is doing very well, but if you think a change is needed then nominate me, a “clean-hands candidate who will be a fresh face but who, unlike Mr Butler, has not sought to advance my candidacy by working with supporters who spread lies and black propaganda”. Despite his claim not to be “a stalking horse for undeclared and shadowy third parties”, his parroting of Griffin’s line shows that is exactly what he is.
Although Griffin does not need to collect signatures as his name goes forward automatically, he has also set out his stall in the hope that members will tick the box on the “official” nomination form in support of him continuing rather than nominating Butler. Hypocritically he, who has so often sacked party employees on the spot in contravention of employment legislation, and has most recently incurred a huge liability to settle with Michaela Mackenzie who took her unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal, argues against Butler’s plan to close the party’s Belfast call centre as it would mean breaking contracts and sacking “our young team”.
Arrogant as always, Griffin does not appeal for support but for no election at all. “In ten years, our activists and I have turned this party from a bad political joke into a major factor in British politics. There is still much to be done, and it is best done under proven, principled and visionary leadership, without futile, time-wasting elections.”
Many supporters and opponents of the BNP believe that the party remains a “bad political joke”, judging by Griffin’s recent actions, such as making the party liable for up to £170,000 because of his stupid and infantile act of including the image of a jar of Marmite on the BNP’s general election broadcast.
The announcement of the candidates on the BNP website, posted on the BNP website in the early hours of Monday 19 July, makes a point of listing the candidates’ 150-word statements in alphabetical order. Is it coincidence that both the new candidates appear higher in the alphabet than Butler, in a petty ploy to exploit the ultra short attention span of many BNP members?
The official scrutineer, whose job it will be to collect nomination forms from the PO Box set up for the purpose and to open them, is Andrew Brons MEP. Brons works closely with Griffin in the European Parliament and shares constituency office staff with him. It is unclear whether Butler agrees that Brons’s appointment is the “fairest way” to ensure that the “process is seen to be fair and totally impartial”.
Butler has rejected the election rules, drawn up by Clive Jefferson as head of the BNP’s “elections department”, under which nominations for the leadership can only be made by members personally posting their “official” nomination form, with witnessed signature, to Brons. He continues to urge his supporters to download forms from his blog (the existence of which is itself a contravention of Jefferson’s rules) and to return them to him.
Nominations close on 10 August, after which a new outbreak of accusations and recriminations about whether Butler has been validly nominated is expected, a row that is likely to end up in court.
Sonia Gable at HOPE not hate
Barnbrook is one of three candidates who have declared their intention to try to replace Nick Griffin as leader of the racist party. He and Derek Adams are latecomers to the contest, although Eddy Butler, who has been actively gathering support since May, has predicted for some time that Griffin would put up a “stooge” candidate.
Candidates for the leadership have to obtain nominations from 20% of the 4,200 members of at least two years’ standing, something that Butler describes as “incredibly difficult” as most of those 4,200 are “armchair members, unknown to most organisers and activists”. The more candidates, the more difficult it is for any one of them to obtain the 840 signatures needed.
On Sunday Butler claimed that the mastermind of the “stalking horse” campaign was Patrick Harrington, Griffin’s old friend from his National Front days, who is now a member of the executive committee of Third Way, a rival to the BNP. Harrington was recently taken onto the BNP’s payroll in a human resources role, a bizarre position for the general secretary of a trade union, except that “Solidarity” is not a real union but a BNP front. It is unlikely there will be any action soon from Solidarity to represent those BNP employees who were not paid in June because the party has run out of money.
Barnbrook, the BNP’s London Assembly member, is prominent in the BNP in London and the south of the country. It had been thought that he was supporting Butler and had been sacked as the party’s Barking and Dagenham organiser because of it. However Butler says enigmatically that Chris Roberts, the BNP’s London organiser, replaced Barnbrook by an unnamed “hard working and well respected local activist who is, I believe, a supporter of Nick Griffin”, so that Barnbrook could concentrate on his London Assembly role.
Adams, who used to run a pub in Manchester that was used for a BNP victory rally after Griffin’s election to the European Parliament last year, is more likely to attract support among BNP members in the north. His electoral pitch amounts to very little: he loves the BNP, it is doing very well, but if you think a change is needed then nominate me, a “clean-hands candidate who will be a fresh face but who, unlike Mr Butler, has not sought to advance my candidacy by working with supporters who spread lies and black propaganda”. Despite his claim not to be “a stalking horse for undeclared and shadowy third parties”, his parroting of Griffin’s line shows that is exactly what he is.
Although Griffin does not need to collect signatures as his name goes forward automatically, he has also set out his stall in the hope that members will tick the box on the “official” nomination form in support of him continuing rather than nominating Butler. Hypocritically he, who has so often sacked party employees on the spot in contravention of employment legislation, and has most recently incurred a huge liability to settle with Michaela Mackenzie who took her unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal, argues against Butler’s plan to close the party’s Belfast call centre as it would mean breaking contracts and sacking “our young team”.
Arrogant as always, Griffin does not appeal for support but for no election at all. “In ten years, our activists and I have turned this party from a bad political joke into a major factor in British politics. There is still much to be done, and it is best done under proven, principled and visionary leadership, without futile, time-wasting elections.”
Many supporters and opponents of the BNP believe that the party remains a “bad political joke”, judging by Griffin’s recent actions, such as making the party liable for up to £170,000 because of his stupid and infantile act of including the image of a jar of Marmite on the BNP’s general election broadcast.
The announcement of the candidates on the BNP website, posted on the BNP website in the early hours of Monday 19 July, makes a point of listing the candidates’ 150-word statements in alphabetical order. Is it coincidence that both the new candidates appear higher in the alphabet than Butler, in a petty ploy to exploit the ultra short attention span of many BNP members?
The official scrutineer, whose job it will be to collect nomination forms from the PO Box set up for the purpose and to open them, is Andrew Brons MEP. Brons works closely with Griffin in the European Parliament and shares constituency office staff with him. It is unclear whether Butler agrees that Brons’s appointment is the “fairest way” to ensure that the “process is seen to be fair and totally impartial”.
Butler has rejected the election rules, drawn up by Clive Jefferson as head of the BNP’s “elections department”, under which nominations for the leadership can only be made by members personally posting their “official” nomination form, with witnessed signature, to Brons. He continues to urge his supporters to download forms from his blog (the existence of which is itself a contravention of Jefferson’s rules) and to return them to him.
Nominations close on 10 August, after which a new outbreak of accusations and recriminations about whether Butler has been validly nominated is expected, a row that is likely to end up in court.
Sonia Gable at HOPE not hate
Ladies and Gentlemen, the race is underway.
The runners and riders for the BNP Leadership Challenge Cup 2010 are as follows:-
Derek Adams
Unlike Mr. Butler I don't seek to be a disposable chairman or a stalking horse for undeclared and shadowy third parties. I seek election for a full-term. I love this Party and despise those who seek to sow dissent and demoralise our activists. They have provided propaganda for our enemies to throw at our candidates on the doorstep. Real grievances must be dealt with by people with true hearts, not those whose main purpose is to seek position or jobs.
Our vote increased at the General Election and we have more enquiries and a larger membership than ever. But some people still think it’s time for a change. If you feel that change is indeed needed, then nominate me, a clean-hands candidate who will be a fresh face but who, unlike Mr. Butler, has not sought to advance my candidacy by working with supporters who spread lies and black propaganda.
Richard Barnbrook
Famed as ‘the man in the beige suit’, dyslexic and partial to the occasional drink, I know my limitations! But I have never wavered from the strength of my convictions and I’ve always spoken direct from the heart.
Nick has achieved miracles in modernising the Party; Eddy has electioneering, strategic experience, - but the Party is divided. There’s a real desire for change but we also need time to take stock, and plan how to move forward together with renewed energy. If we act in haste we risk losing all we have built.
Our success and unity is more important than the ambitions of any individual. I offer integrity, impartiality and lack of self-interest that will command the loyalty and solidarity of all the membership. I will act as a caretaker leader till elections and end the strife caused by this destructive, divisive and bitter campaign. Choose stability and unity.
Eddy Butler:
I believe we need a complete re-launch in order to survive as a Party.
I seek a year’s term as Chairman in order to bring in the necessary changes and hold free elections next year than will result in a fresh face.
I will bring in measures to ensure financial transparency to restore confidence in the Party’s finances.
I will bring in constitutional changes to make the Party more democratically accountable and have a separation of powers between the political Chairman and the administration.
I would bring all functions such as the call centre back to the mainland and close the Belfast office.
I would terminate the contract of our fundraising consultant and we would become self sufficient.
I would ensure that our resources are focussed on the front line and not wasted on bureaucracy.
I would ensure that the Party stays together with no recriminations after this leadership election.
Nick Griffin MEP:
Our tremendous record speaks for itself, which is why our enemies try every trick in their grubby book to smear me and key members of my winning team.
To break contracts, sack our young team in the highly popular and successful call centre, and go back to amateurism, would be organisational and financial suicide. The experience and technology we’ve acquired must be used to modernise our election-fighting machine, not thrown away out of spite and personal ambition.
We’ve spent time and money modernising our central administration, now we’re going to professionalise our regional and local organisation.
In ten years, our activists and I have turned this party from a bad political joke into a major factor in British politics. There is still much to be done, and it is best done under proven, principled and visionary leadership, without futile, time-wasting elections. We’ve come this far, let us go forward together!
Your referee for this winner takes all contest will be Mr Andrew Brons.
Andrew Brons MEP has consented to be the scrutineer of the nomination papers and the address on the ballot papers to return them, at an address submitted by himself.
It is vital that this process is seen to be fair and totally impartial and that the appointment of Mr Brons as official scrutineer is beyond any doubt the fairest way to proceed in this matter.
Mr Brons has also worked with the election department in drawing up the procedures and guidelines to the nomination process and as scrutineer he has declared them fair to all potential challengers.
Derek Adams
Unlike Mr. Butler I don't seek to be a disposable chairman or a stalking horse for undeclared and shadowy third parties. I seek election for a full-term. I love this Party and despise those who seek to sow dissent and demoralise our activists. They have provided propaganda for our enemies to throw at our candidates on the doorstep. Real grievances must be dealt with by people with true hearts, not those whose main purpose is to seek position or jobs.
Our vote increased at the General Election and we have more enquiries and a larger membership than ever. But some people still think it’s time for a change. If you feel that change is indeed needed, then nominate me, a clean-hands candidate who will be a fresh face but who, unlike Mr. Butler, has not sought to advance my candidacy by working with supporters who spread lies and black propaganda.
Richard Barnbrook
Famed as ‘the man in the beige suit’, dyslexic and partial to the occasional drink, I know my limitations! But I have never wavered from the strength of my convictions and I’ve always spoken direct from the heart.
Nick has achieved miracles in modernising the Party; Eddy has electioneering, strategic experience, - but the Party is divided. There’s a real desire for change but we also need time to take stock, and plan how to move forward together with renewed energy. If we act in haste we risk losing all we have built.
Our success and unity is more important than the ambitions of any individual. I offer integrity, impartiality and lack of self-interest that will command the loyalty and solidarity of all the membership. I will act as a caretaker leader till elections and end the strife caused by this destructive, divisive and bitter campaign. Choose stability and unity.
Eddy Butler:
I believe we need a complete re-launch in order to survive as a Party.
I seek a year’s term as Chairman in order to bring in the necessary changes and hold free elections next year than will result in a fresh face.
I will bring in measures to ensure financial transparency to restore confidence in the Party’s finances.
I will bring in constitutional changes to make the Party more democratically accountable and have a separation of powers between the political Chairman and the administration.
I would bring all functions such as the call centre back to the mainland and close the Belfast office.
I would terminate the contract of our fundraising consultant and we would become self sufficient.
I would ensure that our resources are focussed on the front line and not wasted on bureaucracy.
I would ensure that the Party stays together with no recriminations after this leadership election.
Nick Griffin MEP:
Our tremendous record speaks for itself, which is why our enemies try every trick in their grubby book to smear me and key members of my winning team.
To break contracts, sack our young team in the highly popular and successful call centre, and go back to amateurism, would be organisational and financial suicide. The experience and technology we’ve acquired must be used to modernise our election-fighting machine, not thrown away out of spite and personal ambition.
We’ve spent time and money modernising our central administration, now we’re going to professionalise our regional and local organisation.
In ten years, our activists and I have turned this party from a bad political joke into a major factor in British politics. There is still much to be done, and it is best done under proven, principled and visionary leadership, without futile, time-wasting elections. We’ve come this far, let us go forward together!
Your referee for this winner takes all contest will be Mr Andrew Brons.
Andrew Brons MEP has consented to be the scrutineer of the nomination papers and the address on the ballot papers to return them, at an address submitted by himself.
It is vital that this process is seen to be fair and totally impartial and that the appointment of Mr Brons as official scrutineer is beyond any doubt the fairest way to proceed in this matter.
Mr Brons has also worked with the election department in drawing up the procedures and guidelines to the nomination process and as scrutineer he has declared them fair to all potential challengers.
April 17, 2009
Council refutes BNP pub claim
A landlord has accused the council of ‘bullying’ him for standing as a BNP candidate by issuing his pub with a compulsory purchase order (CPO).Derek Adams, who came second in last week’s Moston by-election, said that his premises - the Ace of Diamonds on Oldham Road - faces a CPO under the council’s Private Finance Initiative in Miles Platting. In a statement on its website, the BNP claim sthat the CPO was issued ‘for no apparent reason other than to persecute the owner’ and that the pub was not originally included in the area’s redevelopment plans.
However, council officials have rubbished the claims, saying that the decision to issue the CPO in December 2007 followed widespread consultation and publicity about plans for the area dating back to 2001. After objections to the order were received a public inquiry was held over four days last July, which Mr Adams attended to present his case.
Speaking last week, the BNP activist said: "It will be a sad day for myself and the local community when they destroy this building. They will never break my spirit or my resolve, they can take away my business and my home but they will never take away my determination to see these people held to account for the destruction of my city and my nation."
In response New East Manchester chief executive Eddie Smith said the CPO decision had ‘nothing to do with political allegiances’.
"Regeneration plans for Miles Platting, including the Ace of Diamonds pub, have been carefully considered for several years and were agreed in July 2007 by the council’s executive after extensive consultation," he said. "Manchester City Council has followed the formal CPO process, held a public inquiry last summer and the decision to confirm the CPO was made by Hazel Blears MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in February of this year.
"This decision has nothing to do with political allegiances. It’s about progressing an ambitious Private Finance Initiative which will see £160 million of public money invested, along with a similar amount of private sector funding, in order to breath new life into this part of the city and make it a better place to live for local people."
According to Mr Adams, the pub has been in existence since around 1850.
North East Manchester Advertiser
Labels:
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BNP,
Derek Adams,
Manchester,
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November 01, 2008
BNP clash over Moston unity day
A community day held to unite residents around Moston Lane has been branded a "propaganda event" by the British National Party after its representatives were asked to leave by Moston councillor Paul Murphy.
The criticisms follow a scathing attack by the BNP in which they posted an article on their website describing the council's recent 'rumour desk' initiative – aimed at tackling unfounded gossip on the Lane – as a "desperate attempt to persuade local residents that multi-culturalism is wonderfully beneficial."
Council chiefs estimate around 400 people turned up to the bash on Saturday at Simpson Memorial Hall, which was held to bring locals together for a day of entertainment and announce future plans for the area.
But BNP representative Derek Adams criticised the event as an exercise in 'propaganda.'
"We thought it would be a public meeting that local people were encouraged to go down to and have a say at, but it was just a propaganda event for the council," he said.
"If you weren't in 100 per cent agreement with the council, you weren't welcome, and we were asked to leave.
"We were leafleting in the area early that day and people told us their concerns. Local people do not recognise Moston as their own any more."
In response, Moston councillor Paul Murphy, said: "It wasn't a public meeting, the event was for Moston, Harpurhey and Charlestown residents who have contributed to the community.
"I asked the BNP to leave because they were not from any of the three areas and they were filming the event. There were children attending, and they hadn't been given clearance to film them."
Despite the furore, the response from some of the locals in attendance suggests that the event was a success.
Stephen Holt, chairman of the Trinity and District Residents' Association, said: "I think the event served its purpose of uniting the community – it was very well attended by people from across the community.
"If many of the people who have arrived on Moston Lane were to leave, then half the shops that are open now would be boarded up.
"As long as newcomers abide by the laws, we will welcome them."
Stephen Chandler, who runs Chandler's Hairdressing on Moston Lane, said: "The event was enjoyable and a good move to get people together - if people don't know each other then there's bound to be distrust.
"I think the diversity is a good thing. There's a lot of different cultures on the lane and you can shop 'til late at night.
"There's a little bit of racism round here, but most people are community spirited and quite happy to mingle with the newcomers. There's just a few loudmouthed bigots."
Harpurhey councillor Paul Fairweather chose the occasion to announce the first 'Moston Day' next summer, aimed at celebrating the area and its residents.
"We want local people to look at June, July and August next year and see if there is a significant date in Moston's history that we could base our celebration on," he said.
Residents can contact Andrew Jones in the Regeneration Team on 655 7875 or email him at a.jones8@manchester. gov.uk with their choice of date for Moston Day.
East Manchester Advertiser
The criticisms follow a scathing attack by the BNP in which they posted an article on their website describing the council's recent 'rumour desk' initiative – aimed at tackling unfounded gossip on the Lane – as a "desperate attempt to persuade local residents that multi-culturalism is wonderfully beneficial."
Council chiefs estimate around 400 people turned up to the bash on Saturday at Simpson Memorial Hall, which was held to bring locals together for a day of entertainment and announce future plans for the area.
But BNP representative Derek Adams criticised the event as an exercise in 'propaganda.'
"We thought it would be a public meeting that local people were encouraged to go down to and have a say at, but it was just a propaganda event for the council," he said.
"If you weren't in 100 per cent agreement with the council, you weren't welcome, and we were asked to leave.
"We were leafleting in the area early that day and people told us their concerns. Local people do not recognise Moston as their own any more."
In response, Moston councillor Paul Murphy, said: "It wasn't a public meeting, the event was for Moston, Harpurhey and Charlestown residents who have contributed to the community.
"I asked the BNP to leave because they were not from any of the three areas and they were filming the event. There were children attending, and they hadn't been given clearance to film them."
Despite the furore, the response from some of the locals in attendance suggests that the event was a success.
Stephen Holt, chairman of the Trinity and District Residents' Association, said: "I think the event served its purpose of uniting the community – it was very well attended by people from across the community.
"If many of the people who have arrived on Moston Lane were to leave, then half the shops that are open now would be boarded up.
"As long as newcomers abide by the laws, we will welcome them."
Stephen Chandler, who runs Chandler's Hairdressing on Moston Lane, said: "The event was enjoyable and a good move to get people together - if people don't know each other then there's bound to be distrust.
"I think the diversity is a good thing. There's a lot of different cultures on the lane and you can shop 'til late at night.
"There's a little bit of racism round here, but most people are community spirited and quite happy to mingle with the newcomers. There's just a few loudmouthed bigots."
Harpurhey councillor Paul Fairweather chose the occasion to announce the first 'Moston Day' next summer, aimed at celebrating the area and its residents.
"We want local people to look at June, July and August next year and see if there is a significant date in Moston's history that we could base our celebration on," he said.
Residents can contact Andrew Jones in the Regeneration Team on 655 7875 or email him at a.jones8@manchester. gov.uk with their choice of date for Moston Day.
East Manchester Advertiser
Labels:
BNP,
Derek Adams,
facism,
Moston,
racism
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