The only way is out for Essex

Griffin & Braun: Braun defends Griffin

Thurrock BNP held a meeting [Thursday] night. From the outset it appeared to be the usual sort of BNP meeting: No blacks, Asians or Jews were allowed to attend and there was a bit of argy-bargy in the car park afterwards too. (That might be to do with the large amount of alcohol that was consumed before, during and after the meeting.)

Collectively the group decided that they would not be renewing their party memberships when they expire at the end of the year. This has not gone down too well in the party leadership, as you can imagine.

The leadership's current form suggests that having budgeted on Essex coming to the aid of the party that they've probably already gone out and spent the Nazi lucre on staples, bottles of cheap cider and glass coffee tables. And golf clubs.

The fall out started this morning when the combined forces of what is left of the BNP's membership in Essex exchanged pleasantries.

Griffin's infamous lap dog, Mick Braun of "spray pakis (sic) and poofs with hydrocholic (sic) acid" fame, described the decision as akin to when Rodney Trotter took over the tenants association in 'Only Fools and Horses'. I assume it was that he was referring to, as apparently the other Griffin sycophant Clive Jefferson has also earned himself the moniker "Rodney" in honour of said show.

Karne McGinn of Thurrock BNP, formerly a racial comrade of Braun's, hit back. Having been told by the impressively optimistic Braun that he and the rest of Thurrock BNP could be "replaced", McGinn suggested that any replacements that Braun and Herr Griffin could drum up would be "ethnic candidates or maybe South American". Touché! That's got to be a dig at "charismatic" Carlos Cortiglia, the formerly anti-British Uruguayan who is now standing for the BNP in the London Mayoral elections. Is he not ethnic too, by the way?

Warren Parrish, a veteran activist and candidate close to the BNP's first councillor Derek Beackon announced that he would not be renewing his membership either, as the BNP was "no longer" the party that he trusted. Braun reply was swift labelling Parrish a "Nazi" to which Parrish replied "The only reason I haven't been active recently was that you showed up and f**ked everything up in Essex".

Then there came a new angle. I'm going to refer to it from now on as the "Ferguson Factor". I know that Sir Alex- a former shop steward and passionate trade unionist won't appreciate it, but there then followed an analogy that Nick Griffin was a winner rather like the manager of Manchester United!

If the football analogies continue, there's a small token of our appreciation available to the first person that can provide us with a picture of Clive Jefferson under an umbrella so that we can run the obligatory "Wally with a Brolly" headline.

Derek Beackon (left) with Warren Parrish

Matthew Collins at Hope not hate

Anarchists arrested after clash with BNP activists in East End

Six anarchists were arrested in a street fight after they discovered BNP activists had duped a vicar into letting them use his church hall for a rally by saying it was a "book club" meeting.

The six were part of a group of about 30 supporters of the Antifa anti-fascist group who had been lying in wait for the British National Party in Bethnal Green on Sunday. The anarchists had found out that some 40 BNP members, including former Millwall councillor Derek Beackon, were staging a strategy rally in the church hall of St John on Bethnal Green.

They tipped off the rector, the Rev Alan Green, who had been told by the person reserving the hall it was for a "book club" discussion. When Mr Green called the group and asked them to leave, the BNP refused. The vicar then called the police.

As six officers escorted the BNP out of the hall, the anarchists pounced sparking a running battle with cops who called in back-up units and used CS spray to fight back.

An Antifa spokesman told the Advertiser: "We had about 40 of our people in the area, but we didn't want to cause problems for the church, so we waited outside for the fascists to come out. We told them they weren't welcome in east London and not to show their faces again."

The Advertiser understands the BNP's meeting was called to drum up support for a new electoral offensive, and possibly a re-formed branch in Tower Hamlets, before next May's European polls.

The Antifa spokesman said: "Getting elected in the London elections has given them confidence and they're slowly marching back into old territory in the city."

Vicar Mr Green, chair of the Tower Hamlets Inter-Faith Forum and one of the most respected religious leaders in the East End, said he was "disturbed" by the incident. He said: "We were told it was a book club, but it was quite clear after the meeting started that this was nothing of the sort. I could hear them from my office near the hall, it was a political rally. When it was quite clear they weren't going to leave, I called the police. I only found out later there had then been fighting."

He also pledged to vet groups wanting to use the hall, which is let out free of charge, more carefully. He added: "They booked under false pretences. We have quite an open policy, but in future I think someone will have to be present when new groups arrive. Extremists are not welcome here."

BNP spokesman Simon Darby said speakers at Sunday's rally included former national organiser Richard Edmonds, Barking councillor Bob Bailey and author Jonathan Bowden. Mr Darby said: "It's a sad reflection of the times that we should have to book legitimate meetings under a false name and then be intimidated and violently attacked by left wing, politically motivated stooges."

The six anti-fascists arrested, aged between 19 and 29 and including one woman, were detained overnight, police said. Five were released on police bail and no further action will be taken against the 19-year-old.

East London Advertiser

BNP's dirty tricks campaign goes too far

Back in April, the BNP was criticised by Margaret Orman, the licensee of the Whitmore Arms in the Essex village of Orsett, for including a picture of her pub on one of their tatty leaflets used, in that particular instance, in the doomed campaign to elect Derek Beackon, the BNP's first-ever councillor originally elected to Tower Hamlets council way back in 1993.

Mrs Orman was uncompromising in her criticism of the far-right party. She said at the time: 'It's making us look like we're supporting what they are doing and we certainly don't...that man (Beackon) hasn't even had the courtesy to walk through the door and introduce himself.'

Just a week ago, Mrs Orman was back in the news, reacting angrily after leaflets were delivered to neighbouring properties stating that the party was planning to hold a meeting on her premises this coming Saturday. Again, her response was very much to the point.

'I’m really upset about this. I heard they were distributing leaflets and immediately went out to confront some representatives of the BNP who were putting out a different leaflet. They said the meeting leaflet had nothing to do with them but I don’t believe them. It’s disgraceful that they can slur my name by association with their views.'

The leaflet that was delivered on this occasion looked to target local Conservatives and was being held, it said, for 'Orsett residents who oppose the local Conservative councillor’s plans to diversify the village with ethnic minorities'.

Shortly after seeing this, Mrs Orman received an email from a group claiming to be local anti-fascists. It stated 'unless you call off this event we will arrive at your pub in huge numbers and disrupt the meeting'.

We have been unable to find any evidence that local anti-fascists have contacted the pub at all and even if we had, we're damn sure they wouldn't have written in such terms. And, it seems, they didn't. Earlier today, we received a comment to the most recent article on the blog regarding the Whitmore Arms. It said:

'I know for a fact that the party booked in under a fake name just to cause aggro to the landlady because she pissed them off a few months back when she complained about them. Either they actually booked or just said they booked I dont know. There were no antifast calls to the pub threataning violence either. Same thing, to piss her off.'

If the BNP has indeed booked the pub, it certainly won't be under its own name - most likely it will be as English Heritage, British Heritage, the Trafalgar Club or some name related to the BNP's idea of all that stands for England, containing one or more of the following words, Excalibur, Nelson, Victory, Christian or St George. Lacking the courage to stand up for its own convictions (possibly because its members have so many), it rarely books meetings in the name of the party.

That the party has apparently targeted the Whitmore Arms, angry at Mrs Ormans outburst at its picture being used in the BNP's 'literature', is outrageous. Whether this action has been instigated locally or nationally and whether or not it has been sanctioned by the local branch of the BNP is a matter that should be ascertained without delay and the offending officers/members should be thrown out of the party immediately. If possible, criminal charges should be brought against those responsible - Mrs Orman has deliberately and maliciously been subjected to 'harassment, distress or alarm' as defined under Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

We've seen the BNP's dirty tricks in the past - as active anti-fascists we've come to expect them - but using them on an unwitting member of the public whose only crime is to have been annoyed by the party being its usual underhand self, is despicable.

Tories hit back at BNP village campaign

Conservative politicians in Orsett have responded to the election efforts of BNP to associate itself with village traditions.

BNP candidate Derek Beackon caused a furore last week when he posted a newsletter through village letterboxes which featured a picture of himself outside the Whitmore Arms pub and restaurant, an award-winning village landmark.

Landlady Margaret Orman was outraged and slammed the BNP, with Mr Beackon then issuing a veiled apology. He said: "said: "It's just a local landmark that everyone knows. You can have your photo taken anywhere. However, looking back on it I'm not surprised she is upset. Its her livelihood and I can understand that she doesn't want to be associated with us. We were not trying to say she or the pub is associated with the BNP."

However, local Conservatives, including election rival and sitting councillor Diane Revell said the BNP have no place in the village.

Councillor Revell said: "Members of my family fought in two world wars to prevent the spread of this type of party. Some of them died. Fascist parties have no part to play in local elections here in Orsett. There are national concerns on immigration but locally the clearest problems we have are with anti-social behaviour and above all the threats posed by the infra-structural changes about to be imposed on us by the government's Thames Gateway Development Corporation. Clearly their candidate has no idea of what village life is about and has nothing to offer. Leave us to sort out our own problems within the community."

Her husband and fellow councillor Mike Revell said: "Thurrock is twinned thorough its children to a Polish town of Plocke. It is the size of Thurrock. In a period of just two years in the 1940s, 1.5 million people were sent from the ghetto in this town to the gas chambers. Within the centre of the town is left the empty area that once was the walled ghetto. It is still a chillingly cold place in which to stand. It happened because, earlier in the 1930s, nice respectable Germans made their protest votes for a xenophobic, ultra nationalist party, the Nazis."

Those comments were echoed by Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Stephen Metcalfe who said: "Clearly people are concerned by excessive immigration. The Conservatives have proposed answers to this based on the Australian point system. But this is a national issue that will have to be addressed at government level. My experience of the few BNP councillors elected in Epping Forest tell us that they have nothing to offer and nothing to say on local issues within their local councils."

The Conservatives also took issue with content in the BNP promotional newsletter.

Councillor Mike Revell said: "Orsett Conservatives are united in the condemnation of the deliberate lie that is being spread by the BNP that "the conservatives are responsible for plans to site a travellers encampment in the village". This is completely untrue. The Council have been asked if they would increase the number of pitches in Thurrock. This has been rejected utterly by the Conservative administration. It is also clear that the BNP are unaware of the cooperation between the police and the local village forums when they speak of crime. Although there are still some problems to address there has been a noticeable improvement in most areas.

"When challenged the BNP spokesman said that all parties lie, but when asked to name one case of lying by the Thurrock Conservative Administration, he was unable to name one instance."

Thurrock Gazette

Landlady's anger over BNP publicity pictures

An award-winning pub has been pictured on a BNP leaflet prompting an angry response from its landlady.

Margaret Orman, who is landlady at the family-run Whitmore Arms in Orsett, was livid when a copy of the leaflet came through the pub door. The leaflet entitled Orsett Patriot' shows the British National Party candidate for Orsett, Derek Beackon, standing outside the pub.

Mrs Orman, 64, said: "It's making us look like we're supporting what they are doing and we certainly don't. I wouldn't let any political party use my business to advertise. What are our customers going to think. That man (Derek Beackon) hasn't even had the courtesy to walk through the door and introduce himself."

Mrs Orman has branded the leaflet as "cheap" publicity and said she wouldn't let any political party associate itself with the Whitmore Arms.

She said: "I'm so angry. We've got a very successful business and it's like they are trying to jump on the bandwagon. Of all the places they could have taken a picture of why here? They should not use a commercial business of any description and advertise their political views.

Margaret is planning to pin the leaflet, which was distributed throughout Orsett, on the front of the pub with a line through it and a notice saying the Whitmore Arms does not support the BNP.

Derek Beackon, who came to national prominence in 1993 when he became the BNP's first ever councillor, winning a by-election in Tower Hamlets, said: "It's just a local landmark that everyone knows. You can have your photo taken anywhere. However, looking back on it I'm not surprised she is upset. It's her livelihood and I can understand that she doesn't want to be associated with us. We were not trying to say she or the pub is associated with the BNP."

Thurrock Gazette