Russian Democracy: Griffin Style

Now where have they hidden that vodka?

Nick Griffin has recently returned from Moscow following an invitation for him to be an independent elections advisor in last week’s Russian parliamentary elections.

Griffin obviously couldn’t believe his luck. Known to like the food and drink, Griffin was in hog heaven with copious amounts of food and free flowing vodka along with dancing Cossacks being the order of the day.

Perhaps it was the vodka or his own sense of self importance that clouded Griffin’s judgement when it came to the actual reason he was in Russia, to give an impartial view of the Russian election. Or maybe Moscow just wanted a few gullible idiots to churn out their version of events on state television?

The election has been widely condemned as being loaded in favour of the ruling “United Russia” party, with numerous accounts of vote rigging, harassment and state interference. Yet Nick Griffin declared that there were “A handful of small technical failings in a few polling stations that didn't affect the validity of the election”.

Posting on Twitter he also said that “UK Electoral Commission could learn a lot from the Russian set up to monitor & improve elections.”

Really? Do we want the Russian system that has seen opposition leaders such as the veteran liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister turned vocal government opponent rounded up and detained? The same Russian system that banned a number of political parties from even standing in the elections? The same system that arrested two well known anti corruption bloggers and placed them in jail?

EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said “Reports of procedural violations are a serious concern". She also highlighted the "lack of media impartiality, a lack of separation between party and state, and the harassments of independent monitoring attempts".

A report from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe details alleged attempts to stuff ballot boxes, manipulate voter lists and harass election monitors. The group, which monitors and promotes democracy and human rights in Europe, cited the lack of an independent body running the election or impartial news media.

Yet Griffin wrote “Eye opening being in a country that has set up a democratic system recently and with intention of being honest & transparent. UK elections are a bent farce by comparison.”

The election results triggered two days of protests in Moscow and St Petersburg with several thousand protestors taking to the streets. Russian police are thought to have arrested hundreds of the protestors as anger over allegations of official corruption and economic stagnation started to boil over.

United Russia, the party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin remains the largest party, albeit with a smaller majority and his reputation tarnished.

Is this the sort of democracy Nick Griffin and the BNP would like in this country?

Of course it is.

Hope not hate

Bankrupt Nasty People

There's no money to pay the bills but Porky Griffin has a nice new suit

The British National Party is set to face allegations this week that it is a dangerous, bankrupt and fraudulent organisation.

An unfair dismissal case brought by a disgruntled ex-employee­ could put the final nail in the coffin of the crumbling party.

The far-right organisation’s head Nick Griffin is expected to give evidence at the hearing in Belfast this week which has allegations of theft and kidnapping hanging over it. Griffin is expected to be surrounded by strong security when he makes his Belfast trip.

It comes as furious creditors claim they are owed up to £700,000 by the party. A claim denied by the BNP. Former administrator Marian Thomas says she was sacked after she raised concerns over allegedly fraudulent claims made by the BNP. She alleges that she was instructed by the party’s treasurer to alter invoices and stamp an outstanding invoice as “paid”. This is denied by the treasurer.

She says the invoices were submitted to the Electoral Commission and had been altered in order for it to appear that the BNP had complied with the law on election spending. Thomas claimed on BBC’s Panorama ­earlier this month that she was held against her will by BNP “heavies” ­demanding she hand over incriminating documents.

The hearing comes as the BNP, which has been rocked by savage infighting, holds its annual ­conference in a secret venue ­believed to be in Liverpool this weekend. The party is under investigation by the European Union and the Met Police for alleged fraud and breaches of electoral law.

Simon Cressy, from the anti- fascist group Hope Not Hate, says time is ­running out for the BNP. He said: “We’ve been saying for ages the BNP is as financially ­bankrupt as it is morally.”

Last month Griffin’s Skoda was repossessed by bailiffs acting on a court order. Weeks earlier BNP manager Adam Walker was ordered to pay £25,000 to a former employee after a judge ruled senior officials could be held responsible for the party debt.

A number of small businesses in Northern Ireland, where the BNP had offices until last Christmas, say they are owed large sums of money. Belfast-based businessman and anti-abortion campaigner Jim Dowson, the BNP’s former ­financial guru, claims he is owed more than £160,000 by the party, which he has left. It has also been alleged that families of senior BNP members were visited by “Ulster heavies” looking for cash.

Nine people in Belfast and two in England were arrested on suspicion of ­blackmail but charges were later dropped.

Cressy said: “The BNP is in a desperate mess. After a disaster at the 2010 General and council elections it has turned in on itself. Membership has shrunk to below 7,000 and not even the party’s two MEPs talk to each other, preferring to fight a bitter war of words over the internet and Twitter. It is tearing the party apart.”

Griffin has refuted the kidnap allegations. He said: “Ms Thomas was made redundant by the party and has made a claim to an employment tribunal. Curiously, she has made no mention of this in her ET1 form. Nor am I aware of any complaint ever having been made to the police. She has never complained to me. If such a complaint was made, it seems bizarre that no one was ever approached about it.”

Sunday Star

Electoral fraud - demand the Electoral Commission investigates

BBC Panorama has made a series of serious allegations about fraud and financial mismanagement within the British National Party.

These include:

• The BNP has submitted fraudulent accounts to its auditors and the Electoral Commission
• The BNP has used European Union money to fund its party organisation
• Nick Griffin has hidden large donors from the Electoral Commission and had a slush fund that the party treasurer has no access to
• BNP officials kidnapped and threatened a party worker after she refused to falsify election expenses
• The BNP lied to the Electoral Commission to justify why it had submitted late returns
• Nick Griffin personally encouraged a member of staff to alter invoices to defraud the European Parliament

We believe that these claims deserve serious investigation by the Electoral Commission. Please join us by writing to Peter Wardle, chief executive of the Electoral Commission here.

UPDATE #1: Target raised to 1000. Nearly 450 sent in under 30 minutes! Keep sending letters!

UPDATE #2: Amazing! Target raised to 1500. Over 1000 letters sent under 2 hours, keep the pressure up!

Hope not hate

Are we sitting comfortably?

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

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

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

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

So you get the hysterical picture that is unfolding.

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

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

And they deserve every moment of it.

Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

BNP: The Fraud Exposed

Nick Griffin's British National Party, already under investigation for breaches of electoral law, is facing fresh allegations of corruption. Panorama uncovers new evidence of financial documents being falsified and fabricated in order to deceive the Electoral Commission. The programme also has evidence of the BNP's failure to declare major donations to the party.

As Darragh MacIntyre reports, the BNP, which is better known for its controversial views on race, is in debt and according to its own published accounts appears to be technically insolvent.

Mon 10 Oct 2011 20:30 BBC One
Thu 13 Oct 2011 04:30 BBC News Channel
Fri 14 Oct 2011 00:25 BBC One (except Northern Ireland, Wales)
Fri 14 Oct 2011 01:25 BBC One (Northern Ireland only)
Sun 16 Oct 2011 20:30 BBC News Channel

BNP facing accusations of fraud

Mr Griffin accused the BBC and Panorama of bias in the reporting of the BNP

The British National Party is under investigation by the European Union and the Metropolitan Police for alleged fraud and breaches of electoral law.

The dual investigations come as a former BNP administrator told the BBC's Panorama programme that she was instructed to falsify invoices. Those invoices were then submitted by the BNP to the Electoral Commission. The BNP has strongly denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.

The allegations come as the party struggles with debts run up during the 2010 general election campaign. Internal party documents seen by Panorama reveal that 12 months ago the BNP owed creditors more than £570,000. Party chairman Nick Griffin recently said the party now owes just £52,000.

Former party worker Marion Thomas said after the 2010 general election she was instructed by the party's treasurer, Clive Jefferson, to alter invoices and in at least one case stamp an outstanding invoice as "paid". The invoices were submitted to the Electoral Commission and had been altered, Mrs Thomas said, in order for it to appear that the BNP had complied with the law on election spending. Asked how she felt about doing this, Mrs Thomas said: "I made my objections known."

She added: "You can't do that, you cannot do that. That is fraud."

Mr Jefferson told the programme that Mrs Thomas' allegations are "untrue".

Mrs Thomas, who now works for Britain First, a rival political organisation, has since been interviewed about her claims by detectives from the Metropolitan Police who are investigating alleged breaches of electoral law by the BNP. That investigation began after Richard Barnbrook, who used to be the BNP member of the London Assembly and Mr Griffin's 2010 election agent, went to the High Court to say that he had submitted printing invoices totalling nearly £10,000 as paid when they too were outstanding.

Mr Griffin also signed those returns. Both he and Mr Barnbrook, who has since been expelled from the party and now sits as an independent in London, have said they acted in good faith, believing the bills had indeed been paid. The High Court judge has referred the case the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Metropolitan Police were notified.

Another former party worker, Alistair Barbour, was recruited to Mr Griffin's European staff after he and one other BNP candidate were elected members of the European Parliament in 2009. Mr Barbour was hired to work on European Parliament business and was to be paid out of the £260,000 pot of EU money that each MEP has available to them to pay for staff and expenses. He told the programme that some money intended for MEP business was diverted to help bolster the party itself.

"Europe was the big cash cow you know, 'let's get our noses in the trough and see what we can get out and... see what we can fund the party with,'" he said of the approach to the MEP funds. He added: "This is what it was all about, party work and just trying to figure out what expenses we could get out of the European Union."

Other party insiders have told the programme that at one point electricity from Nick Griffin's European constituency headquarters on an industrial estate in rural Cumbria was siphoned to the unit next door which served as the BNP's national headquarters.

When the European Parliament's fraud unit, OLAF, travelled to Cumbria five months later to investigate the allegations they found no evidence of an electricity scam but Panorama understands that they continue to investigate other allegations of misuse of European money by the BNP. The BNP has denied using money from the European Union to fund national party work.

Panorama: BNP - The Fraud Exposed, BBC One, Monday, 10 October at 2030BST and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC

BNP: The Fraud Exposed

Nick Griffin's British National Party, already under investigation for breaches of electoral law, is facing fresh allegations of corruption. Panorama uncovers new evidence of financial documents being falsified and fabricated in order to deceive the Electoral Commission. The programme also has evidence of the BNP's failure to declare major donations to the party.

As Darragh MacIntyre reports, the BNP, which is better known for its controversial views on race, is in debt and according to its own published accounts appears to be technically insolvent.

Panorama: Mon 10 Oct 2011 20:30 BBC One

BBC

Missing: the BNP’s 2010 accounts

The British National Party has again failed to submit its accounts on time in contravention of electoral legislation. This is the fourth time the party faces fines for late accounts and news of it emerged just ten days after Clive Jefferson, the party treasurer, claimed in a document issued in support of Nick Griffin’s campaign to retain the party leadership that criticism of the BNP’s financial position was merely “black propaganda”.

This time, however, the BNP might face more than just the fines of £1,200 it usually pays for submitting accounts nearly six months after the deadline of 7 July. Announcing the absence of the 2010 accounts of the BNP and the Christian Party, the Electoral Commission said it was now “reviewing the circumstances of these cases” and that “late submission of accounts without reasonable excuse is a breach of party funding rules”.

It went on: “The Commission has a range of sanctions enabling it to deal with those who do not comply with the rules. These include issuing substantial fines and serving compliance notices requiring parties to take specific steps by a required date to ensure compliance with their obligations in future; where a party does not comply within the timescale set, they may face additional fines.

“When deciding what sanction is appropriate the Commission considers a range of factors including whether parties have failed to comply with their obligations in the past. Repeated non-compliance is an aggravating factor which can significantly increase the penalties issued.”

A fourth failure in five years, coupled with the fact that the 2009 and 2008 accounts when they did turn up contained material deficiencies, must surely attract the highest sanction.

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said: “The rules on party funding are intended to ensure that voters can see where political parties get their funding from, and how they spend it. The 2010 statements of accounts which we have published today help to provide transparency about the finances of the larger parties and their organisations, covering the period during which the campaigns for the 2010 UK general and local elections took place.

“The majority of parties and accounting units have complied with the law by submitting their accounts on time. However, despite the guidance and advice we offer to help parties comply with the law, two parties have yet again failed to provide accounts on time. This is not acceptable. We have commenced formal case reviews into the circumstances; if we are satisfied that the rules have been broken and the parties concerned do not have a reasonable excuse, we will use our new powers to impose sanctions in accordance with our published enforcement policy, to ensure future compliance with the law.”

Hypocritically, Jefferson had boasted about the party’s “financial transparency”. In an attempt to show that the BNP’s accounts were reliable, he explained that political parties with a turnover of more than £250,000 must have their accounts audited by an independent firm of chartered accountants before they are submitted to the Electoral Commission where they are “examined in minute detail … to ensure that the highest of standards and financial transparency are met”.

He added: “In previous years, the British National Party has had advice from the Electoral Commission and the Auditors, and, each time we have acted on advice, our system has become more robust and open.”

It is now very clear that the BNP’s accounting systems are far from “robust and open” and that he and the BNP are barefaced liars. Griffin had already secured election as party chairman for four years three days before the Electoral Commission’s announcement. The timing of the BNP’s leadership ballot is unlikely to have been accidental.

When Jefferson’s document and an accompanying Myth Busters leaflet, which claimed the BNP hardly had any debts, were published, we noted their silence on the 2010 accounts and concluded, correctly as it turned out, that it was business as usual for the BNP treasury department.

Jefferson ended his document by stating that the BNP intends “within the next few months” to publish its management accounts in a quarterly report to members and online. If its financial records are in such a dire state that it cannot even produce its annual accounts, Jefferson and the “retired chartered accountant” he says the BNP has employed are unlikely to be able to produce up-to-date management accounts, at least not accurate ones. That would Jefferson’s promise just another lie in support of Griffin’s campaign to stay in post despite all the disasters over which he has presided.

Thanks to Sonia Gable at HOPE not Hate/Searchlight

Councillors upset as BNP takes seat

The parish of Seascale is in turmoil now that a member of the British National Party is one of its representatives.

Malcolm Southward has formally taken a seat on the parish council, against the wishes of the 11 other members. They claim the Sellafield process worker fell foul of electoral protocol by saying on his nomination form that he works in the parish of Seascale. But the BNP member is staying put with the apparent blessing of both Copeland Council and the Electoral Commission. The rest of the members are considering whether to contest the issue in the High Court or to dissolve the council and ask the borough council to take it over.

“The right thing to do would be for us to go to law but the cost could not be funded by the parish, it would have to be individuals so we will have to wait and see whether a benefactor comes along,” said Coun David Moore.

“The other option is for us to stand down and invite Copeland Council to run the parish and see what that brings. We feel the borough council should have stood shoulder to shoulder with us on this. It’s an unbelievable fiasco. We are in the right because clearly the BNP member does not meet the criteria. We were prepared to make a stand and go to law if necessary because we are convinced Mr Southward’s nomination was invalid, then shortly before the meeting our clerk got a call from the borough council instructing us to accept. Mr Southward may work at Sellafield but it’s in the parish of Ponsonby and Beckermet, not Seascale, so he doesn’t tick the electoral box.”

There was no election at Seascale because there were 12 nominations for 12 seats. Copeland council chief executive Paul Walker said: “We have fully complied with the nomination process for the local and parish council elections in Copeland as advised by the Electoral Commission.”

Whitehaven News

BNP faces meltdown at local polls after defections and infighting

Party to field 450 fewer candidates than in 2007 as leader Nick Griffin comes under pressure over organisation's finances

The British National party is facing political meltdown in next month's local elections after a string of defections and growing concern over its finances.

Dozens of prominent BNP figures have either been suspended or have resigned and in the past few weeks several former members have announced they are to stand for rival far-right and nationalist organisations.

The BNP is standing around 250 candidates in next month's elections, compared with approximately 700 in the equivalent polls in 2007.

The turmoil comes as the Electoral Commission announced this week that the party had "failed to comply with the legal requirement to keep adequate financial records" for the second year running, further increasing the pressure on the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, who fought off a leadership challenge last year.

"The position of the party is extremely dire," said Professor Matthew Goodwin, from Nottingham University, an expert on far-right politics. "The defections and rebellions are going strong and we have seen a whole host of key figures leave to join other far-right groups … Nick Griffin is becoming increasingly isolated."

The BNP says it is focusing on the elections to the Welsh assembly, where it claims it could secure two seats, but anti-Griffin rebels say the BNP should be making more progress in England as cuts bite and economic instability increases.

"There is growing anger within the party because there was a period when it looked like Nick Griffin may have been able to force the BNP into the political mainstream," said a spokesman for the anti-racist campaign Hope not Hate. "But it is clear Nick Griffin will himself be the BNP's nemesis. His mismanagement, arrogance and dictatorial leadership have dragged his own party off a political cliff."

The BNP's election prospects took a blow earlier this month when it emerged that around 15 former members, including some key figures such as former Yorkshire organiser Chris Beverley, had defected and are standing for the English Democrats in next month's elections. On his blog Beverley said it had been a "huge decision" and blamed the actions of Griffin and his leadership team for the party's problems.

Goodwin said: "There are just over 200 BNP candidates but there are 390 far-right candidates in total so what we are seeing quite clearly is that the far right is splintering, not just among one or two parties but among a whole host of groups and factions … it is the classic case of far-right parties in the UK shooting themselves in the foot."

Analysts say BNP infighting has allowed other far-right and nationalist groups to come to the fore. Organisations such as the English Defence League, the English Democrats and the British Freedom party are now challenging the BNP, but perhaps its biggest threat is a resurgent UK Independence party, which beat both the Conservatives and Lib Dems to come second in a byelection in Barnsley last month.

"The activists that are frustrated with the incompetence of the BNP are going to the EDL or other rightwing factions and many [former voters] are going to Ukip if they want something more respectable," said Goodwin. "The BNP are being outflanked on all sides."

Opponents say the defections and wider splits mean the party is struggling to stand candidates in some of its core areas.

BNP spokesman Simon Darby dismissed the defections, saying: "People have gone, that is it … but wait and see about that, I think they are going to regret that, just wait and see."

He defended Griffin, insisting he was still a popular leader and that it was "a miracle" the party was still operating following what he said was a relentless campaign to undermine it by the media and the state. "I am just pleased we are still here putting up a campaign in seats we may win … we are still in the game and are looking to regroup after all the dust has settled on this election," he said.

Griffin has come under growing pressure since the BNP's poor showing in last year's general and council elections, when it lost all but two of the 28 councillors up for re-election and was wiped out in its east London stronghold of Barking and Dagenham. It now has 23 councillors, compared with 54 a year ago, and several senior figures, including election co-ordinator Eddie Butler and London assembly member Richard Barnbrook, have come out against Griffin.

The rebels' anger is focused on Griffin's leadership style and concern about the party's debts which were exacerbated this week when the Electoral Commission said the BNP had failed to keep adequate financial records for the second year running.

"We have sought an urgent meeting with the party to discuss the steps they need to take to comply with the law," said a spokesman for the commission.

The party is reportedly £500,000 in debt although Darby said that the figure was "coming down".

"We are making good progress on that, that debt will be serviced," he added.

Although a poor showing in next month's elections would increase the pressure on Griffin to stand down, Goodwin said that remains unlikely.

"Griffin will hang on because the BNP constitution means it is almost impossible to oust him... [He] is doing the party in, it is not connecting with voters, they are running out of money but he is not going to go anywhere... they truly are a fading star and it is almost entirely because of Griffin's incompetence."

The Guardian

BNP reported over Scots leaflets

The BNP has been reported to the Electoral Commission over a campaign leaflet that falsely claims there are more Muslims in the UK than Scots.

A pamphlet was put through letterboxes across Scotland which said the BNP would put an end to mosque-building and warning of a “flood” of Eastern European immigrants about to arrive in Scotland.

Campaign group, Hope Not Hate, has reported the party over its claims. There are an estimated 2.4 million Muslims in Britain and more than five million in Scotland alone, 89% of whom declared themselves Scottish in the last census.

The far-right BNP is planning to field a record number of candidates in the next Holyrood and Westminster elections, but the Sunday Herald can reveal that a shortage of candidates has meant Nick Griffin’s daughter Jenny has been forced to stand in English, Welsh and Scottish elections under her married name, Jennifer Matthys. Opponents said it was damning evidence of the BNP’s lack of support.

A spokesman for Hope Not Hate said: “The BNP’s campaign of hate has been rejected by the Scottish people, which is why they have resorted to a tissue of lies. The BNP is desperate when Nick Griffin is forced to pressgang his own daughter into standing in three separate elections. This makes a mockery of their claims to be building support across the country.”

Aamer Anwar, human rights lawyer, said Muslims could be intimidated by the leaflets and they should call the police if they felt threatened. He said: “This could be considered breach of the peace. It’s racist nonsense which is totally inaccurate and trying to play on people’s fears.”

BNP Scottish organiser Gary Raikes said the leaflets were checked before going out and questioned whether the UK’s Muslim population had been accurately measured.

Herald Scotland

BNP registers in Northern Ireland for first time

The BNP has for the first time registered as a political party in Northern Ireland. This means it can now field candidates in the Assembly or council elections. The move was confirmed on Wednesday by the Electoral Commission.

The right-wing party has in the past expressed an interest in contesting elections in Northern Ireland but has so far failed to do so.

BBC

BNP found guilty of 'failing to keep accurate financial records'

The British National Party was guilty of a "clear failure" to keep accurate financial records for 2008, the Electoral Commission said today. But the commission said that although this was a breach of the law, no sanctions were available to punish the BNP.

After an investigation into the party's affairs for 2008, the commission said: "The registered treasurers for the party in 2008 breached the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 by failing to keep accounting records sufficient to explain, with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the party at the time."

However, there was no sanction or penalty available to punish the treasurers. Penalties were brought into force this month, but cannot be applied retrospectively.

The commission said because of the state of the records, it could not be certain that the party's submitted reports of donations were accurate. But the investigation "found no specific evidence to lead to the conclusion that they were not accurate".

Chief executive of the Electoral Commission Peter Wardle said: "Political parties are required by law to keep accurate financial records, and this clear failure to do so is a serious matter. It undermines the party's ability to demonstrate, and the commission's ability to verify, that the party is complying with the law. It is frustrating that, although we established that the party breached party funding law by not keeping adequate financial records, there are no sanctions available to us in relation to this breach.

"This has now changed for breaches of the law that occur after December 1 2010, when we have access to a new set of powers and sanctions. We have written to the party setting out our concerns. We will be meeting with senior party officials as soon as possible to ensure that their procedures for complying with the law are adequate, and monitoring the party to ensure they implement any necessary changes without delay."

24dash

Nick Griffin stages what may be his ‘last hurrah’ in Leicester

Leicester anti-fascists are calling for support for a protest at the Best Western Leicester Stage Hotel in Wigston, on the southern edge of Leicester, where the British National Party is holding its annual conference.

Over the past two days Leicester Police have been alerting leaders of the city’s communities that the racists were coming to town. Despite the BNP’s attempts to head off protests by posting on the party website that the three-day event was in South Derbyshire, all enquiries led to Leicester.

Tonight party members are sitting down to a “black tie dinner”, followed by a speech by Nick Griffin, the party leader, that will probably leave them with a bout of indigestion. Tomorrow will start with a financial report and “questions to panel”. It is unclear whether delegates will learn more about the party’s dodgy finances than the Electoral Commission, which is still waiting for its 2009 accounts and investigating the 2008 accounts that were submitted late.

The session will be followed by debates on “policy motions” submitted by each region and a “constitutional debate”. Andrew Brons, the party’s Yorkshire MEP, has undertaken a “consultation” on proposed changes to the BNP’s mammoth constitution, adopted only at the beginning of this year, which gives dictatorial power to the leader and makes it almost impossible to overthrow him.

Brons announced several weeks ago that the party’s elite “voting members” would get a chance to vote on constitutional changes at this weekend’s conference, but Eddy Butler, who unsuccessfully tried to call a leadership election in summer, has pointed out that no constitutionally binding vote can be taken at the conference because members have not been given the required 14 days’ notice of the proposals.

There will also be training workshops running alongside the conference “in a small room”. Presumably the party does not expect delegates to show much interest in sessions on “make your petition stall work for you” and the party’s fake Solidarity trade union.

The highlight of the event was supposed to be a “Christmas Grand Ball” on Saturday evening “complete with three-course meal, entertainment, music and refreshments”. This has now been demoted to a “Christmas party and late evening sing-along” according to the BNP website this afternoon.

On Sunday the party will yet again wheel out its fake vicar “Reverend” Robert West to hold a half-hour “Sunday Service”.

The day was supposed to continue with a two-course lunch followed by “a BNP Veterans Parade, a leadership Question Time, an audio-visual British history presentation and finally the keynote address from BNP leader Nick Griffin MEP”. Instead the BNP veterans have been relegated to a workshop in the “small room” and the BNP leader has ducked out of facing awkward questions from the members.

The BNP claimed a few days ago that the conference hotel was “fully booked”, despite the whopping £299 cost for a couple, or £189 single, to stay both nights in one of the hotels 79 rooms and attend all events.

The conference was open to all party members except, that is, the “many voting members” who according to Butler have been “suspended without charge” or were expelled several months ago and are still awaiting for their appeals to be heard. The police thought there would be no more than 100 people attending, which would be down on previous years.

Hope not hate

Moron replaces ‘incompetent’ as BNP treasurer

The British National Party’s top moron has added the post of national treasurer to his growing list of party portfolios. Clive Jefferson, national organiser, national elections officer, nominating officer, north west regional organiser and “campaigns coordinator” at the constituency office of Nick Griffin MEP, the BNP leader, has replaced Dave Hannam as the BNP’s fifth treasurer in the space of 18 months.

His appointment shows that the BNP has been unable to find anyone else stupid enough to stand in the firing line. It is the treasurer who may be prosecuted for the criminal offence of failing to deliver a political party’s accounts to the Electoral Commission. It is the treasurer who is responsible for correcting defective accounts. It is the treasurer who is responsible for controlling expenditure on election campaigns and for ensuring donations are permissible and properly notified to the Electoral Commission.

We wonder whether Jefferson, 42, has ever looked at Schedule 20 to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which sets out 98 specific offences relating to the financial affairs of political parties and the penalties for committing them, consisting of unlimited fines or up to one year's imprisonment.

When Hannam was appointed treasurer in February this year, we recalled that he had been widely derided as incompetent at the time of the last major internal rebellion of 2007/08, when Hannam was the party’s deputy treasurer. “I don’t know what more I have to do or say to get through the point that Dave is completely incompetent,” wrote Ian Dawson in his letter of resignation from his position as the party’s head of group support. “I have proved beyond doubt that the job is clearly beyond Dave.

“Hannam has messed things up from day one, before he got ‘bogged down’ in an audit, during it, and after it. If he worked in a bank he would not last a week. Not only is he incompetent, he also lies. Again, this can be proved time and time again, yet it seems that no matter how much some people lie, and however big the lies are, they get away with it. I can’t think of one thing that Dave does well – if there is something I have not seen it. That is not an exaggeration or an unnecessary insult, it is a fact.”

On 28 July this year Hannam boasted that the BNP’s financial controls now ensured that “all legally required statement [sic] of accounts are submitted on time”. The next day it emerged that the party had failed to submit its 2009 accounts to the Electoral Commission by the deadline of 7 July, the third time the fascist party had been late. The accounts remain outstanding and hope is fading that they will ever appear.

The 2008 accounts, which were submitted nearly six months late, are still under investigation by the Electoral Commission because the auditors reported that they did not give a true and fair view and did not “comply with the requirements of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as adequate records have not been made available”.

In August the BNP’s national advisory council appointed a scrutiny committee tasked with “examining the structure of the treasury department and making concrete moves to ensure that there is a clear division between those who manage the accounts and those who authorise outlays,” according to a report posted on the party’s website. Earlier this month it delivered its first interim report and, to no one’s surprise, identified no evidence of financial misconduct. Yet Hannam was already on his way out.

Jefferson, who has no qualifications for the treasurer’s post, takes over when the party is heavily in debt with creditors threatening legal proceedings, its fundraising consultant, Jim Dowson, and communications officer, Paul Golding, have left, and it has had to organise a sudden flit out of Belfast to Nuneaton, after Dowson closed down its call centre and main administration office.

His appointment gives the lie to all claims over the past two years that the BNP is trying to professionalise its treasury functions by using qualified accountants (who turned out to be close colleagues of the unpopular and criminally convicted Dowson), maintaining daily book keeping, providing quarterly financial reports to the advisory council and strictly regulating major expenditure. Jefferson wouldn’t know what a financial report was if it bit him in the backside.

According to Butler, Griffin has promoted Patrick Harrington, leader of the rival Third Way party, to the party’s “head of human resources”, a strange role for the general secretary of the BNP’s fake trade union Solidarity. Eddy Butler, who unsuccessfully challenged Griffin for the party leadership this summer, claims it was Harrington who provoked Dowson, who claimed to have raised nearly two million pounds for the party, to walk out.

“Harrington, who fancies himself as a Union boss started prattling about workers rights and unsettled the ship,” wrote Butler. “Dowson hates unions and he hates people with (let’s say) unconventional sexual proclivities. That put him at odds with Pat Harrington from the outset,” Butler continued.

Jefferson, perhaps realising which way the wind was blowing, took Harrington’s side against Dowson and, says Butler, “has been openly slagging Dowson off”. His reward: to be appointed as fall guy – and he is too dumb to realise it.

Hope not hate

They HAVE to be kidding...

Click on image for full-size

Thanks to the eagle-eyed reader who brought this to our attention. Please try not to die laughing... :-D

BNP faces fines for third accounts failure.

The British National Party has failed to submit its 2009 accounts to the Electoral Commission, the third time the fascist party has been late.

The Electoral Commission said today: “The British National Party and the party’s Regional Accounting Unit were both granted an extension to the deadline for submitting their statements of accounts. Both have failed to deliver their accounts within the extended deadline so the party will be fined a minimum of £500 and the accounting unit will be fined a minimum £100, this figure will increase if the accounts are more than three months late.”

The 2008 accounts, which were submitted nearly six months late, remain under investigation by the Electoral Commission because the auditors reported that they did not give a true and fair view and did not “comply with the requirements of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as adequate records have not been made available”.

At the time, Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, described the accounts as “inadequate”. In his introduction to the 2008 accounts Griffin claimed that “the task of maintaining central office accounts had become too big for any one individual”. However, he continued, the problem had now been solved because the job had been “outsourced” to “an independent Chartered Accountant and Accounts Technician with the aim of presenting acceptable accounts for the accounting year 2009”.

The independent chartered accountant was John Thompson, a close business associate of Jim Dowson, the man whose web of financial links with the BNP is such that he in effect “owns” the BNP.

The failure to submit accounts will add to Dowson’s unpopularity with many BNP members and plays into the hands of Eddy Butler, who is currently trying to collect enough nominations to challenge Griffin for the party leadership. Butler’s response was: “Nick Griffin has brought disgrace upon the BNP yet again. There is only one way that you can change this. Sign the nomination form and vote for change.”

That the accounts have not appeared was no surprise to Searchlight. Given the BNP’s huge liabilities as a result of Griffin’s long list of reckless legal actions, the party’s independent auditors are likely to have had difficulty certifying that the BNP is a “going concern”.

In recent years, although the party has been insolvent, the auditors have assumed it can meet its liabilities by raiding the funds of its groups and branches, something with which many local officers are unhappy. Now, the liabilities are so big that branch funds are not enough, and many branch treasurers have adopted measures to keep head office’s hands off their money.

An organisation that is not a “going concern” cannot operate unless it pays for all goods and services in advance, something the BNP does not have the money to do.

Many party members are beginning to realise that although Dowson has raised unprecedented sums in donations, Griffin has been spending far more on madnesses such as using an image of Marmite on a BNP election broadcast, which attracted an injunction from Unilever, defending indefensible unfair dismissal claims from former employees and dragging out his response to the Equality Commission’s action over the party’s racist constitution to the extent that the legal costs are believed to be running at £300,000 so far.

Another problem the auditors might have had is that the party apparently no longer owns any of its assets. One of the sections of the new BNP constitution that Griffin slipped in without telling anyone states that all the party’s assets belong to the so-called Founders’ Association. That body is not defined in the constitution but it is understood to be all BNP members who joined before the new constitution came into effect in February and are still members. If the party does not own its assets, they cannot correctly be included in its accounts, which would greatly increase the party’s insolvency.

The BNP, however, is hoping its members will keep their heads firmly in the sand. The day before it emerged that the party’s accounts were missing, Dave Hannam, the party treasurer, sent out an email listing all the party’s financial achievements but admitting that he had been forced to implement new stringent financial controls and submit to monthly inspection of his “treasury office” by “an outside accountant”.

According to Hannam the party lacked “financial stability”. One reason was: “the large number of court cases launched at this party in a deliberate attempt to derail us,” skating over the fact that almost all the legal costs were entirely the fault of the BNP. Another reason was “a general lack of accountability with regards to the National Treasurer and his office”. And it had been “discovered that some officials has incurred expenditure that was both unauthorised and previously unknown to the Treasury department”.

In other words, Hannam had been as incompetent as most people, other than Griffin, Dowson and their sycophants, always knew he was from the time he first became the party’s deputy treasurer.

The email said nothing about the 2009 accounts being late, appealed for new regional treasurers – in other words new people Hannam can blame the next time it all goes wrong – and ended with a “donate” button, in the hope that the party’s stupid supporters will throw more money into Griffin’s bottomless pit.

Searchlight / HOPE not Hate by Sonia Gable

It's time for Simon Bennett to stand up and be counted

One of the more entertaining aspects of running a site like Lancaster Unity is seeing the BNP regularly taking chunks out of itself when it comes under serious attack from one of its own, normally as a direct result of mistreating the member concerned.

We can say anything we like while opposing the BNP and to deflect any criticism the party will automatically claim we're lying, that we're paid to attack the BNP and thus not to be trusted or that we're working with MI5 - but there's nothing quite like an angry ex-member to really boot the boot in good and hard.

Remember Sharon Ebanks, the BNP's former Birmingham organiser? She was so angry at the way she was treated that she has spent the three years or so since then attacking Griffin in print and even went to the extreme of starting her own party. Then there was Matt Single, who was so pissed off at the antics of Griffin's gang that he released the BNP membership list into the wild to great hilarity all round, incidentally causing a lot of problems to the party and to quite a few members.

The December rebellion that followed the sackings of Kenny Smith, Sadie Graham and Single from the party produced a host of recriminations from other members and a lot of them sent information to us, which brightened things considerably from our end.

With Simon Bennett however, the party might have bitten off rather more than it can chew. Bennett, the party's former webmaster, seems to have been involved in pretty much every aspect of the BNP's operation from flogging badges to fund-raising, and the information he is revealing is gradually building up into a pretty damning indictment of the leadership. We won't dwell too much on all this because exposure is looming and we wouldn't want to prejudice any future court case. A couple of things have been mentioned of late though, which are worth a comment or two.

One of these concerns donations to the BNP. As you'll probably be aware, political parties are obliged by law to report donations that exceed a certain amount, depending on whether they are donated within or outside the UK. The accounts, which are due into the Electoral Commission shortly, are not expected to show any large donations but according to Bennett, the party has received some that qualify. Here is Bennett's take on this, from a post on the ghastly VNN forum:

'I know of several website donations that were way over £1500 that were made in the last quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.

Many were clearly fake, but a good few looked totally legit. These were for £2,500 and appear not to have been declared. I know they are processed in Belfast, but under what company name is anyones guess.

I have records of ALL donations made through the website. I'd be a piss poor webmaster if I didn't. I build websites based on stats and logs. I impliment what works and what doesn't - that's my job!

I have a legal right to hold this information as Adlorries Ltd are trying to squirm out of paying me the commission they promised me, the commission I NEVER asked for or claimed - until now.'

IF this is true and can be proven and IF they are not declared, criminal charges should follow - but ONLY if Bennett provides that proof to the EC and/or the police. But this might very well be the tip of an astonishingly large iceberg. Another of his posts on VNN has this to say:

'I am sat on something that could and almost certainly would finish the BNP in an instant. It would see the party hit with a bill for £1.4m.

If I wanted to sabotage the BNP I could have done a proper job during the EU elections with what I know. The fuck ups made during that were so bad they could of (and still can) finish the party overnight.

Just ask Nick Griffin why £70,000 worth of paper was re-ordered in case the £1.4m cock up came to light...'

Intriguing stuff but I don't particularly like being teased, even with £1.4m. And the problem with dropping teasers around like this without following up pretty swiftly with some hard detail is that it merely gives scum like Griffin and his cohorts the opportunity to cover everything up.

An additional facet of this is that Bennett is, if he is to be believed, knowingly sitting on information that shows the party to have acted illegally - or at the very least, to have acted with supreme incompetence - yet he has kept quiet. If illegality is involved, doesn't that make him an accessory?

Strangely enough, this is suggested to him by a BNP member, Bev Kerry, a nasty piece of work by anyone's standards. Kerry is currently a moderator on the VNN forum, has been one on the Blood and Honour forum and posts regularly on the Stormfront forum - all hardcore nazi - all while openly being in the BNP. Tut-tut.

On his own blog, Bennett has attacked the BNP, apparently going to the extreme of uploading a telephone conversation between him and Griffin, recorded without Griffin's knowledge or consent. Kerry, playing Little Miss Legal Assistant, berates Bennett as having broken the law - even to the extent of listing the relevant laws. Very clever of her - but don't I recall the BNP releasing a recording of a conversation between Kenny Smith, Sadie Graham and Matt Single that was made without their permission or knowledge?

The BNP and Nick Griffin in particular seem to believe that they operate outside the law, largely because they have done so for years and just keep getting away with it because their opponents lack the courage to take that extra step and take the information they have to the relevant authority or even simply to make it completely public. If Bennett wants to see Griffin and his gang of crooks out of the BNP for good, this is the only way it's going to happen. In short, if Bennett wants to win his corner, he has to stop being defensive and go on the attack.

The December rebels lost out because they didn't keep up the attack on Griffin - or at least not sufficiently. By the time they had decided to break out the big guns, most of their supporters had already scuttled back to the party. Colin Auty's leadership challenge was all-round weak and feeble right up until the last minute, by which time, he'd lost any advantage he might have had.

Bennett is in a unique position because he has all the ammunition he needs and he clearly has the ability to make use of it, but if he wants to topple Griffin, he needs to move fast and hard, and if he does so, he could clear out the rest of the crap like Jim Dowson, Arthur Kemp and Clive Jefferson/Aitken along with their boss.

Bennett can take action now and can achieve what he wants to achieve, or he can sit back and ignore all the illegalities and the incompetence, thus becoming openly complicit in the continuing disaster that is Nick Griffin's BNP. The choice is his but it needs making sooner rather than later or he'll end up being yet another forgotten rebel in a very long list of forgotten rebels.

Where's there's a BNP will, there's a cock-up...

It doesn’t do much for the far-right BNP’s “learn our language” stance on immigration when a candidate uses poor grammar in his campaign 'leaflet'.

Will Blair’s challenge for the Rother Valley parliamentary seat is currently being publicised by eight sheets of home-printed A4, clumsily stapled together. It consists simply of a single “policy” diatribe about immigration and foreigners. There's no mention of any local issues at all, although there's a lot about what has supposedly been happening in Birmingham.

At the height of it Mr Blair' grumbles: “We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!”

Four pages later, he concludes: “If your [sic] coming here for free housing and benefits please try somewhere else.”

Mr Blair would no doubt want immigrants to abide by the laws of this country while they are learning the language. So he might like to think about this.

There are no official election details about his campaign agent, or indeed any contact information, despite Mr Blair currently representing Maltby on Rotherham Borough Council. And that makes his "leaflet" illegal.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, Section 110 any printed election material must contain the name and address of its printer and promoter. Failure to do so could result in investigation by the police and a fine of up to £5,000. It could even result in a petition to re-run the election, should the candidate actually win.

All this information is readily available in a handy guide for candidates produced by the Electoral Commission, the independent body charged protecting the integrity of and public confidence in the democratic process.

So Rother Valley's voters could be forgiven for wondering why they should vote for a man who wants to help make the country's laws, but who is evidently unaware of the basic legal requirements of standing for Parliament.

Rotherham Advertiser

BNP three use 'troops out' name in three Welsh seats

Three British National Party (BNP) candidates in Wales will not be using the party's name on ballot papers at the general election, it has emerged. Instead BNP candidates in Swansea East, Swansea West and Gower will appear as "Support Our Troops Bring Them Home". The BNP said they had not intended just to use that name, but Swansea council said it was the party's decision.

The Electoral Commission said candidates can use a different name under the regulations. It confirmed the move was legal, as the alternative name is a properly registered description for the BNP. Voters will be able to tell that the three are official BNP candidates only from the party logo on the ballot paper.

A spokesperson for the commission said: "Our advice to voters is always to scrutinise the ballot paper very carefully."

A BNP spokesperson confirmed all three candidates are standing for the party, and not as a splinter group. The spokesperson said a Swansea council official misled them when they filled in the candidate forms, which was why he said the three candidates were registered under the "Support Our Troops Bring Them Home" name. He also said the forms used by the council were more complicated than those used by most other UK local authorities.

In response, the council said: "It was the BNP representative's decision to take [to put Support Our Troops Bring Them Home on the ballot paper] and he was in no way misled by Swansea council."

The council also said nomination papers filled out by the BNP were in a standard form produced for use across the UK.

"There is no material difference between the form used by the BNP and one produced by the Electoral Commission," it added.

BBC