Leicestershire BNP candidate is former National Front member

A BNP candidate is a former National Front member with a criminal conviction, it has emerged

Ian Meller, who is standing in North West Leicestershire, was fined £400 for carrying an offensive weapon – a plank of wood – at a gay rights march. Mr Meller now says he "regrets" the incident, which happened in 2000, and left the National Front shortly afterwards. But he said he did not view the party as extremist.

Mr Meller said he picked up a roofing lath at the march in Humberstone Gate, Leicester, in self-defence. He said: "There were four people arrested and I was one of them – the rest were members of the Anti-Nazi League. The wood was lying in the road – I was there because we were against gay relationships being promoted in schools. It was unfortunate, but it was momentary, I wasn't on my own and I regret what happened. To be honest, that incident opened my eyes and I left the National Front shortly after that because I could see street demonstrations couldn't get us anywhere."

Mr Meller – who was fined £400 and ordered to pay £55 costs after admitting carrying an offensive weapon, was a member of the National Front from 1995 to 2000. Its policies include outlawing homosexuality and abortion, alongside the forced repatriation of immigrants.

He said: "I joined the National Front because at the time I had concerns about immigration and jobs. The National Front wasn't an extremist party, and if they were, then I certainly wasn't one. The BNP and the National Front differ now because we (the BNP) don't want to send anybody back, we want to stop immigration but we don't support compulsory repatriation, it's voluntary."

The Mercury asked Mr Meller about the BNP's policies – which include re-introducing the death penalty and preventing the teaching of gay relationships in schools.

He said: "I'm not here to pass judgement as to who should receive capital punishment, but in my grandfather's day, if there was a murder, you knew there was going to be a hanging. In terms of gay people, the BNP's view is what you get up to in your own house, we don't want to know about it at all. What we are against is using public money to fund things like gay marches. I'm a Christian and my own view is marriage is between a man and a woman and it's for bringing up a family. I wouldn't outlaw homosexuality because we are all equal.

"In terms of immigration – my area of Whitwick has seen a lot of 'white flight', where people are moving away from Leicester because they feel they don't have an identity anymore. They don't want to bring a child up where three different languages are spoken in the classroom."

A spokesman for anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said: "If he doesn't regard the National Front as an extremist party, I wouldn't like to bump into representatives of a party he does regard as extreme. This is indicative of Nick Griffin's BNP – he aims to promote a non-violent and moderate face to his organisation but the reality is that the BNP is still populated by extreme views."

The Leicester Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Centre in Wellington Street was unavailable for comment.

The BNP is fielding candidates in every seat in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Leicester Mercury

Barton in the Beans and the BNP Baptist Chapel

After a bit of prodding, I’ve received a response from the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) about the recent hosting of the British National Party’s Rev Robert West at Barton in the Beans Baptist Chapel (also known as Barton Fabis Baptist Chapel or Barton Chapel). West’s appearance at this venue was noted on a BNP blog, but specific details were removed after Seismic Shock drew it to wider attention. The FIEC administrator was keen to point out that each church is independent, that the Fellowship does not support any political party, and that it is working to make member churches aware of the dangers posed by political extremists. I was also directed to a related church body called ”Affinity”, of which the FIEC is a member and where further details about the chapel are listed. The specific entry is here; there is no minister listed, just a certain “Mrs C S Meller” given as the administrator. There are apparently regular services, though.

Mrs Meller is Christine Meller, and according to this site she and her husband Derek Meller maintain a museum at the Chapel, which is of historic significance and regarded fondly by British Baptists. There is no evidence that either of these persons support the BNP, but it just so happens that there is also a local BNP councillor named Ian Derek Meller, who is described as a member of the Chapel on the website of the North West Leicestershire District Council.

A site run by Searchlight magazine notes:

[Ian] Meller is a former member of the NF who in August 2000 was fined £400 with £55 costs for possessing an offensive weapon – believed to have been a chair leg. When he was arrested Meller was with a 15 strong contingent of NF members led by Mick Shore who was involved in the KKK and who is now also in the BNP. The gang of NF thugs of which Meller was a part were intent on attacking a Gay Pride march in Leicester.

Meller’s supporters claim he was carrying a flagpole.

West, meanwhile, believes that multiracialism is sinful, and that this is the lesson of the story of the Tower of Babel. He also shares Meller’s distaste for homosexuality, and in 2007 his Christian Council of Britain brought Paul Cameron to the UK.

Bartholomew's Notes on Religion

The BNP - just the NF in sharp suits

In a small article posted on his Cumbrian Patriots (BNP) blog, Clive Jefferson, one of the crew of bully-boys who attempted (and failed) to gain access to Kenny and Nicholla Smith's flat to grab computers and other items that could be used to incriminate them in the eyes of the BNP membership, has posted up a picture of some of his fellow Cumbrian BNP members 'helping out' the locals in the Ibstock by-election, due to go to the polls tomorrow.

The BNP, forever in denial about the nazi thugs it has always had in the party, is constantly trying to show how it is packed with ordinary people - not nazis, not thugs. Jefferson's blog follows the same format - in fact the current top item has a picture of these activists (above) along with this text;

'Some of the canvasing team that helped out at the weekend- A BOX STANDARD [one assumes he means bog-standard] TYPICAL GROUP OF SKIN HEADED THUGS ? No of course not the picture is a good, cross section of the BNP membership'

Indeed it is. The tall guy, fifth from the left, is Ian Meller who represents the BNP in Whitwick Ward, a part of North West Leicestershire District Council. The other BNP councillor for that local authority is Graham Partner, who is also the BNP's North West Leicestershire Fundholder, or was until he joined the rebels.

Meller, in common with many BNP members, has a chequered past. This part-report from the Leicester Mercury of August 4th 2000 might be enlightening.

'Gay rights march: Four men appear in court

Four men have appeared before Leicester magistrates following clashes at the city's gay rights march last weekend. The four were arrested during the event on Saturday, which attracted attention from across the political spectrum.

Ian Derek Meller, who was described in court as a member of the National Front, was fined £400 after being caught carrying a piece of wood in Humberstone Gate. Meller, a builder from Jenny's Lane, Ravenstone, admitted a charge of carrying an offensive weapon. He was also ordered to pay £55 costs...'

Two organisations were involved in the protest against the gay rights march that August 4th. One was the National Front, the other a group calling itself The Silent Majority.

The Silent Majority spokesperson at that time was one Denise Pfeiffer, who we have featured here before and who turns out, not surprisingly, to be closely linked to the British National Party - in fact her then partner was Clive Potter, Leicester's former BNP parliamentary candidate in the last two general elections and former president of the BNP's trade union Solidarity and the Christian Council Of Britain until his spectacular recent fall-out with Solidarity's now general secretary Patrick Harrington and BNP leader Nick Griffin.

How incestuous the BNP and NF are.

In case you're wondering about the piece of wood that Meller was carrying; it was a chair leg, presumably carried (as he admitted its capacity as an 'offensive' weapon) to be used against the gay marchers and/or anyone else he disagreed with during the event. Luckily he was nicked before he had a chance to use it on someone. Rather less lucky was a Big Issue seller who tore up one of the NF's leaflets that day - he was beaten up for his trouble.

The modern British National Party - just the nazi National Front in sharp suits.

[Thanks to our friends at Kirklees for the heads-up]