Dominic Carman to fight Nick Griffin in Barking, East London, at election

The son of George Carman, QC, one of the Britain’s most notable barristers, is to take on Nick Griffin in the fight for Barking at the general election.

The Times has learnt that Dominic Carman, the unauthorised biographer of the British National Party leader, is to stand as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats in the East London constituency. The BNP hopes to topple Margaret Hodge, the Labour incumbent, to claim its first parliamentary seat.

Mr Carman said that his father, a leading barrister of the 1980s and 1990s who died in 2001, would have approved of his decision to run. He told The Times: “I would love to have seen my father have Nick Griffin in the witness box for two or three days and really take him apart: piece by piece, line by line, speech by speech.

“It would have a been a great pleasure and he would have done an excellent job. I just hope I can do a decent job exposing Nick Griffin to a wider audience than would be the case.”

Mr Carman said that his only motivation for running was to try to stop Mr Griffin from taking the seat. He intends to use information from his research into the biography to attack his opponent. It was never released because publishers were unwilling to associate their brand with the BNP leader.

“I will put it to good use in exposing Griffin beyond what’s already been in the public domain,” he said. “It’s very important to fight a strong campaign and it will be critical to challenge Nick Griffin every step of the way. I want to make people think long and hard about voting for him in Barking. It’s very, very important.”

Mr Carman has more than 20 hours of videotaped interviews with Mr Griffin over two years from 2003. He has interviewed Mr Griffin’s family and associates, including the National Front leaders who shaped his views, on numerous occasions. “I do not claim to have a silver bullet — one specific piece of info so damaging that Nick Griffin would lose all credibility. But the cumulative information I have can be presented in such a way ... it will make him uncomfortable.”

Mr Carman hit the headlines in 2002 when he wrote a biography of his father, who was regarded as one of the country’s best libel barristers. George Carman, QC, was famed for his presence in the courtroom and his ability to captivate a jury. However, his public image changed after his death with the publication of the “warts and all” biography by his son. It detailed the destructive personal side of his father’s life with accounts of a chain-smoking alcoholic who beat his wives.

Mr Carman, who joined the Lib Dems last year, said that he would fight the campaign on local issues such as jobs and housing. “I’m not going to stand and say nothing against the Labour Government, I will argue Liberal Democrat policies in a normal way. But I’m not going to select Margaret Hodge for special criticism. I am going to select Nick Griffin for that.”

He said that his chances of winning the seat were slim. The BNP took almost 17 per cent of the vote in the 2005 general election, just behind the Conservatives, while the Lib Dems achieved 11 per cent. “I have to do what I can,” he said. “This is very important.”

His campaign will start tomorrow morning in Barking.

The Times

BNP lose out in 'knife-edge' council by-elections

The last 2008 council by-elections produced a night of high drama with mainstream parties holding off the BNP by knife-edge majorities in two contests and the outcome in a third being decided by drawing lots. The only change was a gain by Liberal Democrats at Newchurch, Isle of Wight where the previous councillor, elected as a Tory, had become independent.

The BNP, which called the poll at Kells and Sandwith, Cumbria County, finished just 16 votes behind Labour. The margin was 15 at Ibstock and Heather, North West Leicestershire District where Tories squeaked home.

This was a disappointing result for Labour which had defended another seat in the ward in a by-election last January in which Conservatives had trailed the BNP. The ward is in the marginal Leicestershire North West constituency.

At Clarence and Uphill, North Somerset Council, Tory Ami Patel and independent John Ley-Morgan both finished on 477 votes with Mr Patel winning on a drawing of lots.

Analysis of 11 comparable results this month suggests a projected 8.6% Tory nationwide lead over Labour. A calculation based on wards fought both times by all three major parties gives a line-up of: C 38.5%, Lab 33.0%, Lib Dem 21.6%. Tories were hard hit by independent interventions at North Somerset but clearly benefited from the disappearance of an independent challenge at Braintree, Essex earlier this month.

RESULTS:

Cumbria County - Kells and Sandwith: Lab 434, BNP 418, C 190. (May 2007 - Lab 1367, Ind 357, C 355). Lab hold. Swing 12.5% Lab to C.

East Northamptonshire District - Thrapston Lakes: C 475, Lab 168, Ukip 111. (May 2007 - Two seats C 558, 458, Ukip 380). C hold. Swing 16.9% Ukip to C.

Isle of Wight Council - Newchurch: Lib Dem 389, C 377, Ind 213. (May 2005 - C 701, Ind 620, Ind 187). Lib Dem gain from Ind.

North Somerset Council - Clarence and Uphill: C 478, Ind 477, Lib Dem 421, Ind 228, Lab 132. (May 2007 - Three seats C 1800, 1777, 1708, Lib Dem 836, 672, 670, Lab 310, 295, 280). C hold. Swing 17% C to Lib Dem.

North West Leicestershire District - Ibstock and Heather: C 660, BNP 645, Lab 614, Lib Dem 174. (May 2007 - Three seats C 737, 731, Lab 707, 620, C 599, Lab 559, Ukip 411, Lib Dem 225, 222; January 10 2008 by-election: Lab 699, BNP 637, C 515, Lib Dem 411). C hold. Swing 0.4% C to Lab.

Rhondda, Cynon, Taff County Borough - Glyncoch: Lab 217, Ind 143, Plaid Cymru 47, Communist 12, C 11. (May 2008 - Lab 413, Plaid Cymru 192). Lab hold. Swing 1.5% Plaid Cymru to Lab.

24dash

Former Labour, Tory and Lib Dem members on BNP list

• 'Nine ex-Conservatives' on leaked files
• Merseyside police officer suspended from duty

The leaked British National party list contains the names of individuals who are former members of all the mainstream political parties in England, it emerged today.

A former constituency chairman for the Conservatives, a former Labour prospective parliamentary candidate, and a church minister who had been at various times a Green, a Conservative and a Liberal Democrat, all went public on why they had switched parties in the wake of the leaking of a BNP members' list.

Lionel Buck said he was chairman of Ashfield Conservative association in Nottinghamshire for about four years, joining the BNP two years ago. He told the Guardian: "The way the country is at the moment, there is no major party, whether it be Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat, looking after the indigenous population."

Andrew Emerson said he had been due to fight Chichester in Sussex for the Labour party in 1997 before illness ruled him out, but joined the BNP in 2005, when he had been the party's candidate for Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. He had since tried to get elected to Chichester council, in his last attempt last month gaining 12.3% of the vote in the ward. The main reason for changing parties was "my unhappiness with the [Labour] party's open-door immigration policy, making no attempt whatever to control immigration ... and to properly control our borders".

John Stanton, who heads the Rock Dene Christian Fellowship in his home town in Rochford, Essex, with a congregation of 22, had also been a Green, a member of Ukip, a Lib Dem councillor in the 1990s and a member of the Conservatives in the 1970s. He told the Press Association that "the flood of immigration" was a problem, as was Islam and the European Union. He said he had been with the BNP for eight months.

A worried Labour MP, whose constituency is about 98% white and appears to have the most BNP members, told the Guardian it was sometimes difficult to address concerns of communities "stirred up by malicious and false information".

Colin Challen, MP for Morley and Rothwell in Yorkshire, where there are 90 members according to the list, said it was "very disappointing that local people, even to that extent, have been persuaded to believe the racist claptrap and hate politics of the BNP".

But research indicated, he said, that "sadly it is very often the case that areas which have a very small ethnic minority population and large working class population have developed pockets of support for the British National party".

It was a "matter of shame" that a seat on Leeds city council that fell within his constituency was held by a BNP member. The main political parties had to understand the concerns of communities and work to address them, even in the face of inflammatory information.

The Labour party said it would expel anyone found to be a member of the BNP; the Lib Dems "deplored" its beliefs and tactics; and the Conservatives said all mainstream parties "have an obligation to address the voter alienation and disillusionment that fuels support for extremism".

Nine people on the BNP membership list are said to be former Conservatives, but the party said it only knew of six, and they had been associated with party some years ago.

Meanwhile, a police officer whose name appeared on the BNP list was tonight suspended from duty by Merseyside police, a spokesman for the force said. PC Stephen Bettley, who worked as a driver for the chief constable, Bernard Hogan-Howe, in 2006, returned early from a holiday abroad tonight to help the force with an investigation into his alleged involvement.

Police are banned from becoming members of the far-right party because it conflicts with obligations under race relations laws.

Guardian

Images on sex slur leaflets appear on BNP website

Images identical to those on sick leaflets claiming the Liberal Democrats condone paedophilia are available on the British National Party (BNP) website.

Hundreds of residents have recieved leaflets, supposedly written by disgraced pop star Gary Glitter and claiming Lib Dems want to change the age of consent laws, ahead of next Thursday's by-election in Hale End & Highams Park. Images and information on the controversial leaflets, including a picture of bogeyman Freddy Krueger and another of children playing, also appear on a downloadable anti-Lib Dem leaflet on the BNP website.

This has fuelled speculation that BNP members or sympathisers are behind the smear campaign.

BNP deputy leader, Simon Darby, said it was not an official party decison to put out the leaflets, and that it may have been an individual member or sympathiser behind them. He said: "We are not contesting this election and we do not use these kind of dirty tricks. But the other parties do this sort of thing all the time, so they have no right to object."

But he agreed with the sentiments in the leaflets. He said: "When you look at the truth of the matter, in some cases the Lib Dem membership list is not too dissimilar to the sex offenders' register."

When challenged to prove a claim that "many" Lib Dems want to lower the age of consent to 14, Mr Darby said he did not have the proof to hand.

A total of two by-election seats are being contested in the Hale End & Highams Park ward and it is expected to be a close contest between the Lib Dems and Conservatives, with Labour also standing.

Conservative group leader Matt Davis said: "I find the idea that the BNP would attempt to interfere with an election in which they are not even standing in this totally unacceptable way to be a fair indication of their vile way of doing things."

Cllr Davis also said he was confused as to why a BNP member or sympathiser would single out the Lib Dems, as one of the Conservative candidates, Sandeep Christian, is Asian and the other Sheree Rackham, is Jewish.

Lib Dems have declined to comment at this stage as they are considering pursuing a police complaint.

Waltham Forest Guardian

Bexley Liberal Democrats call for help to defeat BNP

This weekend the BNP will be holding their second consecutive Action Weekend in the East Wickham ward of Bexley. Last weekend the BNP hit team from across London, Kent and Essex delivered the whole ward. They will do it all over again this weekend.

East Wickham is a ward that the Liberal Democrats held right through the period of joint control of Bexley Council. And it was the last ward we had a council presence in. In recent years the ward has had Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative councillors. It is also in Welling, site of the BNP shop and headquarters in the 1990s.

Following the recent death of a Conservative councillor there will soon be a by-election here. We haven't got a date yet, and the by-election may well not be until February, but this by-election will be won or lost by what we can do before the election is formally called.

Don't be mistaken, the ward will be a strong fight between all 4 parties! Over the next few weeks we will be establishing our presence in the ward, before going in hard on the BNP. In the recent by-election just up the road in Christchurch ward we came second to the Tories, with the BNP just behind us, and Labour behind them in 4th. So you can see this will be a close battle. It will very much turn on us stopping the BNP vote.

We have just finished delivering a ward wide Residents' Survey and from this Sunday we have letters available from the by-election HQ, see http://www.flocktogether.org.uk/event/4337 and we have plenty more good literature on the way.

Our candidate will be former Bromley councillor Grace Goodlad, who is keen to get stuck in as Bexley's only Lib Dem councillor.

You can turn up any time you like, but in particular we will be holding action days every Saturday over the coming weeks - 22 November (delivery), 29 November (delivery), 6 December (canvassing). If you want to go out as part of a team, please turn up at the HQ at 11.30am or 2.30 pm on the action days.

But please, most of all, we need lots of help at all times to ensure we can win, and stop the BNP!

Thank you,

The East Wickham team.

Contact: 07860 187376, 020 8304 1461, 07779 146329.

Bexley Liberal Democrats