We should be exposing and ridiculing the BNP, not banning it

Much fuss has been made about whether we should ban the British National Party from appearing on Question Time and the Trades Union Congress now wants to bar anyone who is a member of the party from working in the public sector.

The party is undoubtedly racist, homophobic and sexist but the TUC's proposal is deeply disturbing. Firstly it suggests that anyone holding undesirable or unpleasant views should be denied access to the right to work. Most of us don't particularly want to work next to someone who thinks some people should be "sent home" but almost as damaging to democracy is the idea of censuring unpopular or unpleasant political views.

Secondly, instead of challenging these views head-on, it means we push them (and their advocates) out of sight. It smacks of "If we close our eyes, it'll go away." It also suggests we don't have enough conviction in our own views, as if these are not strong enough to stand up against hate.

Let's look at some of the weirder views held by the party: legal director Lee Barnes has a particular hatred of flat-chested women and describes those with dwarfism as "pitiful products of the flaws in nature".

Or what about the disgusting views of Nick Eriksen, the BNP candidate who said women would be more upset if their handbag was stolen then if they were raped. This charming specimen added that some women were "like gongs. They need to be struck regularly". Another example is the party's bizarre grasp of British history, something any A-level history student should be able to dismantle quite easily.

All these examples show that letting them have their say is the way forward. Let the BNP speak, sprout nonsense, tie itself up in semantic knots. To shy away from rubbishing such confused, unpleasant and sometimes downright mad sentiments is ridiculous and even cowardly. You can't stop people from voting in a certain way, but you can at least give extremist parties such as this ample rope to hang themselves and expose their views for what they really are.

People often say that it is useless to attempt to engage the party in rational debate but this is a strange way of thinking. Of course general opinion on issues such as immigration varies, but most of us do not want "voluntary repatriation" of people with dark skin or any other of the party's hateful policies and have quite enough arguments to throw back. In fact, many of these policies are so irrational, a brief gust of logical debate should blow them away.

Mainstream politicians need to stop creating a legend of fear around the BNP. It's unnecessary. This is not a powerful party by any means. It is facing a costly court battle over its membership policies, a fight which has the potential to close it down. In addition, it is unlikely to be hiring the best political minds in the business, due to the stigma of association and the issue of money.

Get rid of 'no platform' and forget trying to sack BNP members. Hell, let them sit next to David Dimbleby if needs be. Instead of pretending they're not there and allowing them a kind of perverse matyrdom, seek them out, challenge them and drown out their voices in a sea of reasoned, logical debate.

Pink News

BNP bigots are racist AND sexist

The European Election on Thursday could change British politics for the next 50 years. For the first time, the farright BNP has a real chance of electing its candidates - including leader Nick Griffin - to power in Europe. This worries me in many ways.

As a human being, believing that people of all races and backgrounds are equal. As a Briton, enjoying our rich and diverse country. As a mother, wondering what future my children will grow up in. And as a woman, because the BNP isn't just a racist, homophobic, xenophobic party, it's a sexist party too. Whatever they pretend, they just aren't a normal party.

So, where other parties and politicians might have some mildly suspect views on women, their attitude is straight out of the dark ages. As politicians of all parties seek difficult solutions to the current economic crisis, Richard Barnbrook, BNP member on the London Assembly and the [creepy and fake] Rev. Robert West, the BNP lead candidate in the East Midlands for the European Elections, said on BBC1 in February, that the answer to the recession was for women to work at home.

London BNP organiser Nick Eriksen was even more blatant: "For a woman to consider a job or career more important than having children is, quite literally, unnatural," he wrote. "Instead of complaining that nature prevents women from having successful careers women should embrace the career nature has ascribed to them - motherhood." Meanwhile, his views on rape, aired on his blog, are utterly abhorrent.

Eriksen actually believes that rape is like force-feeding women chocolate. He wrote: 'Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence."

When his comments were exposed, the BNP was forced to withdraw Eriksen as a candidate for the London Mayoral elections. You barely have to scratch the surface of the BNP's own website to find examples of the way they feel as a party about women. And it's not just the men in the party.

On a recent documentary about BNP wives, Suzy Cass, the wife of the party's former manager Nick Cass, told how she was instructed by her husband to insist on a White European midwife when giving birth to their children.

As a mother, I found this perhaps the saddest statement of all. The BNP is now targeting women worried about feeding their families in the economic crisis, and that's why I believe it's time to air some of their views on women as well as their better known views on race. I urge women and men, black and white, to reject this party at the next - and every - election. We need to send the message that however worried or desperate we feel about the recession, we won't turn on our neighbours. As proud British people, we are so much greater than that.They are from the dark ages.

Fiona Phillips: Mirror

One Flew Over The Pig Farm: the BNP and us in 2008 - April

Something that has often struck us as odd is the way in which people with good ideas for getting the BNP elected always seem to end up marginalised or finding themselves accused of being in the pay of Searchlight, while those with the worst ideas invariably enjoy the party's highest confidence.

One such was Nick Eriksen (above), the BNP's London organiser and second-choice candidate for the Greater London Assembly election, who for some time had been laying down mines in the path of his own BNP troops by making some injudicious - but all too telling - comments on his Sir John Bull blog, viz this example:

"I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.

"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched. The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors."

All rather odd from a man who belongs to a party which obsessively scours newspapers for reports of black on white rape and calls for the return of the rope for the guilty parties.

The London Evening Standard, linked Eriksen to the notorious Sir John Bull blog - which frequently advocated hatred and abuse against women ("Give her a slap" being title of one of Eriksen's articles) - after making an enquiry that was answered by Eriksen, who foolishly included Richard Barnbrook's contact number in his reply.

As BNP members whined to the effect, "Please tell me he didn't say that," unimaginative BNP deputy leader and spokesman Simon Darby fell back on the BNP's stock "it's a smear" excuse, while Eriksen, not enjoying having his own words thrown back at him, complained: "It's typical of the media to distort what the BNP say."

The BNP, on the horns of a dilemma as its local elections campaign got underway, moved quickly to sack Eriksen, but the bad publicity continued in the House of Commons, where Tory MP Charles Walker asked Labour deputy Harriet Harman: "Will you not agree with me that this man, this creature is not fit to run for public office?" Harman did agree, making the very sensible suggestion that "The best way to avoid a BNP member being elected to the London Assembly is to make sure that as many people as possible vote for all the other parties."

The BNP expected great things of Richard Barnbrook in the London Mayoral contest, and believed that one way to help him along was to get the Tory vote up and the Labour vote down. To that end the BNP urged its supporters to give their second preference votes to Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, who failed to appreciate the BNP's largesse:

"I utterly and unreservedly condemn the BNP and have no desire whatsoever to receive a single second-preference vote from a BNP supporter. I hope as many Londoners as possible turn out on May 1 to prevent the election of a BNP candidate."

The BNP's catalogue of pre-election cock-ups continued when the party stole an image of Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins (pictured) to use in a racist video aimed at stopping the opening of a Mosque in Cardiff. "These are nasty people and Katherine wants to have absolutely nothing to do with them," a spokesman for the singer said.

Hollow man Simon Darby floundered: "It's ironic, though, that somebody is getting flak for using a picture of a Welsh superstar and they are the bad guys, yet under our noses we are witnessing the Islamification of Wales."

BNP attempts to profit off the back of respectable publisher Usborne Books were scotched when Lancaster Unity reported that the BNP's merchandising arm, Excalibur, was selling the company's wares via its website - grabbing for itself the 25% commission available to bona fide "Usborne organisers".

Whoever the BNP's pretend Usborne organiser was clearly breached the company's stipulations that business should be conducted in an "ethical and honest manner" and that its products should not be sold "through or to any retail outlet, including on-line outlets".

The Lancaster Unity community of readers were quick to inform Usborne of the BNP's scam, and the horrified company moved immediately to end it. Marketing assistant Graeme Williams told our people:

Thank you for your email regarding this serious issue. As I'm sure you are aware Usborne is an extremely well trusted and ethical publisher and would never knowingly sell books via an organisation such as the BNP.

This situation was only yesterday brought to our attention and we are taking every available step including legal action, to remove our books from their site. I can reassure you that Usborne have not knowingly supplied the BNP
with books and that we will be taking serious steps to prevent anyone else from supplying them.

The sound of clinking champagne glasses could be heard from BNP Towers with the "election" of two unopposed BNP candidates to the Bay of Colwyn Town Council in North Wales. The bubbly soon turned flat when another BNP candidate, 19 year-old Neil Hughes, said that he had been tricked into standing for the racist party. He said: “I’m shocked. A BNP man came to our house three weeks ago and asked me to sign papers. I thought I was supporting someone else to stand. I don’t want to stand. I’m annoyed about this.”

There were more BNP dirty tricks at the University of York when party member Tony Bamber gained access to the post room and used the mail system to deliver anti-Muslim literature to university staff. Disgusted university authorities reported the matter to the police. The BNP's unapologetic Simon Darby, falling back on the fact that party member Bamber had not used the BNP's name on his leaflets, said: "It's not something we would put out directly but what does he say that's not true? It's the blunt truth. If he had told lies I would have disassociated ourselves and the party from it."

Darby's statement that the BNP would not "directly" put out the hate-mongering trash contained in Bamber's leaflets is worth noting. The leaflets were the work of the "Preston Pals", which is a group of energetic Lancashire BNP racists - ripping off the memory of the World War One Preston Pals army company, as it happens - and their only purpose was to raise support for the BNP. These were BNP leaflets, whether official or not, and their distribution is of continuing interest to the police.

Griffin's strange and costly case against the Decembrist rebels again came before the High Court in Manchester, and was instructive in how ill-versed the former law student and his BNP legal team are in what is supposed to be their area of expertise.

Griffin and the BNP team seriously believed that an English court could, should and would have jurisdiction over goods held in Scotland by a person residing in Scotland, and that it should have jurisdiction over bank accounts held and operated in Scotland with banks incorporated in Scotland. Even legal ignoramuses would suspect this not to be the case.

The point was being argued so that Griffin could nail Nicholla and Kenny Smith, resident in Scotland.

In an interview with resident yes-man Simon Darby, an overconfident and completely wrong Griffin said: "[What the rebels] may not realise, is that every hour he [Adrian Davies, the rebels' barrister] takes up arguing on that point, if it's knocked out the costs of that will go directly against them, basically no questions asked. So, it's a very reckless game I think."

In the event Judge Pelling QC ordered all parties in the action, claimants and defendants, to pay their own costs for the day. The costs to the BNP to date were put at £30,000. The rebel defendants, including the Smiths, agreed to return all BNP property held by them, and the BNP agreed to return property stolen from Sadie Graham in a BNP Security raid on her home.

The hearing achieved nothing that could not have been achieved out of court, and achieved it at enormous cost. The matter of alleged breach of confidence on the part of the rebels remained outstanding pending a further hearing, but events later in the year would put a new and interesting slant on this.

Plans to cut services to pensioners and children, and to throw public employees out of work without redundancy payments aren't usually things you'll see advertised on BNP election addresses, yet these were the ideas put forward when BNP group leader Richard Barnbrook made the party's opposition budget proposals public at Barking and Dagenham borough council.

This was a chance for Barnbrook and the BNP to shine, but - Barnbrook being Barnbrook and the BNP being the BNP - even the impartial help and advice of the council's Chief Financial Officer could not stop either from making fools of themselves, as the ever-dependable Searchlight reported:

Barnbrook managed to struggle though his speech, prompted by Councillor Robert Bailey whenever he stumbled over his lines, though even Bailey seemed not to notice that the figures in Barnbrook’s speech bore little resemblance to those in his document. Questions proved somewhat harder as Barnbrook does not excel at thinking on his feet.

First up was Val Rush, the Executive Member for community safety and parks, who challenged Barnbrook’s claim that he could cut the parks’ police budget by £150,000 by running it in-house. “It already is run in-house”, she informed him and asked him what the precise cuts were that would save £150,000. He was unable to say, the first of many occasions on which he could not explain how he had arrived at his figures.

Barnbrook was also unaware that rubbish collection was already run in-house in the borough and that the law would not allow the council to use money saved by the BNP’s cuts to build council houses, as he had proposed.

As for the 10,000 new council houses that a BNP leaflet was demanding, Barnbrook said they would be built on brownfield sites, but was unable to name a single such site in the borough.

The BNP budget was, not unnaturally, rejected on a vote, but unheeding of the old but good advice that if you should find yourself in a hole then it's a smart idea to stop digging, Barnbrook offered to respond to Labour questions on the BNP budget by email.

One Labour councillor queried Barnbrook on the proposed restructuring of the council's Human Resources department, which according to Barnbrook would save £3 million of its current £6.5 million budget. “The detail of the new structure will come from the relevant Chief Officers once the Labour Administration has been removed,” Barnbrook replied, meaninglessly, adding, when asked about the costs of redundancies, that the BNP "is not going to burden taxpayers with redundancy payments".

Apparently it would rather burden them with an expensive rash of unwinnable employment cases.

One concern that Barnbrook seemed to believe to be of paramount importance to the citizens of Barking and Dagenham was TB and the importation of bushmeat. The BNP wanted to spend £400,000 to deal with these supposed problems but had no idea exactly how the money would be spent. Perhaps £400,000 was a pretty figure that Barnbrook liked the look of, since all he could offer up to his questioner was: “I suggest you ask the Chief Executive to help you if you want to compile figures so that you can copy the BNP’s good ideas and claim them as yours”. Searchlight added:

Barnbrook was equally unilluminating on how he would achieve his projected cuts in services for pensioners, refusing to provide any explanation or breakdown of any of his figures. Asked for more details of the research the BNP had carried out to demonstrate the need for its proposals, he said, “Obviously you cannot expect the BNP to prove the point by handing over it’s [sic] own confidential records to an extremist organisation like the labour party”.

As polling day drew closer, Simon Darby thought he'd give the BNP troops a boost. Writing that he had been in top-level negotiations with another party, the BNP deputy-leader announced "a breakthrough", as if the BNP was on the verge of something momentous. Apparently Darby had reached a deal with "representatives" of the Pensioners Party in which that party would endorse BNP candidates in certain areas of the country.

The names of the endorsed BNP candidates duly appeared on the Pensioners Party website, but without mentioning their BNP affiliations. The BNP's keyboard army was ecstatic, Darby and the Pensioners Party the heroes of the hour. But all was not as it seemed.

In his rush to overstate the importance of his "deal" not only did Darby neglect to mention that the Pensioners Party had only six members and no influence whatsoever beyond a moribund and rarely visited website, he was hardly up-front about those "representatives" he negotiated with, since when members of the public contacted the party over the BNP's claims they appeared to know nothing about it.

The Pensioners Party quickly took down the offending BNP names and announced an inquiry - presumably into which of its six members talked to Darby and put the names up in the first place. Darby quietly let the matter drop.

With the local election campaign hotting up with the mid-point of April BNP confidence in its prospects reached unrealistic heights, much as it had the year before. The BNP stood unopposed in a number of obscure town and parish council elections, each unopposed "election" being lauded by the party, which liked to defraud its own members by equating parish councillors with borough and district councillors and adding them to its tally of "real" councillors. And as the campaign went on, so more and more politicians, community leaders and churchmen came out to oppose the BNP. Even Everton and Liverpool football clubs hit out at the BNP for using images of their grounds on one of its websites. A spokesman for Everton FC said: "If they are attempting to draw a link between this football club and its supporters then they are a disgrace and should be condemned for even attempting it.” Meanwhile, Hope Not Hate's tour bus set off to take the anti-fascist message around the country, supported by the Daily Mirror, showbiz personalities, sporting heroes and a host of other celebrities.

Richard Barnbrook again made a fool of himself on St. George's Day. The BNP's London mayoral candidate, got up in armour and mounted on a pony, led a St. George's Day parade in Barking that, according to Searchlight, failed to reach double figures and was witnessed only by eight accompanying policemen mounted on bicycles.

The same Searchlight article exposed lies contained in London Assembly candidate Bob Bailey's profile on a BNP website, in which it was claimed that the BNP had secured 5,000 new council homes in Barking and Dagenham. Searchlight said:

We asked an Executive member of the council where these houses were and how the BNP had secured them. She told us: “They have been pushed and pushed at a number of Assembly meetings to identify this, finally at the meeting before last, Rustem and Bailey both admitted that they had lied”.

Searchlight Cymru was also on the case of Penygroes BNP candidate Kevin Edwards, who falsely claimed on his election leaflets that soldiers in Birmingham hospitals were told to remove their uniforms so as not to upset Muslim staff, and that homosexuality was being "taught" to children as young as four. Searchlight Cymru demanded an explanation from Edwards, which was not forthcoming. Previously Edwards had been in hot water when Penygroes councillor Sian Thomas told the South Wales Guardian that many of the residents who had signed Edwards's nomination papers had been unaware that he intended to stand for the BNP.

Also in hot water were BNP district councillors in Epping Forest, who condemned the setting up of a multi-faith forum in the district. Independent councillor Steve Murray, speaking at the council meeting where the BNP's remarks were made, said: "In 26 years (as a councillor) that was one of the most disgraceful contributions I've heard in this chamber. Because of a contribution like that there's even more reason why we need a multi-faith forum like this. We want to work together, we want community cohesion and we recognise that there is more that links faiths together than divides them", while deputy council leader Chris Whitbread told the BNP:

"It's about the wider good, and you as a party are not about the wider good. We've sat through meeting after meeting where you've sat silently and do nothing for your community. When we discuss the needs of your community you disappear and tonight you come here and you talk about dividing our community, and you don't even turn up when we discuss The Broadway or anything else. You are a disgrace to this council and you are a disgrace to our community. I am so cross that you could say that tonight, and for a start get your facts straight. This council is not paying for this body, this body is for the good of our community, you should retract your remarks."

With polling just days away, idiotic deputy BNP group leader on Barking and Dagenham council Bob Bailey thought it a great idea to ape leader Richard Barnbrook and make a public fool of himself. London Assembly candidate Bailey was involved in a spat with the Barking and Dagenham Recorder newspaper, not being pleased with their coverage of the BNP's election campaign. Bailey telephoned the paper's news editor Sally Lowe and released a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse at her. Later, with other BNP members, he arrived at the offices of the paper in a BNP campaign car and gave a highly public repeat performance over a megaphone before being moved on by the police.

Recorder editor Chris Carter said afterwards: "I am shocked that someone who claims to be a member of a legitimate political party behaves in this way. It is not acceptable that a member of my staff should be subjected to abuse like this and I will be considering making an official complaint to the Standards Board for England."

Strange behaviour on the part of BNP candidates continued when journalists from the Barnsley Chronicle went to question busted corrupt copper Simon Goodricke, standing as a BNP candidate in Barnsley's Hoyland Milton ward. News had reached the Chronicle that Goodricke had a "past", a past the BNP was keen to keep from Barnsley's voters.

The Yorkshire Star, reporting on Goodricke, said:

Goodricke is a former West Midlands detective who was kicked out of the force and jailed for 18 months for perverting the course of justice and conning a pensioner out of £1,000. Described in court as a 'gambling addict', he borrowed £200,000 from a crooked businessman to try to deal with his massive debts. He was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court after being found guilty of tipping off two corrupt businessmen, including the one who had loaned him money, that they were the centre of an international police inquiry into a money laundering plot and scam to swindle £100million from Colombian drugs barons.

Goodricke, aged 46, who now lives in Pennine View, Darton, used his position as a CID officer in Solihull to get information from the National Criminal Intelligence Service which he then passed on to a fraudster Graham Alexander.

Barnsley Chronicle journalists believed they saw an uncooperative Goodricke with a handgun and called the police, unaware that Goodricke had also called the police with the claim that the Chronicle journalists were taking pictures of young children. Goodricke's house was searched by the police but nothing was found at the time. Local BNP organiser Ian Sutton said: "We are happy with him as our candidate and have given him all our support."

Dickie Barnbrook's unlikely ménage

With just four days left to polling day the ever obliging Barking and Dagenham BNP group leader and London mayoral and Assembly candidate Richard Barnbrook suffered himself to be made a fool of on the pages of the News of the World, which announced that Barnbrook had been cheating on supposed ballerina fiance Simone Clarke with a Finnish nurse. As only the News of the World could put it:

The racist ranter —bidding to be London mayor—was secretly bedding Finn Annika Tavilampi when he proposed to English National Ballet star Simone Clarke. Barnbrook—who studies Hitler—ADVANCED on Annika, 28, after spotting her on an online dating site, BLITZED her with filthy texts and pictures— and asked her to MARRY him too.

"Richard sent me photos of his private parts before I'd even met him," says the redhead. "I thought this was very odd for a politician."

She only discovered the full depths of the London councillor's extremism when she found a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf under his bed.

"If I'd known before that he was a sleazebag I probably wouldn't have gone anywhere near him," says Annika. "He was average in bed. And then there was his drinking — I've only ever seen him properly sober a couple of times. But I still fell for him."

A day later the Daily Mail revealed that Barnbrook still had a wife, an American lady serving in the Metropolitan police who split with Barnbrook due to his "rotten politics". Un-named due to her police position, she told the Mail: "In the end [Barnbrook] said: 'If you don't like my politics you can get out.'"

The BNP had a torrid time that week, as a growing number of organisations and celebrities called on the public to oppose them, and the party leadership became ever more cautious about its prospects. We at Lancaster Unity were optimistic that the BNP would not add much to its tally of existing councillors on polling day, largely due to its own internal divisions, its incompetence, its propensity for gathering negative headlines - and one of the best anti-fascist campaigns ever mounted.

To be continued...

A quick peek under the apron, beagle attack and the 'return' of two old favourites

What an exciting week it's been for the massed lunatics of the far-right. This last week has seen Lee Barnes, the BNP's legal beagle, have a go at us because according to him we at Lancaster Unity are all racists, and the North West Nationalist blog getting into a frenzy at the news (?) that Nick Eriksen and Tony Lecomber had returned to the BNP fold. Oh yes, and that Nick Griffin's father Edgar has been a Freemason for the past sixty-odd years.

Taking these in reverse order for no particular reason, we read that Edgar Griffin (pictured, centre) has been awarded something or the other (we don't care) for being a Freemason for more than six decades. Edgar, as our regular readers will know, is an accountant who has been repeatedly linked to Roberto Fiore, an old friend of his son. As recently as February of this year, Edgar was found to have been doing the accounts for CL English Language, a college in west London that teaches hundreds of foreign students each year, run by neo-fascist Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova, an extreme right-wing party.

Fiore arrived in Britain in October 1980 as a 21-year-old fugitive from the Italian police, who wanted to question him about the Bologna train station bombing two months earlier in which 85 people were killed and more than 200 injured. He was reputed to be a member of the extreme right-wing organisation the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, several of whose members were subsequently convicted of mass murder. After being arrested by Scotland Yard officers the following year, Fiore was brought before Bow Street court, but the authorities in Rome failed to secure his extradition. Fiore settled in London and became friendly with Nick Griffin; the two are reported to have shared a flat and are also said to have run a travel agency together.

Edgar, who introduced his son to the National Front by taking him along to a meeting when the younger Griffin was just fifteen, has been a life-long Freemason, as was his father Edwin before him. Edwin, according to Martin Webster, a former colleague and claimed ex-lover of Nick Griffin, left his grandson, the current leader of the BNP, £300,000 in his will in the late eighties, which 'he quickly lost in stupid property deals'.

An article on the web page of the Mark Master Masons of North Wales details the celebrations at the Lodge:

'In 1992 he received further promotion to the rank of Active Grand Junior Deacon. W. Bro. Edgar Griffin was Elevated in the Degree of the Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariner on 31st August 1955 (52 years ago) in the Barnet Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners No. 947. He was Installed as Worshipful Commander in 1964. He was elected Holder of Provincial Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank in 1985 and received Royal Ark Mariner Grand Rank in 1990. After a period of years spent in Suffolk, and having been granted Honorary Membership of his Mark and RAM Lodges, he moved to Welchpool where he has continued his Masonic careers in our Degrees by becoming Worshipful Master in 2002 and Worshipful Commander in 2005.'

Whoopee.

Back in the real world, we hear that two of Nick Griffin's old friends have returned to his side - or at least that's what the North West Nationalist blog seems to think. Describing them as 'two vile and totally disreputable creatures', the article reports the returns of Nick Eriksen and Tony Lecomber.

There isn't much to say about these two scumbags except to remind our readers why they are so universally loathed (except, apparently, by Nick Griffin). Eriksen, you may recall, claimed that women were more troubled by bag theft than rape and also advocated violence against women on his 'Sir John Bull' blog, as reported by the Evening Standard just prior to the last elections. The subsequent furore cost him his position as the BNP's London organiser and as the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly.

Tony Lecomber, former Group Development Officer for the British National Party, is much more complicated and has quite a history with the far-right. In 1986, he was convicted on five counts for offences under the Explosives Act, including possession of homemade hand-grenades and electronic timing devices, and earned himself a derisory three year sentence. In 1991 he was sentenced to a further three years for unlawful wounding for his part in an attack on a Jewish teacher who he caught trying to peel off a BNP sticker at an underground station. He has a total of 12 convictions.

His most recent claim to fame is that he was expelled from the BNP after attempting to solicit a well-known alleged hitman to assassinate establishment figures 'who are aiding and abetting the coloured invasion of this country', an act of terrorism prompted by racism. The full story is here. Following this lunacy, he was thrown out of the party (January 16th 2006) and was proscribed to the membership - meaning nobody in the party was allowed to talk to him or in any way to associate with him.

Obviously, the proscription didn't apply to Nick Griffin because we received reports that Lecomber was helping out all over the place, planning and working side by side with Griffin himself.

In fact, contrary to the North West Nationalist report, neither Eriksen or Lecomber have ever really left the party at all. Lecomber, who is long known as being a confidente of Griffins, knows where the bodies are buried and cannot be allowed to be cast aside for fear that he might spill the beans. Eriksen's views are abhorent but not, we are told, that much different from those of the great leader himself, who has simply been waiting for what he considers to be a suitable amount of time to elapse since his remarks were made public to bring the arch-misogynist back.

These are just Griffin's old pals, creeping back into the party via the back door. Whether they are welcomed home by a membership that is rapidly losing confidence in its leadership is another matter entirely.

And we're back to Lee Barnes, the BNP's legal beagle and surely one of the most tedious and insane writers ever.

Barnes' problem this week is apparently that he has identified Lancaster Unity as 'the most racist organisation in the country'. Oo-er. And on what does he base this bizarre statement? Largely because we have 'remained silent on the ongoing racism of Hollywood against the English and anyone with blonde hair and blue eyes'.

To support this stupidity, Barnes refers to a film he has obviously seen recently.

'My present favourite negaive [sic] image of the English as propagandised by the racists in Hollywood is that of Tim Roth in the new The Hulk movie.'

As I've never seen The Hulk, and am unlikely to, I can't possibly comment on it except to suggest to Barnes that he tries to watch some more intelligent films - perhaps something that's designed to appeal more to adults with brains than adolescents with pimples.

Toodle-pip.

BNP picks psychic and a gay porn director as candidates

The extraordinary collection of individuals standing for the British National Party in the London Assembly elections can be revealed today.

One candidate, Nick Eriksen, was sacked this month after the Evening Standard reported that he had described rape as a "myth" and said that "some women are like gongs - they need to be struck regularly".

Now further investigations by the Standard show that the far-Right party's 10-strong list of candidates includes:

Chris Forster, a psychic who, according to his website, specialises in the "use of the crystal ball, clairvoyance and mediumship" to "develop opportunities" for businesses and individuals. He promotes himself as "the only qualified internal auditor and accountant working full-time as a psychic".

Roberta Woods, who was recently employed in an important branch of the legal system, despite a conviction for contempt of court. During her attachment to the Legal Services Commission, which distributes legal aid, she complained the legal aid budget was going to too many "aliens".

Lawrence Rustem, a man of mixed race allowed into the BNP because, in the words of one of his fellow candidates, he is "only half a wog".

John Clarke, who was reported to police by a London council after setting up a front address and falsifying his nomination papers to stand in the last borough elections.

Richard Barnbrook, also the BNP's mayoral candidate, who directed a gay porn film, HMS Discovery.

The party has high hopes of winning at least one - and possibly two - of the 11 Assembly seats elected under a London-wide system of proportional representation on 1 May. The party scored 4.7 per cent in the last Assembly elections in 2004 and needs around five per cent for one seat this time or eight per cent for two.

However, revelations about its candidates' backgrounds will undoubtedly damage the BNP's cause. Gerry Gable, publisher of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said: "If it wasn't so serious, it would be absolutely hilarious. The candidate list includes lawbreakers, cranks and failed business people and is thus wholly representative of the BNP nationally."

Ms Woods, from Eltham, was convicted of contempt of court in 2004 after walking off a jury in the middle of a trial, claiming she had "lost faith" in British justice. Despite this, she was employed this year by the Legal Services Commission. In a letter published in last month's issue of the BNP magazine Identity, she said: "My previous assignment at UBS [the City bank] shocked me when I found myself surrounded by 'aliens'. The same was true at my Legal Services Commission assignment [and] reflects the real level of 'immigrant saturation' in the capital."

Ms Woods wrote that while working at the commission she objected to legal aid payments to solicitors handling immigration and asylum cases. She added: "Why should 'aliens' who have contributed nothing to this country have recourse to this fund? I can hardly bear to go about my business in London these days, it feels like a living nightmare."

A spokesman for the commission said: "Roberta Woods worked here for a brief period in a junior role. She was employed through an agency and we do not require agency staff to undergo a criminal record check. This policy is under review." Ms Woods refused to comment except to say: "Contempt of court is not a criminal conviction."

The BNP's website describes Mr Forster, 51, from Richmond, as an "events organiser".

But the website for his company, Psychic Events, says he "unlocks the power of the mind" and helps people by the "use of cards, crystal ball, psychometry, clairvoyance and mediumship to identify with important events and stages in their past and present and to develop opportunities and clearer vision for the fulfilment of their future".

It continues: "Chris's speciality is remote viewing of people, property or businesses, i.e. to accurately analyse at a distance."

Mr Forster is also described as "the regular tarot and crystal ball reader on Sky TV's Mystic Challenge", a game show where three mystics try to divine a secret about a hidden mystery guest. When contacted by the Standard, Mr Forster said: "Oh dear, oh dear. I wondered how long it would be before that came out." He added: "If I wanted to predict what would happen on 1 May it would be a gut feeling. I'm not going to use the tarot cards and crystal ball."

Mr Rustem, a BNP councillor in Barking, is half-Turkish and was born Timucin Rustem. His membership has been a sore point for BNP hardliners such as Paul Golding, the then editor of Identity, who was expelled from the party after physically attacking Mr Rustem. Julian Leppert, another BNP Assembly candidate and the party's 2004 candidate for Mayor, said Mr Rustem was "okay" because he was only "half-wog".

Mr Rustem insisted to the Standard that Mr Leppert was "joking" and said: "I'm in the BNP because I'm standing up for what I believe in. My political history is something that serves the party."

Mr Clarke sought election as a BNP candidate in Merton in 2006 but used a false address on his nomination papers to get round the rule that council candidates must live or work in the borough. As his current biography on the BNP website confirms, he actually lives in Croydon. After the Standard exposed the front address used by Mr Clarke, as well as another BNP candidate and the BNP supporter who actually lived there, Merton council called the police. Asked why the BNP was claiming three men and their families lived in the two-bedroom maisonette, a party spokesman said: "People live in all sorts of ways these days."

Mr Barnbrook told the Standard: "HMS Discovery was a film dealing with sexuality; it was not porn. What you write about the BNP in the media makes no difference. We will get one, possibly two, seats on the Assembly."

Asked if Mr Forster had ever foreseen a time in his crystal ball when Britain had no ethnic minorities, he said: "No, I don't think so. He's married to a Chinese woman."

Evening Standard

BNP launches election campaign

This Saturday as the clock strikes 1pm the BNP will launch their national and London election campaigns and the party's manifesto in the less than salubrious meeting room at the Eastbrook public house in Rainham Road, Dagenham.

Journalists who have nothing better to do are being corralled at noon at the Dagenham Civic Centre and transferred to the venue by road.

The new BNP London organiser, Cllr Rob Bailey, has issued his first set of commands, something he is used to doing as a former Royal Marine. He has just replaced Nick Eriksen in the post after Eriksen's sick views on rape came to light, knocking him off the BNP's London Assembly candidates' list and allowing Bailey a leg up into his job and a higher place on the BNP's London Assembly slate.

Party leaders and candidates from London and around the country will also be present. The knuckle-draggers have been told to meet up outside Dagenham East tube station wearing their best togs.

We hear there is fear that violence will break out as the local football team, Dagenham and Redbridge, are playing at home within spitting distance of the Eastbrook pub. The locals might well frown on the sight of a hundred wife beaters, village idiots and overpaid steroid-driven BNP minders descending on Dagenham.

We heard last night that the BNP mad bomber Tony Lecomber is pretty choked off as he has not been given a formal position in the party for which he is doing so much in the election campaigning in Epping and Loughton.

Hope not Hate

BNP London Elections

Another fine video from our mate IrishTonyUK!

Public perception was reason for sacking BNP ‘rape lie’ candidate

The BNP dropped its number two candidate from its London Assembly list only because his belief that “rape is simply sex” might have lost the party votes. An official statement by the party avoided stating that Nick Eriksen’s comments about women in his own Sir John Bull blog were actually offensive and outrageous, but was concerned only about how they would have been perceived.

“It was felt that no matter how much Nick Erikson’s [sic] blog comments, written back in 2005, had been distorted and taken out of the context of a blog which reflected our tough stance on all sorts of crime,” said the BNP, “they could still be perceived as trivialising the issue in a manner that many women in particular could have found extremely offensive. As such it was agreed that there should not be any ambiguity with regards real crimes against real women in our capital city by somebody about to enter government.”

In fact it is the BNP that is distorting the issue. Eriksen’s blog entry of 24 August 2005 was entirely devoted to an attack on women. Under the heading “Rape: lies, lies, lies”, he wrote: “I’ve never really understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime. … Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.”

It was not the only time he had revealed his views on women. The following month he attacked women who put off having children to have a career: “And let’s be honest, for a woman to consider a job or career more important than having children is, quite literally, unnatural.”

Returning to the subject in November 2005 in an item entitled “Give her a slap!”, Eriksen approvingly quoted Noel Coward as saying: “Some women are like gongs – they need to be struck regularly.” Later that month he wrote that mothers “should never go out to work” and described career women as “unnatural and vile”.

It is unclear whether Eriksen remains the BNP's London organiser. The party has given no indication that he has been sacked.

The day before Eriksen was withdrawn from the candidates’ list, Simon Darby, the BNP’s press officer and deputy leader, had attacked the Evening Standard’s exposure of Eriksen as a “smear”, accusing the journalist Andrew Gilligan of “badgering” the former Conservative councillor and of “taking completely out of context samples from Nick’s former satirical and provocative blog”.

Eriksen was condemned in the House of Commons when Tory MP Charles Walker said he was not “fit to run for public office”.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, standing in for Gordon Brown at Prime Minister’s questions, replied: “I strongly support your comments and I thank you for bringing this matter to the House.”

She added: “The best way to avoid a BNP member being elected to the London Assembly is to make sure that as many people as possible vote for all the other parties.”

Boris Johnson, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, has also attacked the BNP. After the BNP recommended that its supporters list the “Tory clown Johnson” as their second preference in the mayoral election because he was “a lesser evil than the Marxist crank Livingstone”, Johnson said: “I utterly and unreservedly condemn the BNP and have no desire whatsoever to receive a single second-preference vote from a BNP supporter. I hope as many Londoners as possible turn out on May 1 to prevent the election of a BNP candidate.”

Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate, said: “Clearly the BNP have recognised Boris’s talent for causing offence and creating division. This should be a wake-up call for all decent people who could vote in the election to register their vote because the more votes there are for mainstream parties, the less chance there will be to give racists and extremists a seat.”

The BNP needs to get at least 5% in the London-wide election for top-up members of the Assembly to guarantee a seat. If it gets 8% the party is likely to gain two seats. The withdrawal of Eriksen means the failed business Robert Bailey has moved up to second position behind Richard Barnbrook. Bailey and Barnbrook are respectively deputy leader and leader of the BNP’s useless council group in Barking and Dagenham.

Despite the BNP’s current setbacks, it could win up to three seats and that would change the nature of politics in London. It is vital that everyone who opposes the racism of the BNP turns out and makes their voice heard.

Hope not Hate

Give second vote to Johnson, BNP tells supporters

Boris Johnson: 'I have no desire whatsoever to receive
a single second-preference vote from a BNP supporter.'

The British National Party has called on its supporters to give their second-preference votes in the London mayoral election to the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson.

In a statement posted on its website today, the far-right party advised people to award its own mayoral candidate, Richard Barnbrook, their first-choice vote, and "the Tory clown Johnson" their second because he was the lesser of two evils.

It read: "Our suggestion … is that you hold your nose and cast it in favour of the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson. This is not because we think that Johnson would be any good as mayor — he is as politically correct as any of the other candidates and has no real ties to our London — but because he wouldn't be actively bad in the way that [Ken] Livingstone [the Labour candidate] is."

After attacking the Tory party for its behaviour over Europe and its support for "mass immigration", the statement went on: "In this race, the Tory clown Johnson is a lesser evil than the Marxist crank Livingstone, so replacing the latter with the former would, on balance, be an improvement for the majority of Londoners.

"So even if Johnson condemns the BNP (and as a Tory 'wet' he's bound to), a second-choice vote for him gives you the chance to vote BNP as your first preference and still vote to get Livingstone out of office."

Johnson made it clear that wanted no electoral help from the far-right.

"I utterly and unreservedly condemn the BNP and have no desire whatsoever to receive a single second-preference vote from a BNP supporter," he said. "I hope as many Londoners as possible turn out on May 1 to prevent the election of a BNP candidate."

The current mayor, Ken Livingstone, pointed out that the Green party candidate, Siân Berry, had called for her supporters to give their second-preference votes to him.

He added: "That the BNP have called for a second-preference vote to the Tory against me is no surprise. I hate and despise everything the BNP stand for as against every value of London as a great multi-ethnic tolerant and diverse city."

Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate, said: "Clearly the BNP have recognised Boris's talent for causing offence and creating division. This should be a wake-up call for all decent people who could vote in the election to register their vote because the more votes there are for mainstream parties, the less chance there will be to give racists and extremists a seat."

Analysts believe the BNP could make a breakthrough in May's election unless there is a big voter turnout. Last time London went to the polls the far-right party got 4.8% - just short of the 5% needed to get a member on the London assembly.

At the time the UK Independence party, which has since largely imploded, polled 8.8% and it is feared many of its supporters may now transfer their allegiance to the BNP.

The electoral system means the party, which has since picked up several local councillors in London, needs 5% to get one assembly member, around 8% to get two and 11% to get three.

Yesterday Nick Lowles, from the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, said London was in danger of sleepwalking towards a BNP breakthrough, adding it was crucial that voters turned out on May 1 to ensure the party was kept out of mainstream politics.

"Let there be no mistake about it there is a chance that they could get one, two or even three assembly members and that will change the nature of politics in London. It is vital that everyone who opposes the racism of the BNP turns out and makes their voice heard."

The BNP faced a serious setback this week when it was forced to ditch its second-choice candidate for the London assembly, Nick Eriksen, after the former Conservative councillor in Southwark, south London, was sacked for writing a blog which appeared to advocate the abuse of women.

In one posting he wrote: "I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence."

Announcing its decision to remove him from their list yesterday, a statement on the BNP website, added: "It was felt that no matter how much Nick Eriksen's blog comments, written back in 2005, had been distorted and taken out of the context of a blog which reflected our tough stance on all sorts of crime, they could still be perceived as trivialising the issue in a manner that many women in particular could have found extremely offensive."

Guardian

BNP man condemned in Commons over 'rape is a myth' remarks

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman today joined condemnation of a BNP politician who suggested rape was not "a serious crime". She was speaking at Commons question time as it was confirmed that Nicholas Eriksen had been withdrawn from the list of his party's London Assembly candidates.

Tory Charles Walker (Broxbourne) told MPs Mr Eriksen, who had suggested that it was a "myth" to think rape was a serious crime, was "not fit to run for public office".

Ms Harman said all mainstream political parties had to ensure Londoners voted to prevent BNP members being elected to the assembly. Mr Eriksen had sparked fury when he wrote on a far-right blog: "Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible ordeal.

"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched."

Mr Walker called on Ms Harman to condemn Mr Eriksen and added: "Will you not agree with me that this man, this creature is not fit to run for public office?"

Ms Harman said: "I strongly support your comments and I thank you for bringing this matter to the House. It is for all of us, all parties in London to say that we have got to make sure that everybody votes in the London election. The best way to avoid a BNP member being elected to the London Assembly is to make sure that as many people as possible vote for all the other parties."

There has been concern among mainstream parties that the BNP, which scored 4.8% in the 2004 London elections, might this time pass the 5% level which would have given it a chance of an assembly seat under the proportional representation system. Mr Eriksen had been second on the BNP list and might have won a seat if the party's vote share had risen to about 8%.

Earlier a spokeswoman for London Elects, which is overseeing the May 1 election, disclosed: "Nicholas Eriksen has been withdrawn from the BNP's London-wide assembly list."

24dash

There was a further exchange of interest reported in Hansard yesterday:

Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab): When council candidates declare next week, will my right hon. Friend join me in calling on all of them to make it clear that they will stand on a non-racist ticket? It is very important that these elections do not at any stage descend into the gutter, and that we make it clear that we need cohesive communities that can be built together.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Hazel Blears): Absolutely: my hon. Friend is so right! When people come to exercise their democratic vote and choose the kind of administration they want, it should be on the basis of good policy, value for money and the provision of cleaner, greener and safer environments. It should not be on any kind of platform seeking to divide people; rather, it should be on a platform that brings people together.

Hansard (April 1st 2008)

Some politicians look like they're waking up.

The BNP's Nick Eriksen bites the dust

You can always tell when the BNP has shot itself in the foot - it wriggles around for hours in a vain attempt to throw off the current disaster without having to look too bad, then acts all shocked and horrified and claims complete ignorance of the fact that its candidate was running a blog that was much admired by the usual suspects in the party right up until the day it was noticed by the wider world.

The Evening Standard, as we have seen in the article prior to this, has blown the lid on Nick Eriksen as a misogynist shit with appalling ideas on women, rape, beating children and all kinds of other disturbing stuff. Tonight, after several hours of ignoring the problem and hoping it'll go away, the BNP, in the form of its dismal Mayoral candidate, pornmeister Richard Barnbrook, the party has finally had to bite the bullet and throw Eriksen to the wolves.

In a brief interview for BBC London, Barbrook said that Eriksen's views were not those of the BNP and that he had overstepped the line by publishing them. Considering Eriksen's blog ran from April 2005 to September 2007, the BNP sure took its sweet time to condemn him.

In reality of course, the party did no such thing. Simon Darby, the BNP's deputy leader, posted on his blog at 10.03am. In his post (which he titled 'Smear Time') he derided the expose on Eriksen, complaining that posts had been taken out of context from his 'satirical and provocative blog'. Presumably the BNP no longer regards the statements on Eriksen's blog as 'satirical'?

The last word (for the moment) will go to the Green Party's Sian Berry, who said; 'Eriksen's comments are a timely reminder of the true values of the BNP - destructive, hateful, and violent. The disgust that he feels towards women is unmistakeable, and characteristic of his organisation's attitude to so many other people in London'.

Too damn right.

Women are more troubled by bag theft than rape, says senior BNP candidate

A senior BNP leader with a strong chance of winning a seat in the London Assembly next month has written that rape is a "myth" and that "some women are like gongs - they need to be struck regularly."

The Evening Standard has revealed that Nick Eriksen, the BNP's London organiser and the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly, is the author of "Sir John Bull," a notorious far-Right blog which has regularly advocated hatred and abuse against women. The disclosure will be a serious blow to the BNP's hopes of London electoral success.

In August 2005, Mr Eriksen wrote: "I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.

"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched. The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors."

In November 2005, in an item entitled "Give her a slap!," Mr Eriksen approvingly quoted Noel Coward as saying: "Some women are like gongs - they need to be struck regularly." He later claimed that "the vast majority of domestic [assaults] are initiated by the woman."

Mr Eriksen also wrote that mothers "should never go out to work" and described career women as "unnatural and vile... it is a strange kind of woman who would want to invest [her] energies into her job rather than into a man."

Eleven of the 25 Assembly members are elected on a London-wide basis using a form of proportional representation. The BNP is likely to win at least one of these seats, for which it needs around five per cent of the vote, and has strong hopes of winning a second, for which it needs around seven to eight per cent. If the BNP does win two seats, one of them will go to Mr Eriksen and one to London party leader Richard Barnbrook.

Gerry Gable, publisher of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said: "It is horrifying, and an amazing indictment of the BNP, that someone with these views could be elected to the London Assembly. What is his attitude going to be to his women constituents?"

The author of the Sir John Bull blog, which stopped publication last autumn, is not identified on the website itself. But the Standard established that it is Mr Eriksen by posing as a BNP sympathiser and sending a message to the site's contact email address, johnbull@englandmail.com.

Within two days, Mr Eriksen replied, signing his name, giving Mr Barnbrook's contact number and saying: "As for your kind comments about the blog, I may well restart this after the elections - we shall see what happens! All the best, Nick."

Mr Eriksen admitted the blog postings were written by him, but said they were "deliberately provocative" in order to stimulate debate.

"I was trying to make the point that there are two kinds of rape," he said. "There is stranger rape and there is so-called rape by somebody the woman knows. I was raising an important issue in a provocative way to allow people to make up their own minds."

Mr Eriksen insisted that he "did not condone violence in any way," but was "trying to highlight the fact that violence against men is unacceptable."

He said: "It's typical of the media to distort what the BNP say."

Mr Eriksen, a former Tory councillor and ex-civil servant at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who lives in Richmond, says he will not resign. If he and Mr Barnbrook are elected, BNP leader Nick Griffin says the party will be invited on the BBC's Question Time.

Daily Mail