MP attacks BNP governor

The Leader of the House of Commons, Sir George Young, is to ask the Schools Minister to consider whether it is appropriate for BNP councillors to serve as school governors.

The move follows the matter being raised in the Commons by Stoke-on-Trent South MP Rob Flello yesterday. He asked Sir George to make a statement about the "appropriateness" of BNP councillors being governors.

Mr Flello said: "I am looking at a photograph of a British National Party councillor, Steve Batkin, with some individuals who are doing Nazi salutes outside a war memorial. Will the Leader of the House consider making time for a statement about the appropriateness or otherwise of BNP councillors who hold such appalling views and who consort with such individuals serving on governing bodies such as that of Edensor High School in my constituency?"

This is Staffordshire

Stoke-on-Trent BNP councillor in Nazi salute row

Steve Batkin (pictured above on the far-right, so to speak)

A BNP councillor has appeared on an anti-BNP website holding a Union Jack flag – standing next to three men doing a Nazi salute on a War Memorial in Stone. Cllr Steve Batkin, who has served the Bentilee ward since 2003, has said he was attending a funeral and he has not had contact with the men since.

Maurice Cousins is the Deputy Editor of ‘Nothing British’, where the image is currently appearing: “We thought this was disgraceful considering the British National Party dresses itself up in the flag and in the honour of those who have given their lives in this country. This man was elected in 2003, what is this man still doing there?”

Cllr Batkin defended his actions – saying it was down to the other men’s “drunken youth”. “You’ve got a few seconds to think and when someone just puts their hands up in a few seconds and a fascist salute, basically you’re trapped. We’ve all said things in the past, including Nick Griffin himself, where we regret some of the things we’ve said and some of the situations we’ve been in. Nevertheless I do not condone right wing people doing right wing salutes and dressing in a cult. It’s counter-productive and it doesn’t help the BNP one bit. That’s how drunken youth react at times when they’re rebellious, they might do silly things.”

Stoke BNP leader Michael Coleman does not condone Batkin’s actions and doubts that the matter will be taken further within the party. “I’d like to denounce it, it’s not part of the BNPs philosophy. I don’t want to represent those ideas, but it was 8 years ago and it was a different world back then.”

Ex-BNP councillor Alby Walker, who left the BNP to stand as Independent, said that Cllr Batkin is not an exception and this is why he left the BNP: “I shall make it my job now to expose to the public what the true face of the BNP is, what’s behind the scenes rather than the public persona they’re putting on at the moment. The true face of the BNP behind closed doors is quite different to what you will see publicly and that’s coming from the horses mouth. These are some of the reasons I had to move away from the BNP. I did try to change the image but obviously it’s still lurking in the background.”

Staffs Live

Politician lodges complaint over BNP using wife's photograph

The former leader of the British National Party in Stoke-on-Trent has lodged a formal complaint against four party members

Councillor Alby Walker, who quit the BNP in February, made the complaint to Stoke-on-Trent City Council's top legal officer.

Mr Walker alleges that current BNP group leader councillor Michael Coleman and BNP councillors Philip Sandland, Steve Batkin and Anthony Simmonds breached the members' code of conduct. The allegation relates to recent campaigning ahead of elections. It states party activists distributed a newspaper, with a picture of Mr Walker's wife without permission.

Councillor Ellie Walker left the party last month to join her husband as a non-aligned councillor. She said at the time that the BNP leadership had mounted a smear campaign against her husband, who is running against the far-right party's national deputy leader, Simon Darby, for the Stoke-on-Trent Central Parliamentary seat in the General Election.

Mr Walker said: "This complaint arises from the BNP distributing 18,000 newspapers with Ellie's photograph prominently displayed on the front page, promoting BNP policy, even though at the time she was not part of the BNP group. The four BNP councillors were identified as delivering this newspaper by several residents and two serving city councillors."

Mr Coleman told The Sentinel the BNP distributed the newspapers at the end of March, and he was not aware at the time Mrs Walker had left the party.

The Sentinel

Stoke-on-Trent BNP Group Reduced To 7

Stoke-on-Trent BNP councillors have been reduced in numbers to 7 from the initial 9 earlier in the year.

After Alby Walker stepped down as BNP group leader in the city the group were reduced to 8 and at todays full council meeting Councillor Ellie Walker was sitting away from the rest of the BNP group and sat with her husband with the non aligned councillors.

During a vote on the nominations for appointment to school governing bodies which included Councillor Steve Batkin from the BNP being nominated as a governor at Endsor High School Ellie Walker abstained from the vote, effectively voting against the BNP group who all voted in favour of all the nominations.

We have been told that Ellie has moved away from the BNP and is just waiting for the paperwork to be completed by Member Services.

Alby Walker confirmed that Ellie has moved away from the party during his speech on item 14 of the agenda asking the council to arrange a suitable event each year to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Pit n Pots

Is BNP leader quitting now while he's ahead?

The British National Party has been at the forefront of politics in Stoke-on-Trent for the past seven years, since outsider Steve Batkin stunned sceptical observers by coming third in the 2002 mayoral elections.

Since then, while more established political parties have crumbled and lost ground, the BNP has seized upon the slightest sign of weakness in its opponents.

Mr Batkin may have been a lone figure in the council chamber in 2003, but within five years he was joined by eight more members. In the same period, Labour's once total grip on power evaporated, leaving the party with little choice but to go into opposition for the first time in the city council's history. The Conservatives have had to form a tenuous alliance with centre-right independents to muster enough numbers to occupy key political posts.

The recent emergence of the Stoke-on-Trent Independent Group not only cut the Conservative and Independent Alliance to just seven members, but also made the BNP the outright third largest political group in the city, just five seats behind Labour.

When last year's mayoral referendum took place, the BNP backed the campaign to retain the elected mayoral system, leading many political commentators to speculate openly about the possibility of a BNP mayor running the city. In short, the BNP under Alby Walker's leadership had become a major political force. But that all changed on Wednesday evening when Mr Walker sent a tersely-worded email to council officers stating that he had quit as leader.

Of course, he would not be the first senior political figure to stand down for personal reasons. But the email made it clear that he was stepping down before his group had even begun to appoint a successor. In fact, that is not likely to happen until January. Then, when The Sentinel contacted deputy group leader, Councillor Michael Coleman, three hours later, he said he knew nothing of the resignation.

Leadership changes happen, but stable political parties try to plan ahead to smooth the transition and reassure their members and supporters. The BNP is not a localised council group operating in its own tiny bubble of influence. It is part of a large, organised political body with its own national and regional leadership structure. It is unthinkable that anyone in the BNP's hierarchy who knew of Mr Walker's intention would let him make his announcement without carefully managing the situation.

But party leader Nick Griffin certainly seemed to have no knowledge of the crisis developing in the city he likes to call the jewel in the BNP's crown. Speaking from the climate summit in Copenhagen, an obviously flustered Mr Griffin said: "I'm afraid I don't know anything about this. I've no idea what's happening in Stoke-on-Trent."

Clearly party chiefs, like the council group, did not know of Mr Walker's plans until after he had executed them.

When he confirmed his resignation that evening, he not only admitted that he was unlikely to stand for election to retain his seat in May, but also refused to say whether he would remain with the party at all. One source close to Mr Walker has suggested the announcement was timed to prevent someone else leaking the news of his planned resignation to "stab him in the back". But the fact that his own group did not know what he had done, even hours afterwards, implies that the attack he feared was expected to come from within, rather than from rival parties.

Since Wednesday, the group has been displaying a united front once again, and members are bullish about its chances of making yet more gains at the polls. Mr Coleman confidently expects to take 10 more seats in May and a further 15 in 2011. But he may have given an insight into the real mood within the group when he said: "It is going to be a difficult 18 months ahead of us. It's getting harder now, not easier."

He also said that he felt Mr Walker had "done the sensible thing" in resigning now, to let others take on the burden of fighting three Parliamentary and 20 council seats next year, as well as all 45 council seats in 2011.

Up until now, the BNP's successes have been victories against the mainstream parties on the back of mounting public discontent with New Labour, and the Blair and Brown Governments. It would seem that Mr Walker certainly has done the sensible thing – he is quitting while he's ahead, before the progress he has made begins to falter.

The current balance of power within the council means that, in order to continue their meteoric rise, the BNP is soon going to have to vie for votes with the independents – solid community candidates who are not shackled by party dogma and whips or hampered by the conduct of their representatives in Westminster.

Mr Walker was facing re-election in May, and would have been a prime target for his political foes. Defeat would have been a massive blow for his party and a major propaganda coup for his rivals. But his departure ahead of polling day means that, should another party take the seat, they will not be able to claim the trophy of toppling the BNP leader, and their victory cannot be recorded as a defeat for the far-right party.

Mr Coleman may make an even stronger leader for the group; only time will tell. But if he fails to deliver on his morale-boosting promises of sweeping electoral gains over the next two years, then he could find himself at the head of a declining party with no political weapons he can use to fight back at the formidable independents.

The Sentinel

BNP governors bid outvoted after row

The BNP has failed to get two more of its councillors on school governing bodies.

Members of Stoke-on-Trent City Council have now ordered an urgent review of procedures after the far-right party broke unwritten rules banning last-minute governor nominations. The call comes weeks after the NASUWT teaching union threatened the council with court action unless it removed BNP governors from six city schools.

BNP group leader Councillor Alby Walker waited until part-way through this week's full council meeting to nominate Councillor Steve Batkin for a post at Longton High School, in Meir, and Councillor John Burgess for a vacancy at St Augustine's Primary School, also in Meir.

Governor nominations are supposed to be submitted in writing at least a week before the meeting as part of a cross-party agreement. This is to prevent political groups gaining automatic appointments to posts which are not contested. But Labour leader Councillor Mike Barnes thwarted the BNP by announcing his party also had two nominations – for the same posts.

The move sparked a heated debate about the implications of allowing BNP councillors to make decisions affecting the day-to-day running of schools.

Attempting to secure his position, Mr Batkin said: "I attended a Mitchell High School governors' meeting where we were told there are now over 104 languages spoken in Stoke-on-Trent schools. This has caused chaos, cost a vast amount of money and it needs someone with the backbone to tackle it."

But Conservative and Independent Alliance member Councillor Roger Ibbs said: "I think if anyone was doubtful about who to support then Councillor Batkin's intervention really made my mind up. Anyone who brings that up as a reason to be appointed should not be appointed. I have lots of political differences with people in this chamber, but my basic disagreement with you is that you do not believe in equality. I will never vote for the BNP to join any governing body."

The Labour benches also rounded on Mr Batkin. Councillor Joy Garner said: "I would not want a BNP councillor on any of the schools I sit on."

Councillor Mohammed Pervez said: "It's very important, as a council, to consider what message we send out to communities regarding young children to ensure they grow up in an environment of tolerance."

Councillor Mick Bell, of the City Independents, said: "I think councillor Batkin has made an excellent case for not having BNP governors."

Both BNP nominations were heavily defeated at the vote, as only the group's nine members backed them.

Council leader Ross Irving said the dispute showed the need for a review of council procedures to prevent a repeat of the bitter argument. He said: "We are sending out an appalling message both to people who might consider themselves eligible for these posts and to the schools themselves."

He added: "We need to send this to the constitutional review group and get a report back on a better way to proceed with these nominations in future."

The Sentinel

Show up BNP ignorance

Peter Hain’s announcement last week that he was boycotting Question Time in protest at the BBC’s decision to invite British National Party leader Nick Griffin on the show was passionate, hot-headed – and wrong.

“I was horrified when I heard about this, because it makes them appear as if they are another political party sitting on a panel along with democratically-elected parties,” he said.

Firstly – unless Mr Hain has evidence of election fraud, in which case he should hand it over to the relevant authorities – the BNP are a democratically-elected party. It probably hasn’t escaped him that Mr Griffin is now a member of the European Parliament. But he is right on the other count. The BNP are not just another political party. They are a ragtag bunch of yobs, mead-drinking pagan weirdos and boneheads. And yet their vote is increasing all over Britain. And one of the reasons for this is that they are able to play the martyr card.

We’re not part of the establishment, they tell the electorate.

Look – the big parties gang up to make sure we don’t get a fair crack of the whip from the media.

We’re the voice of the little man kept away from the top table.

But any half-decent frontline politician should be able to reduce the BNP to dust in a debate. From the top down – including Mr Griffin – the BNP are economically illiterate. Their manifesto, leaving aside the fact that much of it is odious by most people’s standards – doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny, even just pragmatically.

Let’s be blunt: the BNP are thick. The Question Time panel should be able to make mincemeat out of Mr Griffin, who gets away with it precisely because he never gets tackled on any of the big issues.

Rather than relegate the BNP to the electoral margins, as was intended, the “no platform” policy has had precisely the opposite effect, allowing the party to set its own terms without ever facing the kind of scrutiny other parties do.

What would the BNP do, given the chance? We know they’re not very keen on non-white people. But how would they tackle the black hole in the UK economy? What form of healthcare do they favour? What is their education policy? Where do they stand on regulation of the City? We don’t know, because we’re not supposed to ask.

It is the duty of every mainstream politician to go up against the BNP in debate and expose them. Not just expose them for their extreme views – but as being incapable of running a shoe-shine stall, never mind the most minor community council. Their councillors, when elected, frequently fail to show up to meetings. People such as Stoke councillor Steve Batkin, who attended none of a possible 30 committee meetings in nine months and spoke twice in his first two years as a councillor – once to ask what “abstain” meant.

Are these the sort of people Mr Hain and his fellow Labour ministers are worried about debating with?

Allied to this is the unspoken belief among ministers that the British public cannot be trusted – that as soon as Mr Griffin appears on TV, his poll ratings will soar as viewers up and down the country nod in agreement. Actually, they might be pleasantly surprised. They might find that, when in the full glare of the media, forced to answer questions on policy by opposition politicians, the public may see the BNP for what they are: a bunch of louts who have been getting away with it for far too long.

Wales Online

BNP to look into member's arrest

The British National Party is to review the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a prominent member.

BNP city councillor Steve Batkin, pictured, has been arrested by police investigating a report of domestic violence. Mr Batkin, who is not married, was arrested on Friday night at an undisclosed address in the city and questioned before being released without charge.

Mr Batkin, aged 50, of Galloway Road, Bentilee, represents the Bentilee and Townsend ward on Stoke-on-Trent City Council. He was the first BNP councillor to be elected in the city in 2003, and had previously represented the far-right party in the 2002 mayoral elections, when he finished third. He had served as the party's figurehead in Stoke-on-Trent until 2004.

But he was replaced after making outspoken claims in the media questioning the scale of the Holocaust and predicting that racial tensions in the city would result in a "multi-cultural bloodbath" of violence.

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: "At 10pm on Friday police were called to an address following a report of a domestic incident. As a result of initial investigations, a 50-year-old male was arrested in line with force policy on taking positive action to deal with offences of domestic abuse. After a further investigation that male has been released without charge."

The city council's BNP group leader, councillor Alby Walker, said he was confident Mr Batkin had done nothing wrong. But he said the matter would be looked at by the party leadership. He said: "I think the fact that Steve was released without charge shows there is no foundation to this. But that doesn't mean that the party won't look into it. Steve has given me a full explanation of what happened on Friday and I accept his explanation. I have discussed the matter with our deputy party leader, Simon Darby, who is looking into it, and we will be discussing it with the other group members later in the week."

Stoke-on-Trent City Council declined to the comment on the arrest, saying that it was solely a police matter.

Mr Batkin attended a full council meeting yesterday morning. He sat with other members of his group during a debate on the future size of the authority but following the meeting he was unavailable for comment.

The Sentinel

Populist Politics, the BNP Way

Parties that do not hold office have, it is said, the luxury of opposition. The far left is all too often a case study in this piece of political wisdom. There's been plenty of times I've wondered if much of the far left actually want to recruit millions to its politics - I suspect for many a petty sect and guru, they don't. But for parties that have a little more muscle, electorally speaking, this luxury manifests itself in populism. On the one hand there are the politics of easy solutions to complex problems, and on the other there's being seen to be doing popular things.

This pretty much sums up the political approach of the BNP. Their politics are entirely negative - blame the "Marxists" who run the government and media. Blame the Muslims/blacks/asylum seekers, etc. We know the tiresome drill, and it's unfortunate crap like this can fall on fertile ground in some places. Take Stoke for example. This kind of "politics" is the BNP's stock in trade. Presumably the Potteries would flow with milk and honey if the foreigners depart and take their funny languages, religions and clothes with them.

But there's another aspect to Stoke BNP, and this is the second dimension of populism - of being seen to do popular things. So successful has the BNP been pursuing this that Stoke Central Labour MP, Mark Fisher has publicly stated that he believes them to be good community councillors. What is it that they do?

Take Cllr Steve Batkin, for example. To call him a complete tool in the council chamber would do my screwdriver set a great disservice. But during his first term on the council in Longton North, Batkin built a reputation as a community councillor. Got a lawn needing a mow? Need help with that flatpack cabin bed? Just give your friendly neighbourhood fascist a bell and around he'd come. You could tag-team the MDF as he informed you on the finer points of ornithology and Holocaust revisionism. And if no one required his special services he could be found of an afternoon litter-picking his way around the ward. For this he's earned the almost-affectionate epithet of Bin Bag Batkin.

Credit where credit's due. Old Bin Bag has finally learned to utter a few words in the council chamber, which is more than can be said for his fellow BNP'er, Cllr David Marfleet. Almost two years he's sat there and not uttered a single word. Will he serve a full term without opening his gob?

There is a more damaging aspect to this kind of populism. Ellie and Alby Walker (pictured), who along with Michael Coleman form the "brains" of the local BNP group, are past masters at this sort of activity. One thing the Walkers do without fail is provide a kind of meals on wheels service for some of the old folk around Abbey Hulton and often leave full council to do the rounds. Yes, it's great PR for the BNP. I'm sure their families might appreciate the Walkers' efforts and think about putting a cross in the BNP's box come the next elections.

But hold on a second, shouldn't this be a service provided by the council? If it is failing on meals on wheels, instead of taking on the responsibility themselves wouldn't the Walkers be better serving the voters of the Abbey by making sure this service is available? They obviously do not think so. Not only have they failed to raise the issue in the council chamber, despite plenty of opportunities for doing so, Ellie Walker left one council meeting specifically on elderly provision ... to deliver the meals! And the Walkers have the bare-faced cheek to pretend they're the only ones who care about "our people"!

If the BNP gave a shit they would have addressed the lack of service provision to the Abbey's elderly. But it suits them politically to be seen to be doing something about it themselves. This is not community activism. This is not what being an effective councillor is about. It's pure gesture politics.

A Very Public Sociologist

BNP throws out 'lazy' councillor

One of the seven British National Party councillors on Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been thrown out of the political group.The far-right group got three more seats at last week's local elections, but lost sitting councillor Steve Batkin in Longton North.

Fellow Longton North councillor Mark Leat now appears to have paid the price for Mr Batkin's defeat. He has been removed from the group amid accusations he did not work hard enough. The decision leaves the BNP with six of the 60 seats on the city council.

BNP group leader Albert Walker said: "I am removing the party whip from councillor Mark Leat and he will no longer be part of the BNP group. We consider he is not a team player. He places unreasonable demands on the group and although he has done a very good job as chairman of the council's health scrutiny commission, his performance in other areas has been lacking, particularly in his ward where his work fell on to former BNP councillor Steve Batkin.

"He failed to help Steve Batkin in his election campaign, which contributed to Steve losing his seat in Longton North. We hold no malice towards Mark. We feel this will send out a clear message that only serious people who are prepared to work hard at their positions as ward councillors will be considered to be part of the BNP group."

Mr Leat, who was elected in 2004, rejected the accusations. He said: "I'm in a state of shock. I feel like I've been stabbed in the back." He added: "If you speak to people in my ward they will tell you I have done a considerable amount. I got fencing round the old people's bungalows on Kendrick Street - they were delighted. I have got people council houses and got money for the bowling club on Anchor Road and Longton Rugby Club.

"I have been doing a lot of things, and I think this is just a sour grapes. In the run-up to the elections, Steve Batkin was dragged around other wards to help out there, and Longton was neglected. I went round knocking on doors asking people to vote for him."

It is understood Mr Leat is keen to become a Conservative councillor in the authority's Conservative and Independent Alliance, but that will have to be approved by Tory central office.

The Sentinel