Stoke BNP Member Claims His Party Is Finished

I recently asked a senior figure in Stoke BNP if he thought his party was finished for good in our city. He looked me straight in the eye and replied: “I think we are Tone yes”.

He went on to explain that his party had self destructed and imploded in the past two years and he laid the blame firmly and squarely at the doorstep of BNP Leader Nick Griffin.

The story did not get better for the far right party as this activist said that the recent election campaign received no party funding what so ever.

I was told that the BNP would never come back from this low point and that all the fight had gone out of the membership. The party insider revealed that they had really struggled to attract any candidate of quality.

It had cost some candidates in the region of £750 to fund and fight the campaign.

"We just could not compete with the Labour Party and they just smashed us!

"They were really organised this time especially in the centre of the city – colour leaflets and telephone campaigning, they knocked the doors en masse and they got their voters out on polling day.

"I don’t know where the BNP go from here, there is no enthusiasm, and we haven’t met since election night.

"Activists aren’t to blame that’s for sure, we have seen a drop in members, some activist have gone off to join other nationalist parties. It’s all down to Nick Griffin.”

This dejected BNP member told of his anger at the way Griffin his running the party. It appears that if you question the BNP leadership you get an black mark against your name and before you know it you are out of the party.

Griffin is holding on the all the available funds and party activists are left high and dry and are having to fund party expenses themselves. Many BNP members believe that Griffin his hanging onto the purse strings to fund his, and Andrew Brons’s next European Election campaign.

The Stoke BNP member believes that if Griffin is successful in getting re-elected to the European Parliament then, and only then will he relinquish the chairmanship of the party.

The insider said:

"It’s all down to money with Griffin Tone, He has his entourage to pay for and we believe he employs his wife and his daughter out of his European expenses.

"He is doing all right and we are struggling to fight a campaign against the might of the Labour Party machine.

"I just want to serve as I always have, but everything you do is futile without any party funding to help get leaflets delivered.

"I just wonder where all the money has gone, but it’s no good questioning anything either, only the chosen few know the true picture.

"In four years time we will have a general election to fight alongside the local elections. With people getting fed up and moving on you wonder if we will be able to fight either election.

"The morale is at rock bottom in the party. People are asking if there is any point meeting and if there is anything that we as a group can do anyway.

"This city has four years of Labour to contend with and I’m not sure if the BNP has enough to scrutinise from outside the chamber".

BNP Leader Nick Griffin claimed nearly £300,000 for his first year as a MEP. This has led to accusations about him jumping aboard the gravy train that he and his party were so outspoken about.

He is yet to answer just how much of his income he has donated to the British National Party.

It has been a spectacular fall from grace both in this city and nationally for the BNP. At the height of their popularity in 2008 they had 55 councillors nationwide and 9 in here in Stoke-on-Trent.

Now in 2011 they have just 12 councillors across the country and here in this city they have been wiped out of the chamber. The far right party defended 12 council seats across the country but held on to just 2.

With things as bad as the senior Stoke BNP member paints it, you really do wonder if this is the end for the BNP.

Nationalist parties seem to have been rejected unilaterally by the electorate locally and across the country.

In 2010 the England First Party fielded candidates against the BNP in Stoke. In 2011 they had an agreement not to stand against each other. Out of 16 far right candidates fighting the City Council elections, none were successful.

Of 74,321 votes cast in the Stoke-on-Trent local elections, just 3,690 went to ‘nationalist’ candidates.

Politics is often like music and fashion trends, something is fashionable and popular only to fade away and then without warning it is back again. The same could be said about the politics of the far right.

Opponents of the far right, organisations like Searchlight, Unite Against Fascism, Hope Not Hate and NorSCARF will not drop their guard.

They know better than most that just because the BNP, England First Party, EDL and the English Democrats have been forced into being dormant, it does not mean that they have gone away altogether.

The problem for far right parties and in particular the BNP, is when their own supporters believe that they are finished it is very difficult for their party leaders to convince them otherwise.

Thanks to Tony Walley of Pits n Pots (click for website)

Husband of BNP parliamentary candidate quits 'to protect party'

THE husband of a BNP Parliamentary candidate has quit the party following his recent arrest over an alleged drugs offence.

Clifford Baddeley was arrested last month on suspicion of possessing cannabis. The arrest led to police searching the house he shares with his wife Melanie, who is the far-right party's Parliamentary candidate in the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency.

Mr Baddeley, who has not been charged with any offences, remains on police bail while officers complete their investigation. The unemployed 49-year-old, of Holehouse Road, Abbey Hulton, has admitted to using cannabis in the past to relieve the pain of arthritis. However, he says he has since stopped using the drug.

BNP figures say Mr Baddeley left the party to avoid causing further embarrassment in the run-up to the May 6 polls. His departure comes after BNP chairman Nick Griffin was forced to defend Mr Baddeley's conduct at the party's election manifesto launch in Stoke on Friday.

Mr Griffin had unveiled a range of tough new crime policies, including the death penalty for drug dealers, in front of the media. But he was later forced to admit he would not be taking any disciplinary action against Mr Baddeley on the grounds that he had been using cannabis medicinally.

Mr Baddeley told The Sentinel last week that he was ashamed of the embarrassment his arrest had caused for his wife and the party. He was unavailable for comment last night on his decision to step down.

Mrs Baddeley said she accepted her husband's resignation from the party and wanted to focus on her campaign. She said: "Following the manifesto launch on Friday, when questions were raised about Clifford, he has decided to resign from the party. He stepped down, because he was aware of the embarrassment his situation was causing for the party."

Stoke-on-Trent City Council BNP group leader Councillor Michael Coleman, who is standing for election in the Stoke-on-Trent South constituency, said he felt Mr Baddeley had made the right decision. And he hinted that his departure may be temporary if the ongoing police inquiry finds no evidence of any wrongdoing.

He said: "It is true that Mr Baddeley has resigned in light of everything that has happened. He is doing this to protect the party and our reputation, but he wasn't pushed; it was his choice to leave. I'm sure that when this has all blown over, he will come back to us."

He added: "His medical condition is absolutely awful and we are taking a lenient approach because of that."

This is Staffordshire

BNP candidate's husband in drugs arrest

The husband of a BNP Parliamentary candidate is on police bail after being arrested over an alleged drugs offence, The Sentinel can reveal

Unemployed Clifford Baddeley, aged 49, of Holehouse Road, Abbey Hulton, who is a BNP member, was arrested last month on suspicion of possessing cannabis. Days later, police also searched the semi-detached house he shares with his wife Melanie. She is a BNP city councillor who is standing as the party's Parliamentary candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency.

Mr Baddeley has not been charged with any offences, but remains on police bail while officers complete their investigation.

His wife said yesterday that she was aware of her husband's arrest, but had not told party chiefs about the situation. The Abbey Green ward member said: "I haven't told the party, because it's nothing to do with me; it's his problem, not mine. I was very upset and annoyed with him when I found out about his arrest, and I still am because I wasn't aware what was happening at the time. He is on police bail at the moment and the police did come and search my house, but didn't find anything."

She added: "My husband did smoke cannabis for medical reasons, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm carrying on as normal with my election campaign."

Mr Baddeley admitted that he used to smoke the drug to relieve the pain of chronic arthritis. He said: "I know that the BNP disapproves of drug use, but I'm more worried about my wife, who is very anti-drugs. She works tirelessly for this community, and it's embarrassing for her that I'm in this situation. I've stopped using cannabis, and I'm back on medication, although it doesn't work as well."

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's BNP group leader, Councillor Michael Coleman, was shocked to learn of Mr Baddeley's arrest. But he said the party would still be backing Mrs Baddeley in the run-up to the General Election.

After being contacted by The Sentinel yesterday, he said: "It is shocking and disappointing. Mr Baddeley is a party member. I know he has a serious medical problem and is in pain, and that's why he used cannabis. But I don't approve, and the party doesn't approve of people using drugs in that way. We condemn these drugs in our communities and we have to condemn this. However, Melanie didn't know about it and we feel it doesn't affect her. It will be damaging for us to some degree, but we like Melanie and will be backing her."

Mrs Baddeley was unveiled as the BNP's Parliamentary candidate in Stoke-on-Trent North in January, when party leader Nick Griffin travelled to the city to unveil his election manifesto in Meir.

Staffordshire Police declined to comment on the investigation.

This is Staffordshire

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.

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