EU hands out holidays paid for by taxpayer

Tens of thousands of political activists, including hundreds from the BNP, have been given free or subsidised holidays by British and European taxpayers.

Even as it grapples with the financial crisis, the European Union is paying almost £25 million this year to subsidise the trips, arranged through MEPs.

The BNP, which has two Euro-MPs, has made heavy use of the scheme to thank some of its most prominent members at taxpayers’ expense. One BNP official boasted that it was “a good way of rewarding our activists” that “didn’t cost the party a penny”. The trips are ostensibly “study visits” to the European Parliament buildings in Brussels or Strasbourg, but the holidaymakers need spend only a fraction of their time at the parliament to claim the full subsidy, which can be collected in cash without the need for receipts.

One subsidised trip to Strasbourg last week, promoted by the Labour MEP Peter Skinner, lasted six days, with only a few hours spent at the parliament. The rest of the visit, according to a programme seen by The Sunday Telegraph, included a river cruise, a tour of the cathedral, a visit to the city’s Christmas market, champagne tasting, a battlefield tour in Ypres and sightseeing in Reims. Like most MEPs, Mr Skinner did not join the party, but hosted a free dinner for the participants.

Just under 30 people went on the tour, according to Mr Skinner’s office, staying in £100-a-night hotels in Ypres, Reims and the German spa town of Baden-Baden, near Strasbourg.

“After a buffet breakfast in the sunny Great Room, take your coffee on to the terrace to enjoy views of the picturesque Black Forest,” the Baden-Baden hotel’s website says. "Stroll beside the meandering River Oos and admire the Belle-Epoque mansions on Lichtentaler Allee. Play for high stakes at the glamorous Spielbank casino, and unwind in the soothing waters of Caracalla Spa.”

The cost of the six-day trip, including some meals, all accommodation, tours, coach and ferry, was £272. If booked directly, the hotels alone would have cost about £500 at this time of year.

One of those who went on the trip, Juan Leahy, who works for Mr Skinner, declined to comment when asked if it was mostly a “holiday”.

A spokesman for the European Parliamentary Labour Party said: “We believe the public should have the opportunity to see their elected officials at work, and we do not want this opportunity restricted to the rich who can afford travel.”

Stephen Booth, of the reform group Open Europe, said: “Spending taxpayers’ money on what are effectively subsidised holidays can only further erode public trust in the EU institutions. The European Parliament seems to exist in a parallel universe, completely ignorant of economic realities.”

Politicians of all parties help to arrange the trips. Hornchurch and Upminster Conservative Association advertised a break to Brussels, including return travel by Eurostar and a night in a city centre hotel, for £80.

“We have almost a whole day to sight-see, wander around the Christmas market and pick up inspiration for gifts,” said the association’s website.

Bill Newton-Dunn, the Liberal Democrat MEP, promoted a three-day weekend break in Brussels this month for £205, advertising it on his website as a “Christmas shopping” trip. The visit to the European Parliament lasted two hours on the Monday morning, just before the guests left for home.

The BNP has made extensive use of the subsidies to reward donors to its Trafalgar Club, who last year were hosted on a three-day visit to Bruges at EU expense by Nick Griffin, the party’s leader and an MEP. Ninety-two Trafalgar Club and life members took part.

Mr Griffin said: “Everyone really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and socialise with like-minded people who care about our country.”

Other BNP outings include trips to the First World War battlefields and Waterloo. Pictures on the website of Eddy Butler, a BNP staff member, show the party enjoying their “second breakfast of the day” at a Brussels café. In the evening, the group enjoyed a taxpayer-subsidised dinner, at what another participant, Chris Beverley, called “the wonderfully atmospheric Bivouac de l’Empereur restaurant”.

“Everyone knew they could let their hair down and relax, safe in the knowledge that they were among good nationalists, men and women of honour,” he added.

One BNP trip, in March last year, cost taxpayers €10,791 (£9,775) for 44 participants, an average of £220 a head. It was free for those who took part, according to the organiser, Mr Butler, and even made the BNP a profit.

“The subsidy is for a set amount,” said Mr Butler. “There is no provision to pay back what you don’t use. The organiser of the trip can use any residue for whatever he sees fit: this is quite legitimate.”

Mr Butler said he had donated the profits to the BNP.

In a report last month, the Court of Auditors, Europe’s spending watchdog, criticised this aspect of the scheme, warning that “the procedures in place do not require groups to provide evidence of travel costs, resulting in a risk of overpayment as most groups use cheaper collective transport”.

The subsidy for the journey from London to Brussels amounts to £85 a head, but Eurostar offers a return ticket for £69, and travelling in a privately hired coach can cost as little as £25. From Edinburgh to Brussels the travel subsidy would be £225, but a return flight with Ryanair costs as little as £49. The meal subsidy is set at £30 a person, but since no receipts are required visitors can buy cheaper meals and pocket the difference.

According to the Court of Auditors, 78 per cent of the payments to trip organisers last year were made in cash. This “limited the possibility of applying internal control procedures”, the watchdog warned.

Mr Butler defended the visits, saying: “Everyone had fun and it didn’t cost the party a penny. The trips are a good way of rewarding our activists for their hard work and dedication. Should we feel guilty for the Euro taxpayer? Certainly not.”

Each of the 736 MEPs is allowed to sponsor up to 110 visitors a year, although not all use their full quota. The visitors must travel in groups of at least 10. The trips are promoted to supporters on email lists and websites. Some are advertised on the MEPs’ websites and are not confined to sympathisers, although in practice most of the holidaymakers are political activists.

The European Parliament declined to give the number of British participants in the trips, but figures for the last available year, 2007, show that British visitors claimed €938,000 (£600,000) in subsidies.

The cost of the schemes for all 27 EU nations this year is €29.7 million (£24.9 million), a 40 per cent rise since 2007. As Britain’s share of the EU budget this year is 12 per cent, taxpayers are contributing £3 million to the programme.

A spokesman for the European Parliament said: “It is essential to the exercise of democratic rights within the European Union for members of the public to be granted access to the parliament’s proceedings and premises.”

The parliament said that better controls on the payments would be too “complex and time-consuming”.

Telegraph

Dwindling friends

As over 150 people crammed into a hall in Leicestershire to to tentatively make the first moves to setting up a rival party, Nick Griffin and fewer than 50 friends celebrated the BNP's annual fundraising dinner.

The worst turnout since the Trafalgar Club was launched reflects the dwindling support Griffin has in the party. While several hundred were entitled to attend only a handful bothered to turn up.

At least they could all get in the photo.

Hope not hate

Watchdog begins BNP accounts probe

The Electoral Commission has launched an investigation into the accounting records of the British National Party, it was announced today

The commission, which is the independent party finance watchdog, said it had began the probe into the party's 2008 statement of accounts. This follows concerns raised about its "adequacy" by the independent auditor's report that accompanied it. But the fact that an investigation had been launched did not mean there should be assumptions made over any alleged breaches, the commission stressed.

In January this year the commission began a review following the concerns raised, and this has now developed into the investigation announced today. It follows comments by the registered auditors, Silver & Co, that the financial statements submitted did not "give a true and fair view of the state of the party's affairs at December 31, 2008".

The auditors went on: "In our opinion it cannot be said that the accounts comply with the requirements of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, as adequate records have not been made available."

A statement released by the commission said: "In January 2010 the Electoral Commission, the independent party finance watchdog, began a case review following concerns raised in the independent auditor's opinion about the adequacy of the 2008 statement of accounts of the British National Party. The case has now become an investigation.

"However, it is important to note - particularly during an election period - that no conclusion has been reached and therefore no assumption should be made as to whether a breach of the rules has occurred."

The Independent

New leak confirms BNP not in control of its own fate

A leaked spreadsheet listing transactions on the British National Party’s bank account has proved what Searchlight has said all along: that a militant anti-abortion campaigner in Northern Ireland virtually owns the BNP

Searchlight has analysed the spreadsheet, which was posted on the internet anonymously last month, and considers it almost certainly genuine. It covers a period from April 2007 to 26 November 2009 and shows payments to a large number of BNP officers, employees and suppliers. The first year’s transactions match those on an earlier leaked document.

During the first 11 months of 2009, the spreadsheet shows payments totalling £334,261.51 from the BNP’s Bank of Scotland account to Jim Dowson’s company Adlorries.com Ltd. Details of the services provided are not given, but the company runs the Belfast call centre, which is the BNP’s main base for fundraising and membership administration.

The BNP’s total income in 2008, the latest year for which accounts are available, was just under £1 million, so even allowing for some increase during a European election campaign year, the sums going to Adlorries.com still represent a sizable proportion of the party’s budget. The BNP also paid £2,000 to Albion Logistical Solutions Ltd, £19,199 to UKPT Trust and £7,439 to the Pro Life Society. That adds up to £362,900 paid to Dowson’s companies in the first 11 months of 2009.

Dowson, who has several convictions and links to the loyalist murderer Michael Stone, first got involved with the BNP at the end of 2007 and transformed its fundraising capability. He also provided management training courses for BNP officers in spring 2008 at a villa he owns near Valencia in Spain. During 2008 his Midas Consultancy business received £15,712 from the party and £40,365 was paid to UKPT Trust for his fundraising services.

Adlorries.com hires the staff for the BNP’s Belfast bunker through employment agencies. After the leak of the BNP’s membership list last year, it emerged that no security measures were in place, despite the party’s promises after an earlier membership list leak in 2008, that all personal data would be held safely.

The company also owns the advertising lorry that the BNP calls its “truth truck”, contrary to statements in several fundraising appeals that the lorry was “bought and paid for”. Further evidence of this emerged from the BNP’s return of expenditure on its European election campaign, lodged at the Electoral Commission last month, which shows £15,000 paid to Adlorries.com for “advertising and publicity material”, presumably hire of what anti-fascists call the lie lorry.

Strangely, that £15,000, which the return says was paid on 30 April 2009, does not appear on the spreadsheet. Nor does the £148,500 supposedly paid to Albion Logistical Solutions Ltd on 23 April for arranging the printing of the BNP’s main European election leaflets.

It may be that these payments came out of a different BNP bank account. The party runs several accounts for specific purposes, such as for the fundraising Trafalgar Club, its Excalibur merchandising operation and “Freedom Promotions”. The party also holds one or more accounts in the name of British Heritage, into which many donations are paid, in particular those from supporters whom the party has persuaded to make regular donations by standing order, and donations made by credit or debit card.

Although the spreadsheet shows many transfers into the Bank of Scotland account from British Heritage and Freedom Promotions, it is possible that some payments to suppliers were made directly from those accounts.

Another possibility is that Adlorries.com paid for much of the BNP’s election literature and other costs, and the large sums paid to Dowson’s company include repayments of that “loan”. All bills during an election campaign have to be paid within 42 days of polling day, and in any case the commercial printers would undoubtedly have wanted payment before delivering the leaflets. If the BNP, which appears to have no overdraft facility or commercial loans, had not raised enough money to pay its bills, perhaps Dowson’s company helped out. Certainly £334,262, all paid between mid April and mid September 2009, would be a lot for running a call centre and the occasional hire of an A-frame lorry.

Many BNP members, including some on the party’s national advisory council, are unhappy at the extent of Dowson’s hold over the party. Perhaps to allay their concerns, or even some of his own, Nick Griffin, the party leader, sent his daughter Jennifer Matthys to Belfast to help run operations there.

Matthys, 23, joined Dowson as a director of Adlorries.com on 17 July 2009, although Dowson retains ownership of the company. On appointment Matthys stated her occupation to be “data processor”. Dowson’s sister-in-law Marion Thomas, wife of Dowson’s business partner Alex Thomas, became a director on the same day but left the company on 16 September. She is described as a “bookeeper” [sic].

Another way in which Dowson was able to strengthen his influence on the BNP was through the appointment of John Thompson to run the party’s “treasury department”. Thompson, described as a “professional chartered accountant” has long looked after the finances for Dowson’s various business and campaigning interests.

The leak of the spreadsheet may have cast suspicion on Thompson. Only a handful of trusted people apart from Thompson and any staff he employs could have had access to the document, probably Griffin himself, the party’s deputy leader Simon Darby and Philip Reddall, its treasurer.

The Excel spreadsheet appears originally to have been created by Kenny Smith, a former BNP administration officer who was one of the leaders of the rebellion in the winter of 2007/08. He was expelled from the party in December 2007 but his spreadsheet must have remained in use by other officers.

If the leak came out of Thompson’s office, that might explain why Darby is once again involved in running the party’s finances. Darby took over from Jenny Noble as BNP’s treasurer in spring 2009 but stepped down in October in favour of Reddall. Yet on 13 January 2010 he wrote, decrying the loss of communications at his home near Welshpool, “So here I find myself trying to run an election campaign, help manage the finances and be the press officer of a major political party without either a telephone line, broadband or even a dial-up connection”.

Why would Darby, who has no accounting qualification, be helping to manage the finances when the party has a “professional chartered accountant” to do the job?

The embarrassment over the leaked list comes at a time when the BNP is still under the spotlight of the Electoral Commission after it submitted accounts for 2008 which Griffin admitted were “inadequate”. The party’s inability to supply adequate records to its auditors meant that the accounts did not comply with the requirements of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA).

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission told Searchlight that the BNP’s auditors had provided the further information that the Commission had requested and the initial assessment is that there are “reasonable grounds to believe a breach of the PPERA may have occurred”. The Commission is now reviewing the information and this may lead to an “official investigation”.

Meanwhile Griffin continues frantically to try to persuade his members to upgrade to gold or life membership of the party. In his latest electronic newsletter, Griffin claims that the legal process undertaken by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to ensure the BNP complies with anti-discrimination legislation is in fact “criminal actions … designed to scupper our General Election plan” by starving the party of membership fees. The party agreed in court to put recruitment on hold pending adoption of a new constitution, which Griffin appears confident his members will agree at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 14 February.

However Griffin has now decided there is more to the supposed conspiracy against the BNP. “Recent developments have revealed a far more sinister long-term plan”, he writes. According to Griffin, the “old-gang Lib-Lab-Con” parties want to introduce proportional representation and state funding of political parties but to exclude the BNP. The recruitment freeze is designed to damage the BNP’s general election effort, limit the number of constitu-encies the party can contest and thereby ensure it receives a low percentage of the national vote. Then PR and state funding of parties would be introduced, but the BNP would receive nothing because of its low vote.

Seriously, that is the imaginative scenario Griffin describes, before referring to “low-life vermin [one of Griffin’s favourite words] that are trying to sabotage our party”, invoking “the heroes of the Somme, D-Day and the Falklands” and urging: “If we cannot welcome new members, then existing members MUST upgrade to fill the gap, otherwise their evil plan might succeed!”

The fact is that the membership freeze cannot have much effect on the BNP’s income. In 2008 the party took in membership fees amounting to £166,006. Much of this would be renewals, which are still allowed. New membership fees during the three to four month membership freeze would hardly top £30,000 and may be much less. The party could easily save that sum by shedding one or two of its large number of staff.

But when has the BNP ever allowed the truth to get in the way of a good fundraising pitch?. As Darby said when confronted with the evidence that the party had only spent £282,843 on its European election campaign rather than the over £500,000 it had claimed, the party needs to exaggerate “there’s a bit of hyperbole with politics”.

Searchlight

Of turning worms and unusual honesty from the anti-Griffin far-right

It's sometimes worrying to observe the amount of times Nick Griffin can crap on the members of the BNP and continue to get away with it, particularly where money is concerned. It seems that, as far as the membership is concerned, he is golden - as in King Midas - and money disappearing into the ether (such as the Trafalgar Club dosh) doesn't seem to bother any of them, their devotion is so complete.

Even the never-ending late submission of the party's accounts to the Electoral Commission and the consequent fines seem to be ignored by the complacent, gullible or just plain stupid BNP member in the street. In fact, BNP members never seem to worry about having money stolen from them by clearly fraudulent behaviour - witness the 'Truth Truck' scam, the Boudica 'battle bus' scam (almost identical to the Truth Truck fraud) or any number of other schemes that appear to be designed solely to keep Porky Griffin in the manner in which he is determined to become accustomed, which makes one worry about the mental health of BNP members in general. Though not for long.

One issue that does seem to be driving a lot of BNP members bonkers at the moment is that of the opening up of the party to non-whites - though in many cases they will deny it for fear of being labeled racist (too late - being a member of an openly racist party has already proven that much). Instead, they will blame their anger on any number of other problems within the BNP - financial shenanigans usually, though the fact that Nick Griffin runs the party as a support group for himself, his family and his friends occasionally gets an airing too.

One such person is very close to us here at Lancaster Unity. No, not in that way - just because we have the joy of having him living here in Lancaster. Chris Hill, for it is he, is a former star of the BNP, having stood for the party in local elections on no less than five occasions (and won on no occasion). He has, up until now, been a Griffin-loyalist, with a slight hiccup during the Sadie Graham debacle, where he joined the rebellion, was told off by Clive Jefferson and promptly returned to the fold, chastened and ready to do whatever was needed to get Nick Griffin into 10 Downing Street. A couple of weeks later, he recanted (again) and rejoined the rebels, though he remained a member of the party. Clearly not a man to be trusted.

One of his great ideas was to emulate Lancaster Unity and start up his own Lancaster BNP blog. It was a complete washout, as witnessed by the fact that his average readership is currently 3.9 per day, one of whom is me and one (I'd hope) is Hill himself, leaving less than two visitors per day from the real world. Funny but tragic, really.

Maybe it was the realisation that he had failed at everything BNP-related that forced the worm to finally (and publicly) turn. The Lancaster BNP site has been closed and all posts have been shifted to a new site with a very conspicuous lack of 'BNP' in the title. Hill explains himself thus:

'After much soul searching, the author of this blog regrets that he can no longer support the BNP.

This withdrawal of support for the British National Party is in no way connected with the current proposed constitutional change, which will allow non-white members into the party. It is in fact a result (at least in part) of the long-standing and ongoing financial skulduggery of the leadership.

Here is what the party's official accounts auditors said of the most recent set of accounts the party submitted to the electoral commission: (Accounts which were late again for the third year running, costing the party yet another £1000 fine)

"Accordingly in our opinion the financial statements do not:

1.Give a true and fair view of the state of the part's affairs at 31st December 2008.
2.Give a true and fair view of the results for the year the ended.

In our opinion the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out on pages 18 and 19.

In our opinion it cannot be said the accounts comply with the requirements of the political parties, Election and referendums Act 2000, as adequate record have not been made available."

The full accounts are available from the Electoral Commission here: (Auditors statement is on Pages 11 & 12)

This, along with the totality dictatorial nature of the current leadership, were the causes of this withdrawal of support for the party in its current state.'

If, as Hill states, the removal of his support is 'in no way connected with the current proposed constitutional change, which will allow non-white members into the party', why make the change now? The party has always been a dictatorship and its accounts have always been a disaster. If his statement had any truth to it, Hill would have resigned years ago. Like many others, he is obviously leaving the party for one reason and one reason only - because it will soon be forced to take in non-white members.

Hill's farewell sideswipes at Griffin's dictatorial control of the party and the financial skullduggery are views shared by many of his compatriots on the far-right, though they seem capable of being a tad more brutal than Hill. Here's a quote from a reader of the acerbic GriffinWatch blog:

'Gri££in's judgement has always been incredibly poor, as a party leader he has made one to many cocks ups, 'fundamentally errors in his analysis,' 'childish stunts,' 'ridiculous statements,' 'nonsense written in begging letters,' 'gross hypocrisy,' 'putting people in jobs that they were not up to or were completely incompetent,' 'associating with convicted criminal scum,' 'treacherous u turns,' 'misappropriation of party funds' the list of errors is endless.'

But as they tell us, Hell hath no fury etc. Sharon Ebanks, former leading light of the now more or less moribund Birmingham BNP, has turned out to be one of Nick Griffin's most vociferous opponents after the party dumped on her personally, refuses to beat around the bush. Just a couple of days ago, she came out with this little masterpiece of invective over at the NWN forum:

'Griffins entire management of the BNP is a disgrace. His ego and what he wants goes before all else. We recognise that Griffin cannot be removed, and for me personally that means nationalism as a political force is fucked. He concentrates purely on Muslims and immigration without offering any solutions which makes him look a laughing stock amongst the so called political elite. He won't even form a shadow cabinet out of fear someone might upstage him or prove they have more knowledge on a given subject than he has.

The BNP will not be taken seriously because it does not take itself seriously. Its loaded with people on the payroll and non of them are prepared to sacrifice. £700,000 wage bill for pities sake, where is the sacrifice and the £700,000 spent on elections?

He's a greedy, debauched, self centred, lying, two faced wanker whose real power lies in preying on the uneducated, the working class, and the poor. Griffin isn't there to help them, he's there to help himself, just as he's always done.'

And I defy anyone to put it better than that!

Owner of Chase Hotel, Ross, expresses 'horror' over BNP meeting

The owner of a Ross-on-Wye hotel has said he will take measures to stop the British National Party (BNP) staying at the venue in the future.

Angry scenes greeted a fund-raising dinner that saw senior BNP figures, including leader Nick Griffin, stay at the Chase Hotel. Their presence led to nearly 100 protesters venting their anger outside the premises. But Alan Porter, a member of the family that owns the Chase, has told the Hereford Times of his horror when he discovered the booking.

“This event was booked by a private individual,” said Mr Porter. “Nobody had any suspicions until 48 hours before. It cannot happen again and we are taking measures to prevent this.”

But with the dinner booked, the hotel’s legal advice was to honour the arrangement because there was a contract, he said. “My reaction was of horror and shock. The policies of the BNP are abhorrent to me, my family and, to my knowledge, all members of the team.”

Mr Porter, who lives in Ross, said there had been no adverse reaction or cancellations since the event, which saw the hotel hiring its own security.

Mr Griffin’s arrival in Herefordshire came two days after his controversial appearance on Question Time.

Hereford Times

We'll set dogs on you: BNP thugs

Two anti-BNP protesters were told they would have their throats ripped out by Rottweilers if they continued to disrupt a fundraising dinner in Ross-on-Wye.

Mother-of-five Antoinette Beizsley, 47, said she was also "pushed hard" by BNP-hired thugs at the town's Chase Hotel when she and members of her family breached a police line to enter the hotel's grounds, before being verbally threatened. Antoinette's aunt Sue Fellows, also received the threat. Sue, who is a youth worker at Cinderford's CANDI drop-in centre, said: "They told us if they saw us again they'd open the back of their van and set their Rottweillers on us. They said the dogs would rip our throats out."

One protester, a 19-year-old from Worcester, was given a fixed penalty notice by police for a minor public order offence.

Up to 100 anti-fascist demonstrators – many from Ross-on-Wye and the Forest of Dean – protested as guests of the BNP's Trafalgar Club arrived for a dinner fundraiser for the extreme right-wing party on Saturday evening. One vehicle was pelted with eggs.

Antoinette, who now lives in Wiltshire, said: "I used to be politically active against fascists a long time ago and Ross is my hometown, so I felt incensed when I discovered BNP members were there. I have always been against bullies, and the BNP are the worst kind. With their racist and discriminatory beliefs, I don't think they should be legal. I was proud to be there demonstrating against neo-Nazis with six members of my family. I was shocked at the behaviour of the security officers."

Her son Adam is now organising an online campaign on Facebook urging businesses and travel websites to boycott the hotel for hosting the annual dinner.

Sue Fellows said: "I live only a few hundred yards from the Chase Hotel and I've used it in the past. It's shameful that the hotel took the booking, and didn't even inform its staff or other guests until the last minute. My grandfather fought against the Nazis and Hitler in the Second World War, and now we have fascists on our doorstep. We had to make a stand against them and their hateful beliefs. Britain has always been a multi-racial society and I see nothing wrong with that."

On Sunday morning BNP leader Nick Griffin was spotted with his entourage taking a pleasure cruise along the Wye at Symonds Yat.

A spokesman for West Mercia police said: "The protest went ahead peacefully and there was no need for any proactive police intervention. Disruption to local residents and visitors was kept to a minimum."

While a recently leaked BNP members' list showed the party has just six members within the Forest of Dean constituency (down from nine in 2007), the Hereford constituency, which includes Ross, has its own branch and membership has risen from 15 to 25 within two years. The Hereford branch was set up by a leading BNP member and convicted terrorist Dr Lambertus Nieuwhof, whose company hosts a number of party websites.

Chase Hotel general manager Colin Parcell was unavailable for comment.

This is Gloucestershire

The BNP and UKIP expenses scandals

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Roddy Newman. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

"Punish the pigs" screamed the BNP's expenses scandal European election leaflets, but those leaflets did not point out that Nick Griffin himself is extremely corrupt...

"The party's treasurer, Michael Newland, resigned in disgust after Griffin used party funds to add an extension to his house. West Midlands fascists who complained that calling in interior designers was not the most effective way to create a new fatherland were purged." ("Fist in the kid glove", "The Observer", July 1, 2001)

"The row first broke out in June as Newland received details of Griffin's recent expenditure. Unbeknown to him Griffin had been freely helping himself to the Trafalgar Club fund, the party's slush fund that had replaced the [original BNP leader John] Tyndall-controlled Welling Club. [The Trafalgar Club is bankrolled by the BNP's wealthier members, who currently pay £15 a month into it, as a recent Kirklees Unity / Lancaster Unity article, "Hate comes to Herefordshire" (October 23) revealed]. While Griffin was later to explain this was in lieu of party expenses, Newland had not been consulted. As much as £8,000 was taken from this fund, including a large loan to extend Griffin's house. Although Griffin later said that the extension provided the party with a conference and dining room, Newland was not impressed." ("BNP gripped by cash scandal", "Searchlight", September 2000)

Although UKIP is not a fascist party like the BNP, and although the BNP is of course a much more racist party than UKIP (as my September 13th Lancaster Unity article, "Do the BNP and EFP leadership still believe in the mass slaughter of billions?" explained, Nick Griffin was allegedly a "close ally" of the late American fascist party leader William Pierce, who openly advocated killing all of the world's billions of non-white and Jewish people), I want to talk about both parties' expenses scandals, because Alan Sked, UKIP's now disillusioned founder, who has described the party he started in 1993 as a group of "ageing xenophobes", was reported in the "Mail on Sunday" of June 6, 2004 to have alleged that UKIP leader Nigel Farage had said to him: "We will never win the nigger vote. The nig-nogs will never vote for us."

Moreover, on the same day, Alan Sked was quoted in "The People" as having said: "They [UKIP] are racist and have been infected by the far right", and the day before, the "Daily Mail" quoted Ashok Viswanathan of Operation Black Vote as having said: "We know that a number of candidates who have stood for UKIP have British National Party links - there's no question there are links."

Of course, there is nothing new about links between the essentially right wing of the Conservative Party politics which UKIP is an example of, and fascist politics. Then Conservative politician Enoch Powell's 1968 "Rivers of blood" speech had a lot to do with the subsequent rise of the National Front, a January 30, 1984 "BBC "Panorama" documentary, "Maggie's Militant Tendency", alleged that several Conservative MPs had far right links, and Nick Toczek's pamphlet, "The Bigger Tory Vote: The Covert Sequestration of the Bigotry Vote" (AK Press, Stirling and San Francisco, 1992), discussed similar alleged links between people on the right wing of the Conservative Party and fascists.

More recently, Nick Griffin's father, Edgar, was sacked from the Conservative leadership campaign of Iain Duncan-Smith, who is very much on the right wing of his party, after the "Sunday Express" exposed his dual BNP and Conservative membership.

So as the expenses scandal will no doubt overshadow the next general election, in which the BNP hope to win its first MP(s), anti-fascists ought to use their leaflets and articles to expose the expenses scandals of both the BNP and UKIP, which I will now explain.

They also ought to expose the alleged close alliance between Nick Griffin and the late William Pierce, because of Pierce's kill billions of people views, which were far worse than Hitler's, but the expenses scandal has damaged the mainstream parties, so exposing the expenses scandals of the BNP and UKIP can only have a negative effect on support for those 2 racist parties.

Nick Griffin using his party members' donations to extend his home is not the only example of BNP expenses scandal type financial impropriety. The September 2008 online "Searchlight" article, "BNP accounts don't add up", discusses BNP income tax and national insurance evasion, which is no different to corrupt MPs evading capital gains tax: "...the BNP continued to get away with paying half of its staffing bill in the form of "professional fees" to avoid national insurance and income tax. Staff paid gross include Simon Darby the party's deputy leader, [BNP chief fundraiser Ged] Munns, [regional treasurer Dave] Hannam, Arthur Kemp who runs the party's educational and training department, and a number of the BNP rebels who complained about the policy."

It says a lot about the kind of extremely selfish, and not at all idealistic people who are drawn to mean-minded fascist parties like the BNP, that once those "rebels" who complained about the BNP's tax and national insurance evasion policy were put on the BNP "gravy train", they shut their mouths and took BNP members' cash.

In a March 2008 "Searchlight" online story, "The [Electoral Commission] watchdog that did not bark", you can read about "...a number of irregularities..." in the BNP's annual accounts, to quote the words of former BNP treasurer John Brayshaw, and as the Norfolk Unity site pointed out in its July 31, 2009 article, "Electoral Commission to fine BNP - again", the Electoral Commission has since fined the BNP £500, and its Regional Accounting Unit £100 for sending their annual accounts in late.

Furthermore, in its October 22, 2009 article, "Party faces fine for filing accounts late", "The Independent" revealed that the BNP was facing a fine of between £600 and £5000 for once more sending its accounts in late.

Moreover, on February 12, 2008, BBC Radio 4's "File on 4" programme, which was discussed in the "Tonight 8 pm, Radio 4 - File on 4 investigates the BNP's finances" Norfolk Unity article of the same day, John Brayshaw alleged that the BNP's finances were run in an illegal way: "In his [2005] letter [to the Electoral Commission], Mr Brayshaw said current party treasurer John Walker and his deputy David Hannam visited his home for a week to complete the accounts.

• "He said he did not help them but claimed he witnessed some unusual activities, namely the shredding of a large number of documents and invoices.
• "Mr Brayshaw said he was told to burn the shredded documents, but kept them because he felt something improper had taken place.
• "A black bin bag containing the shredded documents has been handed to File on 4.
• "It contains fragments of cheques, train tickets, receipts and invoices.
• "Some of the fragments carry the names of Nick Griffin, his parents and even the Trafalgar Club.
• "One unshredded item is a petrol receipt with the name Excalibur - the title of the party's merchandising arm.
• "Under tax regulations all financial records should be kept for six years."

Finally, in a May 29, 2009 "Times" story, "British National Party begs for money in desperate memos", you can read that, "Further questions were raised about the party's funding after Mr Griffin admitted that he paid a £5,000 political donation into his personal bank account without declaring it."

So anyone who voted for the BNP in 2009 because they thought that they were a "clean hands" alternative to the mainstream parties, was as poorly informed as anyone who voted UKIP for the same reason, because, "A close friend of Mr Farage says the Ukip leader uses his [European Parliament] expenses to fund the party..." to quote the "Daily Telegraph" of May 26, 2009; because "The Guardian" reported on June 24, 2009, that Nigel Farage had openly said that he intended to use his European Parliament expenses, "to further the objectives of UKIP back in Britain"; and because in 2000, the European Parliament told UKIP to repay £11,500 of travel expenses which it had used to fund the court cases of the "metric martyrs", who were opposed to Britain being told by the European Union to change its weights and measures system.

Furthermore, in 2007 Ashley Mote, a UKIP MEP in South East England, was jailed for falsely claiming £65,000 in benefits, and UKIP East Anglia MEP Tom Wise was accused of misusing £40,000 of expenses and false accounting, which is why Wise starred in the "Times" articles "UKIP MEP in embezzlement scandal" (February 25, 2007), "MEP 'bought car with taxpayers' funds'" (February 28, 2007), and "UKIP covered up embezzler's trail" (March 4, 2007), which stated: "The UK Independence party deliberately covered up the fact that one of its MEPs embezzled tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money by pretending to be someone else."

Like the BNP, UKIP, whose twelve 2004-2009 MEPs incuded three who have behaved corruptly, has hypocritically moralised about other parties' corruption, as the just cited "Times" article pointed out: "The party has frequently accused the EU of being rife with corruption and criticised other parties' MEPs for enjoying the "gravy train"."

As an already mentioned online "Searchlight" article, "BNP gripped by cash scandal" (September 2000), discussed the then BNP treasurer's opposition to Nick Griffin not keeping receipts for a used car business which he was running, supposedly partly to boost BNP funds, perhaps Tom Wise should in future buy his cars from the BNP's "Arthur Daley" leader, who calls corrupt mainstream politicians "pigs", despite the fact that he appears to be one of the biggest "pigs" in today's British political class.

Ross on Wye Match Report

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Landale. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

The protest against the Trafalgar Club Dinner at the Chase Hotel was different to recent protests in that it was a home grown affair. Homemade banners and posters, very clearly local people unhappy that not just had the BNP had chosen their part of the world to defecate in, but that a local hotel, used by the community was hosting it.

As I arrived shortly before 6, the Police seemed to be setting a rendezvous point to the north of the town and that was the direction a number of partially-filled minibuses arrived later on. The police presence was heavy, although there were only about 30 on the gate (significant numbers in reserve) – there were 50-100 of us – and as the mugs/guests arrived in minibuses or cars they were greeted with cries of ‘Shame On You’ and the Police line pushed. At one point a member of Antifa was taken off for a chat.

One car (with dress shirt hanging in the back) pulled up as if to turn in and then drove off not to return – did they see the light? A highlight was a Volvo estate – the sudden jerky reversing skills amused us (but not the police) and seeing it get egged was a nice touch. Also we felt privileged to get a two fingered salute from the passenger of one minibus – rather fat and a Brons lookalike, but then all fascists look the same in the dark.

On my way back to my home in a place even more remote than Llanerfyl I mulled over the winners and losers;

• The BNP were reminded yet again that they and their ideas provoke revulsion, it must have been like eating in the hotel in ‘The Shining’ – you were the only people in the hotel, so you, real Billy No Mates LOSE!!
• The Taxpayer – I believe that 150 police were involved that night to protect Gri££in and the Trafalgar Club – we have to pay for it, so We the people LOSE.
• The Hotel - the story seemed to be that you were allegedly hoodwinked into the booking and that you couldn’t cancel it. If this is the case, it really doesn’t wash, the law covering hotels and licensed premises gives ample methods to cancel, particularly if there was deception as to the real purpose of the event.

Darkly, my opinion is that you just thought callously ‘so what, business is business’ and that you, in doing so, failed to consider the wellbeing of your staff and the community in your actions. You also need to consider that you lost all your other trade that night as the hotel was closed to all but the BNP. You also now have the tag of being a fascist friendly place – so you’ll find you may no longer be favoured with community and charity functions.

Hosting the BNP you will discover is a good way of losing business and we have an economic downturn; you are now in the same league as the New Kimberley Hotel in Blackpool! Haven’t they have just gone out of business? So Chase Hotel Ross-on-Wye, you LOSE!

However, for the community of Ross-on-Wye it was a protest where many local people who had never protested about anything before (and indeed had never met before) came together to show their disgust and disapproval of the BNP and the hotel for its support of fascism and its disregard for the community by hosting the event. Build on it and keep on working together – if there is a winner, as a community, You WIN!

Scuffles break out among BNP opponents in Ross-on-Wye

Scuffles broke out this evening outside The Chase Hotel in Ross-on-Wye as some protesters tried to stop BNP (British National Party) supporters arriving at a fund-raising event.

Police put one protester in the back of a police van after a man appeared to lash out at a car which arrived for the BNP dinner.

An egg was thrown at another vehicle which arrived at the hotel.

Demonstrators had started to arrive at The Chase Hotel shortly before 5pm and, within minutes, more people came to voice their disapproval at the BNP’s presence.

Many people told Hereford Times reporter Paul Rogers that BNP leader Nick Griffin was at the event.

Jesse Norman and Philippa Roberts, the respective Conservative and Labour parliamentary candidates for Herefordshire and South Herefordshire, were among the 100-strong crowd gathered outside the hotel.

Hereford Times

Hate comes to Herefordshire

The Chase Hotel

A plush country house hotel in Herefordshire will knowingly host a fundraising dinner for the British National Party, Searchlight can reveal.

This weekend the great and the bad who support the BNP through its Trafalgar Club will try to swell the party’s severely depleted coffers at The Chase, near Ross on Wye.

The annual dinner, held on the weekend nearest to Trafalgar Day, 21 October, is the highlight of the year for the club’s supporters, who contribute at least £15 a month. As well as the dinner and speech by Nick Griffin, the party leader, men receive a tie and women a “personalised organiser file”, though only in the first year.

The club normally holds other events but has been in trouble this year. In August members received their first newsletter for some time, apologising for the “poor service over the last year” and claiming that the ten-year-old club was “working hard to sort out the administrative weaknesses … since Jean stepped down as Secretary”.

“Jean” is Jean Griffin, the BNP leader’s mother. The administrative weaknesses encompassed postal subscription records, outstanding gifts, standing orders and cheques. In spring Nick Griffin promised that the club would be “undergoing a major revamp and expansion later this year in order to raise its profile as the flagship of the Party”, but little appears to have happened.

Unlike at many other venues that the BNP books under a false name, the managers of The Chase are fully aware that the Trafalgar Club is none other than the BNP and helpfully confirmed the booking when a Searchlight investigator called.

Readers might like to seek their views about the racist BNP by giving the hotel a call on 01989 763161. Please ask politely to speak to Colin or Mrs Parcell.

Alternatively drop them an email at res@chasehotel.co.uk.

Hope not Hate

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE BNP

The BNP will be holding their annual fundraising dinner at the Chase Hotel* in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, this Saturday evening. Top party officials are expected and leader Nick Griffin will be speaking.

AN ANTI-FASCIST COUNTER DEMONSTRATION HAS BEEN CALLED FOR 5.00PM OUTSIDE THE CHASE HOTEL

Hereford anti-fascists are determined to get this dinner cancelled and we need as much support as possible. Please spread this info round as widely as possible.

PLEASE CALL THE CHASE ON 01989 763161 AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
Email them on res@chasehotel.co.uk

They are now denying that this is taking place but initial enquiries from several people show that it definitely is happening.

PLEASE DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO ATTEND THIS ON SATURDAY

Fuck fascism! Fuck the BNP!

*The Chase, Gloucester Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 5LH

All things to all men

Nick Griffin is engaging in contortions and sleight of hand to keep his members happy and ensure they keep on giving him their money. Sonia Gable investigates

The British National Party “has almost righted itself financially after the massive outlay incurred in winning seats in the Euro elections,” according to Eddy Butler, the party’s national organiser.

The announcement on 9 September followed three months of desperate begging letters and emails from Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader, claiming his party was “cash strapped” after the European election campaign.

However it was not donations that had brought about the claimed change in the party’s fortunes but “a few short hard months of financial stringency”, said Butler. And “Chairman Nick Griffin has given up his party salary as he is now paid as an MEP”.

It is unclear why Butler is making announcements about the BNP’s finances as he is not the party’s treasurer. Perhaps that explains why he goes on to contradict himself. “It should be clear from what I have said that the party is urgently in need of extra funding in the aftermath of the European election,” his statement continued. Referring to the legal action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) over the BNP’s “whites only” membership criterion, he added: “In these difficult times the party needs the understanding and loyal support of its army of members and donors”.

The EHRC court case means Griffin has to tread very carefully. He does not want to fight the case because he is not confident the party can win and losing in court is very expensive. “For us to take this case to the next hearing would mean raising and risking at least £80,000,” Griffin wrote in an appeal headed “Emergency update. Adapt or die!” And “to take it all the way to the House of Lords would swallow up well over a million pounds”.

But Griffin is clearly having trouble taking his members with him. That the BNP should not admit non-whites is at the core of their ideology. In their minds to let black people and Asians join would be a betrayal of everything their party stands for.

Cleverly Griffin throws the decision back to his members, while ensuring he will have the outcome he needs. By letting the case go to a first hearing in court, at which the party obtained an adjournment but was ordered to pay the EHRC’s costs, which Griffin puts at “thousands of pounds”, he can argue that the party does not have a choice but to change its membership policy.

Griffin also contends that the hearing shows that “traditional British justice … is dead [his emphasis], murdered as part of New Labour’s creeping coup d’état”. In other words the BNP doesn’t have a chance against the EHRC (which Griffin persistently calls the CEHR) with its “70 top lawyers and £70 million to burn”, because the system is unfair and everyone is ganged up against the BNP.

Having fed to bursting his members’ vision of themselves as martyrs, Griffin concedes that “we could still fight it all the way on a point of stubborn principle”. But it is up to the members to decide. “If the party collectively wants to fight, then we have to raise £80,000 extra in the next four weeks.”

But in a sleight of hand, that money would not even go towards fighting the court case but to “buy in more top lawyers’ time to triple check and hone to perfection the changes we would have to make to our constitution and organisation”.

So if the party doesn’t raise the money Griffin won’t fight the case and if it does raise the money, he won’t fight it either.

A cynic might even suggest that Griffin deliberately delayed instructing lawyers to represent the party until the day before the court hearing, not only as a means of buying time by making it impossible for the court to refuse an adjournment, but also to ensure an award of costs against the BNP so proving to his members how expensive fighting the case would be.

Griffin’s chosen means of raising the money – the life membership offer – will guarantee failure in any case. Members are being asked to stump up a full £395 to become a BNP member for life. This is supposedly a discount from the full £500 that life membership will cost in future.

Few BNP members have £395 to spare, especially after the BNP’s numerous calls on their generosity over the past two years. And with the high membership turnover in the party, even those who could afford it are unlikely be sufficiently committed. Of the BNP’s claimed 10,000 or so members, only around 250 are dedicated activists and many of those are unemployed or in low-paid jobs. The BNP’s membership is greatly slanted towards socio-economic groups C, D and E.

It would take 200 life memberships to raise the necessary funds, provided all the money goes towards hiring the top lawyers. That may not happen. Simon Darby, the BNP treasurer and press officer, told a journalist last month that one of the aims of the life membership drive was to raise funds for the 2010 election campaign. He also stated that the party was short of funds – one day after Butler’s more optimistic assessment.

Darby also revealed that the continued absence of the BNP’s 2008 accounts was the result of extenuating circumstances and blamed an unnamed third party. In last month’s Searchlight we recalled that when the 2006 accounts were greatly delayed, Griffin blamed Kenny Smith, one of the leaders of the internal rebellion that broke out in December 2007. We believed that this year he had no such excuse.

We underestimated Griffin’s ability to wriggle out of any difficulty by finding a scapegoat. We do not yet know who will have to carry the can for the 2008 accounts but two candidates spring to mind.

One is Michaela Mackenzie, who earlier this year was quietly dropped as the BNP’s administration officer and national nominating officer, in charge of ensuring all election paperwork is in order. In January the BNP Advisory Council tasked her with investigating the implications of data protection legislation for the BNP. Perhaps she did not like what she found.

The other is Jennie Noble, appointed the BNP’s treasurer in summer 2008, only to be replaced a year later. When Griffin announced the formation of a “full Treasury Department” headed by a “chartered accountant” last April, he thanked Noble for using her “extensive financial experience in pension fund management” to get the BNP accounts into shape and said the party owed her “a big debt of gratitude”.

It would not be the first time Griffin has lavished praise on someone before putting the boot in.

Noble would “switch duties to take on running the Trafalgar Club”, said Griffin. The club, whose members have to pay at least £15 a month, would be “undergoing a major revamp and expansion later this year in order to raise its profile as the flagship of the Party”.

That was in April. In August Trafalgar Club members received their first newsletter for some time, apologising for the “poor service over the last year” and claiming that the ten-year-old club was “working hard to sort out the administrative weaknesses … since Jean stepped down as Secretary”.

“Jean” is Jean Griffin, the BNP leader’s mother. The newsletter was signed by his wife, Jackie, “Acting Trafalgar Club Secretary”. Noble appeared to have disappeared without trace.

The administrative weaknesses encompassed postal subscription records, outstanding gifts, standing orders and cheques – just about everything really. The club’s spring lunch had not taken place this year because Adam Champneys, one of the BNP’s few large donors, who hosted the event in 2008 on his Kent farm, had been ill. However Jackie Griffin did have “a lovely hotel booked in Herefordshire” for the club’s main annual event, the Trafalgar Day black tie dinner on 24 October. They were also still working on plans to “re-launch the Club later this year, including an advertising campaign to raise its profile and prestige”.

The club’s sole purpose is to raise money for the BNP. Whatever Butler says, the BNP desperately needs money after spending up to £600,000 on the European election campaign and with a general election at most nine months away. Butler’s claim that the BNP has nearly pulled itself out of the financial trough may be motivated more by a need to stem the disillusionment among party members. They dug deep into their pockets for the European campaign in the hope that the election of MEPs would secure millions of euros, only to be told that none of the European Parliament funding can be used for the party so they would have to carry on giving. And now the party wants £395 for life membership. Members could be forgiven for saying “you’ve got to be joking”.

Sonia Gable writing in Searchlight

The Accounts (5) : "a slender merit of providing cosmetic comfort"

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Iliacus. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

The previous articles by Iliacus regarding the BNP accounts are below:

The Accounts (1): First Impressions
The Accounts (2): "We wuz robbed"
The Accounts (3): Figure Skating
The Accounts (4): "and for my next trick"

I have recently been reading, as one does, a history of the Neath and Brecon Railway. This was a fairly insignificant railway company in South Wales, operating - oddly enough - between Neath and Brecon! It may not immediately seem of any relevance to the cause of anti-fascism except that its financial affairs (to which I might return in a future article) echoed those of a certain far-right political party of the present day.

In particular I was taken by the following comments by the authors, written in 2005 in respect of accounts published in the 1860s:

"The balance sheet for year end 1866...is tantalising in what it leaves unsaid and without further figures...it is only part of the picture. This statement falls short of the standards of reporting required today and its odd assortment of balances have the slender merit of providing cosmetic comfort to the casual observer."

What a splendid turn of phrase - and so appropriate to the subject of this series of articles, the 2007 BNP Accounts!

In this final article I want to concentrate on two areas - the sales of party publications (Identity and Voice of Freedom) and the Trafalgar Club. I will start with the publications, and a quick review of what they comprise. Voice of Freedom is a monthly tabloid; the front page normally carries an emotive lead story related to the evils of immigration while the other three pages are full of accounts of local meetings raising unprecedented levels of donations, adoration of the leader, and plenty of opportunities for readers to send money to the BNP for various items of tat! Identity is the party's exploration of the theoretical principles of nationalism (i.e. it's full of middle-aged white men ranting about the evils of the modern world!)

My comments are based on an interpretation of the way these items are dealt with financially. I have to make reasonable assumptions, which may be rash in the context of BNP accounting. Those assumptions are as follows:

• that intitial printing costs are met by the party nationally;
• that sales are then made either directly or via branches, and the latter therefore appear in the accounts of the RAU (Regional Accounting Unit);
• that expenditure by the RAU (in buying copies) is balanced in the income column of the National Accounts (as supplier).

Of course, being the BNP, anything is possible!

So, let's look at the performance in selling this stuff in 2007, and a comparison with 2006, starting with Identity.  In 2006 printing cost £30,000 - by 2007 it was £34,000; allowing for inflation this implies a small increase in print runs. Income in '06 was nearly £45,000 (a surplus of around £15,000 but see below); in '07 income nationally fell to £32,000 (a deficit of £2,000). A bad enough trend, but there's worse to come [worse for the BNP I emphasise; I think it's great!]. In 2006 the RAU (i.e. the branches) spent nearly £17,000 buying Identity - and raised £11,000 by selling them, wiping out a fair chunk of the National Accounts surplus. In 2007 the RAU spent over £22,000 on copies of Identity - and raised just £8,000 from selling them!

So in 2006 the branches "lost" £5,500 selling Identity - and in 2007 they "lost" over £14,000 doing so. In 2006 just over a third of copies were unloaded by the national party onto the branches - by 2007 that proportion had nearly doubled!

Let's have a look at Voice of Freedom (VoF). In 2006 the party spent £37,000 printing copies - this fell in 2007 to just over £32,000. Perhaps Mr Collett negotiated a special deal, but to this cynical observer it suggests a fall in the print run. Certainly the fall in national sales, from £66,000 to £57,000 suggests that copies weren't flying off the metaphorical shelves! And when we get to branch level, the trend identified with Identity is repeated, and then some! 

In 2006 the branches were billed for just over half of all VoF sales (£34,000 - 52% of the total). By 2007 the branches were being billed for over £52,000 of sales - an extraordinary 91% of the total! And this wasn't because they were finding it any easier to sell the damned things! Sales at RAU level fell from £26,000 in '06 to under £20,000 in '07.

So overall, in 2006 the party as a whole made a surplus of £9,217 from Identity and £20,580 from VoF.  In 2007 Identity lost £16,186 and even VoF recorded a deficit of £7,641. At branch (or RAU) level both made a loss in both years, a sign of the local membership subsidising the party centrally. But the scale of that subsidy has rocketed.

In 2006 the RAU lost £5,500 on Identity - in 2007 it was £14,215.
On VoF the RAU lost £8,698 in 2006 - in 2007 this shot up to a £32,515 loss.

In 2006 local branches, through Identity and VoF, subsidised 'HQ' to the tune of £19,715. In 2007 it was £46,730! And what will it be in 2008 at that rate of increase?

In the context of the earlier articles in this series there is a clear picture emerging of a party sliding into financial difficulties from the centre, and frantically plugging the gap by increasingly sucking money from the local organisations. The evidence for this is not just the growing subsidy through Identity and VoF sales identified in this article, but also the increasing 'loan' from the RAU to the national party set out in article number 4.

And so to a brief word on the Trafalgar Club. This is basically a dining club which, in principle, differs little from similar schemes run by other parties. In this case, in return for a substantial donation, you have the opportunity to enjoy a meal (of debatable quality) followed by a speech from Nick Griffin. Astonishingly, some people actually take up this offer!

What is strange is the way this is handled in the Accounts. It is, we are told in the Chairman's Introduction" a "body ... administered by this department [Administration] ... in order to avoid the danger of 'all eggs in one basket' the National Treasurer is not permitted to handle this body's finances" but it is subject to "full external audit".

This is a very strange arrangement, as well as being pretty offensive to a treasurer who is allowed to handle everything else but not - for some reason - the Trafalgar Club. By external audit they are presumably referring to the audit of accounts prepared by Silver and Co - but they are reporting on Accounts prepared by...the National Treasurer, who is "not permitted to handle this body's finances"! So are the Trafalgar Club's transactions contained within the BNP's Accounts or not? And if so, where? And if not, then how are they subject to "external audit"?

There are malcontents within the BNP (or recently expelled therefrom) who allege that the proceeds of this Club have too close a relationship to Nick Griffin's back pocket - there is nothing in the BNP's accounts to disprove those suggestions!

Trafalgar Club mugs meet again

Tomorrow night at the plush Ardencote Manor Country Hotel in Claverdon, Warwickshire, the great and the bad who support the British National Party through its Trafalgar Club dining club will tuck into a meal that they hope will be better than the stale sandwiches they were fed last year.

For the minimum £180 a year they contribute to the club, as well as their invitation to the annual dinner and speech from Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, men receive a tie and women a “personalised organiser file”, though only in the first year. Perhaps in the second year they hand out mugs engraved with the words: “The BNP expects every mug to throw away their money to keep the leader and his cabal in the style to which they have become accustomed”.

Griffin, fresh from being rescued from an angry crowd in the East Midlands after the police threatened to arrest his private army of security men if they as much as growled at anyone, will soon be jetting off to the USA on a speaking tour of universities. Everybody knows it is just another attempt to raise money to get the party out of its latest financial mess.

It is unclear whether the Trafalgar Club has booked all the hotel’s 76 bedrooms at the special discounted rate offered. The BNP’s last fundraising dinner in Yorkshire ended in chaos when the vaunted 150 donors were reduced to 32 paying guests plus a free meal for the leader and his wife and a takeaway for the eight-strong security team.

We hope the hotel staff make sure that none of the BNP security team bring in prostitutes and a few lines of coke for their after-hours entertainment.

Readers might like to seek the hotel manager’s views about these matters by giving the hotel a call on 01926 843111.

Stop the BNP

One of Griffin's 'vermin' begins the fightback against BNP corruption

According to a comment over at the North-West Nationalist blog, this was sent in to the Sandwell Express Star. Our thanks to Kirklees Unity for the heads-up.

Dear Sir

In response to Simon Darby's comments about me resigning from British National Party. I would like to thank him for acknowledging the hard work done myself in the party. With the exception of a particular Judas, most of the Black Country BNP are first class folk.

There has been a rumour I resigned because of the party's failure to allow me to promote the idea that 911 was an inside job. This isn't actually the case.

My resignation followed the disclosure of a private email to a supposed friend and colleague Ken Griffiths. The substance of the email was that based on events surrounding an article about Nick Griffin's wheeler dealing in Croatia, his meddling in the affairs of the independent trade union Solidarity and such items as £63,000 being spent on "travel and entertainment" (see 2005 BNP accounts at the electoral commission), it was about time we started educating the membership about what I believed we mutually recognised as serious financial mismanagement of the party. In fact it was Ken Griffiths along with a few others two years ago that encouraged me to examine Nick Griffin's history and therefore his leadership of the party.

I've worked for the party as a volunteer for over five years. Three years as the Black Country organiser. This work was unpaid. I may have claimed £60 at most in petrol in that time and of course have suffered in my employment. Famously being sacked as a teacher in 2004. The party's support was pathetic. The so called party legal eagle failed to advise me that I had three months to appeal to an industrial tribunal. I am currently investigating a sickening allegation that a substantial donation from a member of the public was made to myself following my sacking but didn't quite find its way to me.

At national level huge amounts are raised. The "Trafalgar Club " rakes in £72,000 a year according to other ex BNP figures that were close to Griffin [we've been told at least £90,000 but there you go]. Financial transparency , other than what has to be provided for the electoral commission is non existent. There are other large donations that are rumoured to have been made but not declared. This is the tip of the iceberg in my opinion.

So how is the British National Party being run ? There is a genuine need for a Nationalist Party in Britain. In my opinion Nick Griffin who is a fantastic (self) publicist and orator, runs the party as a private family business - in doing so it is also necessary to appoint dubiously moral lieutenants to keep it like that . It is a money based not ideologically based operation . As such it is necessary to periodically purge the party of thinkers and those who are capable of critical thought to keep it like that.

Cllr Simon Smith

For more information, see Purged! British National Party councillor Simon Smith forced out and Nick Griffin's most recent Chairman's Blog post deconstructed...

British National Party morale and finances plummet to all-time low

Over the last few weeks - in fact since the first announcement that there could be a leadership challenge in the BNP - we've received dozens of emails from BNP supporters complaining about the state of the party, both financially and with regard to morale.

Some of these we disregard on the grounds that they're probably from the minor fascist parties trying to be clever but the ones that we regard as genuinely from BNP supporters seem to have a couple of themes in common - that morale in the party is at rock-bottom and that income has more or less dried up. The two themes also appear to be inextricably linked directly to Nick Griffin himself.

One of the emails pointed out that the Trafalgar Club (the Trafalgar Club is the group for the wealthier BNP member - allegedly the 'elite') members pay £180 per year for the privilege of belonging to it which apparently entitles them to a TC tie and an annual blow-out with Griffin. Wow - that must be worth £180 of anyone's money! The email then went on to point out that there are about 200 Trafalgar Club members which, to my reckoning, comes to around £36,000 per year. Added to this are the emails we received which pointed out that the annual Trafalgar Club dinner saw a collection which came out at £10-15,000. Yet the only mention of the Trafalgar Club in the BNP's accounts for 2004/5 are of the £4000 it apparently cost to set it up in 2004, and income of £1155 in 2005. Clearly there is a major problem in the accounts there which we expect either the auditors or the Electoral Commission to watch for in a couple of weeks when the next accounts are due to appear.

Even donations to the party are dropping shockingly fast. Considering the party has been riding what it acknowledges to be a wave of popularity over the last few years, the 2004/5 accounts show a drop of £53,000 - and we gather this year should, if the BNP can bear to tell the truth, show an even more substantial drop.

In fact, from all we hear, income has largely dried up as the membership has started to realise that it is being used as a cash cow for Nick Griffin to milk for his regular little get-rich-quick schemes. Indeed, rumour has it that membership income has dropped too. 2004/5 saw a decrease of £14,000 in membership income and more is expected this year.

The financial condition of the party is so precarious, largely thanks to Griffin and his mad schemes, that the auditors, J. Silver and Co, stated unequivocally;

'Whilst the accounts have been prepared on the basis that the Party is a going concern, given the fact that for the last two years the Party has incurred a deficit, and that the Balance Sheet is now in deficit, there is an element of doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern.'

But while the accounts are bad enough, they are as nothing compared with the loss of morale at branch level. With the disastrous May elections over, in which the BNP expected to gain over fifty seats but actually got none at all, masses of sustained negative publicity from all directions and no by-election wins for over three years, the membership is becoming indifferent when called upon to give more for the party, whether the call is financial or for more effort out on the streets. Continuous revelations about BNP-allied business fiascos also have their effect on the membership with the Albion Life and now Solidarity cock-ups being widely treated as embarrassing and unnecessary disasters for Griffin and his entourage at the head of the party.

Griffin himself certainly figures prominently in BNP member's emails to us, with the expression 'struts around soaking up money' a general indicator of the disquiet felt at his apparent arrogance and patronisation of the general membership and the continuous expensive disasters that eat up the membership fees far faster than elections ever could.

Great White Records with its alleged £50,000 set-up costs (equivalent to around 1700 annual membership fees)and its £12,000 per year expenditure (around 400 membership fees) and absolutely NO profit is just one example. Another is the BNP's fake and pointless union Solidarity, which must have cost £4,000 (130 membership fees) to register with the Certification Officer and God alone knows how much to run with NO profit. The list, believe me, is endless, and goes back as far as Griffin's first months in the position of British National Party leader.

We've also been accused in the emails we receive of unfairly regarding all BNP members as nazi thugs. Well that's not true - or at least not true any more. Yes, there are a lot of nazis still tucked away in the BNP (including Griffin) and there are certainly a fair amount of thugs but we tend to regard the broader BNP membership as misguided and misinformed by an utterly corrupt leadership.

Nick Griffin and his bunch of pals at the top of the party regard the membership as a bunch of suckers just waiting for him to come and lift the cash out of their bank accounts for the next little scheme. And what IS the next little scheme? Croatia. But more of that in a few days...

Griffin and Co: Asset-strippers and Dictators

A pro-BNP blog that started up recently as a response to attacks on the financial probity of the party from the NNP and various others (including us) has printed an article that begins 'Why do stories about alleged 'corruption' within the BNP surface with such monotonous regularity on the Internet?' Well, there's a very simple answer to that - but let's take a look at what the article says.

The point of the article is to establish that the BNP is not corrupt and it attempts to do this by making a number of statements which need examining.

Nick Griffin has a Cambridge Law degree, has run rings around the best barristers that the Crown Prosecution Service have thrown at him in three free speech trials, and has demolished every Establishment 'big gun' radio and TV interviewer he has ever faced. If the man was in it for the money, he certainly wouldn't be in the BNP!

Nick Griffin actually has a 2.2, which is okay but hardly earth-shattering - in Jurisprudence, which is nowhere near as exciting as some weird people might think. As far as the trials go, the writer seems to have forgotten that in 1998 Griffin was given a two-year suspended sentence for distributing material likely to incite racial hatred. The more recent so-called 'free speech' trials of last year were both inadvisable and unnecessary, and there can't be an anti-fascist commentator anywhere who thought Griffin would actually be convicted though we would all have liked to have seen it. In any case, he hardly ran rings around the prosecution, nor has he ever demolished any radio or TV interviewer he has faced. Far from it in fact - he tends to come across as inept and stumbling to anyone with even rudimentary critical ability.

Land Registry records confirm that Nick's wife brought their home in Wales on a mortgage for £25,000 in the early 1990s. Obviously prices have gone up since then, but it's hardly the price of a palace.

Who cares, though wasn't Griffin declared bankrupt with debts of £70,000 on June 16th 1994 at Welshpool and Newtown County Court? Wonder where he got the money to buy the farm? And where he got the money to do the barn conversion which would have added considerably to the value of the place? Oh yes, that was paid for by the membership wasn't it. Presumably, Griffin is paying the money back at some point?

Interesting to note that it was Griffin's wife who bought the farm. Presumably that's something to do with either his bankruptcy or it's a tax dodge.

When travelling on speaking tours, Mr. Griffin invariably stays at the homes of BNP members. All other political leaders use plush hotels...

Bullshit. Where does he stay when he's over in America, France, Sweden or Croatia (where it's rumoured he has bought another property - no doubt for the planned BNP Holiday Hotel from Hell)?

The finances and financial records of the BNP, which the Electoral Commission classifies as a 'major party', are therefore by law closely monitored not only by internal staff but also by an independent auditor who is bound by his professional code to ensure that everything is handled properly...

We have never heard the BNP described as a 'major' party simply because it isn't. Roughly the same amount of members as the Monster Raving Loony Party does not make it a major party by anyone's standards.

...His complete audit is in turn gone through with a fine toothed comb by officials from the Electoral Commission...

And it was pointed out by the auditor that because no bank wanted to handle the accounts of the fascist BNP, most transactions were carried out in cash, making it extremely difficult to keep tabs on expenditure.

...The chances of money being illictly raised, spent or stolen under such a system are effectively zero. The finances of the modern BNP are the most open and transparent of any party in the history of British nationalism.

The second statement of that sentence might well be true but we're still wondering where the real accounts are, where the accounts of the Trafalgar Club are, where the income from the numerous business ventures appears in the accounts, how much everyone who is employed by the BNP actually gets paid, where the real foreign donations are listed and so on ad nauseum...

Let's face it: Far from being a passport to luxury, high living and privilege, running the BNP - in a country with Islamic terror cells, endemic violence among certain immigrant communities, left-wing thugs and a Politically Correct legal system operated by a totalitarian government - is a dangerous as well as a thankless task.

Strange, I thought Griffin's farm was set in its own land and came complete with a sauna and jacuzzi and so on. I could be wrong but that sounds pretty luxurious to me.

I've yet to see any evidence of a physical attack on Nick Griffin - ever - from anybody except Tony Lecomber, and he was actually attacking Eddie Butler and Griffin just got in the way. The only other mention of an attack was when the BNP tried to claim at attempt on Griffin's life over in Sweden on one of his many trips abroad. The bomb was unprimed and would never have gone off and it eventually emerged that the liar Griffin hadn't even been on the train that had been under threat.

The BNP is the only household name party in the UK which is 'in the black'. All the others are mired in massive debt, because running a political party's central machine is a very costly exercise.

That's odd because the BNP is the only party which the auditor pointed out was close to bankruptcy. The BNP could only survive by stealing branch money.

Any head of any organisation will at times have to discipline individuals within that organisation, and to defend the interests of the organisation against rivals. Both the punished guilty and jealous rivals have clear motives for lying about the man who has put them in their place, or the successful organisation that blocks their own personal or group ambitions.

Ah yes, the people Griffin has sacked. Like one of two former treasurers Griffin's sacked, Mike Newland, who protested at the plainly unacceptable blurring of the boundaries between the chairman's private business concerns as a secondhand car dealer (Affordable Cars) on the one hand, and party finances on the other, not to mention the making of wholly illegal payments (£1500 is mentioned at one point) to Tony Lecomber, who was claiming benefits at the time. In September 2000, Newland wrote;

'Griffin was elected on a clear pledge to have full financial accountability and fell at the first hurdle when reasonable questions were asked. He and Lecomber have shown themselves incapable of running the organisation as a legitimate affair. I thought that Griffin had matured sufficiently enough to behave sensibly and I was wrong...I misjudged him and that was my terrible mistake for which I eat humble pie.'

Griffin has sacked numerous people from the BNP mostly for questioning the accounts - the Edwards' are another example. But our favourite was the Sharon Ebanks scam that caused so much harm to the BNP.

Ebanks, you'll recall, was elected as the councillor for Kingstanding in Birmingham by a miscount of the votes. Though the mistake was noticed on the night of the count, the winner had already been announced and nothing could be done unless there was a High Court challenge from the party that should have taken the seat. Labour duly made the challenge and Ebanks, on advice from the BNP's legal wizards (Lee Barnes and Nick Griffin) fought it and lost.

Losing in the High Court is an expensive business and Ebanks' costs were, as far as we can gather, around £5000. The BNP promptly started asking for donations and raised, we're reliably informed, around £7000.

For some bizarre reason, everything then went pear-shaped for the BNP. They'd lost the seat but were sitting on top of a propaganda goldmine - small party having to raise big funds for cock-up that wasn't its fault, successful fundraising saves reputation of ousted councillor etc etc. Okay, no councillor but the loss could easily have been turned to a victory played the right way.

But the BNP decided not to do this. In fact, despite the membership forking out £7000 of its own money to pay Ebanks' High Court costs, the party decided to keep it. At one point (when she was threatened with bankruptcy) Ebanks was advised by the party to get a credit card to pay off the debt to the court.

The uproar from the far-right was predictably bad and the BNP came in, justifiably, for a hell of a lot of criticism from people it would consider supporters - the nazi forum Stormfront, for example. It got so bad that Stormfront members called a collection together and raised the money Ebanks needed and the debt was duly paid, no thanks at all to the BNP.

Ebanks was promptly sacked from the BNP and, in a fit of pique, formed her own party, the NNP, with a bunch of other BNP rejects.

The point of all this waffle - and there is a point, you'll be pleased to read - is that Griffin and his chums will use you up and spit you out. If you're stupid enough to question any disrepancy in the accounts, you're out. If you disagree with the leadership, you're out. If you don't do as you're told, you're out. And we've now seen this dictatorship spread to the external organisations of the BNP, with Solidarity being a fine case in point.

Clive Potter and Tim Hawke question the Solidarity accounts and suddenly they're untrustworthy, probably reds and certainly traitors. It's pretty clear from all we've been able to read that Potter and Hawke will be kicked out and Harrington reinstated as President, complete with full backing from Griffin and an unbeatable majority on the union's Executive - which will be the kiss of death to any hope of it providing any real alternative to any of the genuine unions and their shortcomings as perceived by the BNP. In short, Solidarity will become a cash cow for Griffin and co until it collapses completely.

Griffin and the BNP are asset-strippers and the only people they can strip assets from are those poor deluded sods who have joined the party/union.

There is a hell of a lot more to write about Griffin's BNP - the rip-offs and general thievery would fully occupy this blog for the next two years - but for the moment we'll leave this issue (though we'll return to it at greater length) with a quote from Nick Griffin himself;

'In increasingly hard economic times, a group of people the size of the BNP and its support base can provide a significant assured market for a variety of small businesses.'

Which says it all really.

The BNP is asked again - where has all the money gone?

More stories emerge of financial impropriety at the BNP in run-up to leadership challenge...

Whose business? Your business…

The BNP owns several companies paid for with BNP members' cash, yet no branches or groups have EVER profited from these businesses. The legal structure of these companies and some of its hidden directors means branches and groups will NEVER profit from them.

What are those businesses?

1, GWR ‘Great White Records’

It was stated at an AC meeting that more than £40,000 of membership money was poured into starting up GWR, but who owns it, and who profits?

I’m sure like many others you have purchased CDs from this company, but GWR has not only never donated to the BNP as it claims on its site, but it hasn’t filed accounts required by law for 2 years.

The original directors were Dave Hannam and John Walker. It was then switched to Dave Hannam and Nick Cass. Nick Cass resigned as director several months ago and as yet no one else has replaced him.

To check that the above is indeed fact, please go to Companies House and type ’Great White Records’ into the search box. This service is free from Monday to Friday, closed at weekends, and you must do your searches before midnight.

Name & Registered Office:GREAT WHITE RECORDS LIMITED
SOUTH FARM SOUTH CLIFFE MARKET WEIGHTON YO43 4UX
Company No. 05653472
Status: Active - Proposal to Strike off
Date of Incorporation: 14/12/2005
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):None Supplied
Accounting Reference Date: 31/12
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 14/10/2007
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 11/01/2007 OVERDUE

Check out the Electoral Commission and read the list of BNP donators and the party accounts. Where is the money?

2, Excalibur Promotions Ltd

Liquidated over 4 years ago owing more than £150,000. The directors are hidden, but we know Chris Beverly runs it. No money has ever been donated to the BNP by Excalibur. Feel free to check the donor list at the electoral commission website. BNP members spend their money with Excalibur, why is none donated to the BNP?

Many thanks to the BNP member who provided the cheque showing that this company is still trading while in liquidation. Isn’t that illegal?

If Excalibur isn't Excalibur Promotions Ltd, why is it cashing Excalibur Promotion cheques?

To check that the above is FACT, go to the companies house website

Name & Registered Office:EXCALIBUR PROMOTIONS LTD
QUEENSGATE HOUSE 48 QUEEN STREET EXETER DEVON EX4 3SR
Company No. 04081322
Status: Liquidation Date of Incorporation: 02/10/2000
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):7487 - Other business activities
Accounting Reference Date: 31/12
Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/12/2001 (ACCOUNTS TYPE NOT AVAILABLE)
Next Accounts Due: 31/10/2003 OVERDUE
Last Return Made Up To: 02/10/2003
Next Return Due: 30/10/2004 OVERDUE

3, RWB Red White & Blue

Known in some circles as Griffin's three-ring circus where members are supposed to feel so happy to be part of the crowd that they part with huge amounts of cash and spend weeks preparing stalls where they mostly make a loss, and usually from their own pockets.

It is a fact that Griffin plays down the RWB as a money earner and AC members are always instructed to state it makes a loss, it doesn’t. RWB usually brings in a profit in excess of £30,000 and any stall owners who are deemed to make a large profit are supposed to hand some over to the party. Last year £6,000 was raised on beer alone, but the most interesting fact of last year was a notice put up by the Treasurer John Walker asking for ticket monies to be made payable to Freedom promotions Ltd, it was then quickly changed to make monies payable to British Heritage.

A BNP member investigated further and discovered that no company called Freedom Promotions Ltd exists. If it doesn’t exist how can the BNP ask for monies to be paid into it? In fact there were 4 companies opened and closed called Freedom Promotions Ltd, none of them ever traded, but bank accounts were gained using the company names. The BNP owns one of those accounts and above is a cheque that they paid into it. Once again it is illegal.

Thank you to the diligent BNP members for this evidence. Nicholarse must be horrified that you’re not all dummies.

4, The Trafalgar Club

Quotes from the BNP website.

“The Trafalgar Club is an elite fund-raising group. “

“Trafalgar Club members pledge a minimum subscription of £15 per month, in return for which they receive regular special internal bulletins, are invited to attend the annual Trafalgar Club dinner free of charge hosted by the party Chairman receive a Trafalgar Club tie (or a personalised organiser file in the case of ladies). The tie carries the first two 'words' of Nelson's semaphore signal before the Battle of Trafalgar: "England Expects." (Available in first year of membership only.”

“Contributing this way to the British National Party is a good investment for your future. You do not need to be a member of the British National Party to join the Trafalgar Club.”

Nicholarse Griffin has himself claimed that there are 400 Trafalgar Club members, and if you times that by the annual fee of belonging to this prestigious club which is £180, it adds up to £72,000 per year. Nowhere in the BNP accounts does it state any donations from the Trafalgar Club, nor is the Trafalgar Club listed as a donator to the BNP. No one knows how much money is donated separately at this annual event as nothing has ever been declared. The bank account holders of the Trafalgar Club are Nicholarse Griffin and his mother, Jean Griffin.

Last years Trafalgar Club dinner was meant to be a 4 course hot meal at the Waterton Park Hotel. When TC members arrived, some having done extremely long journeys to attend, they were greeted with a cold buffet of sandwiches. Nick Cass organiser of the event and BNP treasurer John Walker apologised to the 140 TC members present and explained that the Waterton Park Hotel had not only double booked, but were not used to catering for 140 guests.
Some incensed TC members contacted the hotel to complain, and the response from the management went thus

“The Waterton Park Hotel regularly caters for 140 guests providing 4 course hot meals, but the Trafalgar Club event was booked several months ago for sandwiches only. We apologise if you were disappointed, but the menu was pre arranged by the Trafalgar Club event organiser. We were not double booked”

TC members were clearly ripped off and lied to. Anyone else wishing to check the validity of the above should contact the Waterton Park Hotel.

This quote from the BNP site caught our attention:

"Is your country worth £3.46 a week? Are the futures of your sons and daughters worth the cost of a few chocolate bars? Join the Trafalgar Club today!"

AND WE SAY, WHERE IS THE MONEY?

BNP Leadership Challenge