Another rat leaves the sinking ship

Following the announcement yesterday that the BNP will face a winding up order if it doesn’t pay £45,000 to the courts within a fortnight, it comes as no surprise to hear that yet more BNP officials decide to call it time with the floundering party.

South West Regional Organiser Mike Howson announced today that he has had enough and resigned all positions within the British National Party with immediate effect.

Howson in his long and badly spelt resignation statement explains one of the reasons for his announcement was when Nick Griffin “Appointed in the main cronies to well paid positions instead of properly qualified professionals.”

Howson continued “The financial mismanagement has had disastrous consequences for the region. I lost three good branches and a lot of good people because of non payment of bills, not because of the actions of individuals in the local area, but because of the incompetence of well paid officials at Head Office.”

And in a final attack directed at his party leader he wrote “I have seen a man who I have followed, protected and supported snatch certain defeat from the jaws of victory, not only by his own actions, but also the actions of those around him. Recent events have also confirmed the sad state of the party”

I wonder who is next in line to jump from the sinking ship?

HOPE not Hate

BNP Official Convicted for Racist Tirade.

A BNP organiser and local candidate was yesterday found guilty of using racially aggravated threatening or insulting words and behaviour after he called a petrol station worker “A black bastard”.

Darren Lumb, the BNP organiser for Wakefield, was found guilty at Pontefract Magistrates Court following an altercation with garage staff regarding the price of its diesel.

Lumb had already been banned from the petrol station in March 2011 following a similar argument with staff; however he returned on St George’s day in May and following his racist outburst staff demanded he left and called the police who later arrested him for the offence.

Lumb who was flanked by a dozen BNP members & supporters at court pleaded not guilty, claiming that he never visited the garage and that he was at a BNP St Georges Day event in Rotherham.

This was the same event that a number of BNP officials including Firth and Cooke were photographed drunkenly handling firearms http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1876/gunning-for-st-george

BNP officials Danny Cooke and Rachel Firth all gave evidence on his part, failing to mention the fact that both hold senior positions with the party.

Unemployed Lumb who has previous convictions for assault and disorder was found guilty by magistrates and was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 in costs.

Griffinite Lumb, who once declared on Facebook that he was a “Hard line, anti establishment Aryan", has a 'Tree of life' tattoo on his forearm. This symbol, also known as the life rune, is a favourite among nazi groups worldwide, several of which have adopted it as their logo. Under Hitler it was the symbol of the SS Lebensborn project, which encouraged SS troopers to have children out of wedlock with “Aryan” mothers and kidnapped children of Aryan appearance from the countries of occupied Europe to raise as Germans.

Outside the court some of Lumbs BNP supporters attempted to intimidate local journalists by taking their photographs and threatening to post their details on the neo Nazi website Redwatch.

Thanks to HOPE not Hate

BNP faces meltdown at local polls after defections and infighting

Party to field 450 fewer candidates than in 2007 as leader Nick Griffin comes under pressure over organisation's finances

The British National party is facing political meltdown in next month's local elections after a string of defections and growing concern over its finances.

Dozens of prominent BNP figures have either been suspended or have resigned and in the past few weeks several former members have announced they are to stand for rival far-right and nationalist organisations.

The BNP is standing around 250 candidates in next month's elections, compared with approximately 700 in the equivalent polls in 2007.

The turmoil comes as the Electoral Commission announced this week that the party had "failed to comply with the legal requirement to keep adequate financial records" for the second year running, further increasing the pressure on the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, who fought off a leadership challenge last year.

"The position of the party is extremely dire," said Professor Matthew Goodwin, from Nottingham University, an expert on far-right politics. "The defections and rebellions are going strong and we have seen a whole host of key figures leave to join other far-right groups … Nick Griffin is becoming increasingly isolated."

The BNP says it is focusing on the elections to the Welsh assembly, where it claims it could secure two seats, but anti-Griffin rebels say the BNP should be making more progress in England as cuts bite and economic instability increases.

"There is growing anger within the party because there was a period when it looked like Nick Griffin may have been able to force the BNP into the political mainstream," said a spokesman for the anti-racist campaign Hope not Hate. "But it is clear Nick Griffin will himself be the BNP's nemesis. His mismanagement, arrogance and dictatorial leadership have dragged his own party off a political cliff."

The BNP's election prospects took a blow earlier this month when it emerged that around 15 former members, including some key figures such as former Yorkshire organiser Chris Beverley, had defected and are standing for the English Democrats in next month's elections. On his blog Beverley said it had been a "huge decision" and blamed the actions of Griffin and his leadership team for the party's problems.

Goodwin said: "There are just over 200 BNP candidates but there are 390 far-right candidates in total so what we are seeing quite clearly is that the far right is splintering, not just among one or two parties but among a whole host of groups and factions … it is the classic case of far-right parties in the UK shooting themselves in the foot."

Analysts say BNP infighting has allowed other far-right and nationalist groups to come to the fore. Organisations such as the English Defence League, the English Democrats and the British Freedom party are now challenging the BNP, but perhaps its biggest threat is a resurgent UK Independence party, which beat both the Conservatives and Lib Dems to come second in a byelection in Barnsley last month.

"The activists that are frustrated with the incompetence of the BNP are going to the EDL or other rightwing factions and many [former voters] are going to Ukip if they want something more respectable," said Goodwin. "The BNP are being outflanked on all sides."

Opponents say the defections and wider splits mean the party is struggling to stand candidates in some of its core areas.

BNP spokesman Simon Darby dismissed the defections, saying: "People have gone, that is it … but wait and see about that, I think they are going to regret that, just wait and see."

He defended Griffin, insisting he was still a popular leader and that it was "a miracle" the party was still operating following what he said was a relentless campaign to undermine it by the media and the state. "I am just pleased we are still here putting up a campaign in seats we may win … we are still in the game and are looking to regroup after all the dust has settled on this election," he said.

Griffin has come under growing pressure since the BNP's poor showing in last year's general and council elections, when it lost all but two of the 28 councillors up for re-election and was wiped out in its east London stronghold of Barking and Dagenham. It now has 23 councillors, compared with 54 a year ago, and several senior figures, including election co-ordinator Eddie Butler and London assembly member Richard Barnbrook, have come out against Griffin.

The rebels' anger is focused on Griffin's leadership style and concern about the party's debts which were exacerbated this week when the Electoral Commission said the BNP had failed to keep adequate financial records for the second year running.

"We have sought an urgent meeting with the party to discuss the steps they need to take to comply with the law," said a spokesman for the commission.

The party is reportedly £500,000 in debt although Darby said that the figure was "coming down".

"We are making good progress on that, that debt will be serviced," he added.

Although a poor showing in next month's elections would increase the pressure on Griffin to stand down, Goodwin said that remains unlikely.

"Griffin will hang on because the BNP constitution means it is almost impossible to oust him... [He] is doing the party in, it is not connecting with voters, they are running out of money but he is not going to go anywhere... they truly are a fading star and it is almost entirely because of Griffin's incompetence."

The Guardian

Dirty rotten racist

A BNP Assembly candidate is exposed as a racist who calls Muslims ‘Ragheads’ and refers to Catholics as ‘Taigs’.

And Steven Moore, who will contest both the East Antrim Assembly and council elections, also has a fascination with Hitler

The party’s Ulster Organiser is one of the first BNP candidates to finally put themselves at the mercy of the electorate.

On Wednesday the far-right party announced they would be contesting three Assembly seats and would also be targeting four council seats.

Another of the candidates is former Traditional Unionist Voice candidate Ann Cooper who caused controversy when she gave support to seven customs workers who were sacked for deliberately underpaying ethnic minorities.

She said the sacked workers deserved a medal!

Hooligans

The BNP have cranked up their efforts in Northern Ireland in the run-up to the election on May 5.

Last week before the Northern Ireland soccer match at Windsor Park, BNP activists connected to football hooligans from Leeds handed out sick anti-Muslim leaflets to fans.

The shocking leaflet carried the headline, “Our Children are not Halal Meat” and warned how Muslim paedophile gangs are “preying on vulnerable white girls”.

But we can reveal Moore is a real walking rightwing cliché!

He’s seen here posing in braces, jeans and a Fred Perry t-shirt sporting a pair of dark shades and the obligatory skinhead and tattoo.

Despite attempts from the far-right party, led by convicted racist Nick Griffin, to re-brand themselves as a friendly non-racist party they continue to be run by people like Moore.

Ulster organiser Moore is exposed here as a racist who loves Hitler videos, slagging off ethnic minorities and listening to twisted skinhead bands.

Moore may claim to have all the Protestant credentials needed to run the BNP in Northern Ireland, but he also comes with the usual embarrassment of sectarian hatreds and relaxed attitude towards rape and violence.

Moore has joked online how he had been arrested after raping a female work colleague for an April Fool’s joke and made unsavoury comments about the blind.

And Moore’s grasp of Northern Ireland isues is disturbing.

He described the pogrom against Roma families in south Belfast three years ago as an act against people who are “inherently criminal” and “Stinking Gypsy bastards”.

When Moore isn’t posting videos by white power bands such as Skrewdriver on Facebook, he reveals his fancy for all things “Third Reich” by sharing videos of Adolf Hitler with his online friends.

One apparent favourite is entitled: “Why the world cannot forget Adolf Hitler”.

He also has a penchant for songs and videos of the German Wehrmacht.

Mosque

Elsewhere, Moore has thrown his energies into trying to stop a mosque allegedly being built in Ballymena and more recently launched a campaign to terrify the people of Larne that a proposed detention centre for failed asylum seekers will turn their town into some sort of Asian ghetto.

Like most BNP members, Moore calls Muslims “ragheads” and Catholics “taigs”.

Other pointers to Moore’s opinions are revealed in some of his Facebook entries.

One starts: “Why the f**k do parents allow their daughters to run about at all hours of the night with Asians when these outrages are common knowledge? Bring back the rope.”

And another highlights his loyalist roots: “F**k the Bloody Sunday enquiry.We have always been the victims of republican genocide.”

Last night anti-Fascist campaigner Matthew Collins told the Sunday World that the people of Northern Ireland do not need the BNP.

“The BNP represent a dark age where bigotry is seen as a simple solution to complex issues,” he said while on a visit to Belfast.

“To move forward Northern Ireland has to reject racism as well as sectarianism. The BNP offers nothing on both.

“Their appointment of Steven Moore is a step into the past judging by his warped views and opinions and I don’t think the people of Ulster will be in a rush to get behind this right wing dinosaur.”

Thanks to The Sunday World and Hope not Hate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His campaign will start tomorrow morning in Barking.

The Times

Caption Competition

What are these two pillocks up to?

BNP forced to close membership over race bias

The British National Party was today forced to move to amend its constitution so that it does not bar members on grounds of race or religion.

The move came after the Equality and Human Rights Commission started a county court action against the far-right party, accusing it of breaching the race relations laws. But proceedings at Central London County Court were adjourned after lawyers said that the party leader, Nick Griffin, would put a revised constitution before a BNP party meeting next month.

In the meantime, Robin Allen, QC, for the Commission, said that Mr Griffin had said that the party had agreed not to accept any new members until the new constitution was in place.

The concession was hailed as a victory by the Commission. John Wadham, legal director said: “We are pleased that the Party has conceded this case and agreed to all of the Commission’s requirements. We believed that the BNP’s constitution was unlawful because its membership criteria discriminated on grounds of ethnic minority status and colour. This is not a political issue — the policy of the BNP is not a party for us. It is about obeying the law, which everyone is obliged to do.”

The Commission had statutory powers and duties to ensure that no-one discriminated against another, he added. “We could not ignore a political party that was acting unlawfully.”

Chris Roberts, spokesman for the BNP Eastern region, accused Mr Wadham as they left the court of being a “disgrace” and warned him that he would face a charge for “crimes against the British people”.

Mr Roberts said: “I don’t know what the membership will vote to do but I think we will take a common sense approach.”

He said that the BNP had been forced to give the undertakings by the “liberal Marxist establishment” which wanted to see the BNP put out of business now that it was doing well in the elections. This will not change our core beliefs,” he added. “But if we want to be fighting elections and we are being forced into this, no doubt we will be forced to change our constitution.”

The case was adjourned until January 28 when the judge, Judge Paul Collins, will see if the constitution has been appropriately revised.

But the Equalities Bill, which is going through Parliament, may in any case force the party’s hand as it removes a provision the BNP relies on to justify membership criteria.

Mr Wadham said: “It is unfortunate that the BNP spent several months before conceding and dealing properly with our legal requirements. We will be monitoring the BNP’s compliance with this court order on membership and its other legal obligations, including to its constituents.”

In the order agreed at the court the BNP agreed to use all reasonable endeavours to revise its constitution so that it does not discriminate, either directly or indirectly on any “protected characteristic” - for example on the grounds of race, ethnic or religious status - as defined in clause 4 of the Equality Bill.

The changes must be made as soon as reasonably practicable, and no later than three months from today.

The order also states that from 15th October 2009, until the new constitution comes into effect, BNP Chairman Nick Griffin will close the membership of the Party to all new membership applications.

The Commission sent a letter to the BNP in June setting out concerns about the party’s constitution and membership because “the criteria appeared to restrict membership to those within what the BNP regards as particular ‘ethnic groups’ and those whose skin colour is white”. That exclusion was contrary to the Race Relations Act, it said. It asked the BNP to amend its constitution and to make clear that it did not discriminate against potential or actual members on racial grounds.

After the BNP had failed to comply with these requirements in August, the Commission issued county court proceedings to seek an injunction to force it to act.

The Times

Senior Labour MP accuses BBC of 'whitewash' over coverage of BNP rise to power

BBC bosses are under fire for going soft on the far right British National Party.

News chiefs at the corporation were accused of a ‘whitewash’ for delaying an investigation into the extremist views of the BNP until after the European elections next month. The poll on June 4th could see the neo-fascist group gain British seats in the Brussels Parliament for the first time.

Campaigners and MPs said that politically correct liberals at the BBC are ‘being played like fools’ for treating the BNP like ‘any other political party’. The party’s leader Nick Griffin has already been offered a one to one chat with the BBC interviewer Andrew Marr if his party acquires its first MEP.

The anti-fascist campaign group Searchlight called for an explanation of the BBC’s decision to postpone the broadcast of an investigation into a senior British National Party activist with links to the South African security services. The shelved investigation, being produced by BBC Wales, features Arthur Kemp, the South African head of BNP election distribution, who was arrested following the murder of anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani, in 1993.

Although subsequently released, Kemp admitted producing a list of names of prominent ANC activists that was found at the home of one of Hani’s killers.

Searchlight is also angry that a Newsnight report titled ‘the rising power of the BNP’ broadcast last week concluded: ‘It looks like a more moderate BNP courting voters this spring.’ The programme failed to mention that Clive Jefferson one of the BNP activists it interviewed was arrested two years ago for an alleged public order offence, following a complaint from a member of the public that he had been threatening and abusive whilst distributing BNP literature.

A second BNP figure featured in the report, Martin Wingfield, was arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned in 1985 under the Race Relations Act, following distribution of racist literature. His criminal record was not mentioned either and BNP Deputy Leader Simon Darby advised his members to watch the broadcast, claiming it was, ‘not a bad piece overall’.

Senior Labour MP Jon Cruddas has written to Helen Boaden, the director of BBC News to call for a change of tack, after it also emerged that BNP spokesman have also been interviewed by a BBC camera crew for a second Newsnight piece on ‘British Jobs For British Workers’, a phrase used by Gordon Brown but now appropriated as the BNP’s election slogan.

He wrote: ‘It seems to me that there is total confusion within the BBC regarding editorial policy towards the British National Party. Membership of the BNP is proscribed in a number of public sector organisations, such as the Police and the Prison Service. It is not, ‘just another political party’.

‘There is no attempt to scrutinise the BNP on their extremist policy platform, their membership, their links to other extremist organisations, or their extremist philosophy.’

Mr Cruddas said: ‘Their activists are featured, but not challenged. Issues favourable to their agenda are analysed on national news and current affairs outlets. Invitations are extended to their spokesman indicating they are to be treated as if they are a mainstream political party. And programmes which expose their extremist and racist agenda are shelved. It is imperative that common sense and clarity are brought to the Corporation’s editorial policy towards this neo-Fascist organisation.’

A Searchlight spokesman added: ‘The BBC are being played like fools by the BNP. The Newsnight broadcast was a whitewash, and now they’re axing programmes because of pressure from Nick Griffin and his thugs.

'If the BBC want to cover the BNP that’s fine, but they have to challenge them and properly expose their agenda of prejudice and hate.’

Daily Mail

'The BNP are now a bigger threat than ever'

Labour is facing its biggest threat from the BNP, Harriet Harman admits today, as the party gears up to prevent the far right group from winning its first seats in nationwide elections this June for the European Parliament.

In an interview with The Independent Ms Harman, the Leader of the Commons, who is heading Labour's election effort in in her role as the party's chairman and deputy leader, said Labour was launching its biggest-ever campaign targeting the BNP. "It is a worry," she said. "Certainly they [the BNP] are a bigger threat than they have been before."

Labour fears the BNP could land two or three seats in the European elections, which are fought under a proportional representation (PR) system based on huge regional constituencies. Labour believes the BNP threat is greatest in the North West, where its leader, Nick Griffin, is a candidate; Yorkshire and the Humber and the East and West Midlands.

Labour is mobilising at local level wherever there is a sign of heavy BNP activity. National funding has been provided for "Stop the BNP" leaflets, and Labour uses a different slogan – "fairness not fear" – rather than its national theme of "winning the fight for Britain's future". It is also linking up with anti-fascist groups such as Searchlight and sending anti-BNP battlebuses into areas targeted by the group.

However, Labour leaders have rejected calls from many of their own MPs to launch a full-frontal national attack on the BNP, fearing that would merely play into the party's hands by giving it "the oxygen of publicity".

Labour insists it is matching the BNP at its own game – by fighting it at local level. "Most people are not aware the BNP is standing," Ms Harman said yesterday after a campaign visit to the North West. "It is below the radar. There is very low public awareness of these elections. For us, it is a question of pointing out the dangers of the BNP, which now wears suits but whose ideology is as pernicious as ever."

She said Labour's challenge was to persuade its supporters to vote even when they thought their area was "safe Labour ". They will be told that would help the BNP, which could land seats under the complex PR formula used by winning between nine and 12 per cent of the votes. "The electoral system makes it more of a challenge for us," she said. "We are telling people every vote counts, to come out and vote or else they will let the BNP in."

Some Labour MPs fear the party will pay a price for neglecting white working-class voters. Ms Harman is more diplomatic. "It is very important for the party to be active, to say to people we are on your doorstep, on the phone, on your side," she said. "The party is focused on the BNP in this election in a way it hasn't been previously. But the solution is not just mobilising young people or mobilising in a particular region."

She argued that the BNP had won council seats after an impressive campaign but then been unseated at next election. "There is a pattern of them getting elected, [and] not delivering what they said they would," she said.

Elections also take place in county councils in England on 4 June. The last three times these seats were up for grabs, the poll coincided with a general election – helping Labour, which traditionally benefits from a higher turnout. Similarly, Labour's performance in the last European elections in 2004 was helped by experiments with postal votes, which also raised turnout.

All parties play down expectations ahead of such elections, in the hope they can claim on the night. they have performed better than expected. Labour officials insist they have reason to fear a "double whammy" this year: an anti-government protest vote due to the recession and a turnout which could easily drop to around 30 per cent.

"There is always a danger of low turnouts in European elections," Ms Harman admitted. "People know what their council and their government does for them. They are not quite clear yet what the European Parliament means to them. A low turnout does not help us."

Despite such fears, Ms Harman insisted that the elections provide "a real opportunity" for Labour to spell out the dividing lines with the Conservative Party. "We are not on the defensive; we are on the front foot," she said.

She believes the Tories' recent talk of a public spending squeeze to balance the nation's books if they win power allows Labour to run campaigns about which local services would be at risk. "It is a good opportunity to be highlighting what the recent Tory pronouncements would mean," she said.

Because of the recession, Ms Harman conceded that the June polls would be "challenging" for the Government, and acknowledged that it needed to explain how Gordon Brown's strong leadership at last week's G20 summit would help them in their daily lives.

Admitting people were "apprehensive" about the economy, she said: "People understand the argument Gordon is making about the need to take action. They have worries about how it will affect the future of public services. They have seen the investment going in, and know the Tories would cut it."

Ms Harman told Labour MPs at a private meeting that the June elections would be a "dry run" for the general election. In public, she played that down, knowing commentators will be eager to say heavy Labour losses in June mean the party cannot win a general election. She pointed out that Labour has done poorly in local and European contests before, only to win the following general election. "It is an opportunity to get our message across," she said."But it is a very different kettle of fish because of the turnout issue." She admitted Labour's budget would be tight – even though the party's treasurer, Jack Dromey, is her husband. "We are mobilising human resources," she said.

The BNP said yesterday it had raised £170,000 towards its £220,000 target for its campaign fund for the European elections. "This will be the day the people of this country say, 'that's it ... enough is enough!' and will vote for the British National Party in their millions," it said.

Election facts

*Elections take place on 4 June for the European Parliament and county councils.

*In the last European elections in 2004, the Tories won 27 seats and 27 per cent of the vote; Labour 19 seats (23 per cent); the UK Independence Party (Ukip) 12 seats (16 per cent) and the Liberal Democrats 12 seats (15 per cent).

*Ukip's fortunes have declined since. Labour and the Tories suspect most voters who switch from Ukip will go to the Tories, although Labour fears some could back the BNP.

*Some 2,300 council seats in 34 English local authorities will be contested – on 27 county councils and seven in all-purpose "unitary" authorities.

*There are no local elections in Scotland or Wales this year.

*The Tories, traditionally strong in the counties, are defending about 1,200 seats. Labour, which is defending about 490 seats, fears it will lose about half and lose control of all its four counties – Staffordshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The Liberal Democrats are defending about 500 seats.

*Experts say the Tories need to win more than 40 per cent of the national vote to show David Cameron is on track to win the general election.

The Independent

The Muppet Show

One night, idly modding the comments on here, I came upon ten successive posts all plainly from the same individual, whose burblings grew increasingly more deranged the further up the list I worked.

"Am I getting to you yet?" demanded this idiot at one point (well, no, because I can hit "reject" quicker than - say - a mad BNP legal eagle can bash out insults).

The final comment ended with the epithet "Muppets!", a plural noun coincidentally much beloved of one Lee John Barnes, the man who managed (belatedly) to join the BNP for a fiver less than anybody else, if we are to believe his Walk Towards The Light postings on Stormfront (regular Stormfronters were a little surprised that Mr Barnes did not seem to know the cost of the BNP membership he had apparently just paid).

It may be remembered that Barnes, known by many on his side of the fence as "Bagel" or "Bonkers", made a threat to sue Lancaster UAF (as was) and me personally to force us to hand over the details of friends and supporters here making comments not to his liking:

What I found most disgusting about these comments was the allegation that I have been making death threats ... I do not have any money to defend myself over any allegations like these by hiring a solicitor, but I am prepared to sue Denise Garside personally and Lancaster UAF and order their ISP provider to hand over the details of anyone making such an allegation on their site ... I suggest that the Lancaster UAF now remove that posting before I issue a writ for it.

(I had better point out here that all Barnes's words as republished in this article have been copied and pasted "as is", and apologise in advance to those who are offended by bad language.)

Barnes made his threat on December 24th. We're still waiting for the writ - in fact, we're desperate to receive it!

Over the years Barnes has been a great source of amusement for anti-fascist Stormfront watchers as he stalked the threads in his various guises, fooling almost nobody (least of all the resident Nazis) as he puffed and preened and polished whatever reputation he imagined himself to possess.

As Walk Towards The Light, a nom-de-guerre Barnes has retained longer than is normal for him, the 21st Century British Nationalist appears to function as Nick Griffin's attack dog, disrupting threads and posting insults whenever the bona fides of the BNP's leader are called into question, as they are with monotonous frequency.

Barnes also functions as moderator on the BNP's own dissent-free internal forum, and in his Stormfront persona as Walk Towards The Light recently appeared to confirm to suspicious fellow posters that the IP addresses of BNP dissenters posting on Stormfront were passed over to the moderators of the BNP forum. The supposition of the suspicious Stormfonters was that since BNP members need to supply their membership numbers to join the BNP forum, dissenters could be easily identified if their logged Stormfront and BNP forum IP addresses matched.

We couldn't possibly confirm such an outrageous allegation, and therefore won't be repeating it here...

We can, however, confirm that notoriously pro-Griffin Stormfront moderator John Joy Tree, aka Andy Robertson, this week openly celebrated renewing his BNP membership. Of course, the fact that Stormfront is allegedly proscribed to BNP members under pain of expulsion (step forward founder member Keith Axon) is of little consequence to the likes of Robertson and Barnes - at least, while they are in Griffin's good books.

Those who can be bothered to plough through the primary-school grammar, foul language and execrable spelling of Barnes's 21st Century British Nationalism blog will have found themselves periodically confronted by his side-splitting attempts at poetry. As these are close relatives of Monty Python's Funniest Joke in the World, and as our readers may not survive the experience of their repetition here, we elect to publish only the visitor comments to Barnes's "Cry Africa":

"You're a shite poet, crap lawyer...why do you bother to wake up in the morning?"

"Do try to learn to spell and use apostrophes."

And:

"We've just been in touch with Fergal Keane. He was really interested in what you had to say about him. All that libel and lies in one post. And he wasn't happy at all. Not at all ... No point in taking the post down. Copies off it stored at many locations ... Hehehe."

Which interjection brings us to the fact that while Lee John Barnes is famously thin-skinned when insults and (alleged) libels are heading in his direction, he is just as famously unrestrained when it comes to handing them out.

The person claiming that journalist Fergal Keane had been contacted was referring to an earlier boggle-eyed Barnes rant, "Fergal Keane and the blood on his hands", which contained the following observations:

"Keane was one of the main propagandists for the ANC during his years as a BBC journalist in South Africa... Like the rest of the verminous journalist sub species ( Homo Ratus ) Keane was one of the first to jump the sinking ship once he had finished gnawing away at its foundations sufficently to ensure it sunk... It was journalists like Keane with their biased, political pro-ANC propaganda that ensured the world had a distorted and one sided view of South Africa under apartheid... It was people like Keane who supported the ANC and who propagandised the ANC who now bear the shame and guilt of the way that South Africa has descended into a corrupt and criminal ochlocracy under the control of ANC thugs and killers."

Several thousand quids in compo for Fergal there already, methinks, but Lee was on a roll:

"The youth brigades that Keane propagandised to the world as the liberators of South Africa, were nothing more than insane criminals and murderers... It was Keane and his ilk who sought to portray those animals as heroes, who destroyed South Africa and who know bear the blood guilt of the 50 murders a day that afflict that tortured nation."

Why stop there?

"It is white liberal wankers like Fergal Keane who propagandised and demonised white rule who are the agents of this crisis."

Any more?

"The white boss man Keane made sure the natives did as he demanded and got their ANC government and then fucked off out of the country and left them to rot whilst the legacy of his liberal delusions destroyed the country and their lives."

Finished yet?

"If idiots like Keane hadnt propagandised the ANC and acted as its recruiters and got innocent Africans to join the ANC movement, then the thousands of deaths caused by the ANC waging wars against its enemies during aparheid would not have happened and nor would South Africa be in the crisis it is in today It was white scum like Keane who beat the drum for the killers in the ANC that bear the guilt of the killings today."

That it?

"It was you Keane who glorified ANC crimes and killings... It was you Keane who created the culture of death and violence in South Africa that was the resut of the ANC existing and coming into power... It is you Keane who has the blood of the thousands upon thousands of innocent people on your hands."

Even more?

"You beat the drum for the ANC, you propagandised the ANC, you glorified the children dragged from their schools by the ANC and turned into killers and criminals... It is you Keane and all those liberal filth with their propaganda and lies that bear the guilt and shame of South Africa today."

I think we can see where Lee is going with this so we'll leave it there.

Curiously, that post attracted no comments at all until the person who was allegedly party to the contacting of Fergal Keane made his remarks. Barnes retorted to him: "As for you, you leftist pond slime, crawl back into the arsehole that you crawled out of. Degenerate scum."

Suddenly, and in the same few hours, several supportive comments appeared on the Keane post, replete with Barnsian terminology ("murder-enabling scum") and spelling ("hipocrisy"). Was Barnes getting worried?

If he was, he quickly blew any defence to the four winds.

Dear Fergal,

If you are reading this please sue me.

That way I can declare myself bankrupt after the trial and cost the BBC hundreds of thousands of pounds when I opt to fight the court case all the way in open court.

Please, please sue me. This blog could do with the publicity.

Taking on the BBC would give me a publicity boost equivalent to a viagra.

To be honest I have only managed to get one libel case into the Royal Court of Justice as a Mackenzie friend and need the experience of fighting one involving myself.

If anyone else wants to sue me for libel please feel free.

I shall check the email on a regular basis for any legal letters etc.

P.S Fergal how did it feel watching the Black African guy say that he wanted the National Party back in power because the ANC was such a nightmare.

Instead of listening to the man you just dismissed him with a ' you must be joking'.

No Fergal he wasnt joking - and the fact you even suggested he was in order to 'shame' him for telling you how he felt was evidence of your liberal bias, contempt for him as a real person (other than as a black who should act as you as white liberal demand he should )and your adherence to the beliefs of liberal bullshit.

He told the truth as he saw it, and you ridiculed him for it. It is you as a white liberal journalist in South Africa at the time of the ANC war who is responsible for much of the carnage that has resulted from the takeover of power by the ANC. But you could not accept that truth, as to do so would mean you would have to accept your role in creating the nightmare.

You and the BBC are the agents of the demise of South Africa as you propagandised and eulogised the ANC, and as such are complict in the murders committed by the ANC and also the social collapse of African society.

Now scuttle along to your lawyers and get your writ typed up.

Muppet.

There's that word "Muppet" again!

Before moving on, let's just take a quick tour of the towering legal intellect's blog to see who else has recently been in line for a syntactically tortured mauling.

There's Jeremy Paxman: "Jeremy Paxman, BBC journalist on a million quid a year and hypocritical liberal arsehole... Paxman your a fucking arsehole mate."

The RMT's Bob Crow: "...retarded Marxist thug... The RMT is run by a clique of political dinosaurs around their own little tin pot Stalin, Comrade Bob."

BBC producer Nasreen Suleaman: "Stupid lieing Taqqiya bitch."

The Home Office: "(for members of the press / government / police reading this I have copyrighted the words THE MYSTERONS to describe the non-Muslim Islamist terrorists who are not motived by Islam/ Islamism. Therefore if any overpaid fifthwit in the Home Office uses my copyrighted phrase to describe Al Qaeda / THE MYSTERONS then I will sue your ass )."

Fifthwit? (Answers on a postcard to Lancaster Unity.)

Jon Cruddas: "Labour goon and hypocrite."

Billy Brag: "...twat..."

Miscellaneous verbatim:

The Hag Ebanks ( a delusional and hideous freak who lies even about her own ethnicity )

Adrian Davis ( The Mekon - sad, inadequate dwarf who has had a decade long sulk about the BNP not understanding his 'genius')

Kenny Smith ( Thief )

Steve Blake ( Data Thief )

John Brayshaw ( idiot )

Sadie Graham ( ringleader of the thieves )

That's enough of that, I think.

We could at this point move on to Barnes the Scientist's Mirror Neurone Theory: "For a while I have been working on a theory that links the Cro-Magnons, Western Culture and altruism. It is my theory that the basis of human altruism and our capacity for creating complex and advanced social structures and cultures is due to the increase in the numbers of mirror neurones in the human brain and the increased connections between the mirror neurones and the neo-cortex."

Or we could discuss Barnes and UFO's: "It was about six foot long and about six foot wide and rose up into the sky then disappeared back below the skyline as soon as I sighted it. The movement was deliberate and controlled. The object had been lifting itself above the woods from the ground and when it came into eyesight recoiled to the right with incredible speed. As soon it realised it was being observed it dropped back below the trees. This suggests to me that not only was it under conscious direction but that it was aware it was being observed and took direct action to ensure that it could not be observed."

As ever, Barnes has a Theory: "... as some the witnesses at some UFO sightings state that US military insignia are seen on the crafts, but if the latter is true then we have to start dealing with this in a serious way. That means getting the US to admit it has these craft, what technology they are using, what the capacity is of these craft, what threat they pose to our national security if the Chinese get hold of the technology and also what the bloody hell have they been doing not giving their closest allies access to this technology."

My theory is that Barnes really did see a UFO which silently scanned his brain and was so traumatised that it couldn't get back to Alpha Centauri fast enough.

Let's leave the last word to the "sad, inadequate dwarf" and barrister Adrian Davies, posting as Insurgent on Stormfront:

You've been smoking too much pot again, Bagel . . . Let me put that another way. You are a malicious liar, and have made that story up out of envy and resentment of your betters. If you don't like that comment, well, you know that I am rich enough to be well worth suing, so go ahead and make my day.

Now the Eddas tell us not to bandy words with ill bred oafs, and the moderators tell us not to get off topic, but since you have sorely provoked me, let me tell you a story about an incompetent saddo wannabe lawyer, who has been a failure all his life. Unlike your mendacious inventions, it has the merit of being true.

There is a train driver who lives in the South of England, in one of the Medway towns. He is a gutsy nationalist, and stood as a BNP candidate in a local election. His union, ASLEF, decided to expel him for being a BNP member, which was illegal under the law as it stood at the time (one of Maggie Thatcher’s better laws).

The train driver asked Wannabe to help him take on the union in the Employment Tribunal. Let’s be fair to Wannabe. He did a pretty good job at first, but then conceit or devilry or smoking too much weed got to him, and he began to play very silly buggers indeed.

Wannabe had the use of the train driver’s computer to help him to prepare the case. He used it to post grossly libellous attacks on several ASLEF officials on a website called trueaslef.com. These libels were complete inventions of Wannabe’s, but he used the train driver's name when posting, because after all, Wannabe is in his own estimation (though no-one else’s) a very important person indeed, and working class nobodies such as train drivers are expendable.

Not surprisingly, the union officials who had been falsely accused of stealing its funds and using them to pay for holidays with prostitutes in five star hotels in Cuba were not best pleased with the train driver whom they believed had posted the libels. Their belief was not unreasonable, considering that the e-mails were signed off with the train driver's name, and came from his e-mail address. So they sued the train driver.

When the case came to Court, Wannabe went on holiday to Cornwall because he is a coward and a liar, and was afraid to give evidence. The train driver went down for a huge amount despite his barrister's best efforts. The trouble was, the jury wanted to know why Wannabe wasn't there to 'fess up and dig the train driver out of the hole into which he had dropped him. Luckily for the train driver, his barrister was able to sort the mess that Wannabe had made out a few months down the line, but in the meanwhile, the train driver had to live with the prospect of losing his home, where he lives with his partner and their sick child. Wannabe however had a good holiday in Cornwall. Now he blames the train driver's barrister for not winning that case . . .

How would you like Wannabe to represent you?

How would you indeed!

All together now:

It's time to play the music
It's time to light the lights
It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!

BNP to contest Barrow-in-Furness Ormsgill ward

The British National Party has re-launched a bid to get into Barrow town hall – despite its drubbing at the last local elections. The far right political group will field the same candidate, Mike Ashburner, who stood for a Central ward seat on the council last May.

Mr Ashburner, of Sidney Street, came last out of four Central ward candidates, with 100 out of around 1,000 votes. This time he will contest Ormsgill, the ward represented by Peoples Party leader Jim Hamezeian.

Mr Ashburner told the Evening Mail his party has a good deal of support there and reckons he has a “realistic” chance of getting elected.

The BNP opposes mixed race relationships and believes all immigration into Britain should be stopped. But Mr Ashburner insists neither he, nor his party, is racist. He said: “We stand up for local people, the British people. We stand for democracy, for freedom of speech and against political correctness.”

The BNP’s “second front” in Barrow brought scorn from other local political parties, with deputy Labour group leader, Councillor Dave Pidduck, saying: “The residents of Central ward last year clearly showed the BNP that there’s no place for them in Barrow. They have nothing whatsoever to offer the people of this borough. There’s no way they could address the problems the borough faces in terms of creating jobs, improving the environment and getting investment into the town. To vote for them is just a waste of a vote.”

Cllr Hamezeian said: “It’s quite obvious to everyone that the BNP is a racist party. They try to cause hatred within the community and everyone knows what the BNP stands for. I would have thought Ashburner would have learned his lesson from the election in Central. He got the lowest percentage of them all and he didn’t get anywhere.”

Council leader and Conservative chief, Councillor Bill Joughin, said: “My own view is that whilst I deplore their policies, I recognise in a democratic country they’re entitled to stand. I’ve no doubt the electorate of Barrow and Ormsgill will show them that there’s no room for their brand of politics in Barrow. From a practical point of view, I don’t think there’s a big enough minority in Barrow to support even the election of one councillor.”

Independent leader, Councillor Eric Wood, said: “They’re not exactly my cup of tea but I think it’s up to the individual whether they want to vote for them or not.”

And Liberal Democrat spokesman Barry Rabone said: “Liberal Democrats believe in the right of the individual to freedom of expression. We trust though that the voters of Barrow and Dalton will strongly reject the BNP message in the forthcoming May elections, as they have done so in previous elections.”

Paul Jenkins, spokesman for Barrow and South Cumbria Unite Against Fascism, said: “We need everyone to use their vote to vote against the BNP, because they offer no solutions for ordinary people.”

An anti-racism family event is planned for Ormsgill community centre on April 13.

North West Evening Mail

Thursday's by-elections - still no breakthrough for BNP

Thursday's crop of local by-election results brought no sign of a revival for the electorally moribund British National Party. In only one ward (Southend Shoeburyness) did they improve over their May vote - by 0.5%, their candidate coming fourth out of five standing, with 13.94%.

Elsewhere where the BNP's by-election vote can be measured against its May outings the trend of BNP stagnation and vote leakage continued.

In Worcester St. Clements their vote dropped from 15.8% to 11.67%, a loss of 4.3%, giving them third place in a field of five. In Birmingham Brandwood the loss was 2.65%, down from an already low 8.85% to 6.2%., putting the BNP third in a field of eight.

Sharon Ebanks's rebel New Nationalist Party also stood in Brandwood, scoring a paltry 25 votes (0.5%) - a fact BNP members are already using to take the focus off their own dismal performance. Ebanks's party has for some time been considered a spent force and this result can only further underline its irrelevance.

In Wigan's West ward the BNP's vote loss was marginal. The lack of a Conservative candidate this time around did not help them and it appears that most Tory voters gave their support to the Liberal Democrats, who did not contest the seat in May. With 264 votes (13.78%) the BNP came a poor third to the LibDems, who took 24.22%.

The BNP broke fresh ground in two other wards, obtaining a better result than it claims it expected in Copeland Harbour (Whitehaven) and a worse than expected result in Nuneaton and Bedworth Abbey.

In Copeland Harbour ward BNP candidate Bill Pugh came third of three with 23.44% of the vote, a surprise to the BNP and anti-fascists alike. The turnout was disappointing with only a third of electors bothering to take part, a fact which may have helped the BNP, which conducted an intensive campaign and pulled out all the stops to get its vote out on polling day.

The BNP's biggest disappointment of the night came in Nuneaton and Bedworth's Abbey ward, contested by serial candidate Alwyn Deacon. The BNP believed it might win the ward and never failed to talk up its prospects, BNP deputy leader Simon Darby writing on his blog that the election would be "close" and that he thought the BNP were "in with a chance".

It wasn't to be. The BNP came second in a field of six, mustering 21.49% to Labour's 37.94% - putting the BNP more than 16% adrift and leaving questions to be asked about the effectiveness of its research and the veracity of its canvass returns. The Liberal Democrat vote collapsed back from nearly 36% to just over 19%, the party's supporters switching to Labour as the perceived scale of the BNP threat became apparent in the last days of the campaign.

We have previously said that the months' long picture of BNP vote stall may be interrupted by the odd nasty surprise and the Copeland Harbour result certainly comes close to being that, but overall the story of electoral stagnation continues. It should be borne in mind that these are isolated by-elections and that the BNP is able to concentrate its supporters and finances into these small areas for intensive campaign work, a luxury that will not be available to the party next May.

Even so, while a comparison of last night's votes with those obtained in May (where possible) certainly indicates that the BNP is as far away from a breakthrough as ever, the results from Copeland Harbour and Nuneaton and Bedworth Abbey wards deserve some attention. There was no danger of the BNP being elected in either of these places, but the party has established a strong base vote in both. Though our feeling is that this is as good as it's going to get for the BNP in these wards and that subsequent elections will see their vote fall back, nothing can be taken for granted.

No matter how the BNP spins last night's results - and they will spin them - electorally the party is clearly at bay. We must be frank and admit that pre-May we quietly shared the BNP's expectation that by now we would be dealing with around 100 BNP councillors and recording a number of local by-election successes. That hasn't happened and on current form seems unlikely to happen any time in the near future, pleasing us as much as it has caused bitter disappointment within the BNP - but this relative good news does not mean that we can afford to take our eye off the ball.

The BNP will be looking for ways to break out of its present electoral impasse and we must remain as vigilant as ever. A single terrorist incident or a misguided statement by a leading politician could put a completely different gloss on the situation.

In no small measure the BNP's retreat into electoral stagnation can be ascribed to the unsung and untiring efforts of those small groups of anti-fascists who take the ugly truth of the BNP to the doorsteps of voters come rain or shine. They deserve our gratitude and support. Thank you, boys and girls. Your success is their failure.

Results (May percentages on right):

Birmingham Brandwood
Lab	1998	42.74
Con	1663	35.57
LibDem	285	6.10
BNP	290	6.20	8.85
Green	193	4.13
UKIP	64	1.37
NNP	25	0.53
Ind	157	3.36
Total	4675
Copeland Harbour
Lab	463	44.31
Con	337	32.25
BNP	245	23.44
Total	1045
Wigan West
Lab	837	43.68
LibDem	464	24.22
BNP	264	13.78	13.8
Com Act	219	11.43
Ind	72	3.76
Green	60	3.13
Total	1916
Southend Shoeburyness
Lab	460	23.48
Con	494	25.22
LibDem	66	3.37
BNP	273	13.94	13.41
Ind	666	34.00
Total	1959
Worcester St. Clements
Lab	604	42.48
Con	478	33.61
BNP	166	11.67	15.8
Green	52	3.66
UKIP	122	8.58
Total	1422
Nuneaton and Bedworth Abbey
Lab	807	37.94
Con	329	15.47
LibDem	409	19.23
BNP	457	21.49
Green	115	5.41
Ind	10	0.47
Total	2127

BNP official arrested during campaign

Whitehaven police arrested a BNP official in King Street on Saturday.

The Copeland organiser for the BNP, Clive Jefferson, had been giving out BNP literature to town shoppers as part of the by-election campaign for the Copeland Council Harbour ward poll later this month.

Mr Jefferson was arrested after a member of the public alleged he had been threatening or abusive.

Police press spokesman Ben Meller confirmed to The News that: “A 40-year-old man from Cockermouth was arrested for an alleged Section 4 public order offence. There had been reports the BNP had set up a stall in King Street. We saw copies of the literature and it was not regarded as being of a racist or hate crime nature. However there was a complaint from a member of the public of that he had been threatened or abused by a person at the stall.”

He said the arrested man was released without charge but will have to return to Workington police station to answer bail on September 21.

Mr Jefferson later said: “The complainant was not a passive member of the public, he was aggressive and accused us of being fascists.”

Whitehaven News

Fury as the BNP is given show slot

A row has erupted following a decision to allow the British National Party to have a stall at tomorrow’s Vale of Glamorgan Show.

Last year the BNP was allowed to have a stall for the first time in the event’s history. The party will again be setting up on the showground this year, alongside other political parties, including Labour, Conservative and Plaid Cymru.

All three mainstream political parties have expressed concern the BNP has again been granted permission to set up a stall on the showground at Fonmon Castle Park, near Rhoose. But show organisers say that the BNP is a legitimate, licensed political party and that if it was banned from the showground all other political parties would have to be banned too.

Councillor Margaret Alexander, who is Labour leader of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, will be hosting a “Business Brunch” at the authority’s marquee on the showground. She said: “I am not particularly happy at having to share the showground with the BNP. The Labour Party made representations last year that the BNP should not have a tent at the showground this year.”

Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks, who is also a Vale of Glamorgan councillor, will be attending the show. He said: “Whether it is appropriate to have their stand at the show is questionable. The way they play on people's fear is totally abhorrent.”

Councillor Michael Kemp, leader of the Conservative group on the Vale council, said: “I recognise that the BNP is a political party and as such has a right to be at the show. But their views, and the fact that they will be promoting them at the show, concern me.”

Nicola Gibson, general secretary of the Vale of Glamorgan Show, said: “The Vale of Glamorgan Agricultural Society is a non-political organisation. If we allow one political party onto the showground, we have to allow them all. Similarly, if we banned the BNP we would have to ban all the other political parties. We did have a few complaints about the BNP tent at last year’s show from people who just don’t like them.”

A spokesman for the BNP could not be contacted for comment. But at last year’s show a spokesman said the party had policies on rural issues affecting places like the Vale and people were interested in learning more about them.

icWales