York say Charles Wentworth will be invited to deliver Gimcrack speech

• John McCririck claims former BNP donor should be shunned
• Wentworth calls McCririck's intervention 'vindictive and spiteful'

Charles Wentworth will be invited to deliver the Gimcrack speech by officials at York racecourse, despite the public intervention of John McCririck, who has vowed to boycott the occasion because of Wentworth's past as a donor to the British National Party. By a tradition established centuries ago, the honour of giving the speech falls to the owner of the first horse in the Gimcrack Stakes, won by Wentworth's Caspar Netscher on Friday.

McCririck used Channel 4's The Morning Line programme on Saturday to draw attention to Wentworth's past association with the far-right political group, to which the owner admits having made donations over a period of "six or seven" years. However, Wentworth insists that he has not donated for four years and is no longer a member of the BNP. Quoted in the Racing Post, he described McCririck's intervention as "unnecessary, vindictive and spiteful".

"He will be invited in his capacity as an owner," said James Brennan, head of marketing for York racecourse, which organises the dinner. "If you wanted to delve into the private lives of owners or racecourse executives or, heaven forfend, journalists, you might often find something to offend your personal moral code or compass." He pointed out that Wentworth must have passed the fit-and-proper-person test which the British Horseracing Authority applies to all owners.

Brennan stressed that the dinner is a racing occasion and he does not expect the content of the speech to stray beyond the sport's narrow confines into anything that the outside world might recognise as politics. "The owner in question quite often says: 'Great horse, great trainer, great race, great dinner,' and sits down," he said.

"At other times, they might say: 'I don't know where we're going to run him next year because he's not good enough for the Guineas and there's a gap in the pattern for horses like him.' It's that sort of speech. Sheikh Mohammed used the opportunity, many years ago, to express some strong views on racing that were acted upon and there have been other impressive and significant, racing-related addresses. We're proud of it as a racing occasion."

The dinner takes place each December and attendance is limited to 119 guests. Brennan said that past attendees include Prince Charles and Sir Alex Ferguson. McCririck expects that his boycott threat will mean he is not asked this time, but Brennan was coy on the subject.

"The job of compiling the list is not one that falls to me," he said. "So many people like to be invited that there is a bit of natural rotation every year." Asked if anyone else had expressed concern over Wentworth, he said that he had been kept busy through Saturday, dealing with the final day of the track's Ebor meeting.

McCririck maintained his stance on Sunday, describing the Gimcrack speech as "the No1 public-speaking slot in the sport" and saying that Wentworth's involvement "shames the whole of racing". Though happily admitting to holding right-wing views himself, he described the BNP as "a repugnant, vile organisation" and said his concern was for the sport's good name.

"It's how racing will look, as if we're prepared to tolerate this man's views and give him a platform at a prestigious occasion. It's just one little thing but we, in our little world, can show that we're not going to stand for this. The only control I've got is that, if I'm invited, I'm not going to go. I don't want to listen to a man like this."

Caspar Netscher is trained by Alan McCabe at Averham Park outside Newark, also the base for David Brown, whose Frederick Engels was a disappointing fifth of seven behind Dabirsim in the Prix Morny at Deauville on Sunday. David Redvers, an agent for the horse's owner, said the horse was feeling the effects of recent international travel, having raced in Ireland a fortnight ago.

"Johnny Murtagh said he coughed once at the stalls and six times after the race," Redvers reported. "If he had won the Phoenix [at The Curragh], we would never have brought him here, but we thought it was worth a chance. It turns out to have been a mistake. He looked magnificent but when you travel abroad, it's like having a run in itself. We'll give him a long break and bring him back for the Middle Park Stakes."

Mark Johnston had a better day, winning the Prix Kergorlay with Jukebox Jury, on whom Neil Callan rode an intelligent race from the front. Sir Henry Cecil's Timepiece was collared close home by Announce in the Prix Jean Romanet.

Observer

Landowner and BNP donor facing court on dog charge

A landowner who was one of the biggest individual cash donors to the British National Party is facing court action accused of failing to keep his dog under control after it is alleged to have bitten a woman.

Charles Wentworth, 53, who lives at Friston Hall, near Aldeburgh, had his case listed before magistrates in Lowestoft on Monday following the incident on November 17 last year. It was reported to police that Hannah Burns, a 47-year-old woman from the local area, was bitten on the thigh by a Doberman dog on a footpath between Benhall and Friston.

Mr Wentworth, who also owns Friston Village Hall and the village green, is accused of “being the owner of a dog which was dangerous and was not kept under proper control”.

The complaint was made by Ms Burns, and an application has been made for an order that the dog is to be kept under proper control or destroyed. The case was adjourned and is next listed for the magistrates’ court on February 28. No plea has been entered yet. Richard Barker, of Barker Gotelee solicitors, who is representing Mr Wentworth, said his client would be denying the charge.

Mr Wentworth made headlines in 2009 when it emerged he was one of the largest individual donors to the BNP, having handed over more than £38,000 in six cash payments between October 2006 and October 2007. The largest individual payment was for £9,763 and the smallest was for £5,000. Speaking to a national newspaper in 2009, he denied being a racist and said he had joined and helped fund the party because he believed that Britain was “overloaded”.

The Wentworth name has links to the village of Friston and nearby Aldeburgh back to the 18th Century with the family having owned about 100 cottages and farmhouses in the area. Mr Wentworth’s farm is about 660 acres. He is known to support events in the village and has thrown Christmas parties for the village’s children.

Evening Star

BNP's Lie Lorry zooms around Lancaster...

The BNP's Clive 'Am I drooling again?' Jefferson

A couple of days ago, Lancaster was treated to an extremely brief glimpse of the BNP's Lie Lorry as it zoomed around the city centre and back off to the motorway at high speed.

In the very short time it was passing through, an alert was sent out to supporters, though this had hardly been sent when we received confirmed information that the lorry, complete with the BNP's Chief North-Western Dimwit Clive Jefferson in the shotgun seat, was speeding away from Lancaster. Frankly, if it hadn't been for the excrutiatingly loud music and Thicky Jefferson's squawking through the sound system, no-one would have noticed the visit at all.

Naturally, the BNP and Jefferson in particular, can't bear to tell the truth about anything, and this day out for the lads was no exception. On his peculiar Cumbrian Patriot blog, he has this to say;

'The people of Longtown all came out of their houses and shops and lined the main street applauding us...'

Jefferson has posted a video on his blog - made on the day - and it at once struck me as bizarre that he didn't include this inspiring event for us all to watch. But maybe that's because it didn't happen and Jefferson is just bullshitting as usual.

Here he is trying to take a sideswipe at Lancaster anti-fascists;

'Another highpoint was Lancaster, its really interesting to see the effect music such as Rule Britannia and the colours Red, White and Blue have on the small zealot communist element of Lancaster. Some of the scruffy louts where actually jumping up and down shaking their fists at the Truth Truck...'

Er, no, they weren't. Nobody saw it for long enough to shake their fists. And as far as I know, there isn't a 'small zealot communist element' in Lancaster. There are a lot of people who hate the BNP and all it stands for though, and if Jefferson and his fascist chums had the balls to come here and stop for a while, they'd find out that the number of anti-fascists here has grown considerably since their last (short and expensive) visit. There is, needless to say, no video of anyone jumping anywhere or shaking anything.

We all know the BNP is riddled with thugs whose only talent lies in intimidation, and Jefferson proves this very nicely by standing outside the offices of the Cumbrian Newsgroup HQ, raving like a mad drunk, or as he puts it;

'we stopped outside the Cumbrian Newsgroup headquarters and I couldn't resist getting on the tannoy and having a little bit of fun with the editor - Neil -the zealot - Hogekinson, the anti-BNP Editor of the News & Star.'

Perhaps the editor of the News and Star could get his own Tannoy and respond by asking (at top volume) why Jefferson is driving around in a hired lorry that was meant to have been paid for outright by donations from the BNP's members. And then he could ask where the donations actually went. Then maybe he could ask Jefferson how long he's been paid by the party and how much - and precisely when he stopped claiming benefits. And what his views are on drug dealers...

If I were Thicky Jefferson, I'd spend a bit more time tucked away quietly indoors and a lot less time shouting my mouth off and telling porkies.

Job losses as Holocaust Centre faces cash crisis

Up to nine redundancies will be made at the Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire in a bid to alleviate its financial crisis

The memorial and educational centre founded by non-Jewish brothers Stephen and James Smith 14 years ago needs to slash its annual budget from £800,000 to £500,000 and activities such as professional training could be axed. It intends to focus its resources on educating the young — 22,000 primary and secondary pupils visit the centre every year.

Short-term financial support has been provided by the Pears Foundation and the centre has launched an urgent appeal for a further £170,000 to cover the expected shortfall in next year’s budget.

Earlier this year, Stephen Smith took the job as director of Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation in California. James Smith, who has remained, says the centre has struggled to make ends meet in recent years.

“We were doing OK for the first decade but for the last four years it has been hand to mouth. We are attracting more children and have more professional staff so the costs have gone up and we have just not been able to bridge that extra funding. The financial situation in the last year hasn’t helped and there have been donations we were expecting that didn’t come.”

The stark choice had been closure or a radical restructuring of operations. “We have had to slim down hugely and that means cutting staff and other activities.”

It was particularly disheartening as “there has never been a more important time to tackle extremism. When we should be ramping up the work, we’re cutting back”.

JC

Note: The Holocaust Centre website is here. You can donate here.

South Oxhey Community Choir snubs British National Party cash

Members of the South Oxhey Community Choir have rejected a much-needed £1,000 donation offered by a British National Party (BNP) councillor.

The group, featured in the recent BBC programme The Choir: Unsung Town, was offered the money by South Oxhey county councillor Deirdre Gates, elected earlier this year. Like all of the council's 77 representatives Councillor Gates has been given £10,000 to distribute to worthy community groups. The choir’s members, however, decided they could not take money from associated with the right wing party.

Committee member Russ Clancy told the Watford Observer why the group decided to reject the offer: He said: “Obviously we would really like this money but we discovered that if we took it that our name would be used in BNP literature in the future. We’ve worked really hard as a group to be inclusive of everybody and promote an ethnically diverse choir. We don’t feel the BNP shares those values so, as group, we decided to turn the money down.”

Councillor Gates was not available for comment this morning. The retired legal secretary has, however, made a £250 donation to the Three Rivers Neighbourhood Watch group, which has been accepted.

Watford Observer

RBL dithers while BNP donations con-trick is exposed

For a so-called political party that constantly appears to be teetering on the edge of financial collapse, the BNP seems to have become astoundingly generous to charities in the past couple of months - or that's what it would like us to believe.

In fact, it has done very little for charities except to make hollow promises that are exploited for its own purposes on the BNP's website, giving the visitor the impression that the party is acting responsibly by supporting its chosen causes while actually doing nothing except taking the kudos for its unperformed acts of generosity.

A week or two ago, we reprinted an article in which the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, a leading fund-raising body, warned charities to beware of undeclared donations from the British National Party after a number of good causes claimed they were duped into accepting money from the far-right group. In several cases, the BNP claimed credit for donations to charities who have never knowingly accepted money from the party and in several cases would refuse it if it were ever to be openly offered.

Colonel William Shuttlewood, a director of the Gurkha Welfare Trust, one of the charities the BNP claims to have made donations to, said it would never knowingly accept money from the BNP. Al Sutton, chairman of Troop Aid, another unknowing possible recipient, said: 'We are not associated with any political party, especially the BNP', while the Down’s Syndrome Association vehemently denied a claim on the BNP website that it had asked the party to help it raise funds.

Another more dramatic (and consequently more exploited) donation has been that which the BNP claims it is negotiating with FEBA, a charity which is negotiating £50,000 a year from the BNP to keep open its veterans' drop-in centre in Lanarkshire. A lot of fuss was made about FEBA a few weeks back, with the BNP taking full credit for keeping it open, yet 'negotiations' between Nick Griffin and Tommy Moffat, the charity's administrator, seem to have stalled. No great surprise, as Griffin has already got what he wanted from the announcement - the publicity.

FEBA did receive a donation of sorts from the BNP - or rather the wealthy BNP supporter Walter (or William, depending on which story you read about him) Hamilton - a consignment of radiators allegedly worth £3000 (which may well have fallen off the back of the Lie Lorry). Radiators notwithstanding, FEBA still needs £50,000 a year to run - if the BNP is near-bankrupt, where is that money going to come from?

The truth is, naturally, that it isn't coming from anywhere and there was never any intention of donating such a large sum to anyone (except possibly King Nick himself), only to reap the rewards of the very rare positive publicity that the story generated.

There's a short aside to this story which is worth mentioning. The BNP survives on donations from its gullible members, thanks to the never-ending stream of increasing desperate begging letters from Welshpool. Even though most of the money raised goes directly to non-member Jim Dowson, the organiser of the begging campaign and owner of the Lie Lorry, and a hefty percentage goes to Nick Griffin and various acolytes and hangers-on (including would-be schoolie-bonker and all-round shit Mark Collett, who is allegedly paid £50,000 per year for designing the BNP's propaganda), that leaves little to be used for the BNP for its 'political' work. So who decided to spend substantial chunks of that money by donating it to various charities and were the members asked if that was the way they wanted their donations to be spent?

But now we come to the latest twist in the BNP/charities mess, the bit that is currently (and rightly) causing great embarrassment to the Royal British Legion.

Back in October 2008, one of our contributors Eric the Fish wrote about the BNP's attempted hijack of the Poppy Appeal, the RBL's long-term and popular fundraser. Eric reported;

Neil Griffiths, of the Royal British Legion Scotland, said: "We abhor any association with the BNP. I worked most of my military career with Gurkhas and feel angry by any level of racism when I encounter it. The BNP seem to have forgotten that the Indian Army in the Second World War had two million members. It was the biggest volunteer army in military history and it played a huge role in the war."

and

Jim Panton, chief executive of Poppyscotland, said: "I had no idea the BNP have tried to get involved in the Poppy Appeal. It's outrageous for any organisation or group to try to hijack the poppy for their own benefit or gain. It is a misuse and misrepresentation of the sentiment of the appeal and we would take a strong line against that. We are apolitical and have not asked any party to back us."

So strongly did the RBL feel that it demanded that Nick Griffin stop wearing the Poppy during the European Election campaign and also that he stop using the armed forces to further the BNP's agenda. To no effect, because Griffin continued to do both.

Having seen that the BNP doesn't give a toss for the armed forces except where they can be used for political and financial gain, one would have expected the RBL to respond vigorously to any attempt by the BNP to directly make capital from any contact. Thus, when BNP member Rachel Firth announced that she would pledge half of the funds she raised by spending twenty-four hours in a cardboard box in the street to the legion and the other half to the BNP, it was no great surprise when the legion refused the donation.

When Firth then clearly stated that the donation would not be used for partisan political activity, the RBL naively accepted her assurance and announced that it would accept the donation, at which point the news of the donation and the RBL's acceptance of it appeared on the BNP's website (August 30th: see image below).

Rachel Firth - where's the RBL's donation?

As it happens, even though Firth's little stunt took place way back in August, the RBL still hasn't had its donation and according to Third Sector (the UK’s leading publication for everyone who needs to know what’s going on in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector), the RBL is now seriously considering whether to reject it even if it is (finally) offered, on the grounds that the party has used it to make political capital.

The dithering of the Royal British Legion over this matter is shameful. The offer of a donation should have been refused outright because of the ridiculous proviso that half the money raised from the stunt was going to the BNP. Under its own rules, that was grounds for the RBL to say thanks but no thanks. Instead, it took the party at its word, was taken in and now has to make the choice again, assuming the offer is ever forthcoming.

The whole issue of charities taking money from political parties is difficult, particularly when the charity appears to be in dire straits and feels that it needs that money simply in order to carry on. FEBA hasn't got any cash of its own and, let's face it, is unlikely to be getting £50,000 per annum from the BNP - but should it even have entered negotiations with such a party anyway? Personally I would say no unless the charity also supports the party's racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Muslim rhetoric and the BNP leader's constantly recurring bouts of anti-Semitism. Easy for me to say, I know, as I do not run a charity that is unable to continue through lack of cash. Nevertheless, there are principles at stake here and there are times when, no matter how painful it might be, it is right and proper to stand up for them.

The BNP as a party has NO real interest in supporting charities unless it can make some political gain from so doing. At the moment, it sees a lot of interest in armed forces personnel and is exploiting that to the full. A couple of months ago, it was a small bird sanctuary that was the focus of the party's attention for as long as it got a little publicity out of it and the the Poppy Appeal - next month it could be sanctuaries for disabled donkeys or depressed circus clowns. As long as there is something to exploit, the BNP will attempt to exploit it because it is a party without ethics whose only great ability is the skill of jumping on the next available bandwagon. Anyone who believes otherwise is doomed to disappointment.

Royal British Legion defends BNP donation

The Royal British Legion last night stood by its decision to accept cash from a British National Party (BNP) member.

A spokesman said the Legion had been assured by BNP member Rachel Firth, of Huddersfield, who raised money by spending 24 hours in a cardboard box, that the donation would not be used for partisan political activity. And he accused the party of taking advantage of Ms Firth’s generosity by publicising it on the BNP website, and stressed the Legion’s political impartiality.

“The Royal British Legion is strictly non-political and for nearly 90 years we have scrupulously remained above the party fray,” the spokesman said. “We have never endorsed any political party nor do we accept party donations made for partisan purposes. We do not accept donations made for political PR purposes, or donations made on behalf of the BNP or any other political party.”

Single mum Ms Firth, 36, spent 24 hours inside a cardboard box to highlight the plight of ex-service personnel who are forced to sleep rough. The Skelmanthorpe mum-of-two was raising cash for the Legion and for the BNP. The Legion originally refused to accept the donation from Ms Firth last month because she was also raising funds for the BNP by sleeping rough. That decision was overturned after Ms Firth gave assurances that the two would not be connected.

“It is unfortunate that the Legion once again finds itself defending its reputation from being identified with political interests,” the spokesman said. “Our only interest is safeguarding the welfare, interests and memory of the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families.”

The Legion did not feel that it had made a mistake in accepting the donation, he said, but would “take another look at it”. People wishing to donate money were not routinely asked whether they supported any political party, he added.

BNP spokesman Simon Darby denied that the party had exploited the donation. “If it was the Liberal Democrats it would be described as campaigning, but because it’s the BNP it’s exploitation,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Legion took out a newspaper advert pleading with BNP party leader Nick Griffin not to use the poppy or other symbols of remembrance for political purposes. That came after Mr Griffin continued to wear a poppy pin despite requests to all parties not to use the symbol during the European election campaign.

Huddersfield Daily Examiner

BNP to be fined for donations

The British National party (BNP) will be issued with a fine for failing to issue a return to the Electoral Commission concerning its donations. The party will be issued with a separate fine for failing to deliver their latest annual statement of accounts.

"This is unacceptable and the party will be issued with fines for both reporting failures," said Peter Wardle, chief executive of the Electoral Commission. "We will also be assessing the systems they have in place to ensure compliance with the law.”

The BNP were not the only small party to face the disapproval of the commission, with the Co-operative party and the Christian party both reporting "very large" donations late.

"We'll be assessing the systems they have in place to ensure compliance with the law and expect to see them reporting donations on time in the future," Mr Wardle said.

The Conservatives received the most donations, with £6,394,673 going to the opposition. Labour received £4,391,632, while the Liberal Democrats received £1,132,079. The 20 political parties registered in Great Britain received a total of £13.2 million in donations between April and June 2009, according to returns handed in to the commission. Figures were higher than normal, a fact most analysts put down to the local and European elections.

“This was the fourth highest quarter ever for donations – the second highest outside a general election quarter – and we received donations reports from a larger number of parties than usual," Mr Wardle said.

politics.co.uk

British National Party accused of hostile takeover of trade union

The British National Party has been accused of executing a “hostile takeover” of a trade union that subsequently accepted a £5,000 undeclared donation from Nick Griffin, the leader of the party.

Clive Potter, a founder of Solidarity, the nationalist trade union, told The Times that he and other members of its executive were ousted by allies of Mr Griffin because they wanted to remain independent of the BNP.

In documents to the Certification Office, the regulator of trade unions, former members of the executive claim that the union has been hijacked by “disaffected former officials and an outside political party”.

They said that the union had been subjected to “hostile attacks from unauthorised former officials and outside elements, namely the British National Party”. The split raises questions about Solidarity’s links to the BNP as it has been previously accused of, but has denied, being a front for the party. Many members also belong to the BNP and its president, Adam Walker, is a candidate for the party in the forthcoming European election.

The Times revealed on Thursday that Solidarity was the recipient of a £5,000 donation, originally sent to Mr Griffin, that is under review by the Electoral Commission. Mr Griffin admitted that he did not inform the authorities about the donation, which appeared to be from a political supporter, although he paid it into his own account before transferring it to Solidarity. Donations of more than £1,000 to individual party members must be declared if they are for political use.

Mr Griffin said that he gave the money to the union because the donor wanted to remain anonymous and he believed that he would have had to declare it if passed to the BNP.

Patrick Harrington, general secretary of Solidarity, a former organiser for the National Front and a friend of Mr Griffin, told The Times that the union was completely independent of the BNP. Mr Harrington, who is not a member of the BNP, said that Mr Potter’s accusations should be dismissed as they were from a “disgruntled former official”.

Although the alleged takeover occurred in 2007, it has not been aired publicly. Several disputes from it will be decided in a hearing next month by the Certification Officer.

Mr Potter, a former member of the BNP, told The Times that he helped to set up Solidarity in 2005 as a “mass nationalist trade union” that was to be independent of any political party. “If it isn’t independent then it fails. Unfortunately, as I found out later, Mr Griffin had other ideas,” he said.

After a series of disagreements with Mr Harrington, and following what he claims was interference from Mr Griffin, Mr Potter was ousted in 2007 along with members of the executive who supported him. He will claim that his removal was “unconstitutional”. Mr Harrington denied any impropriety and said that elections to the union’s executive were held properly.As a result of the split, two separate trade unions, both known as Solidarity, have been operating since 2007. One branch, which is run by Mr Harrington and accepted the donation from Mr Griffin, has acted for people who have been dismissed from their jobs because of association with the BNP.

Mr Potter said that his branch operates on “paper only” as it has no money — its bank account was frozen after the acrimony between the warring factions. He said that as a believer in BNP ideals but an opposer of Mr Griffin, he wanted a return to the “status quo” in leadership of the union.

In the final council by-election before next week’s county and European Parliament polls, the BNP pushed the Conservatives into third place. Labour’s vote held up in North Ormesby and Bramble Farm, Middlesbrough, where the far Right won 19.1 per cent of the vote. That would not be enough for it to win in the North East Euro constituency, which has only three seats. The BNP says its best chance for a European win is in the North West, where Nick Griffin is running. He predicts the party could win up to six seats and claims it is spending £500,000 on a national campaign. The BNP is fielding 450 candidates for the local elections and 66 for the European Parliament, at least one for every constituency in England, Scotland and Wales.

Money talks

• Any trade union that intends to spend money on political objectives must set up a separate political fund. This arose from the Trade Union Act 1913
• Before a political fund can be established, the union must ballot all its members. A simple majority of members is enough to pass the resolution
• The certification officer must approve both the ballot and the political fund rules before they are put to the vote. This ensures that there is a fair voting process
• The political fund can be spent on both affiliated political parties and more general campaigning. Each union publishes accounts of its expenditure to the certification officer. These are available to all members of the union
• Any union member can choose to be exempted from the political fund at any time. There can be no discrimination against members who opt for exemption Unions must review their decisions to have a political fund every ten years. This is done by ballot

Times Online

BNP fails to declare donations

The British National Party has failed to include at least one donation in its quarterly donation report to the Electoral Commission, an offence for which the party’s treasurer could be imprisoned for up to 12 months.

In September the BNP launched its campaign for next year’s London elections with three meetings on successive nights featuring Nick Griffin, the party leader, Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s candidate for Mayor of London, and Nick Erikson, the London regional organiser.

Writing in his chairman’s blog, Griffin boasted that the meetings raised £12,000 including “a magnificent donation of more than £5,000 by BNP old hand and recent council candidate Steve Johnson”. Video footage on BNP television shows Johnson handing over a cheque for £5,315.

Under the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 all parties have to deliver quarterly reports of donations over £5,000 made to the party’s central organisation and over £1,000 given to other party accounting units. Johnson’s donation and any others over £1,000 – local BNP units fall under the party’s regional accounting unit – should have appeared on the latest report covering July to September 2007.

Yet the only donation shown is £5,000 on 10 September from Charles Wentworth, the BNP’s only reported donor of the past two years, who has now given £33,263 to the fascist party’s head office.

The omission has been brought to the attention of the Electoral Commission, which will no doubt demand an explanation of John Walker, the BNP treasurer. It comes at a time when the BNP’s accounts are more than four months overdue and the party is suffering renewed problems over branches not submitting their petty cash books to head office.

BNP in crisis

What YOU can do to help LUAF fight fascism

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Lancaster UAF blog is the only daily-updating anti-fascist news source in Britain. The first port of call for any serious anti-fascist, LUAF's dedicated team of volunteers bring you news reports, original investigative articles, informed comment and so much more - and it doesn't cost you a penny.

We don't mind because that's the kind of people we are!

But behind the scenes there are costs we have to meet, like huge telephone bills, travel expenses, campaign costs, computer equipment, stationery - not to mention hours and hours of unsung work ferreting out facts and information and putting it all together. And we'd love to expand our operations, to become bigger and better - the best anti-fascist resource there is bar none.

Now we can't do that while we're worrying about the phone bill, so we have a little proposition to put to you.

If you're a regular you'll know how useful this resource is - so good that even the fascists come here looking for the truth their own leaders won't tell them. And you'll know it's been one of the most worthwhile projects in 21st century anti-fascism. While other anti-fascist sites wither and die, LUAF marches on.

So what we need, as you will have worked out, is donations!

Not just the odd bung here and there (though that's very welcome - be our guest!), but also regular, reliable monthly donations from those splendid anti-fascist folks who know a good cause when they see one.

At the top-right of the sidebar you'll see a rather nice graphic urging you, in the most polite terms, to donate to LUAF. Click it and you'll go directly to Paypal, from where you can painlessly donate as much or as little as you like.

What we'd like you to do is to set aside a small sum each month (how about £2 - less than the price of a pint?) to be remitted to us.

We can promise you - hands on heart - that every single penny will be spent on supporting and expanding the operations of LUAF and we promise not to take your money into the pub, make land purchases in Croatia, tour the USA, start double-glazing companies, invest in a mortgage-flogging outfit or spend it all on a third-rate record company producing rubbishy recordings by the likes of Nick Griffin. And you'll never be able to hire a skip from LUAF.

So there it is. What do you say? £2 a month! Will you miss it - nah - but we can use it and we will, every last penny, to the fight against fascism.

Posted by Antifascist and Denise G