Cracks appear at the heart of the EDL

A new wave of infighting and backbiting is engulfing the leadership of the English Defence League.

At the centre of the growing discontent is the claim that EDL founder Tommy Robinson, aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Paul Harris, is lining his own pocket through the sale of merchandise.

We have reported on these rumours for quite some time but now they have exploded publicly. A recent EDL meeting in West Yorkshire, shortly after their failed protest in Bradford, descended into recriminations and frustration at the Luton-based leadership.

Tommy Robinson hit back furiously. “Who do people think they are when they slate others who have done nothing but put their hearts, their souls, their time and relentless effort into the defence of our country, much to the annoyance of their families, their partners and even themselves?

“And what do they get other than a constant barrage of unwarranted abuse, hostility and fabrications propagated to inflame those hostilities?”

He went on: “So I’ve made millions from merchandise have i? Iv skimmed monies from the EDL movement and basically shit on our grass roots members making a living off it? Im supposedly parasiting off EDL success to line my own pockets am i?

“How fucking sad are these people?”

And he concludes: “Seriously these so called and self styled “EDL Members” need to take a good long look at themselves and see the harm they are causing, to divide is to conquer but i know that sometimes something has to be broken so it can be fixed. People who need to break away because of rumour, hearsay, and lies are welcome to leave, i only want real people with the best intentions for this movement involved. I have no time for political platitudes, for massaging egos, for babysitting or wet nursing so called “members” who have hissy fit tantrums, members who are the cause of the majority of strife within the movement.”

The organiser of the West Yorkshire meeting was John ‘Snowy’ Shaw, one of the two EDL members who staged the Dudley rooftop protest. Stung by Tommy Robinson’s attack, he meekly rolled over like a sad puppy.

“I said two things on Saturday that were passed onto me that I now know 100% are totally untrue, firstly that Tommy had made thousands of pounds out of EDL and secondly that Kevin didn't use his real daughter in the documentary. I would like to offer my most sincere apology to both these men for bringing their good names into disrupt, by repeating these lies that were brought to my attention instead of what I should of done and spoke to them personally. That was a grave error on my part and believe me or not I never went to that meeting with any intention of saying those two things and regretted them when I did, we are all human and we make mistakes I should know I have made plenty. I feel that some people have used my passion and commitment to the cause to manipulate me for their own agenda, maybe the fact that I am fanatical about EDL was my down fall.”

He concluded: “I don't now or have never wanted to cause a division within EDL, I only want what's best for the cause.”

The problem for Snowy is that he has caused a division and despite the public apology Tommy Robinson is not in the mood to forgive.

Nick Lowles, Hope not Hate.

Reader article: Nick Griffin's dilemma

This article was submitted by one of our readers, MOT. We welcome any contributions (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste) from our supporters. Please send your articles to us at lancaster.uaf@zen.co.uk

After what has been a pretty dreadful year for the BNP and the other lunatic fringe groups on the far-right comes along a story that is going to have long and deep repercussions on the BNP and in particular Nick Griffin. He really is in a bind and there is no real way out for him. This doesn't seem like a situation where a compromise is either wanted or achievable by both sides and no matter what happens Griffin is badly damaged.

If he holds on to Collett and Hannam he loses a big chunk of his party machinery at a time where members are renewing their membership for next year and with that a large chunk of money when they are 5 months overdue with publishing their accounts. If he gives in and gets rid of Collett and Hannam he shows himself to be weak and his ego won't take that and then he has the problem of whatever this supposed big thing is that Collett has over him. Whether it's real or not I don't know but I am looking forward to finding out.

A post on Stormfront yesterday evening from Purging the Droid (widely regarded to be Griffin) said:

'I see our friends are now using the services on none other than Jon Cruddas in their crusade against our party. Despite our continued efforts to find a solution and patch things up, we get this. It is going to be very difficult now to ever work again with people who make common cause with the enemies of nationalism, there is just no excuse for this at all.'

Now I've only a passing knowledge about Sadie Graham and the others involved in setting up the Enough is Enough blog but even I know one of the last people they would have approached for help is Jon Cruddas and if Griffin is trying to use that as a validation that he has made the right choice with his actions then he must be really rattled and getting desperate.

The reason Jon Cruddas has been brought in to the fray is because Stop the BNP reported that he had been in touch with the police about the alleged criminal actions of last weekend and has raised the issue in the House of Commons. Somehow I don't think he has done this for their benefit.

Now I would have thought a story that involves gaining access by deception and taking person belongings, deliberate breaking of the Data Protection Act, former South African spooks, £17,000 apparently going missing or unaccounted for, alleged illegal bugging (I think it was a setting on Skype myself), the cover-up of alleged paedophiliac behavior by senior BNP management, 60 members of the party structure resigning their posts including several of their councillors and questions asked in Parliament would gain some media interest but up to now there has been very little and nothing with the full details that we seen in the last few days.

Why is that? is it because the BNP were all over the media a couple of weeks ago being forever linked with a holocaust denier in the full glare of the media? Is it because the story doesn't contain any reference to Simone Clarke? Or is it because Griffin is a 'state asset'? Hey he throws the allegation around enough and he has done more than his fair share of damage to far-right groups over the years.

However this thing plays out over the next few days, weeks and months a couple of things are for sure. There is a massive split in the BNP that is going to take a long time to heal and if this is how people who support him are treated (and they still want Griffin to be leader if and when Collett and Hannam go) then what have we got too look forward to if they ever get in to power?

The BNP are in decline and we have to carry on fighting them at every given chance.

MOT