BNP leader's speaking tour postponed

The Australian Protectionist Party says it has had to postpone a planned speaking tour this week featuring the leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), Nick Griffin.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Evans says Mr Griffin had lodged an electronic visa application earlier this year. But he says Mr Griffin has been asked to submit a full written application, as he appears on Australia's "movement alert" list.

Mr Griffin was refused entry in 1998 under former immigration minister Phillip Ruddock.

ABC News

Warning on rise of neo-Nazi groups as police chief stabbed

Investigators in southern Germany warned yesterday of a rise in far-right criminal activity after a police chief known for leading a crackdown on neo-Nazi groups was stabbed in the chest by an unknown attacker outside his family home.

Alois Mannichl, head of the police force in the Bavarian city of Passau, had to undergo emergency surgery to repair a knife wound close to his heart after the attack on Saturday evening. His assailant, who lay in wait for his victim at his front door, said he brought greetings from the "national resistance", a term that is often used by right-wing extremist groups to describe their movement.

If a neo-Nazi link is confirmed, the murder attempt would mark a far more aggressive strategy from local groups, said the Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann.

"Attacking a working police chief, to punish or bully him for his actions against the far-right, is a totally new kind of violence," he said. "It is an escalation of violence."

Mr Mannichl (52) has made no secret of his desire to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to the activities of far-right groups in and around Passau since becoming chief of police in 2004. He has ordered the force to step up its observation of neo-Nazi rallies and earlier this year asked it to carry out a series of raids on groups' headquarters.

According to the Bavarian interior ministry, the number of crimes related to right-wing extremists in Passau has more than doubled in the past year, with 83 reported incidents so far in 2008 compared to 40 in 2007.

Mr Mannichl was an obvious target for the more aggressive elements as he was seen as such a "strong enemy", Mr Herrmann said yesterday.

Investigators said his attacker, described as bald and 6ft 2in, delivered a threatening message before plunging the knife into his chest, warning Mr Mannichl: "You'll not trample on the graves of our comrades any more."

In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse , Mr Herrmann said the attack would reopen the debate over whether the far-right NPD party should be banned.

Only last month the organisation, which endorses an array of anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and racist policies but continues to receive public funding as a legitimate political party, launched a withering verbal attack on Mr Mannichl, accusing him of harassing its members at a commemorative rally to Germany's war dead.

Irish Times

Jail for neo-Nazi terror offender

A neo-Nazi found with bomb-making materials at his flat and who harassed a mixed-race couple has been jailed for more than seven years

Grimsby Crown Court heard Nathan Worrell, 35, had bomb ingredients and far-right propaganda at the property. A jury found him guilty of possession of material for terrorist purposes and of racially aggravated harassment.

Terror police described Worrell, from Grimsby, as a "dangerous individual who harbours extreme anti-Semitic views".

The court was told that police found books and manuals on how make bombs and detonators using items such as weedkiller, lighter fluid and sugar. Two tubs of sodium chlorate weedkiller, three bottles of lighter fluid, and fireworks were also discovered.

The trial heard Worrell left racist stickers on the gate of the home of Susan Crofts and Mohammed Chowdhery and on a nearby lamppost. One sticker read: "Only inferior white women date outside their race. Be proud of your heritage."

Judge John Reddihough sentenced Worrell to six years for the terror offence and 15 months for the harassment, to run consecutively, giving a total of seven years and three months.

After the trial, Det Ch Supt David Buxton, of the Counter Terrorism Unit, said: "Literature found at his flat exposed his interest in creating explosives and even more concerning a number of items were recovered that could have been used to create these devices. We are thankful for his early arrest that has stopped Worrell from taking his interest further."

He added: "It is to my sadness that one family in particular have suffered at the hands of these extreme beliefs and the unforgivable actions of this man. No-one should be made to feel like an outsider in their own community because of their race or religion. I wish to thank them for their bravery during this investigation during what has been an extremely difficult time for them."

BBC

Germany gets go-ahead to prosecute 'Ivan the Terrible' in last Nazi trial

Germany is preparing for what could be the last Nazi war criminal trial as the country's highest court ruled a former death camp guard known as 'Ivan the Terrible' can be tried in Munich

Ivan Demjanjuk, alleged to be Ivan the Terrible, moved to
America in 1952 and changed his first name to John Photo: AP

Ukrainian-born Ivan Demjanjuk, 88, is alleged to have been involved in the murder of over 29,000 Jews when he served as a guard in several Nazi prisons including the death camp Sobibor in Poland during World War II.

Demjanjuk moved to America in 1952 and changed his first name to John, and now lives as a retired car worker in Ohio.

Last month, a court in Munich ruled that Demjanjuk, who was dubbed Ivan the Terrible for his role in the mass murder, could not be charged in Germany. But Germany's Federal Court of Justice has overturned the verdict, making it possible for Demjanjuk to be indicted and tried in Munich, where he lived before emigrating to America.

The court ruling read: "Demjanjuk, who is accused of involvement in the killing of at least 29,000 Jews in the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland in 1943, lived for several months in 1951 in a camp in the current jurisdiction of the court."

The office of the German Federal Prosecutor indicated that new evidence that surfaced after Demjanjuk trial in Israel in 1986 would be sufficient to charge him with war crimes. Demjanjuk always denied having served in the Nazi army and claimed to have been fighting in the former Soviet armed forces.

German authorities are now expected to seek extradition and put Demjanjuk on trial, which is likely to be the last high-profile process of an alleged Nazi war criminal. Demjanjuk was already extradited to Israel once where he was sentenced to death in Israel in 1986, but a higher instance court overturned the verdict for lack of evidence and he was allowed to return to America.

Demjanjuk's relatives in America repeatedly said that he was too old to stand trial, but Charlotte Knobloch, president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, urged authorities to "do everything legally possible to accelerate the process so that Demjanjuk can be held responsible for his crimes during his lifetime."

"Demjanjuk and all other Nazi criminals still alive should know that for them there is no mercy," Mrs Knobloch said.

Telegraph

Injunction sought against former Burnley council candidate

A former council candidate could be barred from town hall meetings if an application for a county court injunction is successful. Borough council chiefs in Burnley have formally applied for a court order which would prevent British National Party member John Rowe, 52, from attending the local authority’s meetings in future.

The announcement comes as Rowe, of Tennis Street, Burnley, was convicted of causing criminal damage to a fire alarm at the town hall in May. Following the incident, a Burnley full council meeting had to be temporarily suspended as councillors, officers and Mayor, Coun Ida Carmichael, had to be evacuated from the town hall.

Rowe, then of Cowper Street, was originally issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice regarding the offence, which he refused to pay. As a result he was summonsed to appear before Burnley magistrates where he pleaded not guilty to the offence. But he was convicted after a trial and conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay £200 costs.

Rowe failed to appear in court on one occasion and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was detained by police while attending another Burnley full council meeting. He also attempted to attend a subsequent full council meeting in October but was turned away at the town hall entrance by police.

The council meeting disruption was condemned at the time by police and council chief executive Steve Rumbelow.

Court officials have confirmed that Rowe, who unsuccessfully stood as a BNP candidate in Rosegrove with Lowerhouse in 2007, intends to appeal against the magistrates’ verdict. But it has now emerged that council officials are taking legal steps to permanently exclude him from town hall meetings.

A Burnley council spokesman said: “We are in the process of applying for an interim injunction against Mr Rowe.”

For the hearing, later this year, Mr Rowe is understood to have called a number of witnesses, including council leader Coun Gordon Birtwistle.

Mr Rowe was unavailable for comment last night.

Lancashire Telegraph

Has BNP rewritten its constitution?

Joan Walters, 'BNP the most open political party now', Points of view, December 4, wonders why I don't agree with "sensible BNP policies on limiting immigration and preserving our homeland for future generations of OUR people" (her capitals).

If the policies are now "sensible", do I take it that the party has re-written its constitution since the last General Election? Is it then no longer "committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration" and to repatriating non-whites in order to restore "the overwhelmingly white make-up of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948"? While some in the BNP accept that the latter is probably not achievable, it still appears to be an aspiration.

Joan Walters evidently has a very different conception to mine of who "OUR" people are. In my mind, these include not only several British friends who are of Asian, African or Afro- Caribbean descent, but also the very large number of public figures of a wide range of ethnicities who most of us consider to be part of the grain of our society.

If the BNP's aspirations were fully realised, we would be saying goodbye to people like Kelly Holmes, Lenny Henry, George Alagaia, Moira Stuart, Sir Trevor McDonald etc, etc, and to a whole host of sportsmen and women, musicians and actors who enrich our lives.

It is perfectly legitimate for any party to have a policy of limiting immigration. But to discriminate on the grounds of race — on immigration or any other policy — is an insult to the millions of ethnic minority Britons who contribute greatly to our economy and culture, and to the many who have fought in our armed forces. And also to the rest of us who are proud to be part of a tolerant and diverse society.

The party has invoked the Human Rights Act in trying to limit publication of its membership list. Leigh Barnes, national legal unit co-ordinator, has even declared the Act to be his "legacy" because his relatives fought in the Second World War.

This is, of course, the same Human Rights Act described on the BNP website a couple of weeks earlier as "one of the most pernicious pieces of legislation ever passed by the mother of Parliaments" that would be "repealed during the first term of a British Nationalist Government".

Does anyone else detect a strong whiff of hypocrisy here?

Francis Kirkham
Email to Express and Echo

Dicky hits the cider after week of chaos

We spotted Dicky in the Canden's Head yesterday lunchtime, knocking back the Magner's Cider like it was going out of fashion, pissed out of his brains and trying to locate a dye house so he could change the colour of his suit and thus give the impression that the Oxfam rubbish bin shop had once again received his custom this decade.

Poor old Dicky. Chaos in Barking and Dagenham council chamber, caught out telling porkies about knife crime in the borough and back on the booze again.

He might be a crap councillor and Assembly member but a least he's always good for a laugh, bless him.

Named and shamed: BNP squirms under the spotlight

As the British National Party was preparing for the official launch of its campaign to get Nick Griffin elected to the European Parliament, the wheels were about to come off the party’s wagon big time.

The BNP had ended its annual conference in Blackpool on 15-16 November bemoaning the “deliberate media blackout” of the event. But Nick Griffin, the party leader, was hoping for publicity for the announcement the following Tuesday that he would head the BNP list for the European elections in the North West, where it has a realistic chance of winning a seat.

But Griffin’s campaign launch was completely overshadowed by the discovery that a list of BNP “members” had been posted on an internet blogsite. It included home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and interesting notes about their jobs, hobbies, whether they were activists or party donors and concerns about individuals who might prove an embarrassment to the party, including a prominent activist with unspecified convictions.

It unleashed a media feeding frenzy. The national papers and radio and television stations pored over the names searching for minor celebrities, service personnel, teachers, doctors and anyone else who might spark a “shock horror” reaction in readers. There were former members of all the three main political parties, which was no great surprise. Two members of Queen Elizabeth’s staff were said to be on the list, though one turned out to be retired and the other said he had never actually joined.

And that was the problem. The list contained 12,801 names compared to the BNP’s current membership of around 9,300, down from 9,784 at the end of 2007. So there were at least 3,500 who were lapsed members or people who had merely shown some interest.

Several newspapers produced maps and all kinds of statistical analysis. Local papers counted all the members in their readership area. But it meant little because the list was unreliable.

The names appeared largely to date from late 2007 with a few more recent additions. Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, seized on the date to blame a “former head of administration of the party”, who had kept a “membership and skills list”. This was Kenny Smith, one of the leaders of last winter’s unsuccessful internal rebellion in the BNP.

Since then, Smith has become a convenient scapegoat. When the BNP’s 2007 accounts embarrassingly failed to pass audit, Griffin wrote, “Accurate accounting for this year is problematic owing to the point-blank refusal of the former head of Administration to account for large amounts of expenditure”. Smith was also blamed for failings with the 2006 accounts and their lateness, which resulted in a fine.

Smith strenuously denied leaking the list and grabbed another chance to hit out at Griffin. “Whatever the reasons for the publication of the list, ordinary BNP members should not have to suffer because of the crass incompetence, flawed personality and arrogance of the Party Leader.”
It does seem unlikely that Smith and his supporters were responsible for the publication of the list, in contravention of a court injunction and legal proce-edings by the BNP which have already cost them money. The BNP has never been very good at data security and such lists were undoubtedly held and circulated by several senior members. It is not the first time such a list has leaked, though never before in such spectacular form.

A more likely explanation is that it has come from a senior BNP member with a more recent grudge against the party. There are plenty of possibilities. Griffin runs his party in an autocratic manner and stamps firmly on any dissent. The annual party conference debates motions supposedly put forward by the party’s regions, but in fact selected by its central Advisory Council. Although it is possible to force a leadership election, every obstacle is put in the way of a challenger. And although the party website allows comments, only those supporting the party’s line are posted and anyone expressing hostile sentiments has their website registration cancelled.

Whoever did it, Griffin had to act fast to save his embattled party. A few members insisted that the leak only confirmed their allegiance, many others were worried. Police officers are prohibited from BNP membership and joining the party could constitute gross misconduct leading to dismissal. Officers have already been suspended and several police services are combing the list carefully.

Others too feared for their jobs. It is interesting to consider why someone in a sensitive position, perhaps working in teaching, local government, the civil service or the NHS, should join a party that they clearly realise is so disreputable that it would cause them to be ostracised.

Here the BNP apparently scored a bit of a coup. “One of this country’s top employment law firms … has offered pro bono – free – representation to any person who is threatened by their employers as a result of the ‘leaked membership list’ smear,” announced the party website. The firm was not named. Solicitors often work pro bono, partly mindful of the good publicity this generates, but these solicitors must have realised that helping the BNP for free was more shameful than charitable.

In reality it would be difficult to sack an employee with more than a year’s service simply for belonging to the BNP unless the employer can show that membership is incompatible with the individual’s job or has a negative impact on colleagues, customers and the local community, and that there is a clear policy spelling this out. It was under this principle that Serco dismissed the former BNP councillor Arthur Redfearn from his job as a driver transporting vulnerable adults and children to schools and day centres, a decision upheld by the Appeal Court.

Protection of the law was not enough for the BNP’s self-styled “legal eagle”, however. Writing on his blog the day the story broke, Lee Barnes advised: “For those people who have been named on the list all you need to do is deny you are a member if asked. Your employer cannot ascertain whether you are actually a real member of the BNP, and we will confirm that you are not a member if you ask us.” In other words the BNP was prepared to back up its members’ lies with more of its own.

The BNP also played the victim card as hard as it could. There were ridiculous accusations from Griffin and Simon Darby, the party’s deputy leader and press officer, that “call centres” were being used to make threatening phone calls to BNP members. The media sought out members who expressed fears that they or their families would be attacked.

We would condemn absolutely anyone who thinks the way to fight the BNP is by physical attacks on individuals or their property. But history shows it is the racists who call for violence against opponents. The vicious hate website Redwatch posts photographs and personal details of hundreds of people, many supplied by BNP organisers and activists, as a way of intimidating their political opponents. Some have had threatening phone calls and abusive letters as a result. Others have been attacked. They include two teachers whose car was firebombed outside their home in Leeds in a case of mistaken identity, and Alec McFadden, president of Merseyside Trades Council, who two years ago was confronted on his doorstep by a man wielding a knife and slashed repeatedly across his face in front of his two young daughters.

Indeed Darby’s initial reaction to the publication of the list appeared to be a threat of violence. If the culprit was found, Darby declared, “it will turn out to be one of the most foolish things they have done in their life” and “I wouldn’t be sleeping very well tonight”. Griffin had to leap in to explain that Darby was only threatening legal action with a potential prison sentence.

Griffin, a conspiracy theorist par excellence, claimed the list had been leaked to coincide with a hearing of the General Teaching Council (GTC), which he expected would stop a BNP member from working as a teacher. “Had that been the result,” Griffin wrote, “the verdict would have been a big news story, which would have set things up perfectly for the follow-up publicity storm about thousands of BNP members being ‘exposed’ which would have broken over the rest of the week.”

In the event the GTC postponed the hearing, but the publicity storm happened anyway and Griffin worked desperately on spinning it in the BNP’s favour. “Nothing could show better just how frightened the liberal ‘elite’ now are of our coming breakthrough,” declared Griffin in an “urgent message” two days after the story broke.

“The publicity about the high quality of our membership has massively improved our image,” he claimed. “The whole affair has blown up in the faces of the plotters and the anti-British traitors. The public are more eager for our message than ever, and many of our new website visitors will keep coming back, become committed nationalists, and join our ranks.”

“High quality” would not describe the two men sentenced in Blackburn at the end of the week for sexual activity with 14-year-old girls. Ian Richard Hindle, 32, and Andrew Paul Wells, 49, had exploited the girls’ vulnerability, police said, welcoming the total of five years and three months imprisonment the pair received. Their BNP connection did not emerge in court or in a local newspaper report, but both their names can be found on the list. Wells is also a convicted football hooligan and has acted as a bodyguard to Griffin. (See pages 18-19 of the current issue for more details of criminals and extremists in the BNP.)

The BNP may gain a few members out of the thousands who visited its website, assuming they accept Griffin’s assurances that the party’s “investment in new technology and procedures” will stop any more leaks. What the party finds hard is keeping members. Less than 40% of members renew after the first year, the party itself admits.

We have been contacted by people on the list who say they joined but quickly became disillusioned when they found out the truth, which is that the BNP is still a racist party infested with thugs and Holocaust deniers. The presence of a few managers, IT professionals and ex-servicemen will not change that, just like two years ago when it was revealed that a principal dancer with the English National Ballet was a BNP member, despite the BNP milking the connection for all it was worth.

Searchlight

BNP Councillor thrown out of Barking Town Hall

Barking and Dagenham BNP councillors - the only ones applauding their performance

One of Richard Barnbrook's fellow BNP councillors was thrown out of a Barking and Dagenham council meeting last night, after refusing to apologise for comparing sex education to paedophilia.

Councillor Lawrence Rustem (second right) was asked to say sorry for his previous statement that teaching sex education to children before secondary school was akin to paedophilia. But rather than withdraw his statement, Rustem instead launched into a long rant about the Labour government and immigration declaring that he would 'answer the question the way I want to answer it.'

When even calls from his own party members to 'shut up' were ignored, Rustem was escorted from the chamber. Not willing to leave it there, he turned on a Labour councillor and offered him 'outside for a dance.' The offer was understandably declined.

Other highlights from the meeting included the BNP group leader Robert Bailey calling a Labour councillor a Nazi and Richard Barnbrook boasting about his rugby skills. Other vital matters raised by the BNP concerned the supply of Halal meat in schools and the plight of the 'native minority' in the 'Labour borough of Ealing'.

Paralysis

As I left the pubic gallery, people around me complained about the 'squabbling' that always takes place at these meetings. And as I stepped outside a clearly distraught woman turned on the assembled BNP councillors and screamed at them for failing to talk about 'the kids'. Ignoring calls from Richard Barnbrook for her to return, she quickly walked off down the street, crying as she went.

This was my first time in Barking and Dagenham and whatever grief or worries she was feeling I cannot tell you. But from watching the paralysis caused by the BNP in the council chamber last night, I can see little chance of her concerns being met any time soon.

Tory Troll

Former BNP councillor brands Griffin greedy, BNP policies as 'foolish and dangerous'

You may remember the curious story of John Oddy, member of Bay of Colwyn Town Council (the equivalent of a parish council) and the former North Wales Organiser for the British National Party.

It was he who, back in May of this year, caused some embarrassment to the BNP when he and his two newly-elected colleagues Paul and Sue Harley, resigned at their very first council meeting less than a week after being co-opted (not elected) to their local council.

Nobody was quite sure why the Harleys had resigned but Oddy seemed to have stood down to avoid being kicked out, as we discovered the day after his resignation when this appeared in his local paper:

'A BNP town councillor was yesterday fined for using his mobile phone while at the wheel of his car.

Last October a police officer spotted John Oddy, 51, driving along the promenade at Colwyn Bay while using his phone, a court heard. Oddy, of West Promenade, Colwyn Bay, did not appear for the hearing before Llandudno magistrates but was found guilty and fined £100 with three penalty points and must pay £75 costs.

Oddy – driving a Jaguar – was “speaking about a media matter to a friend or colleague,” the court heard.'

Jaguars and BNP members are never a good combination - look at Clive Jefferson.

Now Oddy has joined the growing band of former BNP councillors who have chosen to speak out against the leader Nick Griffin. Sadie Graham, you may recall, described Griffin as a 'liar and coward', while Colin Auty referred to him as a ruthless 'crook and liar'. Former BNP town councillor in Oddy's neck of the woods, Pat Pattison, described the BNP as intolerably racist.

Oddy, writing on his blog, has a fair amount to say about the BNP, its not so glorious leader and its policies.

• The party has policies that are not only unworkable but foolish and dangerous.
• Do not forget the roots of the BNP lay in the National Front and so there are causes for concern there
• The present leadership of the party have cut their teeth on scandal and controversy, Nick Griffin, being a prime example.
• Nick Griffin...can no longer lead the party effectively
• [Griffin] carries too much baggage
• [He] has become too greedy
• [He] has scant regard for the real members.
• If the party wishes to loose the “Racist” stigma then they must also loose Nick and a few of his cronies...
• I would like to see a change of Party Leadership...'

Sadly, despite all this, Oddy announces that 'given the opportunity, yes I would vote for them'. Given his comments, we have to ask. Why?

Shut down the peddlers of hate

Searchlight’s editor Nick Lowles demands that the BNP should be held to account for peddling racist lies in a clear attempt to whip up racial tensions

Searchlight is calling on the authorities to investigate whether the BNP’s Racism Cuts Both Ways campaign is an incitement to racial hatred. The BNP initiative, revealed in last month’s Searchlight, has a special section on the party’s website, a glossy 12-page brochure and was launched with its own limited tour of the country.

The BNP campaign claims to highlight examples of anti-white racism. In an introduction on the website, party leader Nick Griffin calls it the “silent epidemic of racist targeting of indigenous Britons”.

Griffin goes further in his opening message to the campaign’s glossy 12-page pamphlet. “The vast majority of the real racism that scars Britain involves white victims from the indigenous community. Whether you are English, Scots, Welsh, Irish or from Ulster, being white makes you a target, being white means you are guilty.”

To back up his claim the BNP has released the names of 167 people who it alleges are the victims of anti-white racism. In addition, it has published 200,000 copies of the pamphlet, which it has distributed to every councillor and MP in the country. The party also claims that copies are being sent to all 18-year-olds in 50 key parliamentary constituencies.

The pamphlet includes a page entitled, “Racist Murder – The Shocking Truth”, which states: “The result was truly shocking – 142 white victims of racist homicide”. It concludes: “The average racist murderer in Britain is 40 times more likely to be a member of an ethnic minority than a native Brit”.

However, and probably unsurprisingly, the research is deeply flawed. Searchlight has analysed the 167 cases highlighted by the BNP and found a racial motive in only a handful. In over 90% there was no evidence presented by the BNP, or in any media reports at the time, to show that racism played any role in the murder at all.

The BNP research is so wrong that the list includes several cases where the perpetrators are white. In one case, that of John Ward, the BNP only reports an initial description of the killers as Asian or Turkish but fails to admit that three white men were later convicted and imprisoned for life. In other cases the perpetrators were part of mixed race groups, including whites, but the BNP only focuses on the white victims and black attackers.

There are also several supposed racial murders where the alleged killer has not actually been convicted. In fact, an Old Bailey murder trail was only just beginning when the BNP named the alleged murderer and asserted a racist motive, a clear breach of legal restrictions on reporting. And in a number of cases the BNP merely reports arrests or people being charged, but its sloppy research fails to investigate what happened to them.

Of course, none of this should be a surprise. The BNP clearly sets out to whip up racial tensions and prejudice with this “research”. Its aim is to make young people in particular angry and resentful. To this end the BNP has simply made up assertions to fit its wider cause. It may hope to channel the fury of readers and supporters into joining the BNP but it could just as easily be unleashing vengeful racist violence. The BNP campaign is quite simply dangerous and should be held to account.

It seems that we are not alone in having concerns over the RCBW material. Thirteen BNP members were arrested in Liverpool for distributing the pamphlet after Merseyside Police concluded it incited racial hatred.

Several councillors have reported the pamphlet to the police in other parts of the country. A number of families have been appalled to hear that the deaths of their loved ones are being used by the BNP for their own racist ends. West Yorkshire Police were outraged to find the BNP trying to claim that the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky was a racist attack.

Jon Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham, has put down an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling the pamphlet and accompanying website material a clear attempt to whip up racial tension. “The BNP has set out to stir up a racist reaction and this could have serious consequences,” Cruddas told Searchlight. “The fact that they have lied and claimed over one hundred murders to have had a racial motive when they quite clearly have not is reprehensible and they should be called to account.”

He has also written to the Metropolitan Police demanding that they investigate the document.

Searchlight is urging its supporters to complain about the BNP campaign. The BNP must not be allowed to whip up racial tensions through lies and innuendo. To read Searchlight’s full analysis of the BNP’s Racism Cuts Both Ways campaign, go here.

Searchlight

BNP councillor claims 'political vendetta'

A South Normanton parish councillor claims there is a 'political vendetta' against him after a court ordered him to remove a high fence from his property.

BNP member Brian Edwards (61), of Carr Lane, appeared before Derby Magistrates' Court last Thursday after an enforcement order was issued by Bolsover District Council. Appearing in front of Judge Caroline Golbourn, Edwards admitted failing to remove a two-metre high steel palisade fence from his Market Street house in South Normanton.

The long running feud began in April 2007 when the fence's height came to the attention of the council's planning officers who said it breached town and country planning laws. Legislation states that a development must have planning permission if the height of any gate or fence adjacent to a vehicular highway exceeds one metre above ground level. An enforcement notice ordered Edwards to either remove the fence or cut it down to one metre and the appeal he then lodged was dismissed by a planning inspector in April.

Edwards failed to adhere to the notice and in June, the council wrote to him threatening him with legal action if he did not comply –– but the parish councillor ignored the final warning.

Prosecutor Kevin Shillitto told the court that Edwards had broken town and country planning laws and showed Judge Golbourn photographs of the fence. Said Judge Golbourn: "I am going to impose a fine, I am not here to negotiate with you because this has been going on too long and Bolsover District Council has been more than fair."

Edwards was fined £500, ordered to pay the council's courts costs of £550 and a £15 victim surcharge. But speaking after last Thursday's ruling, Edwards says he has been discriminated against for his political beliefs.

"I think there is a political vendetta against myself –– my political beliefs have nothing to do with the way I should be treated by Bolsover District Council. I have a friend on the council who says the ruling is because they vote for a different political party to me."

Edwards says there are other fences in South Normanton exceeding the one-metre height limit and the law should apply to everyone.

"I offered to move the fence back a metre, but the council said no –– I was told to put it up after advice from the police because the original fence was knocked down in a car crash," he said.

Edwards works as a handyman and inherited the house which he rents out as a source of income.

"Thousands of people in Derbyshire are breaking the law every week and I would like Bolsover District Council to tell people of these rules," he added. "I have no objection to moving the fence but if the law is to work, it has to apply to everyone."

But a spokesman for Bolsover District Council says the enforcement order has nothing to do with Edwards' political beliefs and was a simple breach of regulations.

"This is an instance where there has been blatant disregard for the law," he said. "We gave the defendant every opportunity to remove or rectify the fence, but he chose not to, so we had no option but to take him to court so we can preserve and protect the local environment."

Chad