BNP's near-miss in East Midland by-election a warning to anti-fascists

Our local by-election reports have regularly stressed that despite entering into a long period of electoral stagnation, the BNP is still capable of pulling off some nasty surprises, and this week we have to report a very nasty surprise.

The sole by-election contested by the BNP last night was at Church Gresley, Swadlincote, which elects to South Derbyshire District Council. South Derbyshire is currently controlled by the Conservatives, who have a majority of seven over Labour (there is one Independent and no Liberal Democrat representation).

Swadlincote sits squarely within an area of the Midlands noted for delivering high BNP votes, as we discussed in our report on the Charnwood District Council Shepshed by-election and for this reason we must take a particular interest in the Church Gresley contest.

The ward itself, on the south side of Swadlincote, is held by Labour. At the May elections two Labour candidates contested against two Conservatives in a straight fight. The combined voting percentages were a mathematically neat 66.6% Labour, 33.3% Conservative. There was, then, a danger of the intervening BNP candidate feeding off the Labour vote, and that some Conservative voters, knowing that the Tories could not win Church Gresley, might be tempted to switch to the BNP.

Though the BNP has never previously fought Church Gresley, in May the party fielded two candidates for South Derbyshire DC seats. Because he BNP stood single candidates in multiple vacancy wards where the other parties ran two or more candidates, their results are open to interpretation.

Contiguous to Church Gresley is Swadlincote, contested in May by last night's candidate Richard Fallows. The BNP averaged vote came in at 22.7%, placing Fallows fourth ahead of three Conservatives and three Liberal Democrats. In next door Newhall and Stanton, the BNP's Paula Bailey took an averaged vote of 23.4%, and despite coming seventh of seven (three Labour candidates convincingly beat the three Conservatives) obtained the better result of the two BNP candidates.

The closeness of the BNP's May votes and the linear contiguity of Church Gresley with Swadlincote and Newhall and Stanton gives us some idea of the yardstick by which last night's result can be judged. The BNP will have aimed at 23% of the vote or better in a three-cornered (Lab/Con/BNP) contest in a Labour-held ward.

There is, as we must concede, no avoiding the fact that the racist party did very much better than that.

South Derbyshire D.C. Church Gresley ward result:

Lab	639	43.80
Con	304	20.84
BNP	516	35.37
Total	1459

Though the BNP clearly ate substantially into the Conservative vote, it was the Labour vote which suffered most from the BNP's intervention. Had the Liberal Democrats stood to further split the mainstream vote in Church Gresley we could very easily be reporting a BNP gain.

Exactly why the BNP in the East Midlands has been able to buck the trend of its own performances elsewhere is not readily obvious. The wards in which it has been doing well are little different demographically and socially from those in other parts of the country where it has failed to make headway. However that may be, there can be no doubt at all now that anti-fascists and the legitimate political parties have some serious work to do if the BNP is to be prevented from launching an East Midland-led revival.

One good result does not a summer make for the BNP - but we have been warned.

Former BNP councillor admits defeat

A British National Party councillor kicked off Sandwell Council for missing meetings today admitted defeat after learning he faces crippling legal costs to win back his seat.

Coun James Lloyd, BNP member for Princes End in Tipton, has been disqualified from office after missing meetings for six months and failing to give an explanation. Today it was revealed that Coun Lloyd's only hope of winning the legal fight could be going to the High Court, which he said was out of the question.

Neeraj Sharma, Sandwell Council's monitoring officer, said today: "We have told Coun Lloyd the legislation under which he ceases to be a member of the local authority and suggested to him that he might consider taking independent legal advice. We are not aware of any direct right of appeal under the current legislative provisions. However, the High Court of course has inherent jurisdiction over such matters."

Coun Lloyd, who was the former leader of the BNP in Sandwell and was elected to the local authority in 2004, told the Black Country Mail today there was no way he could afford a costly legal battle.

"I am afraid that's it as far as I am concerned," he said. "I am very disappointed with the members services department on the council. I would have thought they might have given me a quick phone call to warn me about falling foul of this six-month rule. All this has come completely out of the blue and I have been stitched up like a kipper. It looks like I am going to have to accept what has happened and bite the bullet. I certainly cannot afford to pay thousands of pounds a day for a High Court hearing. I am off the council for now but if the BNP selects me I shall certainly be fighting again at the local elections next May."

Coun Lloyd's disqualification from the council was part of a double setback for the BNP in Sandwell, coming hot on the heels of the resignation of Coun Simon Smith who revealed he has become an Independent.

Birmingham Mail

Race-row scientist's remarks condemned by minister as fuel for far-right

A Government minister has condemned a Nobel prize-winning geneticist for claiming that black people are less intelligent than white people.

David Lammy, the skills minister, said that James Watson's comments were “deeply offensive” and would “succeed only in providing oxygen for the BNP”.

It follows comments by the US-born Dr Watson to a newspaper in which he said that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really”.

He hoped everyone was equal, he said, but “people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true”.

Mr Lammy, a Harvard graduate whose family come from the Caribbean, said: “These comments are deeply offensive. They will succeed only in providing oxygen for the BNP. It is a shame that a man with a record of scientific distinction should see his work overshadowed by his own irrational prejudices. It is no surprise to me that the scientific community has condemned this outburst and I think people will recognise these comments for what they are.”

He added: “What is important is that this does not distract from the real business of giving people from all backgrounds the best possible chance in life.”

Dr Watson, 79, was one of three people working at Cambridge University who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for discovering the structure of DNA and now runs a School of Biological Sciences in the US. He made the controversial assertions in an interview in The Sunday Times.

Mr Lammy's comments follow the decision by the London Science Museum to ban Dr Watson from giving a lecture tomorrow after his comments were made public. The museum said that it was cancelling the American's speech. “The Science Museum feels that Nobel Prize winner James Watson's recent comments have gone beyond the point of acceptable debate and we are as a result cancelling his talk at the museum this Friday. If people want to know about the science behind genetics and race, they can book on to other events looking at this at the museum's Dana Centre over the next year.”

Dr Watson arrived in Britain yesterday to promote his latest book, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science. He may also be banned from appearing at other bookshops and lectures planned for its promotion.

Dr Watson has courted controversy in the past, reportedly saying that a woman should have the right to abort her unborn child if tests could determine it would be homosexual. He has also suggested a link between skin colour and sex drive, proposing a theory that black people have higher libidos, and claimed that beauty could be genetically manufactured. He has said: “People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.”

On the issue of obesity, Dr Watson has also been quoted as saying: “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them.”

Steven Rose, a professor of biological sciences at the Open University, labelled his recent comments as racist.

“This is Watson at his most scandalous. He has said similar things about women before but I have never heard him get into this racist terrain. If he knew the literature in the subject he would know he was out of his depth scientifically, quite apart from socially and politically.”

Times Online

Griffin meeting stopped in Notts!

Over 100 anti-fascists protested in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire on Tuesday evening. The assembled trade unionists, socialists and members of the local community gathered outside Kimberley Parish Hall from 6.30pm, trapping BNP leader Nick Griffin and a handful of supporters inside. The protest was sufficiently large and well organised to prevent a planned 'mass-meeting' of BNP supporters from taking place. This is a major set-back for the BNP in Notts and a huge victory for all those who oppose their fascist race-hate.

A stand-off between protesters and the police lasted well over two hours after initial attempts to break our lines were thwarted. The police made a number of heavy-handed attempts to intimidate the protest - all of which failed. A small number of protesters have been detained by the police. Notts Stop the BNP will monitor the situation and support those involved.

At the end of the evening Griffin and his close associate Sadie Graham (BNP councillor for Brinsley, Broxtowe) were driven away with police protection after a small number of very disheartened supporters on the outside gave up their token vigil.

This evening's victory must be built upon. The BNP have a base of support in the area and will - despite the major set-back - surely continue to organise. Anyone interested in supporting the campaign should email nottmstopbnp@yahoo.co.uk.

Stop the BNP

The LMHR/NUT/NME CD is out now

The LMHR/NME CD schools, sponsored by the National Union of Teachers, finally hits shops today. The special issue of the NME - along with the half a million CD sleeves we are distributing to schools, colleges, universities and workplaces across the UK - represents a massive blow to the fascist BNP’s attempts to gain respectability and votes.

A clear anti-fascist message will be in newsagents in every town in the country, the high-profile artists involved should ensure good press coverage of the campaign, but most importantly getting hold of the CD and the campaign material that will come with it will inspire many many people to put on LMHR gigs to actively oppose racism in the BNP in their area.

You can find everything you need to get involved with this great project:- leaflets and posters to advertise the CD and inform others how to get it, as well as ordering information and much more HERE.

BNP's James Lloyd kicked out at last

A Tipton BNP councillor has been kicked off Sandwell Council for failing to attend a single authority meeting in the last six months.

James Lloyd, who represented the Princes End ward, has been disqualified as a result of his absence and failing to explain why. The councillor, first elected in 2004, was sent a letter from the authority’s chief executive Allison Fraser yesterday informing him of the decision.

In her letter, Dr Fraser said: “You last attended a meeting of the authority on April 12, 2007 when you were recorded as being in attendance at a meeting of the Employment Appeals Panel. During six months you have not provided reasons for your failure to attend and have not sought approval from the authority. You have now ceased to be a member of the authority.”

The disqualification will be announced to members at a meeting of the full council on October 30. Mr Lloyd said today he was not aware of the council’s decision and had been working away from home.

The BNP member was at the centre of a scandal in January when he was asked to quit as licensee of the Lagoon pub in Princes End following a string of violence.

He said today: “Since I lost the business I have been forced to take a building site job in Oxfordshire, working up to 15 hours a day. I have been coming back to Sandwell at weekends, but my phone is on 24/7 for the people who voted for me.”

Express and Star

London The stepping stone to power?

The British National Party has launched its London election campaign in the belief that representation on the London Assembly will be followed by European success and put the party beyond the reaches of its opponents.

Kicking off an eight-month campaign, party leader Nick Griffin joined Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s candidate for Mayor of London, in a Dagenham pub last month. In front of 130 people Griffin claimed that the BNP would win between one and three seats on the London Assembly, which if achieved could create a momentum for two seats in the London region in the European election a year later. Success in the European election, he went on to claim, would solve the party’s financial problems and provide it with a respectability that could not be touched by its political opponents.

While the BNP has no chance in winning any of the 14 constituencies, which use the first-past-the-post system, the party believes it will gain representation through the London-wide top-up election, in which 11 seats are available. These seats are distributed to reflect the party’s overall share of the vote (as explained in “Voting in London 2008” below).

To win one Assembly seat the BNP would need to get 5% of the London-wide vote. For two seats they would need around 8% and for three little more than 11%.

In 2004 the BNP polled 4.8%, missing a seat by 5,000 votes. The UK Independence Party polled 8.2%, gaining two Assembly seats. Given that the last London election was held on the same day as the European election and that UKIP has imploded since then, the BNP quite rightly expects the UKIP vote to collapse. It must also be remembered that since the last London election the BNP has emerged as a significant force in outer east London, gaining 12 councillors in Barking and Dagenham and one in each of Havering and Redbridge. There are a further six BNP councillors just over the London border in Loughton.

On paper it would appear fairly easy for the BNP to gain the additional 5,000 votes for one seat. After all, BNP gained almost 8,000 in Barking and Dagenham in the last general election, a 40% increase on its 2004 London Assembly vote.

Support for the BNP appears to be concentrated around the outskirts of London, particularly in outer east London and on the fringes of south and southwest London. In addition to Barking and Dagenham, the BNP polled 10% in some wards in Havering, Sutton, Croydon, Lewisham, Hillingdon and Enfield. This corresponds with where the UKIP picked up most of its support. Both parties fared poorly in inner city London, which confirms the view that the UKIP collected a white right-wing vote.

The BNP’s belief that a sizeable chunk of the UKIP vote could switch to it is highlighted in research published by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. The Far Right in London: A challenge for local democracy? showed there was a common identity between BNP and UKIP voters, and to a lesser extent Conservative Party voters. “The results of the mayoral contest suggest linkages between UKIP and the BNP in some voters’ minds, in that those giving their first preference to the UKIP candidate were more likely than other voters to give their second to the BNP candidate, and those giving first preference to the BNP candidate were more likely to give their second to the UKIP candidate. … nearly half of BNP voters chose the UKIP mayoral candidate Frank Maloney as their second choice, while over one fifth of UKIP voters chose the BNP candidate Julian Leppert as their second choice.”

The report went on to discover that as many as a quarter of London voters would consider voting for the BNP, though this is obviously quite different from those who would actually vote for the BNP.

This has been backed up by the London Elections Study which showed that people who expressed a “liking” for the UKIP were also more likely to state a “liking” for the BNP and vice versa. A further project (Margetts, Dunleavy and van Heerde, 2005) has identified the existence of a “right bloc” in London politics, consisting of the BNP, the UKIP and the Conservatives. According to the State of the Nation survey, the crossover between these three parties appears stronger in London than elsewhere in the country.

The existence of a potential rightwing block vote of 8-12% is what makes the BNP confident of electoral success in the capital next year. While most UKIP voters will probably move to the Conservatives next May, especially if there is a close contest for Mayor, at least 20% could move over to the BNP, giving the racist party 6.5% even before the BNP’s growth in the capital since 2005 is taken into account.

To achieve the 11% minimum required for three seats would need a 250% increase in the BNP vote. The party has obviously been looking at its fairly uniform performance in local elections in recent years, with its candidates averaging 14.7% this year. However, because of the ethnic makeup of London the BNP would need closer to 20% of the white vote, which seems highly unlikely.

Will the BNP succeed?

So is the BNP guaranteed success in London next May? Of course not. While the figures show what a difficult task we are facing, there are still seven months to go and everything to play for. The very fact that London has such a diverse population automatically means that 35% of voters should naturally be opposed to the BNP.

There are also a good many white voters who are strongly against the fascists. The same research by Rowntree found that the BNP was Britain’s most disliked political party, with three-quarters of respondents saying they would never, under any circumstances, vote for it. This proves that there is a large anti-BNP vote out there to be mobilised.

Mobilising the anti-BNP vote is crucial. Given the size of London it is not feasible for anti-fascists to undertake door-to-door campaigning across the capital, other perhaps than in Barking and Dagenham as this will be vital for the general election and the 2010 borough council elections. Instead, anti-fascists have to look for alternative forms of campaigning to reach the largest number of people with as little effort as possible.

The focus for much of our work has to be the BME and newly arrived communities. Most should have an intrinsic dislike of the BNP though the threat would have to be explained. Another element of our campaign must be voter registration, particularly for the newly arrived communities from eastern Europe. This should be done in conjunction with the trade unions and linked to campaigns to improve their working conditions. Discussions are already under way with our Polish sister organisation, Never Again, to help in this work.

The fundamental issue for anti-fascists is boosting turnout. To break the 5% threshold to gain one seat, the BNP will have to find an extra supporter for every 20 in increased turnout. As table 2 shows, a high turnout could seriously derail the BNP’s chances, particularly of getting more than one person elected.

It would be catastrophic for the BNP if the general election were on the same day as the London election. Based on the same turnout as the 2005 general election, the BNP would need over 150,000 votes just to get one person on the London Assembly. Three seats would require more than 330,000 votes and, given the intense campaigning of a general election and the reduced media profile the BNP would receive, the task would be almost impossible.

The wider political scene will impact on the BNP, both negatively and positively. The BNP will benefit from the demise of the UKIP. In 2004 the UKIP’s vote was boosted as the London and European elections were held on the same day, which will not be the case this time. Since then the UKIP has suffered several splits and defections. However, the English Democrats might take some votes from the BNP because of the attention that their mayoral candidate Gary Bushell might attract.

Boris Johnson standing for the Conservatives might however help the BNP. While his name on the ballot paper is likely to reduce the BNP’s own mayoral vote, some of the anti-party voters Johnson might attract on the basis of giving Ken Livingstone the boot are likely to be natural BNP voters. As has become evident in recent years, the BNP has proved successful in tapping into the sector of the population that is disillusioned by the political system and does not normally vote.

Searchlight is working with the trade unions, political parties and other anti-fascist groups to establish one united campaign for the London elections. We believe that a new strategy is needed that targets the sections of the population that are likely to vote and mobilises those communities most likely to be opposed to the BNP. While winning the political argument is important, this election will hang on increasing the turnout. Our target turnout must be 45% with our voters coming out. If we achieve this then Griffin’s rolling plans for the next few years, which might even include him standing in London in the European election, could well be in tatters.

Voting in London 2008

Londoners will vote for the mayor and London Assembly on 1 May 2008. While we can safely say that Richard Barnbrook, the BNP candidate, will not be elected as mayor, there is a high risk that the BNP will gain one Assembly member and possibly two. To keep the BNP out, it is important to understand how these elections work. Sonia Gable explains.

The Assembly has 14 constituency members and 11 London-wide members. The constituency members are elected using the first-past-the-post system in constituencies that comprise two or three boroughs. In 2000 and 2004 all the constituencies elected Labour or Conservative members.

The London-wide members are elected by means of a separate vote for a party list or independent. Votes are allocated in a way that ensures that that the number of Assembly members for each party, including the constituency members, approximately reflects the percentage of votes each party obtains. It works like this:

1. Any party or independent with under 5% of the vote is eliminated. This is what happened to the BNP in 2004 when it polled 4.8%.

2. Each party’s London-wide vote is divided by one plus the number of constituency candidates it has had elected. For example, in 2004 five constituencies elected Labour members so Labour’s London-wide vote was initially divided by six.

3. The party that then has the highest London-wide vote (after dividing) takes the first London place. That party’s total London-wide vote is then divided by the number of seats it has taken so far (constituency plus London-wide).

4. Step 3 is repeated until all 11 London-wide seats have been allocated.

There is no set percentage needed to win a particular number of seats. It depends on the precise way the votes fall among the other parties. However because the Assembly has 25 members, any party that reaches the 5% threshold in the London-wide vote is guaranteed a seat. With 8% of the vote the BNP could win two seats.

All votes for other parties will increase the total vote and therefore reduce the BNP percentage, so it is important that voters, wherever in London they are, use their vote to try and put the BNP below 5%.

However it is more effective for people to vote for parties that are likely to poll at least 5%, so that their votes count in minimising the BNP’s seats if it does exceed the threshold. The BNP is clearly hoping to attract votes that went to the UKIP last time so every vote against the BNP is important.

Anyone aged 18 or over can register to vote if they live in London and are British, other EU or Commonwealth citizens. The last date for registration in time for the Assembly election is 16 April 2008.

Searchlight

Bring back the Doc - all is forgiven

Just prior to the most recent local government elections back in May, Nick Griffin issued a royal decree that those blogs that were not directly approved by the party should cease posting, presumably in case somebody (probably Green Arrow) said something particularly stupid that could harm the party's chances.

This temporary proscription was, of course, never placed on Tommy Williams' appalling blog because Griffin makes use of it to attack his enemies, as we have seen here and here.

Once the election was over and the stagnation of the BNP had become apparent, Griffin lifted his decree, thus allowing the current free for all where any BNP member with internet access can set up a blog and talk utter rubbish in the name of the party. This has led to an explosion in pro-BNP blogs, most of which are toe-curlingly bad. Far worse though, are the blogs that have been started - some very recently - by those the party regards as the elite, and the most elite of that bunch is, depressingly, the party's deputy-leader and National Press Officer Simon Darby.

Darby, a well-known twitcher (or birdwatcher, to us mere mortals) has the habit of filling his blog posts with a mixture of drivel about how wonderful the BNP is, which birds are popping their heads up at any given moment, sport, his household chores and, bizarrely, big cat crap.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Yesterday, those of us stupid enough to bother ventured over to his blog page only to be confronted with a post about redwings, rugby, Jean-Marie LePen, some tosh about Gordon Brown and an enormous picture of some 'possible' big cat droppings found 'not more than half an hours drive from [his] doorstep'. You'd think the deputy-leader of what he would like us to believe is the fastest-growing political party ever would have better things to do than show us pictures of cat crap from about thirty miles past his front door.

Strangely, this apparently random meandering through Darby's brain seems not to have endeared him to the BNP membership. Quite the opposite in fact. We're informed that several BNP members are pleading with anyone who will listen for the return of the former Press Officer Dr. Phil Edwards (or Stuart Russell, his real name). Even though he was frequently sloshed shortly after opening time and was often extremely rude to those newspapers who he felt had angered or misrepresented him, he did at least blog about the party and its politics occasionally. With him, we got an awful lot of bullshit but, thankfully, no cat crap.

New Anne Frank drama to air on BBC

The BBC is to dramatise the diary of Anne Frank, the German Jewish girl forced to hide from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic, in a series that will be shown across a week.

BBC1 will schedule the five 30-minute episodes of The Diary of Anne Frank - which will be made by Darlow Smithson Productions, the company behind Oscar-winning documentary Touching the Void - in pre-watershed slot early next year. The drama will follow the scheduling model of Bleak House, which was broadcast in the same way after EastEnders in December 2005 and proved a success, pulling in 6 million viewers.

Deborah Moggach, whose credits include the recent film version of Pride and Prejudice, wrote the new Anne Frank drama. It will tell Frank's story from before the days she was forced into hiding with her family and friends in a secret annex above a warehouse and through the two years they spent in the cramped and increasingly harsh conditions.

Frank will be played by relative newcomer Ellie Kendrick, with her father Otto played by Kingdom of Heaven's Iain Glen. Green Wing's Tamsin Gregg will play Frank's mother Edith, while Cape Wrath's Felicity Jones will star as Frank's sister Margot Frank.

Executive producer John Smithson said: "This is one of those wonderful iconic stories that resonates to this day and we are thrilled to have secured the rights. The Diary of Anne Frank is an intimate portrayal of a family living through the most horrifying times but yet managing to maintain a sense of hope. We wanted audiences to identify with all the characters in the story - particularly Anne, who as a bright, funny, energetic teenager, today still seems entirely modern."

The BBC commissioning editor, Polly Hill, added: "Despite the horrors of the time and the ultimate tragedy of this family, Anne was a teenage girl, recognisable the world over, having to cope with the usual problems of growing up - albeit in extraordinary circumstances. We hope this drama will bring Anne alive to viewers of all generations."

Darlow Smithson acquired the rights to the diary from the Anne Frank Fonds, the body that administers the copyright to Frank's writings.

The Diary of Anne Frank is said to be the world's most widely read work of non-fiction after the Bible.

Media Guardian

The NNP collapses: Sharon Ebanks announces her retirement from politics

One of the contributors to Vanguard, one of the more overtly nazi forums out there, posted the following in the early hours of this morning:

'Announcement by the New Nationalist Party

The leader of the NNP makes the following statement:

On the 11th December 2006 after much discussion with close friends, we decided to form the ‘New Nationalist Party’. It was ostensibly to be an umbrella for decent British patriots to be able to stand in local elections and in May 2007 we did just that.

Nearly 12 months on we have decided to shut down the party to pursue what we feel has been neglected for far too long, our own lives.The NNP was run openly and democratically and I hope that the NNP members and onlookers were pleased with our approach to financial transparency and honesty.

I’d like to wish Keith Axon well in his retirement and I thank him for standing by me in what turned out to be some pretty grim moments, David Williams who has kept up the site and has always been on hand to help and offer support and to those who stood for the NNP last year, you were brave and I sincerely thank you.

For my own part I am physically and emotionally exhausted and bitterly regret that I ever joined the BNP, I have made mistakes in my life like all people but the British National Party was my biggest. I and many others fearful of the dark forces at work in this country risked life, name and reputation only to have it confirmed by the very party we supported that it was all for nothing.

The BNP does contain some decent people and of those I am proud to call them my friends and to the person I will always refer to as ‘Sir’ I shall always cherish your generosity and kindness, were it not for you the Kingstanding court fees would never have been settled.

The monies left in the NNP bank account will be fairly shared out to those members who donated it. I now consider myself retired and a full time mother and grandmother.

Kind Regards
Sharon Ebanks'

It was claimed that this had been posted on the New Nationalist Party (NNP) website, then swiftly removed. Now however, the notice is back and in a prominent position.

Ebanks, who was for a (short) while, the BNP's national fundraiser, came to prominence when she seemed to have won a seat for the BNP in Birmingham's Kingstanding ward. After a High Court ruling, the seat was eventually handed to Labour and that would have been the end of the story but for the BNP's extraordinary behaviour over the next couple of weeks.

Following the BNP's advice, Ebanks chose to defend the case, clearly believing that the party would cover her costs in the event of a loss. In fact, the party made an internal appeal for the money, claiming that £5000 was needed The appeal was successful but, for some bizarre reason of its own, the party chose not to hand it over to Ebanks. This produced an outcry on the hugely supportive nazi forum Stormfront and another collection which was eventually used to pay the bill for her but all this came at the cost of her acrimonious sacking from the BNP.

Since then she has been a constant thorn in the BNP's corporate side, launching a constant series accusations of financial incompetence, corruption and impropriety at the party leadership.

That she has chosen to retire now illustrates, we believe, that she has run out of supportable accusations to make. Though asked numerous times to provide evidence for her claims that the BNP leadership is corrupt, she has chosen to keep her own counsel, leading many to claim that she really has nothing to offer.

No doubt we'll come back to Ebanks at some point but for the moment we'll leave you with the report that appeared on the Covert site. Covert is, you'll recall, run by one Tommy Williams, hardcore racist and known drug-dealer who is widely perceived to be Nick Griffin's attack dog. If nothing else, he's certainly close to the modern, 'we're-not-racist' BNP leadership. You might like to bear that in mind while reading the following.

'Monkey Business: Sharon Ebanks Gives Up The NNP

Sambo is shamed into submission

Half Jamaican mental case Sharon Ebanks has finally sussed out that being half Jamaican and trying to pass herself of as white doesn't work. After a recent confession in her own words that her father was non-other than negro immigrunt Radwell Ebanks the fat ape realised that even she couldn't lie her way out of this one thus decided to call it a day as her whole world collapsed around her. There is more news that she was even collaborating with the police as well as with Gerry Gable. Now what will happen to those members and supporters of the NNP? Lets wait and see as more things come to light. Stooooopid coon.'

BNP councillor to be removed for non-attendance

The British National Party is about to lose yet another councillor, Searchlight can exclusively reveal.

James Lloyd, BNP councillor for Princes End ward on Sandwell council, has not attended a meeting in six months, which means that he will be removed from office. We hope the council will not delay in writing to Lloyd to inform him of the situation. The usual procedure would be to give him seven days to prove that he has in fact attended a meeting. If he cannot, and Searchlight, which monitors BNP attendance and performance, believes that is the case, then he will lose his seat.

Lloyd has been a major embarrassment to the BNP in the Black Country. He stood on a platform of insisting that parents be held responsible for the bad behaviour of their children. However, his two sons have regularly been in trouble with the law. One was named and shamed by the police as one of the worst young offenders in the area.

Earlier this year Searchlight revealed that police had objected to the renewal of Lloyd's pub licence after a series of violent incidents at his premises. They including a shooting incident in which Lloyd himself was the target. The BNP councillor had repeatedly refused to cooperate with the police.

And then there were two ...

Last week Simon Smith, a councillor in neighbouring Great Bridge ward, formally acknowledged that he is no longer part of the BNP group on the council. Smith, who was the BNP group leader until he resigned from the party two months ago, had been elected in 2006 with the highest BNP vote in the country.

This leaves the BNP with only two councillors in the borough and 47 in the country, down from 50 immediately after the May elections.

Stop the BNP

Fascists have no place in Oxford

Unite Against Fascism has learnt that Oxford Union debating society has invited Fascist BNP leader Nick Griffin and convicted Holocaust denier David Irving to a debate on 'Freedom of Speech' on 26 November. UAF understands they both have been confirmed for this 'debate'.

Wherever fascists have a presence, violence and intimidation increases. Fascists stand against the principles of freedom of speech and as history shows, they destroy all opposition by physically annihilating entire people and ending all freedoms. They represent a real threat to people in Oxford. This is why, as in the past, the National Union of Students and Unite Against Fascism have joined forces to stop this event from taking place by calling on Oxford Union to reverse its decision to invite Griffin and Irving.

Gemma Tumelty, NUS President said: "The Holocaust denier, David Irving and leader of the fascist BNP, Nick Griffin have no place in our multicultural society. NUS utterly opposes racism and fascism wherever it arises and will certainly oppose any attempt by Oxford Union to invite Irving and Griffin to speak.

"The pair's racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and Islamophobic views threaten the safety of our diverse university communities. For example, wherever the BNP is active, racist attacks and other hate crimes increase.

"With freedom of speech comes the responsibility not to abuse it. All students have a right to learn in an environment free from discrimination or harassment. It is unacceptable to expose students and staff to the possibility of attacks and to give a platform of academic respectability to Griffin and Irving. We will certainly be active in a campaigning to ensure that they are not given a platform."

Unite Against Fascism Joint Secretary Weyman Bennett said: "Fascist organisations such as the British National Party, are not normal political parties and should not be treated as such. Many leading BNP members have convictions for violent offences including bombings.

"Fascism stands for the annihilation of entire communities and the complete destruction of freedom of speech, democracy and human rights. The BNP denies the Nazi Holocaust and calls for an 'all white Britain' which could only be achieved through murderous violence.

"The infamous images of fascist students burning books shortly after Hitler's ascent to power should serve to remind us, both that our campuses are not immune from fascist ideas, and that fascism is itself the complete antithesis of reason, logic and rational debate.

"Millions were murdered in the Holocaust, not because their arguments weren't good enough, but because those who could have stopped fascism under-estimated the threat that it represented. Many thought its flaws so obvious they could easily be exposed. Once allowed a foothold fascism unleashed its campaign of violence and terror. If we can learn from the mistakes of the past we will not be forced to repeat them."

UAF