Tag Archives: bnp

Chris White

Tim Farron comments on the de-registration of the BNP as a political party

By Chris White | Fri 8th January 2016 - 7:15 pm

Tim Farron Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul Walter

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said ‘hope always wins out’ after news that the Electoral Commission has removed the British National Party (BNP) from its register of political parties.

The decent and fair minded British public have stood up against the BNP and all they stand for – intolerance, hatred and an organisation that worked to stoke fear wherever they could.  Britain is a little better off today because of this news, but we should always be mindful that the just because the BNP have fallen off the register, they could come back.  We also still have organisations like Britain First working to fan the flames of intolerance.

Today is a victory for the thousands of people and organisations like Hope Not Hate who worked to make the case for an inclusive, welcoming and outward looking nation.

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Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Roger Roberts writes…We must unite against the scaremongering of the far right

By Lord Roger Roberts | Wed 14th May 2014 - 7:00 pm

Manhattan Central Park - Imagine MosaicThis week the BNP released its party political broadcast in the run-up to May’s local council and European elections. The BNP youth has also made its own poisonous contribution to the debate. The BNP have released a hurriedly edited version following complaints from the BBC that the broadcast did not meet its editorial guidelines, which state that such broadcasts have:

An obligation to observe the law (for example on libel, copyright and incitement to racial hatred and violence) and the BBC Editorial Guidelines on harm and

…

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Stephen Tall

Farage says Britain’s becoming “unrecognisable”. But the British public says our sense of belonging is increasing.

By Stephen Tall | Sun 2nd March 2014 - 12:00 pm

Ukip leader Nigel Farage was dog-whistling for all he was worth at his party’s spring conference this week:

“In scores of our cities and market towns, this country, in a short space of time, has, frankly, become unrecognisable. Whether it is the impact on local schools and hospitals, whether it is the fact that in many parts of England you don’t hear English spoken any more, this is not the kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.”

His words were eerily reminiscent of William Hague’s insidious “foreign land” speech in 2001. And his party’s slogan …

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Mark Pack

Police arrest BNP candidate for Mayor of Liverpool

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st May 2012 - 5:43 pm

The BBC reports:

The BNP candidate standing for elected mayor of Liverpool has been arrested by Merseyside Police.

Mike Whitby has been detained following an allegation that nomination forms for the mayoral elections had been fraudulently filled in…

The complaint was made to Merseyside Police following an investigation by the Liverpool Echo.

UPDATE September 2012: “The Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to take the case through the courts” – Liverpool Echo

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Mark Pack

BNP accused of fraud over false invoices

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th October 2011 - 6:11 pm

The BBC reports:

The British National Party is under investigation by the European Union and the Metropolitan Police for alleged fraud and breaches of electoral law.

The dual investigations come as a former BNP administrator told the BBC’s Panorama programme that she was instructed to falsify invoices.

Those invoices were then submitted by the BNP to the Electoral Commission.

The BNP has strongly denied any suggestion of wrongdoing…

Former party worker Marion Thomas said after the 2010 general election she was instructed by the party’s treasurer, Clive Jefferson, to alter invoices and in at least one case stamp an outstanding invoice as “paid”.

The invoices were

…

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Mark Pack

Who joins the BNP and who votes BNP?

By Mark Pack | Thu 26th May 2011 - 7:25 am

Matthew Goodwin’s new book, New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party, expands on one of his previous works on political extremism to look in-depth at just the BNP.

New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party has at its heart an extensive set of interviews with BNP members. His conclusion is a nuanced one – that the BNP has carved out a strong base in a narrow niche, meaning both that it is not likely to disappear any time soon nor is it likely to break through to major levels of support.

That base is made …

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The Voice

LibLink: Nick Clegg… AV got the Mayor elected – now he’s voting against it

By The Voice | Wed 27th April 2011 - 3:28 pm

Nick Clegg wrote an article for the Evening Standard yesterday aimed at London voters, who’ll only be voting in the AV referendum on May 5th as London does not have council elections* this year.

As well as outlining the reasons for voting Yes to Fairer Votes, “I believe most Londoners want a new way of electing MPs that cleans up politics, makes MPs work harder and makes every vote count,” Nick busts the myths about AV: “vote-counting machines that don’t exist and won’t be needed. Claims that the alternative vote is too complex for the British people to understand, as …

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Nick T

Switch to AV would not boost BNP

By Nick T | Fri 15th April 2011 - 5:25 pm

The British National Party has featured surprisingly prominently in the AV campaign so far, since their introduction into the debate by the NO campaign. The BNP are, of course, firmly positioned in the NO camp, not least because they know that they wouldn’t have a hope of winning a Parliamentary election under the system – as their deputy chairman Simon Darby acknowledged to Channel 4’s FactCheck team yesterday.

This comes on the back of a report by the IPPR think tank which analysed the claim of the NO campaign that under AV, second preferences of BNP voters would be decisive …

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Dominic Carman

Dominic Carman writes: Barnsley Central – a call to action

By Dominic Carman | Mon 14th February 2011 - 11:27 am

Six weeks ago, my son Charlie and I travelled up from London with Simon Hughes – to leaflet on behalf of Elwyn Watkins in the Oldham by-election. The campaign was fantastic: dozens of Lib Dems in a well-equipped campaign office and many more leafleting and campaigning on the streets. It produced an excellent result in difficult circumstances: Elwyn even increased his share of the vote to 31.9%.

On Saturday, I was selected as the PPC for the forthcoming Barnsley Central by-election, to be held on March 3rd. At the 2010 general election, the Lib Dems came second to Labour in …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , , and | 3 Comments
Sara Bedford

So almost no-one agreed with Nick – and he doesn’t understand why?

By Sara Bedford | Tue 11th May 2010 - 1:49 pm

It has certainly been a bad week for Nick Griffin. The party polled badly in the General Election, with Griffin’s much-hyped bid to win Barking constituency ending in a poor third place. The BNP’s already tiny local council base took a pounding, with total wipe-out in Barking & Dagenham, a council they hoped to control. Most damning for the future of the party itself, there has been huge damage from defections and scandal, resulting in the BNP main web site being taken down just a week before the election.

Nick Griffin has sent an email out to party members, attempting to justify the truly terrible results of last week’s elections to BNP members.

So the election dust has now settled, and from our point of view there are four key outcomes: First, the resulting hung Parliament and political instability will rapidly add to Gordon Brown’s economic disaster. The Bank of England prediction that whoever won this election will end up being “out of power for a generation” is now going to apply to two of the three old parties. That’s bad news for Britain, but good news for us.

So the British National Party doesn’t really care about Britain – just itself?

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Antony Hook

Opinion: The linked vote shares of UKIP and the BNP

By Antony Hook | Mon 10th May 2010 - 11:20 am

The 2010 General Election was a failure for Britain’s two openly xenophobic parties.

UKIP stood in 556 constituencies and lost their deposit in 459 (83%). Their vote share varied between 0.65 and Nigel Farage’s 17.3 in Buckingham where none of the three main parties contested the Speaker’s seat. No other UKIP candidate hit double digits.

The average vote share per UKIP candidate was 3.54.

The BNP stood in 338 constituencies and lost their deposit in 267 (80%). Their vote share varied between 0.4 and Nick Griffin’s 14.6 in Barking. Only two other BNP candidates hit double digits.

Eight out UKIP’s …

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Posted in General Election and Op-eds | Also tagged | 15 Comments
Dominic Carman

Opinion: Nick Griffin destroyed his parents and failed his family

By Dominic Carman | Fri 23rd April 2010 - 2:20 pm

On Wednesday’s Today programme, BNP leader Nick Griffin told the Radio Four audience that “Liberal economics… have utterly bankrupted this country.” It’s laughable. The truth is that Nick Griffin was himself declared bankrupt in 1991. Over several years thereafter, he destroyed his parents financially as well. In this link, Griffin’s parents tell the story of how their son ruined their lives.

It is the story of a man whose gross personal financial incompetence brought significant misery to his entire family. Griffin racked up debts of several hundred thousand pounds through a series of disastrous property investments, which he describes …

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Mark Pack

Two councillors accused of breaking election law; one political party investigated

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 12:20 pm

A quick round-up of stories in the news recently:

In January 2010 the Electoral Commission, the independent party finance watchdog, began a case review following concerns raised in the independent auditor’s opinion about the adequacy of the 2008 statement of accounts of the British National Party.

The case has now become an investigation. However, it is important to note – particularly during an election period – that no conclusion has been reached and therefore no assumption should be made as to whether a breach of the rules has occurred. (Electoral Commission)

A CONSERVATIVE councillor has been suspended and is due in

…

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Dominic Carman

“You’ll be found dead on the streets” – the message from a BNP supporter

By Dominic Carman | Sun 4th April 2010 - 1:25 pm

‘You’ll be found dead on the streets.’ That was the message I received a few weeks ago from an identifiable BNP supporter. Why? Because I was taking a stand against Nick Griffin. When someone writes this to you because you’re fighting as a Lib Dem in a parliamentary campaign against Griffin and the BNP, it makes you think very hard about your political opponent and the campaign they intend to fight. It also makes you think about how you should respond.

I reported the threat immediately to the police. They came to my house and have since referred the matter to …

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Mark Pack

BNP hit by allegations of coups, infighting and sabotage

By Mark Pack | Sat 3rd April 2010 - 12:25 pm

Extract from a leaked BNP email bulletin:

For several months the party’s internal security team has been running an extensive and long-running investigation. This was initially tasked to investigate:

  • Alleged financial irregularities and ‘scamming’ concerning the procurement of print, especially large election print run, leaflets and regular publications including Identity magazine.
  • The leaking onto the internet of sensitive party information.
  • The ongoing, co-ordinated and sustained hate campaign, feeding lies to certain anti-BNP blog sites.

More recently, its focus has moved on to the catalogue of recurring and seemingly inexplicable ‘gaffes’ being made at various stages in our preparations for the general election by certain

…

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Mark Pack

What’s up with Nick Griffin’s expense claims?

By Mark Pack | Wed 31st March 2010 - 10:50 am

Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has spotted some rather odd entries in Nick Griffin’s expense claims from the European Parliament. Nick Griffin had previously stalled on publishing his expenses but now he’s given in to the pressure there are some distinct oddities:

a) Nick Griffin claims to have donated £5,575.91 to a fund that has only declared income of £4560.65.

b) Nick Griffin has previously said he employs three members of staff, one of whom is shared with another MEP. However the expense claims list eight people, give no names and only one of their job titles matches previous public statements about …

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Mark Pack

Total Politics: Dominic Carman responds to the Nick Griffin interview

By Mark Pack | Sun 28th March 2010 - 12:50 pm

Following Total Politics’s controversial decision to interview Nick Griffin, the magazine’s website is also running responses to it, including one from Dominic Carman (Lib Dem candidate for the same Barking constituency as Nick Griffin):

Take three of Griffin’s answers from the Total Politics interview and contrast them with what he told me privately:

On Afghanistan: “The only way you could win there is if you nuked it, which can’t be done.” He told me: “We should send (British) troops in to Afghanistan…and we should obliterate as many cities as it takes.”

On VAT: “We’ve never said we’re increasing VAT.” He told me: “Income

…

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The Voice

Tory tangle over non-white candidates

By The Voice | Sun 21st March 2010 - 8:20 am

The Observer today carries a story about the curious lack of photos of the Conservatives’ black and asian candidates in Barking and Dagenham.

The candidates exist (to the Tories’ credit) and their names and contact numbers are on the leaflets, but the photos are all white.

The Conservatives denied that the move amounted to deliberate “airbrushing” of ethnic minority candidates. They insisted that the lack of photographs of their non-white candidates on all campaign calendars dropped through letter boxes was because their list of candidates had not been completed when the material was published. But they could

…

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Mark Pack

Book review: The new extremism in 21st century Britain

By Mark Pack | Sat 20th March 2010 - 9:20 am

The new extremism in 21st century Britain, edited by Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin considers both far-right and Islamic extremism, their causes and possible responses. It is unusual for a study to look at both these forms of extremism, and as the books editors explain that is not just a publishing phenomena; academics and experts predominantly focus on one or the other with as a result relatively little opportunity to learn from comparing and contrasting different extremist movements.

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Helen Duffett

BNP announce Parliamentary Candidate for Buckingham

By Helen Duffett | Tue 9th March 2010 - 12:58 pm

The BNP has announced its Buckingham candidate for the 2010 General Election, adding another candidate to a slate which already includes UKIP, John Stevens (former Lib Dem member and before that, Conservative MEP,) Patrick Phillips (“conservatively minded” Independent candidate) and Geoff Howard (former Conservative and UKIP member).

With the three main parties refraining from standing against the Speaker, it will be interesting to see how the vote is split by the minor parties and independents, all of whom have or have had right-wing leanings.

The Liberal Democrats have chosen a spokesperson rather than a candidate.

From the Buckingham Advertiser:

The British National

…

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Posted in General Election and News | Also tagged , , , , , and | 9 Comments
Sara Bedford

Why has Nick Griffin suddenly become so shy?

By Sara Bedford | Sun 7th March 2010 - 11:36 am

It’s not like Nick Griffin to shy away from publicity. His reaction to any possibility of a flicker of spotlight is to run towards it, maximising the impact of his message of hate. But it seems that the BNP leader is now revealing a reticent side to his personality.

Today’s London edition of the BBC’s Politics Show will be covering the constituency of Barking, the one which Griffin hopes to win and become the BNP’s first MP. The programme will feature a discussion between the main parties’ candidates for the seat – and in the case of Barking, the BNP are sadly one of the contenders. But Griffin won’t be appearing, despite an invitation from the BBC. Why?

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Helen Duffett

Lib Dems select Nick Griffin’s biographer to fight BNP in Barking

By Helen Duffett | Tue 2nd March 2010 - 7:50 am

Dominic Carman, son of the late George Carman QC, and biographer of BNP leader Nick Griffin, is to stand as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Barking, East London.

From The Times:

He intends to use information from his research into the biography to attack his opponent. It was never released because publishers were unwilling to associate their brand with the BNP leader.

“I will put it to good use in exposing Griffin beyond what’s already been in the public domain,” he said. “It’s very important to fight a strong campaign and it will be critical to challenge Nick Griffin every

…

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Mark Pack

Will some BNP money shortly be heading the way of the Liberal Democrats?

By Mark Pack | Sat 6th February 2010 - 7:06 pm

The appointment of Tess Culnane, an ex-National Front candidate, to work for the BNP GLA member Richard Barnbrook has been well covered elsewhere.

But one detail intrigues me. As I understand it, Tess Culnane’s job is one that comes with a salary. So does that mean she’ll now start paying off some of the tens of thousands of pounds she owes to two Liberal Democrat members the Liberal Democrats?

The debt comes from her loss of a libel action taken against Lewisham Liberal Democrats Mark Morris (who now works at City Hall too) and Vijay Naidu. As a result of losing the case …

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Mark Pack

Ballot box security: adding your own seals

By Mark Pack | Thu 21st January 2010 - 10:39 pm

Although it’s normal for candidates to leave the security of ballot boxes firmly in the hands of elections staff, there is in fact a long-standing legal right dating back to the 1872 Ballot Act for candidates to put their own seals on ballot boxes.

It is a right that is only rarely used, such as in the 1999 European elections in Haringey. The Conservatives decided to put their own seals on ballot boxes, motivated in part by the usual European rules requiring a 3 day delay between polling day (Thursday) and the count (Sunday). On that occasion the seals caused more concerns …

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Posted in Election law | Also tagged | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

“Reasonable to assume” BNP’s accounts break the law

By Mark Pack | Tue 19th January 2010 - 3:20 pm

Although The Observer headlined on questions over the legality of Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party, the news about the BNP is also of significance:

It has emerged that the Electoral Commission is to review the accounts of the British National party. The BNP submitted a revised set of accounts earlier this month, following concerns that the original set it had given to the commission had not been approved. Following an assessment of the revised accounts, the commission decided that it is “reasonable to assume” a breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act has occurred.

The development is

…

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Helen Duffett

The Christmas present Barking doesn’t need

By Helen Duffett | Wed 23rd December 2009 - 5:56 pm

BNP Christmas poster

I spotted this poster on my way through Barking yesterday – it features Nick Griffin, the BNP’s Parliamentary candidate for that constituency, raising a glass and purporting to wish the locals a Merry Christmas.

It’s in a high-traffic spot, and I’m told there are other such posters around the town. Griffin said when he was selected for the seat back in November that his party would concentrate more money and resources on Barking than they had done for any other election campaign.

Ironic that Griffin chooses this moment to highlight some of the benefits brought to this country from overseas.

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Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP

Lord Pearson as a Tory party whip and Griffin v. Maloney

By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP | Wed 9th December 2009 - 4:13 pm

UKIP have got themselves into a right pickle recently, poor things! It emerged last week that their new leader Lord Pearson a number of months ago made a somewhat controversial offer to the Conservative party. Pearson allegedly (The Times, 30 November, UKIP’s planned deal with Tories causes outrage in anti-Europe party) approached Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Tories in the House of Lords, with an offer to disband the party and withdraw all UKIP candidates if the Tories agreed to hold a referendum on EU membership. Lord Strathclyde himself has confirmed that the meeting with Pearson, who is in fact a former Tory, took place.

Although Nigel Farage has since changed the story slightly saying that the offer only included withdrawing all candidates, this is still a pretty hefty political gamble.

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Iain Roberts

Nick Griffin’s Barking Plan

By Iain Roberts | Sun 15th November 2009 - 7:56 pm

The BNP are holding their party conference – in a gym on the edge of an industrial estate near Wigan, with no journalists allowed – and the big news there is Nick Griffin’s plan to stand for Parliament in Barking next year.

Keen students of geography may notice that Barking is some way from the constituency that Mr Griffin currently represents in the European Parliament – the North West of England.  Clearly, whatever other objectives Nick Griffin might have, actually doing the job he was elected to do in June isn’t one of them.

Could the BNP win Barking?

It’s an odd …

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Posted in General Election | Also tagged | 12 Comments
The Voice

LibLink … Chris Huhne: Griffin is trying to peddle hatred against Muslims

By The Voice | Fri 23rd October 2009 - 3:55 pm

Over in the Independent, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne writes about his experiences on last night’s BBC Question Time as a fellow panellist alongside BNP leader Nick Griffin. Here’s an excerpt:

The key method of Griffin was on display: pretend to be moderate and reasonable in order to garner support which would be revolted if it knew his real agenda. He was confronted with quotes from YouTube, in which he told David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan that the BNP had to move softly because the British people were not yet ready for talk of racial purity, so

…

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Patrick Murray

Opinion: A Liberal Line on Immigration

By Patrick Murray | Fri 23rd October 2009 - 12:30 pm

For me one of the key tenets of liberalism is our commitment to human rights and fairness. This is why I think fighting the fight on immigration is so important.

On last night’s Question Time, a member of the audience asked whether the rise of the BNP had been down to Labour’s failure on immigration. I think there is an element of truth in that, but perhaps not the element of truth that our home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, thought.

Over the last ten years we have been subjected to Home Office and Immigration policy made to please the xenophobic, right wing agenda of papers such as the Daily Mail.

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