BNP leadership fails members yet again

BNP faces prosecution for submitting ‘misleading’ accounts

From The Times:

The British National Party may face prosecution after providing accounts to the Electoral Commission that failed to give a “true and fair view” of its financial circumstances.

The far-Right party, which has already been fined for filing its accounts six months late, must produce further details by Friday.

The news comes as figures released by the commission yesterday reveal how the party exaggerated its spending during the European elections, in which it won two seats, including that of Nick Griffin, the party leader.

Mr Griffin has often claimed that the BNP spent more than £500,000 during the campaign. In fact, the party spent much less, £282,843 — only £54,000 more than it did during 2004.

Mr Griffin’s claims had raised eyebrows, —particularly because the party had declared less than £25,000 in donations since January 2008.

Simon Darby, the BNP deputy leader, yesterday blamed bureaucracy for the errors and said the party needed to exaggerate because

if we had said we wanted to spend 10p, it wouldn’t do us any good. ... there’s a bit of hyperbole with politics.

He refused to comment further on the discrepancy, saying that it was not a “worthy question”.

The BNP was fined £1,000 for filing its 2008 accounts in December — nearly six months after the original deadline.

Even then, the commission concluded that the accounts were inadequate and requested further information.

In his report, which prefaced the accounts, Mr Griffin blamed poor accounting on changes in the party’s treasury department. He said that the accounts had become too big for one person to manage, and had since been outsourced to a chartered accountant.

He said the changes were made “with the aim of presenting acceptable accounts for the accounting year 2009”. “We recognise that it is not acceptable to present inadequate accounts,” he wrote.

The independent auditor of the accounts concluded that the party’s financial statements did not “give a true and fair view” of its affairs. Silver & Co wrote: “In our opinion it cannot be said that the accounts comply with the requirements of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, as adequate records have not been made available.”

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: “We have reviewed the statement of accounts and have concerns about them. We have written back to the party requesting additional information. Until we have received that information we cannot say what further action will be taken.”

By Fiona Hamilton

The worms turn

Good news from Lancaster Unity:

It's sometimes worrying to observe the amount of times Nick Griffin can crap on the members of the BNP and continue to get away with it, particularly where money is concerned. It seems that, as far as the membership is concerned, he is golden - as in King Midas - and money disappearing into the ether (such as the Trafalgar Club dosh) doesn't seem to bother any of them, their devotion is so complete.

Even the never-ending late submission of the party's accounts to the Electoral Commission and the consequent fines seem to be ignored by the complacent, gullible or just plain stupid BNP member in the street. In fact, BNP members never seem to worry about having money stolen from them by clearly fraudulent behaviour - witness the 'Truth Truck' scam, the Boudica 'battle bus' scam (almost identical to the Truth Truck fraud) or any number of other schemes that appear to be designed solely to keep Porky Griffin in the manner in which he is determined to become accustomed, which makes one worry about the mental health of BNP members in general. Though not for long.

One issue that does seem to be driving a lot of BNP members bonkers at the moment is that of the opening up of the party to non-whites - though in many cases they will deny it for fear of being labeled racist (too late - being a member of an openly racist party has already proven that much). Instead, they will blame their anger on any number of other problems within the BNP - financial shenanigans usually, though the fact that Nick Griffin runs the party as a support group for himself, his family and his friends occasionally gets an airing too.

One such person is very close to us here at Lancaster Unity. No, not in that way - just because we have the joy of having him living here in Lancaster. Chris Hill, for it is he, is a former star of the BNP, having stood for the party in local elections on no less than five occasions (and won on no occasion). He has, up until now, been a Griffin-loyalist, with a slight hiccup during the Sadie Graham debacle, where he joined the rebellion, was told off by Clive Jefferson and promptly returned to the fold, chastened and ready to do whatever was needed to get Nick Griffin into 10 Downing Street. A couple of weeks later, he recanted (again) and rejoined the rebels, though he remained a member of the party. Clearly not a man to be trusted.

One of his great ideas was to emulate Lancaster Unity and start up his own Lancaster BNP blog. It was a complete washout, as witnessed by the fact that his average readership is currently 3.9 per day, one of whom is me and one (I'd hope) is Hill himself, leaving less than two visitors per day from the real world. Funny but tragic, really.

Maybe it was the realisation that he had failed at everything BNP-related that forced the worm to finally (and publicly) turn. The Lancaster BNP site has been closed and all posts have been shifted to a new site with a very conspicuous lack of 'BNP' in the title. Hill explains himself thus:

After much soul searching, the author of this blog regrets that he can no longer support the BNP.

This withdrawal of support for the British National Party is in no way connected with the current proposed constitutional change, which will allow non-white members into the party. It is in fact a result (at least in part) of the long-standing and ongoing financial skulduggery of the leadership.

Here is what the party's official accounts auditors said of the most recent set of accounts the party submitted to the electoral commission: (Accounts which were late again for the third year running, costing the party yet another £1000 fine)

"Accordingly in our opinion the financial statements do not:

1.Give a true and fair view of the state of the part's affairs at 31st December 2008.
2.Give a true and fair view of the results for the year the ended.

In our opinion the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out on pages 18 and 19.

In our opinion it cannot be said the accounts comply with the requirements of the political parties, Election and referendums Act 2000, as adequate record have not been made available."

The full accounts are available from the Electoral Commission here: (Auditors statement is on Pages 11 & 12)

This, along with the totality dictatorial nature of the current leadership, were the causes of this withdrawal of support for the party in its current state.

If, as Hill states, the removal of his support is 'in no way connected with the current proposed constitutional change, which will allow non-white members into the party', why make the change now? The party has always been a dictatorship and its accounts have always been a disaster. If his statement had any truth to it, Hill would have resigned years ago. Like many others, he is obviously leaving the party for one reason and one reason only - because it will soon be forced to take in non-white members.

Hill's farewell sideswipes at Griffin's dictatorial control of the party and the financial skullduggery are views shared by many of his compatriots on the far-right, though they seem capable of being a tad more brutal than Hill. Here's a quote from a reader of the acerbic GriffinWatch blog:

Gri££in's judgement has always been incredibly poor, as a party leader he has made one to many cocks ups, 'fundamentally errors in his analysis,' 'childish stunts,' 'ridiculous statements,' 'nonsense written in begging letters,' 'gross hypocrisy,' 'putting people in jobs that they were not up to or were completely incompetent,' 'associating with convicted criminal scum,' 'treacherous u turns,' 'misappropriation of party funds' the list of errors is endless.

But as they tell us, Hell hath no fury etc. Sharon Ebanks, former leading light of the now more or less moribund Birmingham BNP, has turned out to be one of Nick Griffin's most vociferous opponents after the party dumped on her personally, refuses to beat around the bush. Just a couple of days ago, she came out with this little masterpiece of invective over at the NWN forum:

Griffins entire management of the BNP is a disgrace. His ego and what he wants goes before all else. We recognise that Griffin cannot be removed, and for me personally that means nationalism as a political force is fucked. He concentrates purely on Muslims and immigration without offering any solutions which makes him look a laughing stock amongst the so called political elite. He won't even form a shadow cabinet out of fear someone might upstage him or prove they have more knowledge on a given subject than he has.

The BNP will not be taken seriously because it does not take itself seriously. Its loaded with people on the payroll and non of them are prepared to sacrifice. £700,000 wage bill for pities sake, where is the sacrifice and the £700,000 spent on
elections?

He's a greedy, debauched, self centred, lying, two faced wanker whose real power lies in preying on the uneducated, the working class, and the poor. Griffin isn't there to help them, he's there to help himself, just as he's always done.

And I defy anyone to put it better than that!

Article by Antifascist

Racism - worse than ten years ago

From the Guardian, Comment is free:

I've changed my mind about racism, says Gary Younge.

I thought a paradigmatic shift in attitudes to race was occurring in Britain. The decade has proved me wrong.

The decade that has ended with Nick Griffin on Question Time and (two) BNP MEPs started with me being very optimistic about the future of race relations in Britain. With the broadly positive response to the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence, which had just been released, I thought a paradigmatic shift in the way that we thought about both Britain and race had occurred that could possibly be thwarted but not reversed. This was not a popular view among anti-racist activists at the time. Indeed, for about a year I had to get used to white people calling me naive about racism, which was a first.

But I believed that Macpherson had sent Powellism into irreversible decline and that a new conversation was both possible and, generally speaking, desirable. I knew not everyone would come round, but assumed that they had now been relegated to a permanent rump. I wrote:

A sizeable minority is stuck in the paradigm of immigration-integration-repatriation – desperate to maintain a seamless link between Britishness and whiteness, and the rest have moved on to equal rights, economic opportunities and educational advancement. Some are still asking, 'What are we going to do about these blacks?' Others wonder, 'What are we going to do about the racism in our institutions?'

I had no confidence in our political leadership to lead this conversation, but back then the pressure for them to at least follow it seemed overwhelming.

The first indication of how wrong I was came in the negligent and noxious response to uprisings in Bradford in July 2001. Soon after came terrorism, Blunkett, war, more war, torture, more terrorism, David Goodhart and the white cliffs of Dover. The speed and scale with which public discourse degraded was breathtaking. Once it began it was not difficult to see where it was all going.

No one could have predicted some of the catalysts in that chain of events. But what I did not realise at the time was how superficial support for Macpherson had been among the commentariat and political class. Nor had I grasped how the shift in emphasis from race to religion and from colour to creed and culture could so completely and rapidly graft old views on to new scapegoats.

"Macpherson has provided us with sound foundations," I argued back then. "We must wait and see what lasting structures will be built on them."

If I'd known what hideous creations some architects had in mind, or how easily they could uproot the fixtures, I would have been more circumspect.

By Gary Younge

Poet attacks the BNP in Christmas carol satire

From pinkpaper by Peter Lloyd:

Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has recreated the Twelve Days of Christmas for 2009 - complete with attacks on MPs' expenses, celebrity and banking.
Carol Ann Duffy has recreated the Twelve Days of Christmas for 2009 - complete with attacks on MPs' expenses, celebrity and banking. Duffy's new Christmas work, commissioned exclusively for the Radio Times Christmas edition, launches a stinging attack on the Afghanistan war, climate change and the BNP. Openly-gay Duffy, who was named the UK's first female poet laureate earlier this year, has shunned the role's tradition of writing exclusively about and for the royals.

The poem was commissioned by Radio Times. Editor Ben Preston said:

The work shows a lot of self-confidence. Sometimes, her views are trenchant, sometimes the scenes are poignant and there is also a lot of humour in it."

Professor John Sutherland, of University College London, said:

It used to be that the laureate was appointed to flatter royalty. Carol Ann Duffy is the first to give herself a much longer leash. She seems to have appointed herself the court satirist.

-- Here is the poem in its entirety:

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS,
a buzzard on a branch.

In Afghanistan,
no partridge, pear tree;
but my true love sent to me
a card from home.
I sat alone, crouched in yellow dust,
and traced the grins of my kids
with my thumb.
Somewhere down the line,
for another father, husband,
brother, son, a bullet
with his name on.

2
TWO TURTLE DOVES,
that Shakespeare loved –
turr turr, turr turr –
endangered now
by herbicide,
the chopping down
of where they hide –
turr turr, turr turr –
hawthorn thickets,
hedgerows, woodland.
Summer's music
fainter, farther…
the spreading drought
of the Sahara.

3
THREE FRENCH HENS –
un, deux, trois –
do not know
that French they are.

Three Welsh lambs –
un, dau, tri –
do not know
that Welsh they baa.

Newborn babies –
one, two, three –
only know
you human be.

Only know
you human be.

4
THE GRENADA DOVE IS CALLING.
The Condor calls from the USA.
The Wood Stork calls from its wetlands.
The Albatross calls from the sea,
on the fourth day of Christmas.

The Yellow-eared Parrot is calling.
The Kakapo calls from NZ.
The Blue-throated Macaw is calling.
The Little Tern calls from Japan, calls
my true love sent to me.

The Corncrake is calling; the Osprey.
The Baikal Teal calls from Korea.
The Cuckoo is calling from England,
four calling birds.

5
THE FIRST GOLD RING WAS GOLD INDEED –
bankers' profits fired in greed.

The second ring outshone the sun,
fuelled by carbon, doused by none.

Ring three was black gold, O for oil –
a serpent swallowing its tail.

The fourth ring was Celebrity;
Fool's Gold, winking on TV.

Ring five, religion's halo, slipped –
a blind for eyes or gag for lips.

With these five gold rings they you wed,
then slip them off when you are dead.

With these five go-o-o-old rings.

6
I BOUGHT A MAGIC GOOSE FROM A JOLLY FARMER.
This goose laid Barack Obama.

I bought a magic goose from a friendly fellow.
This goose laid Fabio Capello.

I bought a magic goose from a maiden (comely).
This goose laid Joanna Lumley.

I bought a magic goose from a busker (poor).
This goose laid Anish Kapoor.

I bought a magic goose from a bargain bin, it
was the goose laid Alan Bennett.

I bought a poisoned goose from a crook (sick, whiffing).
This foul goose laid Nick Griffin.

7
THE SWAN AT COCKERMOUTH –
of a broken heart, one half.

The Mersey Swans, flying
for Hillsborough, wings of justice.

Two, married and mute on the Thames,
watching The Wave.

A Swan for Adrian Mitchell
and a Swan for UA Fanthorpe,
swansongs for poetry.

The Queen's birds, paired
for life, beauty and truth.

8
ONE MILKED MONEY TO MEND HER MOAT.
Two milked voters to float her boat.
Three milked Parliament to flip her flat.
Four milked Government to snip her cat.
Five milked the dead for close-up tears.
Six milked the tax-payer for years and
years and years…
Seven milked the system to Botox
her brow.
Eight milked herself – the selfish cow.

9
BUT THE DEAD SOLDIER'S LADY DOES NOT DANCE.
But the lady in the Detention Centre
does not dance.
But the honour killing lady does not dance.
But the drowned policeman's lady
does not dance.
But the lady in the filthy hospital ward
does not dance.
But the lady in Wootton Bassett does not dance.
But the gangmaster's lady does not dance.
But the lady with the pit bull terrier
does not dance.
But another dead soldier's lady
does not dance.

10
LORDS DON'T LEAP.
They sleep.

11
WE PAID THE BLUDDY PIPER
fir 'Royal Bank;
twa pipers each
fir Fred and Phil,
fir Finlay, Fraser, Frank.
Too big tae fail!
The wee dog laughed!
The dish ran awa' wi' the spoon…
We paid the bluddy pipers,
but we dinnae call the tune.

12
DID THEY HEAR THE DRUMS IN COPENHAGEN,
banging their warning?
On the twelfth day in Copenhagen
was global warming stopped in its tracks
by Brown and Barack and Hu Jintao,
by Meles Zenawi and Al Sabban,
by Yvo de Boer and Hedegaard?
Did they strike a match
or strike a bargain,
the politicos in Copenhagen?
Did they twiddle their thumbs?
Or hear the drums
and hear the drums
and hear the drums?
**

Nick Griffin begins the Battle for Barking

A billboard arises in Barking, signalling the beginning of Nick Griffin's campaign for election to Westminster.

The poster has a built-in obsolescence. It will be out of date in five days time. It does not have even a week's relevance.

The BNP was apparently late in posting the billboard, and inefficient in choosing the message. If it had been 'Happy Holidays' it would have remained current for longer, but of course that inoffensive sentiment is bitter poison to the BNP, who regard it as personally offensive 'pc'.

The messages 'Happy New Year' or 'All the best for 2010' would have a longer shelf-life, but would be seen as kow-towing to political correctness, and the BNP can't have that.

I wonder how much billboard space for five days actually costs the long-suffering membership of the BNP?

But let me not be a Scrooge at Christmas. It's not my money being wasted by Nick Griffin on grandiose self-promotion.

Cheers!

__________________________________________________________

LATER:

Why are the BNP people under the billboard so glum?

http://edmundstanding.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/cheer-up-guys-its-christmas/

BNP 'out-wits' itself

Last week the BNP accounts were released. Not only were they 'inadequate', they were also late, leading to a fine and adding yet more unnecessary debt to the sorry party finances (more here and here).

Also last week, Michael Wilding, a member of the British National Party, pleaded guilty of trying to rig votes in local elections held in Cannock, and is facing jail. Wilding used his friend David Winter’s name to place a vote for the BNP in both the county council and local elections held last June. The fraud was discovered when Mr Winter arrived later in the evening at the polling station to place his vote.

From important party accounting to the sordid behaviour of individual members, BNP supporters show a disorganised disdain for any rules of the game.

This arrogant contempt for regulations and proper procedures is displayed from the top down in the BNP.

Just yesterday there was news on the Stephen Lawrence case when The Telegraph reported that a 62-year-old retired constable and a 53-year-old member of police staff were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in relation to the alleged non-disclosure of material.

They are suspected of keeping information from the original inquiry in 1993 into Lawrence's murder, and also from the Kent investigation in 1997 into the Met's failings and the Macpherson inquiry in 1999 which found Scotland Yard officers were institutionally racist.

Which reminds of the way Nick Griffin boasted of inside information apparently confided to him by those in the know within the Metropolitan Police.

Referring to Stephen's murder in April 1993, Griffin said, according to the Mirror:

Everyone down there knows he was notorious for taxing kids for their dinner money and he was a drug dealer. According to many people within the Metropolitan Police, he was killed by another black - not a white racist attack at all.

Apart from the impropriety, cruelty and reckless arrogance of such a remark, hinting as it does that Griffin had dedicated secret sources within the Metropolitan Police, it begs the question whether these "sources" were in fact the two suspended policemen.

Whether they were or not, or whether in fact they actually exist at all outside the fevered racist imagination of Nick Griffin, what business had they to confide such questionable "information" to such a politician rather than to their own investigators?

In any case, the forthcoming investigation of these two from the police force at the time of the brutal murder of Stephen Lawrence promises to be interesting.

BNP 'under accounts' itself

From Norfolk Unity:

Auditors say (late) BNP accounts “do not give fair and true view” of racist party’s finances

The BNP’s accounts have finally been submitted to the Electoral Commission – and no wonder they were late. Even the BNP’s own auditors weren’t impressed.

Attention is drawn to the comments made in the “Chairman’s Report” regarding the task of maintaining central office accounts, and the resulting fact that it has not been possible for the Party to submit an adequate set of records to us.

Accordingly in our opinion the financial statements do not:

1 Give a true and fair view of the state of the party’s affairs at 31st December 2008.

2 Give a true and fair view of the results for the year then ended.

In our opinion the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out on pages 18 and 19.

In our opinion it cannot be said the accounts comply with the requirements of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, as adequate records have not been made available.

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, and this is possible because of the possibility of support from the regions.

Registered Auditors Chartered Accountants

Silver & Co 25 Park Road Cannock Staffs WS11 1JN

4th December 2009

The party’s deficit grew by £85,591 from 2007 to £168,233, and could only be paid by raiding funds raised by local branches.

The accounts also show substantial rises in the BNP’s wage bill, and lists increased payments to unnamed “consultants”.

And naturally there’s no mention anywhere of monies passed on (if they are at all!) from the party’s fundraising Trafalgar Club.

Seems to us that BNP members are still being royally fleeced!

Download the financial farago here

More later…

Atreus posting earlier today in NU articles
_______________________________________________________

Sometimes I feel almost sorry for the ordinary members of the BNP.

They are pitilessly abused by a cynical and self-serving leadership that cannot even come up with accounting clever enough to disguise their misdoings.

You can read more of the BNP's leadership money-making scams here, here and here.

In this report, an ex-member of the BNP leadership claims:

The BNP at grassroots level has some very good and honest people but I think at the top of the party it's very corrupt.

It seems to be more to do with about trying to make money than about trying to serve local communities.

The ordinary supporter of the BNP is beginning to cut a pathetic figure. How long will it take before the BNP membership begins to realise how it is being exploited?

As Antifascist of Lancaster Unity writes:

And while we're on the subject of money, many of you may remember Nick Griffin's promise to donate 10% of his Euro Parliament earnings to the party. As this is illegal, Griffin was forced (though I doubt if he was forced against his will) to rescind his offer and as an alternative has now made a contribution to what the BNP calls the English Fair Fund - a BNP-run fake fund designed to bolster little projects in which the BNP are already involved or from which donation the party can gain some propaganda return. This week saw the FIRST donation from Nick Griffin towards this fund and after six months in the job and taking around £45,000 off the taxpayer for himself,all he could muster up was a measly and Ebenezer Scrooge-like £150. The tight bastard.

BNP 'out-hyperboles' itself

Presenting: - the British political party that strives to give hatred a good name, and to make finger-pointing scapegoating its basic party manifesto.

The BNP has outdone itself - again.

Nick Griffin at the Copenhagen climate conference has called world leaders mass murderers.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Griffin said world leaders and advocates of action on climate change such as Al Gore are “mass murderers” by supporting biofuels. He said land for growing food is being taken to grow fuels for crops and it will cause starvation greater than the famines caused by Russian dictator Stalin during the 1930s and Chairman Mao in the 1950s.

It is a crime against humanity which in future will be seen as an enormous man-made famine. Under Stalin 20 million people died, under Chairman Mao 30 million died. This will be the third and the greatest famine of the modern era and I regard that as a crime.

This over-the-top rhetoric must vie with Griffin's recent complaint that he met with a 'lynch-mob' on his appearance on BBC's Question Time, (but that the Ku Klux Klan was 'non-violent').

A close contendor for the most attention-seeking exaggeration, however, is Griffin's response to claims he was tarnishing the reputation of the British Armed Forces by hijacking military symbols and imagery.

There's Nothing British About the BNP launched a campaign in October this year named Operation Stolen Valour.

The commander of the Desert Rats in the first Gulf War, Major-General Sir Patrick Cordingley, former Chief of Defence Staff Lord Guthrie and two other former army chiefs, Generals Sir Mike Jackson and Sir Richard Dannatt, put their names to a letter. They wrote:

We call on all those who seek to hijack the good name of Britain's military for their own advantage to cease and desist. The values of these extremists - many of whom are essentially racist - are fundamentally at odds with the values of the modern British military, such as tolerance and fairness."

The letter did not mention the BNP by name, but General Sir Mike Jackson told the Times:

The BNP is claiming that it has a better relationship with the Armed Forces than other political parties.
How dare they use the image of the Army, in particular, to promote their policies? These people are beyond the pale.

Nick Griffin responded by comparing the four to Nazi chiefs who faced trial at Nuremberg because, according to Griffin, they had pursued "illegal wars". And in a long statement on the BNP website, under the headline "At Nuremberg, they hanged the politicians and generals for war crimes", he hit back at the military figures who had signed up to the letter.

They have made the decision to play rough politics so they can have some rough politics back.

He later told the BBC it had been "black humour" but the Tories said his comments were "absolutely despicable".

Despicable, and transparently self-promoting. Outrageous remarks gain headlines and commentary, and the BNP is desperate for publicity.

Calling world leaders 'mass-murderers' and retired generals 'Nazi war criminals' certainly gets the BNP noticed. But at what cost?

Grandstanding for publicity by exaggerations means sooner or later the BNP will indeed top itself.

Sooner the better.

BNP 'no-platforms' itself

From This is Kent:

Media ban put on BNP leader’s talk

BNP leader Nick Griffin is coming to Sevenoaks as a guest speaker at the party’s first meeting in the town.

The location and specific details are being kept a closely-guarded secret until after the talk tonight.

Paul Golding, BNP councillor for Swanley, (wrote) in his blog last week:

Despite the criminal actions of the Labour Party in banning the BNP from holding meetings in Swanley, this meeting is going ahead nevertheless. This is not a dictatorship, it is a democracy, and the British National Party and our members, supporters and voters, will enjoy freedom of speech and there is nothing the Labour Party can do about it.

All media will be banned except for one “confidential publication”, and non-members will be barred. Others wishing to join are prevented by the membership freeze in place until January.

Cllr Golding, who celebrated his surprise win in the district council by-election for St Mary’s Ward, Swanley, in February, (added):

We operate on an A-list system. We make an agreement with a certain newspaper that they get exclusive coverage and if they print lies about us or just slag us off they are struck off the list forever.

Michael Fallon, Tory MP for Sevenoaks, said:

It seems an odd way to defend their policies. I hope they decide to rethink their extremist policies – I loathe everything they stand for.

He added he did not believe the BNP were suited to Sevenoaks.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesman Alan Bullion said he thought the meeting signified the launch of a BNP campaign across Kent in the lead up to the General Election.

Obviously they have the right to hold a meeting although it seems to me a little suspect they have banned the town’s media.

Bad night for the BNP

From HOPE not hate:

BNP lose another councillor

Labour took a council seat off the BNP in Nuneaton today in a by-election in Camp Hill ward. In a hard-fought campaign Labour took the seat with 670 votes. The BNP came second with 478 votes and the Tories third with 275.

This is a complete reversal from the last time the seat was contested, when the BNP romped home with 675 votes, 6% ahead of Labour.

The HOPE not hate campaign distributed two leaflets during the campaign and I would like to thank everyone who got in involved and helped out, especially Alan who led the campaign and activists from Wolverhampton and Leicester who came over to help.

This was the BNP's 8th safest ward in the country. The result was proof that the fascists can be beaten anywhere.


BNP loses another Loughton seat

The BNP failed to hold a seat on Loughton Town Council in its strongest Loughton ward today. The Loughton Residents’ Association (LRA), which had not previously contested the ward, took the Loughton Broadway seat by 23 votes in a by-election caused by the resignation of a BNP councillor.

In a four-way fight, Katie Nicholson for the LRA won 257 votes against the BNP's 234 and Labour’s 204. The Conservative candidate took 75 votes.

The victory is important because Broadway is the BNP’s strongest ward in Loughton, where the party once had six district councillors. In 2008 the BNP lost seats in Loughton Fairmead and Loughton Alderton. In May 2010 the BNP’s second district council seats in those two wards are up for election, together with one of its two Loughton Broadway seats. The town council defeat today gives hope that we can defeat the BNP in all three wards in May and reduce the BNP representation on Epping Forest District Council to one.

Redbridge and Epping Forest Together (REFT), the local community anti-fascist campaign, produced a leaflet for the campaign, which was distributed by local activists to every home in the ward on Sunday 6 December. It highlighted how the BNP has been promoting division and race hate in the area and has achieved nothing for the community.

The BNP bussed gangs of activists into the area in an attempt to retain the seat and desperately attacked the REFT leaflet on the day it appeared. The gangs were back on polling day, bringing out supporters to vote. It was to no avail.

And yet more good news....

The BNP have had an awful night at the polls today. In addition to losing a seat in Nuneaton they also lost one on Loughton Town Council, in southwest Essex, and were humiliated in another in Cumbria, with Labour taking 85% of the vote in a two horse race against the BNP.

More figures, analysis and elation at Norfolk Unity, also celebrating Racists routed in BNP by-elections nightmare.

Conspiracy theorists and deniers

From Nick Lowles of Hope not hate:

This morning I just sent out an email pushing for further names for our Copenhagen letter.

As of this morning over 11,000 people had signed our letter letting the Climate Conference know that Griffin, who denies Climate Change, does not speak for us.

For those who haven't signed our letter you can do so here.

There is also an interesting article on the New Statesman website on the subject which is well worth a read.

Your signature against Nick Griffin of the BNP

Dear Reader,

Right now, representatives are locked in discussions hammering out practical measures to tackle climate change. But Griffin is still trying to smear the process with claims this weekend that "vested interests" are promoting the "climate change theory" and that the solutions to climate change are "as deadly as anything conceived by Stalin or Mao."

We can't let Griffin get away with this - and I need your help to rally thousands more to my letter. We're hoping to have 15,000 signatures before we send our letter, we have 11,000 already, and I need your help to make this goal.

We've set up a tool on our website that will let you do this - and it should take you less than a minute.

On the morning after Griffin got elected, I promised myself that I'd oppose him wherever and whenever he reared his head. His role as an MEP has given him a platform at this important Conference - but with your help we can take this away and make sure that the entire Summit knows that he doesn't speak for us. Please take a moment to invite your friends to stand with us by signing my letter and help us reach our ambitious goal of 15,000 signatures:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/s/copenhagen?source=tw0912

It's really easy and only takes a couple of minutes - but if we all act together we can contact tens of thousands of people and make a real difference.

Griffin and the BNP will use every opportunity they get to build momentum and prestige. Which is why it's so important we stand up to him when we can.

Reader - you're part of the movement that will stop Griffin becoming an MP next year. It's a fight we can and must win. But right now, I need your help to throw another road block in Griffin's path - please invite your friends to join us.

Thanks,

Nick Lowles of Hope not hate

PS If you have already signed, click here to find other ways to help:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/StandUpToGriffin