Richard Barnbrook leaves BNP

London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook has left the British National Party. He now sits as an Independent on the London Assembly.

One would like to think he has had some intellectual conversion that had suddenly made him aware of the evils of National Socialism. More likely is that it is a response to his humiliation when he attempted to challenge for his Party leadership and could only get 23 votes. He had already lost his council seat in Barking and Dagenham.

What do BNP councillors believe?

The neo-Nazi allegiances of the British National Party leadership have been well established. There will sometimes be indignant denials but the evidence is extensive enough. But what of the BNP's councillors?There are 56 in total. They have 12 in Barking and Dagenham, eight in Stoke, four each in Burnley and Epping, two each in Bradford, Sandwell, Pendle, Amber Valley and North West Leicestershire. They also have a single councillor in Nuneaton, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Charnwood, Three Rivers, Herefordshire, Thurrock, Havering, Redbridge, Redditch, Solihull, Sevenoaks, Staffordshire Moorlands, Kirklees, Leeds, Rotherham and Calderdale.

I emailed them the following questions:

1.  Mark Collett, BNP publicity director and Sheffield BNP election candidate, has said:  “Churchill was a f****** c*** who led us into a pointless war with other whites standing up for their race.”  Do you agree with Mr Collett?

2. Mark Collett has also said: “The Royals have betrayed their people. When we're in power they'll be wiped out and we'll get some Germans to rule properly.”  This month the Green Arrow, a BNP supporting blog, said of Her Majesty The Queen: “[She is a] liar and a traitor to her people." The BNP declined to officially disown the remark. What is your view of the monarchy? Do you agree with the sentiments of Mr Collett and Green Arrow?

3. In November 2009  the BNP leader Nick Griffin told an audience of Spanish fascists that if he was in power he would be prepared to negotiate over the sovereignty of Gibraltar.  He said: "I would prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one. It would be much easier to sort it out if we had nationalist governments in Britain and Spain because it would then be an agreement between equals.” Do you agree with negotiating over the sovereignty of Gibraltar?

4. Jobbik are a Hungarian neo-fascist party. The Hungarian Guard, Jobbik’s black-shirted militia wear uniforms similar to the Arrow Cross, Hungary’s fascist wartime party who were installed by the Nazis and responsible for the escalation of the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz towards the end of the war. Do you agree with the BNP forming an alliance with this group in the European Parliament?

5. Nick Griffin has shared a platform with Abu Hamza, better known as Captain Hook. Abu Hamza is currently in jail for incitement to murder and racial hatred. Is he somebody you feel the BNP should be associated with?

BNP councillor quits

As their Party leader Nick Griffin prepares for his Question Time debut one of their councillors. Darren Haywood has quit Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council on grounds of "job commitments." he didn't turn up to meetings anyway.

Conservative members in Nuneaton have selected a local candidate Kris Wilson to fight the Camp Hill by-election which  will take place as a result.

Kris says:

“People in Camp Hill deserve better than the shambles they’ve been putting up with from their invisible BNP councillor.  Having taken an interest in Camp Hill over a number of years, I already have a better attendance record at council meetings than the previous Camp Hill councillor.  People in Camp Hill have been let down by Labour, but abandoned by the BNP.  The time has come to do something about that. I want to make a straightforward pledge: I will work to make life better for all residents in Camp Hill – not just those who live in the regeneration zone.  That means cleaner and safer streets, it means spending residents’ council tax money wisely and making sure that residents are heard by decision makers.  That will be the difference with a Conservative councillor.”

The move was welcomed by Council Leader Peter Gilbert, says:

“Kris Wilson has already proven his commitment to Camp Hill, having stood as a candidate on several occasions.  If he is elected, I know he will make a committed and capable councillor, and I know he will make a difference in the community.”

The BNP only have 57 councillors (not including parish councillors.) They did very badly in the county council elections.  By contrast the Conservatives have 10,100 councillors.

BNP field over 400 candidates in Council elections

The BBC report a claim by the BNP that they will be contesting 465 seats in the County Council elections up from just 39 four years ago. In another report Cllr Emma Colgate, a BNP councillor in Thurrock and the Party's "national agent" says: "We are standing about 400 in the country but 75 will be in Essex." Essex is the only county where they will have a full slate of candidates. Lord Hanningfield the Conservative leader of Essex Council warns voters that the BNP stand for "hatred and intolerance."

In other counties the BNP involvement will be more patchy although I understand they are also putting up a large number of candidates in Leicestershire.

What should the response of Conservative council candidates be when faced with a BNP opponent? Should the BNP be ignored or debated with? Should they be exposed for their thuggery and National Socialist roots? Or will such attacks not work where they have plausible candidates perhaps genuinely unaware of the nature of the Party they are standing for?

Paul Canal: The BNP must be confronted, not ignored

Tim Montgomerie recently noted discussions among Tory MPs about a change of tactics towards the BNP. Here, Paul Canal - deputy chairman of Leyton and Wanstead Conservatives, where a council by-election is taking place in the Wanstead ward next Thursday, 23rd April - moves the debate further forward.

 

Last night's hustings for the Wanstead by-election in the London Borough of Redbridge were summarily cancelled when Labour "refused to share a platform" with the BNP.

I suspect the BNP were probably reluctant to share a platform with the party of Damian McBride.  However, Labour's stance, replicated elsewhere, has denied electors the opportunity to question and assess local candidates, arguably threatens the democratic process and does nothing to counter the rise of the far right.

The "non engagement" policy has been a dismal failure in Dagenham and did little to counter the BNP in Swanley.  With the BNP polling roundabout 6% across London, they are in danger of winning a seat in the European elections.  With the BNP drawing votes from both Labour and Tory supporters, all parties need to re-examine their approach.

Ignoring the far right is no longer an option.  We need to rebut their rhetoric with facts;  we may agree that their policies are socially repugnant, economically illiterate and morally vacuous, but if they are achieving vote shares of up to 40% in some areas we are not getting that message across.

It is also absurd that one candidate, from any party, can withdraw and sabotage the whole process whilst the rest look on impotently.  If the hustings are arranged in a fair and transparent manner, they should go ahead, despite "posturing" withdrawals.  The idea that a debate may only proceed on terms acceptable to Labour, or anyone else, is another step along the road towards the supra-state, where we are told what to do and what not to do, what to eat and what not to eat, what to think and say and what we cannot think or say.

I would far rather engage the odious far right - and far left - in robust debate than leave them unchallenged to propagate their lies and foment social unrest.  If Labour can tolerate Islamic radicals, they should tolerate all views.  It will then be up to us to strip away the rhetoric and reveal the BNP to be the hollow man.

Wanstead Conservatives are holding an action day this Saturday, 18th April, in support of Alex Wilson, the Conservative candiate at the by-election. Anyone wanting to help should meet at Wanstead station at 10am or email Paul Canal for further details.

Michael Fallon MP provides some background to the BNP win in Sevenoaks

Michael Fallon, MP for Sevenoaks, has provided me with this background on yesterday's BNP gain from Labour in his Sevenoaks constituency:

"Swanley St Mary's was Labour's safest seat on Sevenoaks District Council. There are three Swanley wards; we won all three seats in Swanley Christchurch, leaving Labour with three councillors in Swanley Whiteoak and two (now one) in Swanley St Mary's.

We campaigned hard with a strong local candidate who was born in the ward; I had a team of eleven with me canvassing there on Saturday. We put the Tory vote up from 208 to 247. The Lib Dems didn't bother to stand. BNP attracted frustrated traditional Labour voters (they did the same in Welling (Bexley) a few weeks back). Their literature and message was relatively moderate but focussed on immigrants and asylum-seekers jumping the housing queue."

Tim Montgomerie

Nazis in the Town Hall: Now the BNP target Bexley

The BNP are hoping to gain a foothold in Bexley Council with the forthcoming Council byelection in East Wickham Ward. Apparently they have been campaigning hard although the date has not yet been fixed.

I was interested that some correspondents felt that my description of the British National Party as National Socialist or Nazi was unfair. This is a picture of the Party's founder John Tyndall - he's the one on the left and he's not on his way to a fancy dress party. Tyndall was also on record as saying: "Mein Kamp is my bible."

He did eventually fall out with his successor and protege Nick Griffin but they worked hand in glove for many years. Also pictured is Griffin with David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan. The BNP also has friendly links with the openly neo-Nazi German group the National Democratic Party.

In a speech in Burnley in 2004, the then Tory leader Michael Howard described the BNP as "a bunch of thugs dressed up as a political party." He said:

 

Nazis in the Town Hall: How serious is the BNP threat?

With the news that the BNP have gained a Council byelection it is important not to hype them. They have around 50 councillors out of 8,000 - about half the number of the Green Party. Often their councillors are very low calibre. Often they realise they were politically naive and leave the Party.

But in other respects it is a source of dismay that a political party so widely exposed not only for its association with racism Neo-Nazism and violence should have gained elected office at all. They have benefited (as Hitler did) from Proportional Representation which has meant the London Assembly is tarnished by the inclusion a BNP representative as one of their members. In Stoke-on-Trent and Barking and Dagenham there are fears they might gain power.

A great opportunity comes to them exploiting grievances over social housing. The system means that housing allocation is politicised rather than left to the market so resentment is easy to foster. Labour Councils that practice political correctness and positive discrimination offer potential for the BNP to exploit. They often do well in areas where the Conservatives are weak. By offering decent, robust, common sense, colour blind opposition to Labour's PC approach we can help defeat the BNP.