April 25th, 2010 | 
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The British National Party (BNP) Councillor and candidate in the 2010 General Election for Boston & Skegness David Owens (pictured left), who is also posing as a ‘voter’ on several BNP campaign leaflets around the country including: Mid Sussex, Birmingham Yardley, Broxbourne, Beckenham and Tunbridge Wells.
This could be in direct contravention of the Electoral Commission rules where candidates are not allowed to make misrepresentations to voters on any campaign materials, one section contained within the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 reads as follows:
39 False statements: offence
A person commits an offence if—
(a) he knowingly or recklessly makes a statement to the Commission which is false in any material particular, and
(b) the statement is made, or purports to be made, on behalf of a party for any purpose of this Part of this Act.
Under this rule alone David Owens and the BNP it could be alleged to be committing an offence by misrepresenting David Owens as an ‘ordinary voter’ whilst he is standing as a candidate and already being an elected councillor for the BNP in another area of the country.
I can say 100% that David Owens pictured both above and in the leaflets below is a candidate for the BNP and an elected councillor for the BNP as his picture (the one above and in the leaflets) appears on the BNP website with his name underneath the picture.
As you can clearly see from the British National Party (BNP) leaflets (below) David Owens the BNP candidate for Boston & Skegness appears on each leaflet giving his reasons for voting BNP on behalf of four other BNP candidates.
By clicking on each image you will be able to see the leaflet in a larger form, where if you look to the bottom of each leaflet you will find the Printer, Promoter and Candidate details which is clear evidence that these leaflets are being distributed in different areas of the UK with the BNP candidate David Owens posing as a voter for said candidates.
Whilst there is nothing in the electoral rules that states the BNP cannot use the same voters image in different leaflets, there should be a clear distinction here that David Owens pictures bottom left on each leaflet is in fact a BNP candidate and elected councillor.
Therefore this could be in direct breach of the Electoral Commission rules of giving false information and miss representation.
You will note I have used the term Could Be during this article, as the Electoral Commission isn’t open at the weekends and I therefore cannot confirm 100% that this practice is illegal under electoral rules, I have of course sent all the details above (and other evidence) to the Electoral Commission for their consideration, if and when I receive a response from the Electoral Commission I will add that to this article.
But at the very least voters in the areas where these leaflets are being distributed should be made aware that the person claiming to be a British National Party voter is in fact a candidate standing for the party in another area of the country.
The British National Party (BNP) seem to be intent on deceiving British voters in whatever way they can, and it doesn’t say much for them that they have to use their own candidates to pose as ‘voters’ in election materials, can they not find real people who actually want to vote for them?
It seems the BNP never learn in their attempts to fool the public by using fake supporters, in recent months the BNP have used another candidate to pose as a soldier whilst out campaigning with Nick Griffin in Barking and they have also been using an American family to pose as British voters in their election materials, you can read more about that one here.
I would like to offer my thanks to the many people that have emailed me with copies of their BNP Leaflets from around the country (I have a very large collection now), and I would also like to mention the website TheStraightChoice.org which has also helped in providing copies of leaflets to support this article.
**UPDATES**
16.30: I have had confirmation that the same ‘Voter’ David Owens also appears on BNP Leaflets in NW Leicester and Brentford & Isleworth constituencies, it seems there is no end to the BNP’s willingness to deceive the voters of Britain.
17.00: I have had word from Hope Not Hate that other people in the election leaflets (above) who are also posing as voters are also in fact BNP candidates of which 3 are also elected councillors.
Here are the four ‘voters’ in question, as I have the names of these ‘voters’ & BNP candidates I will update this post, letting you know just where they are standing.
Top Left: Councillor Ian Mellor BNP Candidate for NW Leicestershire
Top Right: Councillor Cathy Duffy, BNP Candidate for Charnwood
Bottom Left: Councillor David Owens, BNP Candidate for Boston & Skegness
Bottom Right: Christina Evans, BNP Candidate for Ludlow
Thanks to the Hope Not Hate campaign for helping to identify the remaining three candidates that appear on these miss leading leaflets. How much longer can the BNP be allowed to get away with blagging the voters of Britain?
Vote No To The BNP in 2010
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I can confirm he also appears on the election leaflet for the Brentford & Isleworth constituency.
Thanks, I will try and source a copy of that leaflet as well, and add it to the collection I have to send to the electoral commission.
The text under the picture says he is voting BNP, which he no doubt is. It does not say he is voting BNP in any particular area. There is no misrepresentation (or even miss representation, who she?) There is no requirement under electoral law or any other law that additional details are given about a person pictured in an election leaflet.
There are plenty of good ways in which the BNP can be attacked, such as Adam Walker posing as a soldier and potentially bringing the Army into disrepute, or when they used American models and other non-British people on European election leaflets last year claiming that they were voting BNP, and even when they put the Cass family on leaflets all over the country suggesting they were local voters, but the use of the pictures on this year’s leaflet seems legitimate.
I have been asking questions about this, and it is possible that using their own candidates in this manner may be in violation of the Electoral Commission rules, so it is a very valid way in which to attack the BNP, if they have to use their own people it could be seen as misrepresentation, I have sent all the details and other evidence I have to the Electoral Commission for their opinion.
And don’t you think the BNP using their own elected councillors and candidates to pose as voters isn’t in some way a lie to the voting public, putting across an image that people who live near them are voting BNP, when these people are clearly not local people and are in fact BNP Members/Officials and Candidates?
In my opinion it is akin to the Adam Walker case, who I have mentioned many times on the website, including today as he is now being investigated for potential breech of the Uniforms Act which I suggested he could have broken the first time I posted an article about him using his Army Uniform for political activities two weeks ago.
Also notice that Christina and Ian give the exact same quote in different versions of the leaflets. They didn’t both say those things, so there is further misrepresentation there.
Whilst I’m not sure this is sufficient misrepresentation to warrant the Electoral Commission’s interest, it certainly provides some further scope to discredit the BNP – they can’t even find supporters willing to appear on their leaflets and have to resort to using their own PPCs to appear that they have support.
That is my opinion as well, it may not break the EC rules (I’ll have to wait and see for that), but it should certainly be pointed out to as many voters as possible that the BNP are using these deceptive types of tactics in their election material.
The “voters” are candidates standing in areas other than the ones in which the leaflets are being distributed.
It is carefully conceived so as to mis-lead the general public , just as having the Cass Family’s appearance was outside of the constituencies the Cass Candidates were standing in was.
I think you’ve got the law a bit wrong here. First, the Electoral Commission doesn’t have “rules” about what can or can’t be said in election leaflets. That’s governed by the law (though the EC sometimes gives advice on how to follow the law).
Second, the point about the piece of law you quote isn’t to do with leaflets, it’s to do with regulation of political finance – e.g. people have to declare donations to the Commission and giving false information is an offence.
However, there is an area of law which *might* cover these leaflets, which is the electoral offence of “undue influence”. It’s a rather messy area of law as it’s still heavily determined by case law from the 19th century, but it *could* be interpreted to mean that providing false information in a leaflet is misleading people (exerting inappropriate, ie undue, influence) and so illegal.
Previous cases along these lines though suggest that the hurdle for a successful prosecution is very high – leaflet has to be seriously misleading and you have to show that individuals were indeed mislead by it.
Guys, I’ve been in touch with the Electoral Commission, and section 39 only relates to false declerations to the commission itself. Had a detailed conversation with them, and it looks like none of the leaflets are illegal. If someone appeared on one of their leaflets above a heading “BNP” voter and they weren’t, they would have recourse to law.
The leaflets as they stand appear to be allowed. I’ve written a short piece having a go at the BNP for being unable to find anyone other than their candidates to appear on their leaflets: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/04/real-voters-on-bnp-leaflets-are-all-candidates/
In the comments, someone has said David Owen also appears on BNP PPC for Norwich South Len Heather’s election leaflets.