Vote No To The BNP

Fresh from its disastrous showing at the ballot box on 6 May, the British National party now faces financial turmoil with its assets threatened by court action. The high court is to decide whether Nick Griffin and two other BNP officials should face contempt of court proceedings in which their assets could be confiscated under a “writ of sequestration”. The assets include Griffin’s MEP salary, investments and pensions and any property that they might own. The case shows that no political party is above the law.

The contempt proceedings were brought by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) after the BNP was accused of failing to remove potentially racist clauses from its constitution. The BNP had been in breach of the Race Relations Act 1976 by admitting only white people to the party, but it revised its constitution in February to say it would allow people of any descent or origin to join, but only if the individual “agrees with or supports or does not oppose or does not disagree with the principles of our party”.

However, the principles of the party in this amended constitution are still in terms of promoting indigenous over non-indigenous interests, including maintaining the “integrity of the indigenous British” and “restoring and maintaining” the indigenous British as “an overwhelming majority” (indigenous being defined by those that settled in these islands between 11500BC and 6 July 1189).

It is not difficult to see how this is contrary to the Race Relations Act 1976, because by signing up to the principles, any non-indigenous member would have to give up their racial and cultural identity. The BNP has also not changed its rule preventing new members from attending any party meeting until they have been interviewed by two BNP officials. A court in March ruled that this was intimidatory and directed against non-indigenous applicants.

If the high court rules that the BNP is in breach of the March order and gives permission to the EHRC to issue the writ, then it will appoint four commissioners. Two to three of the commissioners will be “authorised and commanded” to take possession of the BNP’s assets. These assets will be kept in the hands of the commissioners until the BNP complies with the order to make its constitution free of racial discrimination.

Not only would this be a bitter pill for the BNP to swallow ideologically, it would also be financially punitive. A commissioner can cost up to £1,000 a day, and if the BNP has its assets confiscated, it will cost them up to £3,000 a day for those assets to be held. The BNP faces a period of financial turmoil.

I have been sitting back a bit just lately taking a break from all things BNP and getting on with life in general, but I have also been keeping an eye on the goings on around the far-right world of the BNP. With the recent announcement from Eddy Butler that he is mounting a leadership challenge against the current British National Party Chairman Nick Griffin MEP, I didn’t think it would be long before the BNP smear and lie machine jumped into action from all sides, and it certainly hasn’t, with a number of new blogs having appeared and the internet army going into full overdrive to destroy Eddy Butler.

However Eddy Butler has now hit back with a piece of information that could have far wider reaching consequences to the British National Party and it’s 2 elected MEP’s. There are a series of very specific rules surrounding the ways in which monies issued by the European Parliament can be used and one of the core overiding rules of these monies is that they CAN’T be used in anyway what so ever to fund the party for anything other than anything directly connected to the work of the MEP’s in the European Parliament.

Eddy Butler has released a story today on his own blog which clearly shows a serious cause for concern, Eddy Butler whilst under the employ of Nick Griffin MEP and paid for by us the British Tax Payers via the European Parliament applied for and was given a grant of just over 10,000 Euros to arrange a trip for people from Cumbria to visit the European Parliament to see a presentation by Eddy Butler on last years floods.

But according to Eddy Butler it now transpires that over 10,300 Euros was handed over in cash by Eddy Butler to another BNP staff member Paul Golding in a rather clandestine meeting at a service station on the M25, he then goes on to claim that this money was then paid to Jim Dowson who according to Mr Butler is owed £100,000 by the British National Party and that this cash payment of British Tax Payers money was to be paid to Jim Dowson as part payment of the bill owed to him.

Now this is where the illegal actions come in, if as Eddy Butler is saying the money was paid to Jim Dowson this is a clear and direct breach of the European Laws and the BNP have directly used an EU grant to pay a party debt, this could not in my view be described as a payment for anything to do with the BNP MEP’s EU Business as Jim Dowson is the parties National Funraiser and is in no way connected to the European Parliament.

What follows are excerts from Eddy Butler’s blog:

What 10,000 Euros?

As a European Parliamentary assistant to Nick Griffin MEP, I arranged a trip to the European Parliament on 17th and 18th March for a coach full of residents from Cumbria. It was for a special exhibition which I had organised relating to the floods that hit Cumbria last November.

The European Parliament grants a subsidy towards such trips, which is paid to the trip organiser. It is not allowed to be paid to the MEP. For this trip it came to 10,790.56 Euros, which, after I paid for lunch for the attendees, left 10,315 Euros.

The Party had advanced me money to pay for the coach, the hotel and evening meal, and I gave the full remaining amount to the Party as a donation.

I spoke to David Hannam about arranging to meet him to give him the money on a number of occasions after 18th March, but in the run up to the General Election we were both busy and eventually it was agreed that I would give it to Paul Golding. On 29th March I met him at the petrol station at Thurrock Services on the M25, wound down my car window, and passed him an envelope containing 10,315 Euros. Luckily I took the precaution of having him sign for it. There was also another person in the car with me (Susan Clapp), but I am sure he didn’t see her as she is rather small and the meeting was very brief.

I thought it was a bit odd that I should be required to hand over the money in this manner. That weekend I had suddenly received a series of frantic requests to meet Paul Golding and give him the money. Paul Golding isn’t a fundholder but he is Jim Dowson’s closest aide in the Party. The cash was to be given by Paul Golding to Jim Dowson. Jim Dowson spends most of his time in Spain now for some reason, and giving him the cash would avoid currency conversion charges.

I have previously been told that the Party owes Jim Dowson £100,000 and this money was to be used as a part payment of that. I have no idea what the £100,000 we owe Jim Dowson is for.

It is clear to me, from the stories spread on the internet and from hints and rumours which they spread to other people that I was going to be accused of stealing the 10,000 Euros.

I was not to know, but during the period when I was trying to arrange to meet David Hannam, Nick Griffin MEP had been busy plotting to remove me from my positions, which he did just two days after I met Paul Golding – hence the desperation to get the money from me, and the unorthodox manner of the handover which was arranged so as to compromise me in the future.

The following is evidence offered by Eddy Buttler to show that the funds where handed over in cash to Paul Golding:

If these funds where paid in cash and not declared in anyway to either the European Parliament of the UK Electoral Commission then the BNP are in direct breach of EU and UK party funding rules, a situation that clearly needs investigating by both bodies.