Vote No To The BNP

Today’s the day that political party accounts are published by the Electoral Commission, and yet again for something like the 6th year in a row the British National Party (BNP) have failed to deliver the accounts on time.

They were again granted an extension to the normal deadline, which they also missed meaning the party will now be given two seperate fines of a minimum of £500 for the main party accounts and a minimum of £100 for the regional accounting unit accounts which they have also failed to file on time.

In a statement on the Electoral Commission website, they had this to say regarding the BNP:

Regulatory Action
The British National Party and the party’s Regional Accounting Unit were both granted an extension to the deadline for submitting their statements of accounts. Both have failed to deliver their accounts within the extended deadline so the party will be fined a minimum of £500 and the accounting unit will be fined a minimum £100, this figure will increase if the accounts are more than three months late.

Peter Wardle Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said:
“Political parties play a crucial part in our democracy. But, now more than ever, voters need to be confident that party funding is transparent and that parties will comply with the law. 

“While we are disappointed that the British National Party and its accounting unit have failed to submit their accounts on time, I’m glad to see that the majority of the large parties and accounting units have understood the need to ensure their accounts are submitted to us by the deadline set. Transparency about party finances is one of the key factors that can help public confidence in politics.”

Despite all the BNP provado and big speeches by party leader Nick Griffin and emails from the party money man David Hannam claiming the party had the accounts ready to go way back in January 2010 and that they would be all present and correct and delivered well before the Electoral Commission deadline, they have failed to get the job done.

In a statement/article published on the BNP’s website just this week (even after they already knew they had missed the Electoral Commission deadline) the party money man David Hannam had this rather bold claim to make:

With these historical problems in mind, I took the decision to begin a fast implementation of new measures and controls. It has taken nearly a whole financial quarter to complete, but we are now in a position whereby we can ensure: 

* Bookkeeping is maintained on a daily basis;

* All financial reports are available on a daily basis thus providing our fundraising consultant with fast and vital information;

* More in-depth quarterly reports are provided to the Advisory Council;

* All major expenditure is now strictly regulated; and

* All legally-required Statement of Accounts are submitted on time.

The last one is the killer line, and has clearly been proven an out right lie on the part of the BNP having been shown today that they have again failed to deliver the accounts.

This is no great shock in reality as anyone that watches the BNP already expects the accounts to be late, but you would think that considering Nick Griffin is facing a Leadership challenge this year he would have wanted for once to deliver the accounts on time and allow them the be looked at by the members in the run up to the Leadership challenge.

But it certainly seems that Nick Griffin has other ideas on how to handle the party and whether it complies with the law or not, and it certainly seems that the BNP Leadership don’t really care about getting the accounts in on time, or that they are now going to have to waste a minimum of £600 of the BNP members money to pay off yet more fines for late filing.

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.

Nick Griffin British National Party (BNP) Leader and MEP has told a party conference that he intends to stand down as party Chairman in 2013, (from the BNP website):

Nick Griffin MEP announced his intention to step down as leader by the end of 2013 to concentrate on his re-election campaign to the European Parliament.

Mr Griffin made his leadership decision announcement at the end of the first day of the proceedings.

“By then I would have been leader of the BNP for 15 years and that is long enough,” Mr Griffin said.

“It will be time to make way for a younger person who does not have any baggage which can be used against the party.”

Mr Griffin said the timing of his move was predicated by his desire to bring about what he called the putting into place of the last “building blocks” of the BNP’s administrative and political machine.

“This is going to take at least 18 months to implement and after that I intend to hand the party over to someone who will be able to drive support up to where it can be a serious contender for power,” he said.

Although this may placate certain elements of the party, in particular those who have been making the calls for Griffin to go ever louder since the crushing defeat the BNP took during the 2010 General Election and Local Council elections, I don’t see it being enough to quash the demands for financial transparency and total reform of the party.

One would also question why 2013 ? after all that’s another three years of the Nick Griffin image constantly associated with the party that already has what can only be described as a ‘neo-Nazi and Racist’ party which Nick Griffin has been at pains to get rid of for over 10 years, without any real degree of success.

Surely Nick Griffin has all but taken the BNP as far as he possible can, and currently one of it’s biggest blocks to gaining any ground in mainstream politics is Nick Griffin himself. Another questionable aspect of standing down in 2013 has to be, why so long? in the statement on the BNP website Nick Griffin claims it will take 18 months to complete the modernisation of the party machine, so the question has to be why hang on after that point?.

From an anti-BNP perspective Nick Griffin holding on as long as possible can only be a good thing, after all it’s the image of Nick Griffin that keeps the BNP back, it’s his own history that really stops the BNP making any further gains, which has been evidenced recently with the catastrophic failure of the 2010 Elections.

The BNP have been slipping backwards since the European Parliament Election in 2009 where the BNP gained two MEPs on a smaller share of the vote than they took in the previous EU Elections. They have failed to gain any further council seats since the 2009 EU Elections, which ended in the 2010 Elections with the BNP taking something of a hammering coming out of the elections with around 15 elected councillors left, a well over 50% loss of elected positions for the party.

The BNP need a radical overhaul if they are to achieve any kind of electoral success in the coming years, just changing tactics to copy the Labour Party machine isn’t going to do it, it really isn’t how they campaign it’s the image the party has that has to be changed, and frankly that is going to be one of the hardest jobs to do.

If we look at some of the names at the top of the BNP pile there really doesn’t seem to be many candidates that could even attempt to change the image of the BNP, unless some new blood arrives that hasn’t been in the front line of Nationalism, someone that no one has heard of, and someone who has the guts to strip the BNP apart from the top down, getting rid of everyone that could possibly have ANY past history that could be used against the party.

And from what I have seen there isn’t anyone currently within the BNP, or on the fringes that has any chance of making a big enough impact on the BNP image, even less so if that person is only going to be given the short period of 2 years to get the job done from when Griffin steps down in 2013 and the next General Election in 2015.

Wildly flailing about for ideas to head off growing rank and file disaffection and to find scapegoats for the widespread demoralisation of the BNP membership in the wake of a disastrous general election performance, Nick Griffin has determined to fix much of the blame for his own abject incompetence on ousted webmaster Simon Bennett.

In an email sent on Friday afternoon, Griffin writes:

At the height of the General Election campaign, at a time when millions of leaflets were hitting doorsteps around the country, our website was destroyed by a treacherous former employee.

This unforgiveable act of treason contributed to the loss of dozens of election deposits around the country. [Our emphasis]

For several weeks a group of loyal Party officials and volunteers have been working hard getting the entire BNP internet operation up and running once again.

“It has been a hard slog but now things are moving once again. Instead of depending on one person to run the entire BNP cyberspace presence we now have a team of people working together, technicians, designers, writers and moderators,” said BNP webmaster Paul Golding.

The idea that the loss of the BNP’s website cost the party any votes at all is inane and is already being ridiculed for the fiction it is by formerly loyal Griffinites.

In the past few days leading figures in the BNP have taken out a free blogspot called “The BNP Truth Chronicles – Countering the smears, lies, crackpots and traitors” aimed squarely at vilifying Simon Bennett. The location of the blogspot has been widely disseminated, not least by tame poodles “Bev Kerry” of the snake-pit VNN, and the cringingly sycophantic Paul Morris (who has sacked the entire moderating team of his barely visited grovel-fest of a forum).

Scales have been falling from previously unquestioning BNP eyes by the hundred since the magnitude of the BNP reverse became apparent as the hours of May 7th ticked on. The myth of Nick Griffin’s infallibility has been firmly pricked. Formerly pliant members are now admitting that his Question Time performance was a disaster, that the BNP’s Euro “success” was not quite what it seemed, and that the party’s Griffin-led general election “strategy” was a complete failure.

The more intelligent of the grass roots and middle-ranking members aren’t buying Griffin’s excuses or his crude attempts to scapegoat Simon Bennett, and seem fairly resolute in their demand that Griffin stand down from the leadership.

Griffin is undoubtedly watching and waiting to see who comes forward to head up any putative rebellion, the name most talked about being that of Eddy Butler, who left the Barking and Dagenham count openly discussing ways and means of deposing Griffin with Richard Barnbrook.

Butler, of course, is already in the frame to take a share of the blame for Griffin’s ineptitude, while it is believed that Barnbrook continues to smoulder that he was abruptly shoved aside as the BNP’s Barking PPC by the carpet-bagging Griffin on the promise that he would lead the BNP group on Barking and Dagenham Council – an empty promise, as it turned out, and one which inevitably angered drink loving street-fighter Bob Bailey, the sitting group leader, who resigned as the BNP’s London organiser this week.

In the meantime the beleaguered Griffin has launched his standard containment strategy of shifting the blame for his own yawning deficiencies and smearing his enemies as traitors and plants, a strategy he has deployed with unimaginative predictability ever since he first rose to exceedingly minor prominence in the 1980s National Front.

Previously untroubled backwaters of the Internet, where BNP members debated in a quietly deranged way among themselves while contending with the odd anti-fascist interloper, have become targets for blunt but counter-productive Griffinite and Covert Tactics trolling, notably the BNP sub-forum at the British Democracy Forum, where BNP members and supporters are overwhelmingly in favour of change at the top of the BNP. A rash of quickly banned new arrivals whose presence threatened to turn BDF into a replica of VNN caused the forum’s owners to institute a “zero tolerance” policy in tandem with “draconian moderating”.

Zero tolerance is something long practiced by Nick Griffin throughout his turbulent, purge-filled years as leader of the BNP. Self-preservation was never so well embodied in the being of one man. He isn’t big enough to admit his failings and walk away. Self-sacrifice for the good of the cause isn’t a thought that ever entered into his head. With a year to pass before local council elections are due, and several years to come before the next Euros, he has all the time in the world to identify his real and potential internal enemies and isolate them before danger threatens.

The question is, now that the spell of Griffin has been broken for so many, will those preparing to topple him – as we know they are – just for once have the wits and strategic sense to attempt to outsmart him on their own terms instead of his; that is to say, will they realise, as they fight over whatever remains of the BNP, that from the beginning a desperate Griffin can be relied upon to play dirty, and that there’s very little point to upholding the Queensberry Rules when the man they are fighting has loaded his gloves with lead?

Source: Norfolk Unity