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.

A MAN has been cautioned after signatures on the nomination forms of a defeated BNP candidate in the General Election were found to have been forged.

South Wales Police received a number of complaints from members of the public concerned that their details had been used on Richard Barnes’ nomination form.

Mr Barnes stood for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney in the recent election, but received only 1,173 votes.

Before a prospective candidate is allowed to stand, he or she must obtain 10 signatures: a proposer, a seconder and those who signed the nomination papers.

Police investigated the claims and as a result a 30-year-old man was arrested and later cautioned for tampering with ballot nomination papers after he was found to be responsible for forging signatures.

A South Wales Police spokesman said: “Mr Barnes was unaware of the actions and the man was cautioned on May 16.”

Ronald Fealey, of Penydarren, was one of those who had his name used to forge a signature.

He said: “Someone told me my name was on the nomination form and I thought they were taking the Mick about it.

“My son downloaded the nomination form and there my name was. I reported it to the returning officer and they informed the police.

“I don’t know why my name was chosen, it possibly could have been out of a hat for all I know.”

Katy Meredith, of Church Street, Penydarren, was also a victim of the deception. She did not sign the nomination papers and said she did not vote BNP.

The Echo contacted the BNP but received no response.

Merthyr Tydfil Council was unable to help the Echo contact Richard Barnes, but did say: “Fraudulently signing election nomination papers is a criminal offence.

“Therefore, when Merthyr council was officially made aware that there was a potential issue with one of the candidates’ nomination papers the week after the election, the matter was referred directly to South Wales Police for investigation. Merthyr council has no further role.”

From Wales Online

An email sent out from the British National Party (BNP) Finance Officer David Hannam has sparked a chain of anger amongst local party organisers, the email asks for all deposits the BNP managed to save during the 2010 General Election to be paid payable to the British National Party and sent to BNP Central Office, the email reads as follows:

Dear Party Officer,

I am writing to you just to remind all areas who stood candidates in the General Election that all saved deposits retained must be banked
promptly or sent to the treasury office at:

Po Box xxxxxx

When collecting your saved deposits, if the council ask who the cheque should be made payable to, please ensure that the cheque is made payable to ‘British National Party’.

In the next few days treasury will be contacting all the areas who saved their deposit.
Any queries regarding this please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely.

David Hannam
01xxxxxx xxxxxx

The reasons this email seems to have provoked anger amongst the party grass routes is a simple one, much of the funding for the BNP Election Campaigns was raised locally by local party officers and members, and didn’t come from the parties central office. And in a number of cases was funded by the candidate themselves either with their own money or by way of loans, of which according to many of the far-right forms and BNP supporting websites was done on the understanding that should the candidate achieve the 5% vote share required to keep the deposit that the £500 would go back to the candidate, the person the loan was from or the local party funds.

The email above clearly shows the BNP Finance Officer is wanting all these monies to be sent to the central office, with no indication as to whether any individuals will get the money back, or whether the local party unit will get those valuable funds returned to their local party.

Many of the membership are also venting their anger at the announcement that the parties annual Red White and Blue (RWB) weekend for 2010 has been canceled in favour of holding regional events, which according to Leicestershire BNP have to be contracted out to an “Events Organiser” rather than organised by party members and officials as all the previous RWB events have been.

The is also no mention as to whether they have a particular “Events” company that must be used, with many members speculating that a further email will be sent out instructing them to use a set “Events Company” who they say will be a company either controlled by or having some involvement with Jim Dowson the parties fundraiser who seems to have his hands in just about every corner of the BNP and its money dealings.

It seems the internal operations of the BNP are far from stable, this latest behest is only serving to anger the grass roots supporters of the BNP,

A BNP thug who ran for council has been given a year’s community service for assaulting two female pacifist campaigners.

David Clarke, who got 518 votes when he stood in Heathfield for this year’s local elections, was sentenced on four counts of assaulting anti-racism campaigners.

Clarke, of Dunley Drive, New Addington, pushed and shoved Lorna Nelson-Homian, James Cox, Nigel Green and Silvia Beckett in two separate attacks last May outside East Croydon train station.

Croydon Magistrates’ Court handed the 41-year-old a 12-month community order last week and ordered him to pay costs of £650.

Clarke denied attacking the Hope Not Hate campaigners but was found guilty on April 30.

Giving evidence in relation to the first incident on May 27, campaigner Nigel Green said: “I saw him [Clarke] walking towards me.

“He was walking right towards me and I could see there would be problems. I decided to stop and put the leaflets behind my back.

“But he gestured for me to give him a leaflet and he basically snatched them out of my hand. They were thrown down on the street and that was quite a shock to me.

“Then he sort of pushed me and grabbed my arm and twirled me around. I was very shaken because I had done nothing to provoke him.”

Prosecutor Daniel Irving told the court how after the first assault Clarke left, only to return to repeatedly shove Ms Beckett to get to Mr Green.

The court heard Clarke almost knocked the woman off her feet.

Mr Irving told the court that when Clarke spotted other Hope Not Hate campaigners two days later he screamed at them: “F****** scumbags, filth on our streets, taking all our jobs.”

Then Clarke again snatched leaflets, threw them on the floor and shoved Ms Nelson-Homian and Mr Cox.