Tim Ablitt and British Freedom

posted by: Simon Cressy | on: Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 16:07

Tim Ablitt

The miniscule political party “British Freedom” has just announced that they have appointed a new organiser for Dorset, Tim Ablitt.

The Party also confirms that Ablitt is the South West organiser for the violent English Defence League (EDL).

Ablitt, who just today called the millions of striking public sector workers "Left wing parasites" was given the job following the EDL’s national meeting held in Birmingham earlier this month, where it was announced that the EDL would be linking up with the tiny British Freedom, a party formed by ex BNP activists.

Ablitt is the same EDL activist that was arrested in July 2010 following an operation by armed police who suspected the EDL of attempting to blow up a Bournemouth mosque.

Police marksmen shot the tyres out on a van and arrested seven EDL activists including Ablitt, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion at the mosque.

The suspects were held at Poole police station and a police station in Southampton and were eventually all released without charge.

Salem's Lot

posted by: Simon Cressy | on: Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 12:21

Daniel Carlsen

Nick Griffin, chairman of the BNP is off to Sweden in December it seems and it isn’t for a spot of Christmas shopping.

Griffin has been invited to speak at the annual "New Salem" march on December 10th held in the Swedish capital Stockholm.

Now using the less than snappy title of "End anti-Swedish hostility – Safeguard the North" The event is held every year and used to commemorate Daniel Wretström, a 17-year-old skinhead who was beaten and stabbed to death in December 2000.

Whilst the march is no longer in the name of Wretström or in fact in Salem, over the years it has brought together a whole menagerie of racists and Nazis from across Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. This year is no exception.

Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting characters sharing a platform with the BNP chairman.

Dan Eriksson

Eriksson’s involvement in far right politics goes back a number of years.

He first hit the headlines when he along with a mob of violent Nazis attacked the Stockholm Gay Pride march held in 2003.

Following this he moved over to the violent “Info14” network run by Robert Vesterlund, who was linked to the murder of the trade union activist Björn Söderberg in 1999.

Eriksson, who is a regular speaker at the Salem march, peppers his speeches with anti Semitic sentiment, once describing Holocaust Memorial Day as “The date which, for several years now, has made the most disgusting of sewer rats crawl out of their filthy holes, kneel to the star of hate and lick the blood splattered feet of the new world order”.

He doesn’t just direct his poison towards Jews however, describing immigrants in Sweden as a “black-brown, spice-stinking slew that should be sent packing”. Not surprisingly Dan Eriksson once described Adolf Hitler and the Nazis as a “Breath of fresh air”.

Daniel Carlsen

Hardline Neo Nazi, Carlsen was until this year a leading member of the Danish National Socialist Movement (DNSB). He left in February of this year to form his own political party “The Danish Party”.

Carlsen appears to like having his photo taken with a swastika flag and once told Swedish Newspapers in 2008 that he saw Adolf Hitler as “a great man” and although there were Jews who died because there was war, “the systematic extermination in gas chambers, I do not believe” Carlsen also has a violent past, having been arrested on a number of occasions for assault and violent disorder.

Magnus Söderman

Söderman was until recently the deputy leader of the Neo Nazi Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR) and also attempted to launch a Swedish section of the US white supremacist movement “The Aryan Nations” which the FBI has labelled a terrorist threat.

A regular visitor to the Salem march, Söderman spoke in 2003 where he concluded his speech by leading the crowd in chants of “Sieg Heil”.

Also in 2003 Söderman was one of the speakers at the annual Rudolf Hess rally in Wunsiedel,Germany.

Ken McLellan

Providing “entertainment” to the Salem rally is Ken McLellan, singer with the notorious Nazi rock band “Brutal Attack”.

McLellan is known to have a violent temper and in 1999 gave a fellow Nazi and former Nick Griffin lap dog Adrian Woods, a horrific beating at a pub in the Derbyshire.

Woods was formerly the leader of the “Surrey Border Front” as well as having stints in the NF and the BNP. He moved to the East Midlands in 1999 to start a new life after falling out with Griffin’s followers, and after a fight with McLellan, suffered a broken jaw and several broken ribs and was reported to have been rushed to intensive care.

The violence took place following an argument where Woods mocked McLellan for singing nationalist songs when he had fathered two children with a black woman.

With thanks to our colleagues at EXPO in Stockholm.

Ken McLellan

Magnus Söderman

Missing voices

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 28 November 2011, 08:47

Towards the end of last week I caught a few minutes of the Leveson Inquiry into media conduct when Max Mosley was explaining how the News of the World had invaded his privacy and caused him a huge amount of distress for running a story about his private life. His testimony followed that of J. K. Rowley, Hugh Grant and Sienna Millar, among others. Celebrities upset at their treatment of sections of the British press.

I do not want to diminish the anger of these celebrities or their right to give evidence, but I am intrigued to see who else will be giving evidence.

Who will be speaking on behalf of mainstream Muslim society who are regularly vilified and abused in the press? Who is speaking up for the asylum seekers and refugees who are lambasted and and blamed for society's ills? The biased and misrepresentation of the immigration question and the vilification of Muslims has, in my humble opinion, far more serious consequences in society than the private lives of celebrities.

Let's have an inquiry into press behaviour but let's also ensure that the real victims of media abuse - those whose lives are really made a misery - get heard.

Clarifying the story: a statement from the Dean of Bradford

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Sunday, 27 November 2011, 09:08

There have been a lot of claims and counter-claims about the position of the Dean of Bradford in the Atzmon affair so I thought it was best to ask the Dean himself to make the last word. This is a statement he sent me last night and I hope it clarifies his position and answers those people, for their own political reasons, who have accused me of lying and falsifying documents:

Statement from the Dean of Bradford 26 November 2011:

"Mr Gilad Atzmon has posted a statement of mine on his website (http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/hope-not-hate-is-caught-falsifying-documents-again.html) which he has used to accuse Mr Nick Lowles of falsifying documents and spreading lies. I do not support this accusation.

I want to make it clear that I do not regard Mr Lowles as a liar or someone who has falsified documents, and I apologise if in any way this impression has been given by me. I did not in my initial statement quoted on Mr Lowles' blog make a public call for Mr Atzmon's concert to be cancelled, and it was on this basis that I disagreed with the headline over my statement. However, I had indicated elsewhere in a mail seen by Mr Lowles that cancellation would be preferred, since (as I note in my statement quoted by Mr Atzmon) I would have had to have withdrawn the concert if it had been due to happen on church premises due to the controversy involved, and it is this indication which led Mr Lowles to write the headline as he did; although it did not represent my intention it was not an unreasonable action for him to take, and he was engaged in interpretation not falsification.

Mr Atzmon and his supporters believe in his sincerity, and those opposed to him do not. Assessing what Mr Atzmon actually believes is not easy owing to the contested nature of the evidence. What is uncontrovertible is the fact that a lot of people believe that he behaves in a way which is anti-Semitic, flirting with Holocaust denial, and racist: and this behaviour has caused a wide variety of groups to distance themselves from him. As a cathedral we believe in truth, peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis, of whatever faith (or none); and we will continue to hold to that often uncomfortable position - a position which makes it impossible for us to offer a platform to Mr Atzmon."

The sickest of all opportunities

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Friday, 25 November 2011, 12:05

Shameless: Griffin defiles the memories of men and women braver than him.

Nick Griffin cannot wait for the 400th British soldier to die in Afghanistan.

He's already asking for people to give thought to the sort of demonstration that his party of race haters, alcoholics, wannabe terrorists, potential paedophiles and wife beaters can hold when or if such an event happens.

Never one to miss an opportunity to "cash-in" on Britain’s military, it does not take long for people to see through the true sickness of Griffin and his party.

Whether it is trying to make gain from homeless British ex-servicemen and women or even sending a party official to kow- tow to Japanese war criminals, the BNP just do not care about anything or anyone but themselves.

In particular they do not care about people like Lance Corporal Johnson Gideon Beharry of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. Beharry was awarded the VC for bravery in Iraq, but in the BNP's eyes he was only awarded this because he was black.

Then of course there are the Gurkhas, loyal and brave of the crown forces. The BNP calls them "mercenaries".

We are no fans of war, but we see no reason why Griffin and his party of race haters should continually try to cash in on the deaths of predominately working class men and women.

If the 400th British serviceman or woman who dies in Afghanistan is black or Asian, or gay, what will Griffin do then? Ignore it?

Griffin and his close friend Simon "I am a little boring, perhaps" Darby are also trying to make some headway for their tiny party after a series of attacks on students in West Yorkshire. According to Darby, these attacks were carried out by black people in ski masks on white students, but the police are not telling anybody that they are racist attacks.

Just to correct Mr Darby, the attacks have been reported. They were however not reported by the victims as racial attacks, nor are the police treating them as a racist attacks. They are attacks on students, not that much different to the attacks on students the BNP likes to carry out when it gets the chance. These attacks are mindless, brainless, thuggery. As Simon well knows.

The police are looking at Simon's blog. I believe it's called incitement. Better they look for incitement because it is totally void of excitement.

More offensive offerings

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Thursday, 24 November 2011, 13:43

Gilad Atzmon

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, I have just been sent a link to an outrageous article and cartoon on Gilad Atzmon's website. Entitled: 'Holocaust Tax Allowance' and written by Atzmon himself, the article makes fun of Jewish suffering in WW2.

His opening paragraph sets the tone for the rest of the article: "I do think that taking Tax from Jews is nothing less than Anti Semitism in practice. After the Holocaust and 2000 years of Jewish suffering we should accept that Jews have the right to hide some money from the tax authorities, just in case the horror repeats itself."

The article is accompanied by an equally offensive cartoon. Again, my point is that if a BNP member had produced this then people would be up in outrage, so why the silence when it comes to Atzmon?

You can read the full article here:
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/holocaust-tax-allowance-by-gilad-atzmon.html

Yesterday I reported that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign had distanced themselves from Raise Your Banners who had claimed that the PSC had given a clean bill of health. This is what its director, Sarah Colbourne, has told the Jewish Chronicle:

"I am very concerned at what appears to be an attempt by Raise Your Banners to misrepresent the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. PSC has made clear to Raise Your Banners that we have no links with Gilad Atzmon, and that Palestine Solidarity Campaign does not work with him. When a representative from Raise Your Banners contacted the PSC office some months ago, they were urged to take seriously the concerns of those who had raised this issue."

GILAD ATZMON: Supporting Holocaust Deniers and spreading hatred of Jews

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Thursday, 24 November 2011, 10:30

Our decision to ask Raise Your Banners to withdraw its invitation to Gilad Atzmon has caused a lot of controversy from his small, but very vocal, band of supporters. In all the years of writing this blog I don’t think I have received as many abusive and angry emails as I have over this issue, though it must be stressed that many of the emails are from the same two or three people.

I’m sticking to my position – namely that Gilad Atzmon flirts with Holocaust Denial, has supported Holocaust Deniers and is a racist antisemite. I will not be bullied or threatened into silence. HOPE not hate stands for decency, tolerance and equality. I will speak up against racism and antisemtism just as I will campaign against fascism and anti-Muslim prejudice.

Gilad Atzmon supports Holocaust deniers and claims that the established history of the Holocaust is misleading. He attacks Jewish identity in a way that would clearly be recognised as racist if it were about any other minority identity, and claims that because of how Jews behave, in the future people might think Hitler was right about Jews. He tells crude antisemitic jokes and mocks any concerns about antisemitism.

Much of the criticism against our position stems from those who believe that we are part of some Zionist plot which seeks to silence criticism of Israel. Nothing can be further from the truth. To me, this has nothing to do with the Israel/Palestine conflict but merely opposition to a man who makes racist and antisemtic comments.

If David Irving or Nick Griffin voiced Atzmon’s opinions then the Left would be up in arms – and rightly so. Virtually no-one on the left supports Atzmon though most prefer to stay silent than speak out publicly. Even the most strident anti-Zionist Jews in Britain believe Atzmon is antisemitic. The Socialist Workers Party, who used to have an association with Atzmon, have long since distanced themselves from him and even the leadership of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have let it be known in the last few days that they want no public connection with him. I, however, am not going to stay silent. Wrong is wrong, from whatever quarter it comes from.

Let’s put aside the Israel/Palestine question (after all I have never once vocalised my opinion on this subject though my detractors are quick to accuse me of being part of a co-ordinated Zionist conspiracy) and let’s look at what Gilad Atzmon actually says:

Atzmon’s racism and antisemtisim

Atzmon targets “Jewishness” in his writings and not just Zionism or Israel. He writes about Jewish traits – as though every Jewish person is the same - in a way that is clearly racist. If someone wrote such generalised abuse of African-Caribbean’s then we would be rightly outraged. He claims not to be attacking all Jews, but then writes about Jewish identity and behaviour in a way that effectively treats Jewish people throughout the world as though they are one homogeneous group. We rightly attack the English Defence League for blaming all Muslims for the actions of a few so why should we turn a blind eye to Atzmon’s racism.

Here are a few of Atzmon’s thoughts:

“ Jewishness means supremacy and chauvinism and chosenness, and when it comes to Jewishness I am not a Jew because I am not a follower of Judaism…I deal mainly with Jewishness. What is Jewishness? Jewishness is different forms of tribally or racially oriented supremacy.”

“every single Jewish political discourse... is either already supremacist or on the verge of becoming supremacist.”

The idea of “Jewish supremacism” is most commonly associated with American neo-Nazi and former Klan leader David Duke, who wrote a book of that name. Duke has expressed his admiration for Atzmon’s writings.

Flirting with Holocaust Denial

Atzmon’s views border on Holocaust Denial. He certainly disputes the accepted Holocaust narrative and in doing so heaps praise on holocaust revisionists. Here are a few of his writings on the Holocaust (and these are separate quotes).

“It took me many years to accept that the Holocaust narrative, in its current form, doesn’t make any historical sense. Here is just one little anecdote to elaborate on:

If, for instance, the Nazis wanted the Jews out of their Reich (Judenrein – free of Jews), or even dead, as the Zionist narrative insists, how come they marched hundreds of thousands of them back into the Reich at the end of the war?”

“When I was young and naïve I was also convinced that what they told us about our ‘collective’ Jewish past really happened. I believed it all, the Kingdom of David, Massada, and then the Holocaust: the soap, the lampshade, the death march, the six million.

As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians”

“I am left puzzled here; if the Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Birkenau, why would the Jewish prisoners join them at the end of the war? Why didn’t the Jews wait for their Red liberators?”

Again, if Nick Griffin wrote such things we would be outraged. Why are people not outraged with Atzmon saying them?

Support for Holocaust Deniers

Atzmon has been linked to several leading Holocaust Deniers. This should tell us something about his politics.

“The Holocaust religion is also maintained by a massive global financial network...this new religion is coherent enough to define its ‘antichrists’ (Holocaust deniers), and powerful enough to persecute them (through Holocaust-denial and hate-speech laws)...The Holocaust religion is, obviously, Judeo-centric to the bone...This new Jewish religion preaches revenge. It could well be the most sinister religion known to man”.

“If you look for instance at the Jewish academics looking into the notion of the Holocaust, the history of the Holocaust, the research is really lacking. I think that the Holocaust must be looked again and again and again and again and as it happens, actually the only people who are doing it are actually Revisionists.”

“the [Nazi] death marches were actually humane.”

Atzmon also distributed a Holocaust Denial article, “The Holocaust Wars”, written by Holocaust Denier Paul Eisen, which Atzmon has described as a ‘great text’. This great text is notorious for its defence and espousal of amongst others Ernst Zundel, the convicted Holocaust denier.

Another of Atzmon’s associates is the infamous Nazi Israel Shamir, another Holocaust denier with links to many white supremacist and Nazi groups. Atzmon has described Shamir as a ‘unique and advanced thinker’.

Here are a few more interesting Aztmon quotes.

* Antisemitic caricatures

“Some Jews are rather unhappy with Charles Dickens’ Fagin and Shakespeare’s Shylock, who they regard as ‘anti Semitic’...On the other hand, the British Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) has managed to plant Anne Frank within the British curriculum...Fagin is the ultimate plunderer, a child exploiter and usurer. Shylock is the bloodthirsty merchant. With Fagin and Shylock in mind, the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians seems to be just a further event in and endless hellish continuum.”

* In the future, people may think Hitler was right

Atzmon argues that the Middle East conflict may lead some people to conclude that Hitler may have been right about the Jews. For example, in the apocalyptic scenario of nuclear war between Iran and Israel:

“I guess that amongst the survivors of such a nightmare scenario, some may be bold enough to argue that ‘Hitler might have been right after all.’”

* Crude racist jokes

At a recent talk in Norway, Atzmon told this joke:

“Nobody speaks about throwing the Jews to the sea.

["Nobody?"]

Nobody.

["Never?"]

“No no. No. And it’s not fair on the sea as well. I never thought of that one”

[laughter]

Atzmon called a chapter in his latest book “Swindler’s List”.

And finally, somebody noticed that Atzmon says on his website that he has played with Paul McCartney, and decided to wind him up: This is the email he sent with the reply from Atzmon:

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Gilad Atzmon <giladatzmon@mac.com>
To: xxxx xxxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent: Sunday, 13 November 2011, 10:33
Subject: Re:

Send me his foreskin, once you chopped it .we ll look after it and re install it once he realizes what he is involved with :)

Sent from my iPhone

On 13 Nov 2011, at 11:06, xxxx xxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Paul McCartney is to be made honoury jew at this meeting for is marriage to two jews and his support for Israel. Apparently he has given millions.

Darby amused by violent racist

posted by: Simon Cressy | on: Thursday, 24 November 2011, 08:30

Peter King harassing Big Issue salesperson

It’s not very often that you will find anything interesting on Simon Darby’s blog.

Let’s face it in the sphere of far right politics it has to be one of the more dull attempts by the BNP to spin their version of political claptrap.

Normally overflowing with pictures of dead wildlife and what Simon has had for his lunch, yesterday’s offering for a change made me raise an eyebrow.

It seems the once deputy leader of the BNP is amused by a convicted violent racist thug.

Using the title “Big Issshhhuuueee” Darby explains “Thought I would share this amusing photograph that I found on a well known social networking site this morning. Capturing the ubiquitous Big Issue beggar as featured in virtually every town in the UK”

The photograph shows ex Hartlepool BNP organiser Peter King sat with a BNP placard harassing an Eastern European Big Issue salesperson.

This would be the same Peter King who was convicted of racially aggravated harassment and possessing an offensive weapon at Teesside Crown Court in 2010?

King, told an Asian woman to "go back to your own country" when he saw her in the aisles of his local supermarket. He then launched a tirade of racist abuse at the woman.

The same King who threatened a neighbour with an ornamental mace in 2010 after a minor dispute.

The same Peter King who was convicted of assaulting Kieren Trent, the leader of the BNP youth wing “Resistance” after King found out Trent was having an affair with his estranged partner Cheryl Dunn, the onetime BNP regional organiser for the North East. The attack, witnessed by a number of BNP officials was so violent it put Kieren Trent in hospital.

Cheryl Dunn described her relationship with King as “violent and abusive”

The same thug who was sent to prison in June of this year for assault occasioning actual bodily harm after attacking someone in the street.

However, Peter King won’t be too amused that Simon Darby has used the photograph of him either.

He has fallen out of love with the BNP, blaming the party for wrecking his relationship with Dunn and in his own words “Destroying my family”

On Facebook King claimed “I don’t give a fuck what people think I’ve done nothing wrong, I used to love the BNP now I detest it. It’s fucked our lives up bled us dry n affected my children (sic) n caused me nowt but trouble (sic).”

Still laughing Simon?

Peter King with Nick Griffin

King shows his unhappiness.

PSC distances itself from Raise Your Banners

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Wednesday, 23 November 2011, 12:29

When people first raised their objections to Gilad Atzmon performing in Bradford, the Raise Your Banners (RYB) organisers contacted the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for advice. I'll set aside the issue of whether the PSC is the most appropriate body to determine the antisemitism or otherwise of Atzmon's work for now, but their response, or so it appeared, was used by RYB to ignore the protests, including from many within their own organisation.

The RYB organisers, in the first of two public statements issued on Atzmon, claimed: "We have discussed the matter with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and are satisfied that PSC have no boycott of Gilad Atzmon or events that he is involved in."

Today, however, the PSC has distanced themselves from this statement, claiming, on twitter, "PSC has been misrepresented by Raise Your Banners. @PSCupdates does not work with Gilad Atzmon."

It would appear, given this latter statement, that RYB either exaggerated the PSC position, spoke to an individual who did not speak for the organisation or simply made the whole PSC claim up.

Either way, the key point is that the PSC approval was the main, if not sole, defence for Raise Your Banners organisers to ignore the protests. Now that has been swept aside will they change their position and withdraw the invitation?

Dean of Bradford calls for Atzmon's invite to be withdrawn

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 14:28

The Dean of Bradford has added his name to the growing chorus of outrage at the decision of Raise Your Banners to invite antisemite Gilad Atzmon to perform for them in Bradford on Friday. Atzmon flirts with Holocaust Denial, Holocaust Deniers and is an antisemite and as such should have no place on a progressive platform. This is not a question of Palestine and Israel, nor is it an attempt to stifle freedom of speech. It is simply us, as anti-racists, demanding that a racist and antisemite should not be given a platform. The fact that Atzmon, and his supporters in Raise Your Banners, use information obtained from the BNP to attack us should be reason enough to shun him.

Anyway, I will go into this in more detail later but for now I would like to post a comment sent to me by David Ison, the Dean of Bradford:

"The Cathedral authorities were completely unaware of the nature of this musician, and in any case did not invite him. Our premises were hired by Raise your Banners (who have been here before, uncontroversially) who booked for a concert but told us nothing of the nature of the concert of the performers. We were not aware of any issues with this until we were contacted a few weeks ago by the Council for Christians and Jews expressing concern about anti-Semitism in the Cathedral - a concern which we completely share, as the Cathedral is committed as a Christian organisation to truth, justice and equality.

"We do not countenance or give permission for any form of racism or fascism, including anti-Semitism, to be given hospitality at Bradford Cathedral. Having asked for more information about Gilad Atzmon, it has only been in the last few days that we have received clear evidence of the nature of his public statements. In the event, the concert in the Cathedral had already been cancelled due to poor ticket sales; but it seems to be taking place in a smaller venue in Kala Sangam which is not connected with the Cathedral and over which we have no control.

"I am writing to the authorities at Kala Sangam to ensure they are aware of the issues raised by hosting a concert with this musician."

David Ison

Dean of Bradford

State of Independence ?

posted by: Simon Cressy | on: Sunday, 20 November 2011, 01:20

Martyn Findley Video

Following on from last week’s shambolic appearance by the EDL on Armistice Day where the police arrested 179 members, the EDL leadership are feeling a little upset.

The police made the arrests following violent threats made on the EDL Facebook page to burn down the tents of protestors camped out at the Occupy protest outside St Paul's Cathedral.

In the aftermath, the EDL leadership cried foul and accused the Metropolitan Police of brutality.

A number of videos have been posted on both Facebook and the EDL’s own website; one such video is described as an “Independent Video of Police Heavy-handedness(sic) ”.

However, on watching the video all isn’t quite as it seems. The origin of the video can hardly be labelled “Independent”. The person appearing is none other than Martyn Findley who up until the summer of this year was a BNP councillor in his home town of Nuneaton.

This is the same Martyn Findley who in February 2010 faced a standards board investigation after he described an Asian garage attendant as “fucking filth” on an internet blog.

Findley quit the BNP in July of this year after he accused the party of “going backwards” and has continued to sit as an Independent for the Barpool ward on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council; He was elected on to the council in 2008 and had been a BNP member for ten years.

Hardly an independent view.

Martyn Findley with West Midlands Organiser Alwyn Deacon

The beating of the BNP in Belfast

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Saturday, 19 November 2011, 13:13

Jenny Matthys: Kicking the Pope in happier times

Marion Thomas has won her employment tribunal against the BNP. Surprisingly, after three days of public embarrassment and allegations the tribunal did not take the initially quoted six weeks to reach its decision. The tribunal concluded that Mrs Thomas was "automatically unfairly dismissed for non-compliance with the statutory dismissal procedure".

This tribunal was held earlier this month. It had two missing ingredients: the real protagonists. This case was always about Nick Griffin, the increasingly desperate and unpopular leader of the far-right BNP, and his one time financial crutch, guru and indeed ‘consigliere’, Jim Dowson. Both Griffin and his daughter Jennifer Matthys were criticised by the panel for failing to attend.

Instead, the employment tribunal at Killymead House, conveniently sandwiched between Belfast’s Republican Short Strand and Loyalist Donegal Pass, had to make do with second best. It’s a shame really, as this was the perfect geographical location for a no holds barred, all encompassing exploration of how the BNP crushed ideologies, shattered political ambitions and in no small way, descended into acrimonious tribal conflict and civil war.

Both the meteoric rise and the final devastating fall of the BNP were orchestrated here in Belfast in that fateful tie up between Griffin’s BNP and Jim Dowson. The basis of the unfair dismissal claim was as much a case of who is to blame for the failures, and who was to blame for the mountain of debt that has crippled the party. Taking on the BNP was Marion Thomas, Jim Dowson’s softly spoken sister in law. The nervous Scot was as good as on her own at the tribunal, once her nephew in law was quietly paid off before the hearing began on the first day.

Of course, Belfast can be a challenging place. It has an often intimidating geography for outsiders, even to those who purport undying love for the extreme fringes of Irish society. The tribunal panel commented on as much in its ruling but it was also quick to point out “this was, in truth, a banal and ordinary employment tribunal claim alleging unfair dismissal and non-payment of holiday pay, overtime, expenses and notice pay."

For those of us who squeezed into room ten, it was anything other than “banal”.

When having a call centre in Belfast worked for the BNP, it worked exceptionally well. Taking advantage of a low wage economy on an industrial estate in Dundonald, few people felt the desire to trawl across suburban east Belfast to poke around there. Prime and paramount for the BNP was secrecy. We did poke around however, and from almost the very moment we made it our business, we had almost two years of excellent non-stop exclusives detailing almost every squalid and shameful shenanigan going on inside the BNP’s call centre. Some of what we found out was too sensitive to print, some of it was just breathtakingly degenerate.

From the village of Comber where the BNP set themselves up in flats and homes and joined “Kick The Pope” bands and even toyed with the idea of moving the whole party machinery there, we reported how a lonely and insecure Jennifer Matthys (nee Griffin) plotted and schemed against her rivals, namely the Dowson family. We forensically investigated Jim Dowson’s financial dealings, his shady past and dubious political friends. We predicted an acrimonious parting and worked as hard as we could to facilitate one.

And so it came to pass that the very geography that the BNP courted became their undoing. They burnt their bridges in an unforgiving environment either by sheer arrogance, or just stupidity. The cost is not just £2500 for Marion Thomas but also whatever it cost for Nick Griffin to send seven BNP officials to Belfast on his behalf now his business arrangements have turned so sour.

Marion Thomas’s primary complaint was that she was unfairly dismissed and owed eight days holiday pay plus out of pocket expenses. The BNP argued that Thomas was only actually employed by the BNP for six months, excluding her from entitlement to both redundancy payments and any compensation. For good measure, the BNP admitted they would have dismissed her anyway. But just to confuse matters further they claimed that they also offered Thomas the opportunity to discuss a transfer to the “mainland” after the relationship between Griffin and Dowson broke down, which led to the inevitable closure of the Dundonald office. But Thomas had refused to travel to Britain to discuss any prospective move. She claimed she had not believed that the BNP would honour their pledge to pay reasonable expenses as she was already owed money by the party.

Neither side denied there was an absence of formal employment contracts and so, on this issue, it becomes apparent that with the disappointing absence of both Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson from the hearing, Thomas could only claim that Griffin, his daughter Jennifer Matthys and Jim Dowson all gave verbal employment assurances. The BNP’s legal representative could only claim that either Nick Griffin did not make such offers, or that Jim Dowson was not in the position to make such offers. The ins and outs of what date it was that Thomas actually began getting paid by the BNP and not by Dowson’s front company are, of course, not as interesting as what the BBC describes as the “secretive world” of the BNP.

It’s fair to say that no matter what extremism still exists in Northern Ireland, that the BNP was viewed locally as a most unwelcome addition. The case received uncomplimentary cross community coverage, including a front page on the Belfast Telegraph for two consecutive days. The revelations were sensational. “I was sacked by BNP after dispute with Griffin’s daughter”, led the Belfast Telegraph. Thomas, nicknamed the “matron” for her role in overseeing up to thirty employees at the Dundonald office during the 2009 European elections, admitted with some chagrin that she regarded herself as a junior to Jennifer Matthys once the leader’s daughter had moved to Northern Ireland. Thomas, who was never a member of the party also alleged that she was promoted to the BNP’s treasury team with a focus on ringing around creditors to try and make arrangements for the clearing of some initial £275,000 of debt. It was in this capacity that she says she felt obliged to report to Jim Dowson that Jennifer Matthys had “borrowed” some £900 from a BNP account after a mistake by her husband Angus Mathys who worked in the post room. Thomas claims that this money was set aside to pay creditors.

Thomas also repeated the claim that she made to the BBC’s Panorama programme that party treasurer Clive Jefferson demanded that invoices that were unpaid be stamped as “paid”. Jefferson who was in the tribunal room hurriedly approached the BNP’s legal advisor with a written note soon after. The Belfast Telegraph described the atmosphere in the tribunal as “charged” with the “imposing presence of several heavyweights of the BNP lining the back row”. The BNP did not appreciate having somebody from Searchlight recording the proceedings either.

For most of the three days there was a heavy focus on the bizarre and almost comical circumstances surrounding the alleged holding of Thomas against her will. As the split between Dowson and Griffin grew more and more acrimonious last year, Thomas alleged that she was asked to “mediate” between the two sides. In November of last year she met three BNP officials in the car park of Tescos in Comber twice on the same day. On both occasions large amounts of cash exchanged hands, £2500 in the first instance and then, later in the day, a further £5000. It would appear that the BNP was buying back its own membership details and computer server and while waiting for the equipment to arrive Thomas got into a van driven by former Yorkshire Regional Organiser Ian Kitchen with Clive Jefferson and Adam Walker. Thomas alleged that she was told she was not allowed to leave the van and that Jefferson in particular was “agitated”. Upon the arrival of the equipment, Thomas further alleged that Jefferson, the BNP’s treasurer, removed £200 from the £5000 as compensation for his “inconvenience”.

Of further inconvenience to the BNP would appear to be Dowson’s new political venture which Thomas described as a “Nationalist campaigning group”. Interestingly, the group was described by the BNP as a “commercial rival” and not a political rival. The intimation by the BNP appeared to be that Dowson still had access to the BNP’s membership files and was running his organisation with the BNP’s data. Thomas denied this and claimed that Dowson is in fact using the BNP membership list that was leaked on line in 2007. The BNP’s legal advisor said that the BNP has since made a series of “test calls” to the BNP’s old offices in Dundonald and alleged that Thomas was now answering the phones for their bitter “commercial rivals”. Thomas denied this. The Scottish accent she claims the BNP heard was in fact the voice of her sister Anne, Dowson’s wife.

The BNP were represented in Belfast by the mildly competent Patrick Harrington. The faux trade union leader is a former close comrade of Griffin from when they ran the NF together back in the 1980’s. Harrington struggled with some areas of the tribunal’s processes and had to be guided by the Vice president of the panel, Mr Noel Kelly. Harrington has something of a love-hate relationship with Belfast himself. He has been the constant focus for one newspaper there that has printed the allegations, rife in far-right circles, that Harrington holds Republican sympathies. While the rest of the BNP party had to be admonished for their constant whispering and disruptions on the first day, Harrington conducted his defence for the respondent (the BNP) with a modicum of professionalism even if it was slow, monotone and often judged irrelevant by Thomas’s solicitor. If anything, Harrington was revelling in some kind of role as the sadistic schoolmaster, trying to trip up the housewife who has taken to answering every question and counter accusation with “rubbish”. In the week leading up to the hearing the BNP had alleged that Thomas and Dowson were in fact lovers and not just brother and sister in law. When questioned abut her living arrangements, Thomas appeared ready to explode violently to a loaded question. Marion Thomas was being goaded.

On the second day, Harrington woke up to find his features prominent in the Belfast Telegraph. Arriving at the tribunal with his wife “Mish”, (Some of you may know her better by her stage name "Mish Bondage" or if it suits, “Frightening Fanny”!)

He became entangled in an exchange with two Irish trade unionists, one of whom was holding the flag of the International Brigades. Whether he has some kind of post traumatic disorder relating to his controversial days at the Polytechnic of North London or not, I do not know, but Harrington reacted very badly to being called a fascist and so began a lot of pushing and shoving before his wife Mish decided to physically launch herself at people wildly, apparently upset at her husband’s picture having been in the paper that morning.

Sackings and expulsions from the BNP are never straightforward and normally have a heavy hint of intimidation, humiliation or violence. Who can forget one former employee from the Belfast office who claimed that she was threatened with a shot gun, or how the leakers’ of the 2007 membership list had their house ransacked by the BNP’s security team?

In Belfast, the BNP had sent some of their “finest”. They sent men who were not immune to violence and who were in fact, quite adept at it. They also sent Angus Matthys, Nick Griffin’s son in law. How did Angus get to marry the prized daughter of the Fuhrer. Were other suitors too politically ambitious? Angus carried all of the boxes into the tribunal - and out again. When he worked at the offices of the BNP in Northern Ireland his main task appeared to be donning rubber gloves and poking through thousands of letters that contained, among other things, excrement and razor blades in the search for cash. He swept up, made tea and also went to the post office and the supermarket for teabags. He was not known as the “dynamo”. One source we had in the office at the time told us that Angus was called “Trigger”, but only when he was well out of ear shot, because anything he did hear went straight to Jenny and nobody wanted a forty minute ticking off from her!

Giving evidence on the second day, it was clear that Angus achieved a major victory in just getting dressed that day. He reminded me of Frank Spencer. Angus claimed that he and his wife had been “run off the road” in Cumbria (where they had fled to once they decided to leave Northern Ireland), and that, sadly, his wife felt too intimidated to come to Northern Ireland and that there was a court case pending. Of course, being the BNP and this being Northern Ireland, there would have to be an alleged paramilitary angle to it. Across town was also about to begin one of the largest trials of paramilitaries Northern Ireland had ever witnessed, the place is still awash with them. Angus could not remember much else about his time in Northern Ireland, not surprisingly, seems that he spent most of it cooped up in the BNP’s post room or a tiny flat above a service station in Comber.

Throughout the tribunal the BNP gave the impression that Nick Griffin was “out of the country” (I presume they meant England). While Angus was having some quite severe memory loss, Nick Griffin was on the way to Blackpool lamenting on twitter that he was stuck on the M6. Dowson was in Swansea himself, not fancying the glare of publicity in his adopted home town. It was more than apparent too that Griffin did not fancy hot-footing it to Belfast either. He’d tried all kinds of things to avoid coming back. The BNP’s legal advisor Harrington had warned, not two weeks before, that I would be “punished” should I dare mention that Nick Griffin was too scared. Oh well, poor Angus..

On the third and final day, sixty Trade Union activists picketed the tribunal. BNP treasurer Clive Jefferson claimed that the party operated in circumstances of “extreme stress and intimidation”. He denied allegations that he held Thomas against her will and that he also demanded she stamp invoices “paid” when they were not. Bizarrely, he claimed also that an “incendiary device” had been fired at the BNP as they entered Killymead House. Nick Griffin, on twitter, claimed it was a firework.

The media had come however, not to hear Clive “Rodney” Jefferson, not even Adam Walker. They wanted Mark Walker, Adam’s baby brother. The BNP’s European Researcher had sat through two days of the tribunal without a word. There had been some excitement in media land after the second day as news was reaching us that Walker had been banned from the classroom after a hearing in England that day. The Professional Conduct Committee heard that he had used school computers to send a vulnerable 16-year-old former pupil a sexually explicit message. He had used language understood to mean that he wanted to have sex with the girl.

Sadly, Mark did not turn up. He’d apparently had a “bereavement” overnight. The case fizzled out slightly. Ian Kitchen gave some light relief when asked about the alleged holding of Marion Thomas against her will. He became outraged. Kitchen had spent the previous two days chatting away at the back of the tribunal not just to the annoyance of the panel but it would seem also to his racial comrades there with him too. “I’m a family man” he protested and even the BNP members guffawed at that one. Four days later a local paper was to give some prominence to Kitchen’s links to “Granny Porn”.

For the BNP, its Northern Ireland experiment is over. I’d like to think we helped crush it. I know we did. We began by exposing the use of employment agencies by the party to recruit strangers to work on their sensitive documents, to the internal arguments between rivals, even to female escorts working out of their offices.

Marion Thomas, now a 49 year old housewife, described the “utter shame” at having the BNP on her CV. She was never a member. She worked for an advertising company that also did anti-abortion work that then took the BNP on for a client. Her claims for overtime, holiday pay and mobile phone expenses were dismissed.

In its decision the panel referred to some of the colourful testimony during the hearing.

"The tribunal heard allegations of blackmail, threats, cars being forced off the road, information being sought about political rivals, electoral malpractice, paramilitary involvement and that staple of Irish political life, the passing of money-filled envelopes in strange locations and in even stranger circumstances”.

The settlement Thomas will receive is made up of four week's pay, one week's notice pay, postage expenses incurred taking the case and £760 for the failure of Mr Griffin to provide a witness statement to the panel.

For the last two days, the BNP’s Simon Darby has been fighting off another Irish embarrassment which he is desperately trying to pass off as a joke to the journalists going to press with it. Steve Parkes, a BNP candidate at the recent elections wrote on his facebook page last week about going out to harass gypsies and as well as posting a “White Power” symbol on his profile and making disgusting references to black women.

I’m proud to say, we found and passed that on to the media here too.

Jefferson: £200 for "inconvenience"

Kitchen: Family man?

Heavyweights:Harrington, Walker, "Mish", Walker

Angus Matthys: AKA "Trigger"

Pull the plug on Gilad Atzmon

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Saturday, 19 November 2011, 07:49

Bradford TUC is joining up with the HOPE not hate campaign in calling on the Bradford-based Raise Your Banners organisation to withdraw its invitation to Gilad Atzmon who is due to perform at one of its events on 25 November.

Gilad Atzmon is an antisemite and flirts with Holocaust Denial and Holocaust Deniers. He was born in Israel but now lives in the UK and is a jazz musician.

This is just one of his many offensive comments about the Holocaust.

“When I was young and naïve I was also convinced that what they told us about our ‘collective’ Jewish past really happened. I believed it all, the Kingdom of David, Massada, and then the Holocaust: the soap, the lampshade, the death march, the six million.

As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians.”

“It took me many years to accept that the Holocaust narrative, in its current form, doesn’t make any historical sense. Here is just one little anecdote to elaborate on:

"If, for instance, the Nazis wanted the Jews out of their Reich (Judenrein - free of Jews), or even dead, as the Zionist narrative insists, how come they marched hundreds of thousands of them back into the Reich at the end of the war?”

“I am left puzzled here; if the Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Birkenau, why would the Jewish prisoners join them at the end of the war? Why didn’t the Jews wait for their Red liberators?”

Atzmon is also implicated in the distribution of the Holocaust denier Paul Eisen’s essay ‘The Holocaust Wars which he has described as a ‘great text’. This great text is notorious for its defence and espousal of amongst others Ernst Zundel, the convicted Holocaust denier. He has also been linked with Israel Shamir, another Holocaust denier, who has links to many white supremacist and Nazi groups. Indeed when Eisner’s document was originally posted it was on Shamir’s website, Atzmon described Shamir as a ‘unique and advanced thinker’.

We believe that Atzmon should be shunned by all decent people - just as we would shun David Irving and Nick Griffin. Just because Atzmon is Jewish does not mean that he cannot be either antisemitic or deny the Holocaust.

Bradford TUC voted unanimously to denounce Atzmon and his invitation to perform at the Raise Your Banners event. The TUC has written to the organisers in the hope that they will withdraw the invitation. Paul Meszaros, of Bradford TUC and HOPE not hate Yorkshire, said: "There is no way that Atzmon should play. The evidence against him is overwhelming.

"We are appalled at this decision and believe that this is a serious point of principle. Bradford TUC has long been at the fore of the anti-fascist movement in the area and it is in this tradition that we demand the withdrawl of Atzmon’s invitation."

Mr Angry

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Friday, 18 November 2011, 14:38

Darren Lumb

You would have thought Darren Lumb would be in a happier mood, especially as he has just been promoted to the position of BNP West Yorkshire organiser.

But it appears not. Poor old “Dazza” has been more than a bit grumpy of late.

We’ve just had a less than friendly blog response from Lumb, using the same email address that is used on his own blog. It seems he is less than happy with our article “Griffin's Dog Day Afternoon” (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/article/1483/griffins-dog-day-afternoon).

That article tells the tale of the “Combined ex-Forces” (CXF), a strange EDL off-shoot whose leader Michael Rafferty brags of having guns and snipers that they are willing to use against police officers. The story goes on to explain how Rafferty and his tin soldiers happily swelled the ranks at the recent BNP campsite/vigil held close to The Royal Albert Hall.

Lumb also camped out that day and was no doubt happy to see the bigger boys with their pretend military uniforms and shiny boots. We’ve included a photo of Darren trying to look menacing.

We would have thought that as Mr Lumb now holds such as important position within the BNP that his correspondence would have been a little more, polite?

To Hope not Hate

From Darren Lumb

“Listen you false pieces of shit, if you want to have a go anytime any place then so be it. but don't ever ever ever ever ever bring shame on our brave heroes, If you want to fight for the ''good cause'' then we will be happy to bring the fight to you, I’m sick and tired of your lies and propaganda, either come to the battleground or keep it SHUT.”

Lumb doesn’t just direct his bile at us. Prime Minister, David Cameron has also been a victim of his bile. This was left earlier today on David Cameron’s Facebook page.

“Oh cunt Im going to rip your fucking head off when I see you.. The one thing I don't like is traitors and Jews. Get ready wanker Im going to rip your arms and legs off..”

Recently we wrote how unemployed Lumb was convicted of using racially aggravated threatening or insulting words and behaviour after he called a petrol station worker “a black bastard” (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1946/bnp-organiser-convicted-for-racist-tirade) He also has previous convictions for assault and disorder.

Perhaps Darren has too much time on his hands? It’s possible that if Lumb got himself a job and stopped hanging around with pretend soldiers and washed up politicians his childish messages might come to an end.

Still, we’ll continue to judge Mr Griffin by the ongoing company he keeps.

Lumb's threat to David Cameron

Christmas blues come early

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Thursday, 17 November 2011, 20:55

It would seem that not just BNP party central is running out of funds. Having been bled dry by head office, a number of their local branches are pleading extreme poverty too. Some are just suffering from a total lack of interest..

Spare a thought for the North East region. There may be some snow up there this Christmas time, but not a lot of cheer to go with it. Having previously been the most infamous of all BNP branches (just nudging out Barking and Dagenham) for festive boozing and brawling, some idiot has forgotten to book this year's collective Yuletide yawn. And the natives are not happy..

Martin Vaughan normally organises the party for the North East but this year he has not bothered, due to "lack of interest". Some of us find that hard to believe. What with the Walker brothers being a constant source of local entertainment, I was certain that almost every local journalist and housewife would be positively queuing up. Apparently not, even the Regional Organiser already has somewhere else to go. Probably anywhere.

For some, this has spoiled Christmas beyond repair. Natasha Malley and her mum, for one. They might not get out much because according to Natasha's mum "a disco keeps everybodies (sic) interest in the party going". Yes it does, just by adding alcohol there is often a national newspaper interest in the region's shenanigans.

Don't even mention Christmas to Yorkshire BNP. What they need is an ideas man or woman with some urgency. Serial super-brain Danny Cooke has just launched an on-line appeal for postage stamps. He needs £38 worth of stamps so that he can post out an appeal for funds. Did he never hear the song that goes "There's a hole in the bucket"?

Still, any BNP members who do have a spare bit of cash floating around at the moment may want to pick themselves up a bit of political history. A certain motor car that was once the property of an MEP is up for grabs at a very reasonable price. That's right, Griffin's repossessed Skoda goes under the hammer on the 8th December. One very careless previous owner..

As is the case with almost every BNP humiliation, there often follows a rank hypocrisy. Pete Molloy of the BNP had himself photographed outside the sitting MP's office in Spennymoor, County Durham today. Little Pete was handing in a petition demanding 'Local jobs for local people'. Molloy, who has moved to the area from Liverpool is the prospective BNP candidate for the Tudhoe ward in Spennymoor, presumably at the expense of people who were born and bred there.

But never mind 'Local jobs for local people', how about the BNP actually paying the thousands of pounds it owes to British businesses? Let's not forget with Christmas approaching, that there are people on the dole because of how much money the BNP still has not paid their employers.

Molloy: Dresses himself, obviously

Walker: How many can you drink and still drive?

Griffin: Dreaming of a white Christmas?

Less pocket money for Griffin?

posted by: Simon Cressy | on: Thursday, 17 November 2011, 17:06

Griffin: Will be getting less cake next time

Membership renewal time approaches for what is left of the dwindling BNP's membership. Most members are well aware of this already. They've been reminded by constant begging letters, phone calls and reminders from the party from almost the first day they joined.

Money and numbers remain the key to control of the party and if you cannot (yet) get the numbers to take full control, then the next best way to hurt your rival is to dent their finances.

BNP finances have never been too great so in a manoeuvre designed to both humiliate and decapitate the head of the party Nick Griffin, his leadership rival Andrew Brons has asked his supporters to not renew their memberships for next year.

In an article on the website of the Brons team, they describe Nick Griffin as slipping "Further Into Paranoid Delusion".

This comes in response to allegations made by Griffin that the Brons camp are "police spies" and the removal of a link to the Brons website by the main BNP website.

Surprisingly, the Brons camp writes further that they cannot "afford to spend all the time navel gazing", which is exactly what they have been doing for months and months as the party slipped further into the wilderness and near oblivion.

In a move that could further cripple BNP finances, the Brons camp have now decided that members should stop "pouring their money down a black hole of incompetence", and instead should pay monies into an account "into which voluntary subs in lieu of party membership" will be held in trust until the "Griffin administration is removed".

Given that almost half of the BNP's voting membership is with the Brons camp, this represents another in a series growing potential disasters for Griffin. Previously Brons and his supporters were encouraging people to stay inside of the BNP.

It looks like things are finally picking up.

Griffin's Dog Day Afternoon

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 23:27

BNP and CXF: Simon Darby and Michael Rafferty

Hardly a year goes by when some kind of far-right extremist does not disgrace themselves on Remembrance Day.

For the last few years, the annual solemn and dignified moment of pause for reflection has turned into a circus of poppy burners versus the would-be book burners. Both sides, with their vile and mutual expediency do little more in reality than a brisk dance on the graves and memories of the dead in a vain bid to show their own dwindling constituents that their seemingly unquenchable thirst for attention continues even in the face of all human decency.

The BNP has long soiled the day by turning up in their suits to rub shoulders with civil society at ceremonies across the country, pretending but fooling nobody, that they are somehow the inheritors of something other than the actual mantle of hatred, self-denial and genocide which brings many people to remember the fallen. It is in the celebration of that Nazism and a celebration of genocide that the BNP was in truth formed.

This year, in a race to the bottom to rub shoulders with the imbecilic poppy-burning Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), Nick Griffin’s BNP tried to steal a leap on their moronic rivals in the English Defence League by camping out overnight in London to “protect the poppy” from the MAC. They did this knowing that no member of the rival EDL could be awake all night and not be in either a prison cell or a pub.

The EDL, short on publicity for a few hours since the “Little & Large” show of Kevin and Tommy on a roof in Zurich a couple of days before, appointed themselves instead of saviours of the poppy, as the saviours of the city of London instead. They made threats and very real plans to attack the “Occupy” camp outside of St Pauls Cathedral on Remembrance Day. Over 170 of the drunken idiots made an attempt to execute that plan too.

Across town, not only was Nick Griffin rubbing shoulders with failed drug smugglers as the BNP served up bacon sandwiches (what possibly else could they offer?) to disinterested passers by, his party also played host to self-styled paramilitaries, people smugglers and mercenaries.

The “Combined ex-Forces” (CXF), are a bizarre EDL off-shoot of rag tag far-right extremists whose leader Michael Rafferty brags of having guns and snipers that they are willing to use against police officers. Rafferty even issued an internet warning that they were “comming to London” (sic), with their “riot trained officers” for some kind of clash. Perhaps the police did not take the threat from Rafferty to the Prime Minister seriously, because Rafferty could not even spell David Cameron’s name correctly, writing “Mr Camoron (sic) ... trust me cunt i (sic) am comming (sic) for you..” The group were later swooped upon by police and searched for weapons.

Griffin will no doubt say that he and his BNP were unaware of who exactly the CXF are. It’s common when his party is faced by drug dealers, paedophiles, rapists and terrorists in their midst to deny all knowledge and responsibility. Well Mr Griffin, what do you do when a group of men in (illegal) paramilitary uniforms with pictures of guns emblazoned on their backs turn up at your desperately flailing demonstration? You give them a bacon sandwich, obviously.

No wonder Simon Darby was harassing the students from UCLU with their cameras.

When you lie down with dogs, you will always get up with fleas. Threats to kill a Prime Minister are always taken seriously.

Griffin greets the CXF

Adam Walker chats to the CXF

Convicted people smuggler: Alan Cleverley on the BNP demonstration

BNP and CXF: Clear enough, Mr Griffin?

Intent: Not all politicians are obviously at risk.

The EDL's English problem

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 12:43

The EDL: Last night's brains trust meeting in Wallsend

There's obviously been an early start on the alco pops over at the EDL bunker today.

Shortly after dawn up went one of those infamous diary entries that throws up more of those conundrums for the group's elite thinking unit to work on. And if they can't do that, perhaps they'll have to delete it before Herr Yaxley-Lennon sees it.

"In the last 66 years we as a nation, as a race have had our national identity stolen from us by politicians who have forced us to accept multiculturalism", wrote whichever Womble was first up (or perhaps late to bed?)

Obviously, someone also had a fair go at stealing English spelling and grammar while this alleged invasion was going on. But it does bring me nicely to the ongoing but rather quiet of late, debate about Englishness. Who or what are the English, and as Billy Bragg points out, why don't they even have a national anthem?

I was at Wembley last night and they quite clearly played the Swedish national anthem before the generic song that none of the England footballers seem to know the words to, was played.

In essence, the EDL are complaining that there are too many "Johnny Foreigners" in Blighty or "cultural genocide" as they prefer to call immigration. And it is England and not Britain they're talking about. For some time now the EDL has been the self appointed judge of all or what is English. It's developed from initially being anything not Muslim, or perhaps degenerated, to anything apparently not white, racist, vulgar, drunk and capable of acts of violence at the drop of plastic pint pot. "You're not English anymore" is one particular favourite chant of theirs, normally aimed at people working, integrating, shopping and generally going about their civil, decent, every day lives.

For those of us who would happily and proudly describe themselves as English, it is the EDL that represent a greater "cultural genocide" than any of the so-called "cultures or ways of life imposed on us by legislative, administrative or other measures".

The reason for this? Well, one does tend to see more foreign Nazi salutes at an EDL demo than one sees examples of our national dance for instance.

And further to that, I would also like to query the time frame that the EDL puts on this "genocide". For a "non-racist" organisation it looks remarkably like one that pinpoints this genocide as beginning about a week after the Second World War ended and Britain, on her knees, gratefully welcomed people to her shores to help rebuild the great country, the great country that many of those arrivals had served with pride and distinction in the defeat of Nazism.

So, of course it is racism and the EDL do not even deny it or hide it either. It is the colour of people's skin and not a comment about current immigration and migration trends. Fewer and fewer of their former black or Asian collaborators are paraded around on the shrinking EDL demonstrations any more. They left or were hounded out of the organisation as the EDL's demonstrations became smaller and smaller and more pointless and directionless.

Any fool who believes the EDL's early (or even recent) claims that they were not racist may struggle to find any way around this latest all enlightening proclamation that the EDL is anything else other than a self defining, racist and reactionary gang.

Interestingly, the EDL writer puts the blame for England's supposed demise at the feet of the "British elite", which is probably a dig at the Scottish and Welsh, those devious "Brits" with their ideas about self governance and independence. They're not blaming the banks, bankers and globalisation. Not even the fall of the Berlin wall and the eventual shrinking of England's manufacturing base and the growing waste of the English seed, indeed the "bulldog breed". The EDL attacks instead, anything progressive or intelligent. When is the last time they did anything to stop a hospital closure or even a library being closed? There's not even a small whimper in defence of Blake's Jerusalem. They're more likely to burn copies of Shakespeare's Othello than save it.

In England's defence, she never needed or wanted the EDL. Poor old "pernicious Albion" was lumped with them. And all the EDL know about England and Englishness is some rather rudimentary geography and a crude grasp of history.

But a "race"? We've never been a race, ever. Changing the rules the way the EDL does may allow them to steal Monty, Kitchener, William Joyce and a few others. But what does it deny us? A look around Wembley at England's finest footballers and indeed footballing future the last two home games should make clear to them what folly this is. Or perhaps a trip to the Doctor's by riding a bus or train or by taking a taxi (if they can avoid assaulting someone).

We've had these arguments about Britain with the BNP and the NF for over forty years, and we have defeated them. But funnily enough, I actually welcome the EDL's proclamation this morning. It's racist and stupid. So was their proclamation. We English have never been a race, never will be a race, not scientifically the way the EDL think we are. My father came to this country in the 1950's and I was born here as were my brothers and their children.

Englishness is about being from a country not hating another country. We have more than one national dish because we are an old country, a new country and a cultured country. So are our neighbours and we do not have to hate them.

EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon claims a lot of pride in his Irish heritage, when it suits him. I do not deny him either his Irishness nor do I or would I deny him his Englishness. But it seems this morning that his depleted army of Stormtroopers would seek to do just that.

And while the EDL are doing all this, their former friends in the Scottish Defence League are once more planning on invading the English town of Berwick, a town that they claim belongs to Scotland.

To quote another Bard, "what do they know of England/if only England knows".

A rose by another name?

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 10:23

Hatred: It has not gone away, Theresa May.

Apologies to Shakespeare but this is most definitely not a rose. A week after the Home Secretary banned the organisation Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), it appears the group has magically reappeared with a new name.

Not being a gambling man, I will not even bother kicking myself about the missed bet I could have had. I'm sure we were all certain that this was an inevitability.

A new group "IZAR UD DEEN-IL-HAQ" has appeared as the exact mirror of MAC, resplendent with links to videos of some of Fleet Street's most favourite hate preachers.

Theresa May's banning order last Thursday may have left the MAC's twin organisations the BNP and EDL twiddling their thumbs (and rubbing shoulders with drug dealers) with no poppies now being set alight, but the ban has made absolutely no difference in stopping the extremism of either the MAC or the EDL.

The MAC claimed after the banning order that this was actually some kind of victory for them. It probably stopped Anjem Choudary facing a hundred or so beer-swilling Nazi thugs and causing further damage to community relations, but he also got to miss out on his most treasured front page horror stories.

That the MAC can simply go off and re-form must be music to the ears of Stephen Yaxley Lennon, the leader of the EDL. Having called an early end to a rather difficult and disappointing year, Lennon has been holding hurried discussions about the rebranding of his own group. Perhaps his wasted and expensive couple of hours on a roof top in Zurich will be his last stand, even?

Nick Griffin and the Drug Smuggler

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 20:22

Nick Griffin with Arthur Disbury

Now this is an interesting photograph.

This was taken at the BNP’s “Protect the Poppy “vigil held close to the Royal Albert Hall last Friday.

In what was nothing more than a shameless publicity stunt, Griffin along with around 30 BNP members pitched some tatty tents on the pavement overnight and decided they were going to “protect” the same area where Islamic extremists from the "Muslims against Crusades" organisation had planned to burn oversize poppies, repeating the same offensive display from the previous year.

As it turned out, the BNP’s “show of force” wasn’t needed as The Home Secretary Theresa May announced 24 hours before that "Muslims against Crusades" was to become a banned organisation by midnight last Friday, preventing the Islamists from repeating the stunt.

However Griffin and his floundering political party thought it a good idea to camp out anyway despite the fact that they were mostly ignored by the passing public.

One person who paid them more attention however was Arthur Disbury.

Disbury from Devon who is also known as Tony Davis is a well known EDL activist who regularly uploads vile racist videos to the Youtube website along with equally offensive diatribes to Twitter using the moniker “Dizzy99”

He is also a convicted drug smuggler!

Disbury was part of a team who conspired to smuggle heroin and cannabis resin into Channings Wood prison near Newton Abbot in 2002.

Inmates of the prison along with former inmates and a prisoner’s girlfriend plotted to smuggle the drugs into the prison by throwing packages of drugs over the prison’s perimeter fence. It was Disbury’s job, who was an inmate working in the prison gardens at the time, to locate the packages and smuggle them into the prison itself.

Unknown to Disbury and the plotters was the fact that their telephone calls were being monitored by the prison authorities who suspected correctly that a drug smuggling operation was about to take place.

A package of cannabis was thrown over the fence, but Disbury was unable to locate it due to the fact it had been thrown over into the wrong place, however a prison drugs dog did.

At Exeter Crown Court Judge Graham Cottle directed the jury to find Arthur Disbury not guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin to serving prisoners but was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cannabis and was given a four year custodial sentence.

The ring leader of the plot, Mark Ruggier, a former inmate was jailed for eight years with his other co conspirators all receiving length sentences.

Disbury was told by Judge Cottle “Anyone convicted of conspiracy to smuggle drugs is in a serious position and smuggling drugs into a prison makes it even more serious.”

These photos will no doubt leave a nasty taste in the mouths of two “political” leaders, EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon who tries and fails to dismiss links between the EDL and the BNP and Nick Griffin for allowing himself to be photographed with a convicted drug smuggler.

Disbury: A regular on EDL demo's

A fascist at heart

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 14:46

I was looking for an old HOPE not hate video on YouTube last night and I came across this short clip from The Cook Report documentary into Nick Griffin, made in 1997. Have a look and tell me that Nick Griffin is not a fascist at heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X8QQwU00Jk&feature=related

The hypocrite

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Wednesday, 9 November 2011, 17:33

EDL leaders Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll have climbed up on the roof of the FIFA building in protest at the decision to ban the England football team from wearing a poppy on their shirts during Saturday's match against Spain.

They are presenting themselves as defenders of the Poppy.

This is more than a little hypocritical given that Stephen Lennon is a convicted football hooligan and banned from every football ground in the country. In July, Lennon was convicted in July of leading a street brawl with 100 football fans and given a three-year banning order. More recently he has been convicted of headbutting a former soldier at an EDL demonstration.

It is important that neither the symbol of the poppy nor the three lions of England are appropriated by extremists.

A bad workman always blames his tools

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 8 November 2011, 08:47

Another bad day at the office for Nick Griffin

BNP leader Nick Griffin finally broke his silence over his latest court defeat by blaming his solicitor. “We will be suing the solicitors who made such a mess of a cut and dried case against the UAF-linked list leakers,” he told his followers on twitter. “Shame on those trying capital from the fact that we had to take action to protect the privacy of our members.”

A bad workman always blames his tools it seems. Unfortunately, the judge saw things slightly differently. “You’ve done very well,” he told Griffin and Darby’s barrister. “I’m unimpressed, I’m afraid. It’s not your fault. None of the arguments are substantial enough to a realistic prospect of success.” With that he dismissed their application for appeal.

It seems that Nick Griffin and Simon Darby could be personally liable for the £100,000+ legal bill they will have to pay, not even counting their own legal fees. Not to worry, there’s still the case against Michaela MacKenzie going on in Bristol, which Griffin has already lost once in court, and we are awaiting the outcome of the Employment Tribunal that took place in Belfast last week. That means there will be plenty more solicitors to blame as the bailiffs come knocking at the door.

Update.

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 7 November 2011, 13:04

Further details are now reaching us regarding the outcome of the "Decembrist" case against Nick Griffin and the BNP.

This morning in the Royal Courts of Justice,Lord Justice Ward dismissed Nick Griffin and Simon Darby's application for leave to appeal in the Decembrist case.

The £45,000 that had previously been paid into the Court Funds Office is today being paid out to the solicitors for the "Decembrists"

Costs totalled around £111,000 when they were calculated back in December 2010.

In addition to any further costs incurred this year, Griffin and Darby will have to pay 8% interest.

Lord Justice Ward told Griffin & Darby's barrister "You've done very well. I'm unimpressed, I'm afraid. It's not your fault. None of the arguments are substantial enough to give a realistic prospect of success. I see no realistic prospect of success and I dismiss the application."

Breaking news: Griffin loses latest court case

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 7 November 2011, 12:37

I've just heard that a court in London has just found against Nick Griffin and the BNP. We believe that he now has to find another £90,000 to pay off the 'Decembrists' - a group of former members and party employees who challenged his leadership and were subsequently sacked and expelled. They were sacked in February 2008 and the case came to court in December 2010.

This could turn out to be a very expensive day for Nick Griffin. The party is also appearing in a Bristol court for the latest saga in the on-going Employment Tribunal hearing relating to Michaela MacKenzie, another former party employee who was sacked after falling out with the party leadership. She successfully won an Employment Tribunal in June 2010 but Griffin has refused to pay the £25,000 she is believed to have been awarded in the settlement.

Adding insult to injury

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 7 November 2011, 09:55

The news that Christopher Alder’s body has turned up in a morgue ten years after his family thought he had been buried has just added insult to their long-suffering injury.

Christopher Alder, a former British paratrooper who saw service in the Falklands, died after being restrained by police officers in a police detention area Hull in 1998. Alder, then 37, died after being choked to death by police officers after being arrested following a brawl.

Video footage showed a beaten and tied-up Alder lying prostrate on the floor as officers chatted amongst themselves for over 10 minutes. Four police officers were later acquitted of manslaughter but an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) concluded that the four police officers were guilty of the "most serious neglect of duty" over the death and that they were guilty of "unwitting racism".

The family ran a long campaign for justice and this latest revelation has hit them hard. "I'm just in total shock, I really cannot believe that after all we've been through, after all the family's been through ... there can be so much incompetence,” his sister Janet Alder told the BBC.

"It just feels like contempt. It feels like adding insult to injury when you're trying to move on with your life."

Poppy cock-up

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Saturday, 5 November 2011, 07:48

In a desperate bid to garner some media attention and wrestle the political initiative back from the English Defence League, the British National Party has launched a campaign to 'Protect the Poppy'.

This follows the burning of poppies by the Muslim Against Crusades group on Remembrance Sunday last year.

The MAC is planning a repeat of this offensive action this year, at a demonstration called 'Hell for Heroes' outside the Royal Albert Hall on Remembrance Day. The BNP is planning a counter-protest and no doubt the EDL will appear as well, though they have been caught by surprise by the BNP protest.

Unfortunately for the BNP their campaign has not got off to a good start. It appears that they began publicising the campaign website without actually securing the domain name and this has been snapped up Paula Wood, a supporter of Andrew Brons and his BNPideas group.

Cyril Paskin

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Friday, 4 November 2011, 18:04

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death, on 1 November, of Cyril Paskin, one of the most committed and courageous anti-fascists of the post-war period. Cyril was a co-founder – and became the field commander – of the 1962 Committee (or ‘62 Group’ as it became known) that successfully beat back the attempted fascist revival of the 1960s. His bravery contributed to the diverse society that we strive to promote and protect today.

Cyril was a key ally of Searchlight from the outset and remained a passionate supporter of our work. We are honoured to have known him and our thoughts are with his wife and family.

Cyril's enormous contribution is further described in his obituary here:

http://blog.thecst.org.uk/?p=3165&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cyril-paskin-zl

Building international co-operation

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Friday, 4 November 2011, 07:00

I've just returned from a few days in Sweden with our colleagues at EXPO, where we discussed the current trends on the political right, the HOPE not hate campaign and future joint initiatives.

EXPO is Sweden's leading anti-fascist and anti-hate organisation. It was set up by Stieg Larsson, the late author of the Millenium triology, in 1995 with the aim of studying and mapping anti-democratic, right-wing extremist and racist tendencies in society. It produces a magazine with the same name and has a large and expanding educational department which gives about 400 lectures a year to schools, trade unions and other civic organisations.

I was joined over there by our international organiser, Graeme Atkinson, who played a big role in helping establish EXPO, and bringing them into the international anti-fascist network, 16 years ago. It was a really worthwhile trip and I think EXPO and the HOPE not hate campaign will be working much closer together in the future. The Breivik massacre in Norway and the growing international anti-Muslim sentiment was just one of the areas which highlighted the need for greater international co-operation.

As always, we have much to learn from each other. The EXPO magazine is clearly the most professional anti-fascist magazine in Europe while they were very keen to hear about the success of the HOPE not hate campaign in mobilising civil society against the politics of hate.

You can learn more about EXPO here: http://expo.se/index.html

All hail say-nothing Simon

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Thursday, 3 November 2011, 23:40

Former BNP Deputy Fuhrer and also former treasurer Simon Darby, spends most of his time whining on his blog these days about what a hard time the BNP has. The Marxist BBC, the terrible Trots, the tyrannical Tories, Muslims, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

He is nothing if not ingenious however. After the rather public shellacking the BNP took at the hands of the BBC's investigation into his party's sordid financial affairs last month, he must have been about the only person in the country who thought that the best way to respond to the Beeb was for people to throw more money at the BNP.

Perhaps Simon is the BNP's ideas man as well as its monotone spokesperson? "I need a little help from a couple of volunteers to test a new lottery syndicate system I am setting up" he boldly stated today.

"With the name "Half to the Party" this syndicate needs little explanation as to what it is setting out to achieve" he continued. Only half? Bloody hell, I know current treasurer Clive Jefferson allegedly charges £200 when he is inconvenienced (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1989/i-was-sacked-by-bnp-after-dispute-with-nick-g) so what will happen to the other half?

Well, it's not going to go to the many, many people that are facing Christmas on the dole because the great British National Party didn't pay their British employers for services, is it? Nooooooo. They're almost totally forgotten about. In fact "collective amnesia" is one way to describe how the BNP deals with news about the BNP.

There's been not a word from the BNP about the recent shenanigans at the Northern Ireland employment tribunal, and rightly so. Something so dark, so rotten on such a public display just would not do.

No word from the BNP either on the case of its "European Researcher" Mark Walker, and his own tribunal result (here: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1990/bnp-activist-banned-from-teaching-after-sendi ). Not a word. Nothing, nowt, nada. Not even from Simon Darby, the BNP's very own "naturist". He constantly warbles on and on about wildlife in his back garden, but in this case he couldn't even raise a Dicky bird.

Instead, still on the theme of his "half for the party" lottery idea, Simon is making some of those enormous plans that probably got the BNP into strife in the first place. " If we have a touch on the HFTP syndicate maybe I can book a suite at the Dorchester" he writes. So it's going to be a case of winter in a palace for Simon (if he can get a "touch" from the party lottery) and potentially a winter in a blanket for those who took a gamble on doing business with the BNP. Many of those poor creditors will probably feel they've played a losing game of Russian Roulette with the BNP.

Elsewhere on Simon's dynamic daily diatribe, he lauds the great English diet, one of his favourite topics. Hardly a day goes by that Simon doesn't offer us the opportunity to inspect his low budget palate. And surprise, surprise, his goods often come from Tescos. (What is it with the BNP and Tescos? http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1994/bnp-member-denies-he-helped-hold-woman-in-com )

Simon then goes on to commend his favourite foods to the world, in particular those who are "lagging behind us English". However, I do detect a bottle of Australian red among Simon's recommendations. But that's not where his geographical or perhaps Imperialist confusion ends. In particular, he recommends his "English diet" to "Scots, Welsh, Ulstermen and Irish".

Whether it's his ignorance of geography and history I have no idea. Perhaps it is just more of that BNP arrogance. Right across the nine counties of Ulster, the overwhelming majority of "Ulstermen" (and women) are already Irish.

And while we're at it, if anyone wants to let us know what happned to that car that the BNP "rafflling off" you can put your answers on a postcard..

Simon Darby: He makes people want to salute him

Lunch time

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 14:09

Mark Walker: No questions today

Time for a pint of the black stuff for those of us not struggling with giving evidence to the tribunal.

Surprisingly, after being in Belfast for at least two days, Mark Walker was a no-show today, the hearing's last day. The BNP describe Mark as having suffered a "bereavement".

I woke up this morning to discover that Mark has also had some other bad news. The General Teaching Council has just banned him from teaching after Walker used "school computers to send a vulnerable 16-year-old former pupil a sexually explicit message". I'm not really sure that Mark's absence is going to spare the BNP that headline in Belfast either.

Clive "Rodney" Jefferson and Patrick Harrington were up this morning. I'm sure we must all be wondering how much this case has cost the BNP, a party crippled with debts. They have sent seven people to Belfast to fight this case.

Still, it's kept all of us here in Belfast amused and is most certainly a timely reminder of the dangers that could face non-unionised workers.

The case finishes today (hopefully), and we should be getting a judgement in some six weeks.

Belfast update

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 10:33

Belfast: fascists not welcome here

A great turn out by the people of Belfast this morning to give the BNP the message that they are not welcome here.

Tempted as the BNP were, there was no repeat of yesterday's behaviour as some 50 members of the trade union movement braved the wind with some spectacular banners and fantastic humour.

The hearing is just about to start. Should be interesting as today we have Mark Walker, Clive Jefferson and Mish Harrington giving evidence. Three people not noted for coolness under pressure.

There'll be no £200 for Clive's alleged inconvenience today however.

Day three

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 09:11

Belfast: fascists not welcome

After yesterday's contretemps outside of Killymead house, Irish trade unionists and antifascists are here again to give a warm Belfast welcome to the BNP.

Nice to see the International Brigades flag given pride of place again.

Day 2: A summary.

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 17:27

Patrick Harrington (front)

As day two at the employment tribunal draws to an end, I'll try and give a very brief summary of today's proceedings before something a little longer later..

As earlier reported, Mrs and Mrs Patrick Harrington turned up at the hearing in what can only be described as a foul mood. I can only guess that they were a little perturbed to see the front page of the Belfast Telegraph this morning.

First up to give evidence was Angus Matthys, son in law of Nick Griffin and married to Griffin's eldest daughter Jennifer.

Angus sounds like he struggled to get dressed on his own, never mind give evidence in a complicated employment tribunal. To say he struggled would perhaps be an understatement. How he keeps his job must be a mystery to even himself.

Matthys claimed his wife refused to attend the tribunal as she felt intimidated due to the fact the couple had been run off the road in Cumbria and blackmailed. The intimation is of course that this is the work of alleged Northern Irish "Loyalists".

Next up was the rather odd Ian Kitchen. The former Yorkshire organiser who had to stand down after we revealed his wife Linda was a "Granny Porn" star cut an angry witness before the tribunal panel, reacting rather badly under cross examination when he was labelled a liar.

Adam Walker was next to give evidence. Walker seemed to struggle with filling in the gaping holes in the BNP's story.

One question everyone seems to be asking is where is James Dowson?

Dowson, the one time consigliere to Nick Griffin would lend weight to his sister in law Marion Thomas's case against the BNP.

Has Dowson and Griffin agreed before the tribunal not to have a "face off" ?

The case should conclude tomorrow.

Support needed for tomorrow

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 15:53

Trade Unionists today at the tribunal.

Support the Irish Trade Unions tomorrow 08:30am @ Killymead House (Gasworks), and let the BNP know they are not welcome in Belfast.

Tomorrow is the final day of the employment tribunal being held in the city.

Angus takes the stand.

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 12:17

Angus Matthys

Angus Matthys, son in law to BNP leader Nick Griffin and husband of the missing Jennifer is giving evidence at the employment tribunal.

He appears to be struggling.

You may recall the allegation by Marion Thomas that Jenny Matthys allegedly "borrowed" £900 of BNP money because Angus made a mistake with the post.

He seems to be struggling with remembering much more than his name.

For some reason the BNP seem intent on telling the lie that Nick Griffin is not in the UK.

Harrington arrives in a huff.

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 09:14

Harrington Snaps

Patrick Harrington, the BNP's legal advisor has just arrived at the tribunal and it seems he hasn't woken in a good mood this morning.

He was greeted by a welcoming commitee of Irish trade unionists protesting outside the hearing, much to his disliking.

Reacting badly to one protester flying an International Brigades flag Harrington snapped and told him that "The International Brigades was just a bunch of dead old men who lost a war"

His wife Mish "Bondage" Harrington launched a physical attack at several people outside the tribunal including Matthew Collins.

Tribunal officials have been notified about the attack and the police have been called.

Fun and games today.

Protesters outside the courtroom.

Day 2

posted by: Matthew Collins | on: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 08:42

Adam Walker:He's just realised it's day 2

The Belfast newspapers have quite a bit on the case of former BNP administrator Marian Thomas and her case against the BNP.

This morning Patrick Harrington for the BNP will continue his cross examination of Thomas. I'm more intrigued by whether her minder will persist with a pink shirt and black gloves.

The tribunal may even watch the Panorama programme about the BNP's shocking finances in which Thomas had quite a starring role. At some stage today we will get to hear from Adam Walker, Ian Kitchen, Clive 'Rodney' Jefferson and Mark Walker. For legal reasons I cannot this early in the day make any further comment about that magnificent quartet of political heavyweights. Although yesterday Mark Walker did comment that I'd lost weight. (What a liar!)

Then we may also get to hear from Mrs Harrington, Patrick's American wife. Some of you may know her better by her stage name "Mish Bondage". I kid ye not!