Far-right round up

Weston: I’ll miss your shenanigans

And so we bid adieu to Paul Weston who brought so much light, in such a short time, to so few.

Weston is standing down from his role as “Chairman” of the British Freedom Party (BFP) to concentrate on writing a book instead. Indeed, in his own words, this magnificent book will be a “literary contribution to the battle against Britain’s national trajectory.”

I for one wish Paul all the very best. I have enjoyed covering his short political career. Weston promised only last April that the BFP was going to fight every European and Westminster seat-and win them. He wasn’t sure how many seats that would mean or where the money or candidates would actually come from, but that really did not seem to matter. All that Paul (thought he) knew was that the tie-up with the EDL was going to be the best and most earth-shattering thing to happen to this nation since Channel Five got the rights to show Big Brother.

That he was also unsure as to whether people were elected to the House Of Lords was only a minor detail. It was his energy and his capacity for mass confusion that endeared him to us. That and his ability to get bladdered in foreign countries and then apparently dream that he had been mugged.

If Weston has given up on his political dream, no-one should doubt the determination of his replacement, Kevin Carroll. Carroll has really got the political bug, as was evident in his Christmas rant to his and cousin Stephen’s dwindling supporters in the EDL. Having seen the unedited version, I think the actual total number of times he uses the word “mug” to describe former friends and colleagues is about 17. I went for a cup of tea half way through and when I got back with my own (white) mug he was bragging about how the EDL had grown massively in 2012, and their supporter-base was approximately on a par with the population of China.

News that Carroll has taken over as the BFP’s new Chairman has already been met with guffaws from the BNP, where he is not-so-lovingly referred to as “Vicky Pollard”. Sometime later his month Carroll will probably try and merge the BFP/EDL with a pub chain.

By the way, the last EDL-backed candidate to stand for “law and order” is currently unavailable for comment.

While we’re about it, we’ve had a missive from the EDL’s Diane Scrimshaw, who complains that she was unaware that she and her husband were on the NF’s march to the cenotaph last November! According to Diane, she and her husband missed the morning’s real events (where soldiers and heads of state commemorate Britain’s war dead,) so she and her husband decided to join a march that actually, among other things, commemorates the Nazi war dead instead.

Scrimshaw says she was unaware that it was an NF march. I’ll highlight once again the link to the report we did of the day’s events and wonder aloud how she was not aware that she was on the NF’s national day of disgrace.

But not to worry, Diane. You are not alone in missing the obvious. According to the Manchester Evening News,the EDL are planning a “huge demo” in Manchester in March. According to the paper, “Manchester is braced for another mass demonstration by the far-right English Defence League.

The group has announced it plans a huge rally in the city centre from 1pm on March 2. Already more than 500 people have vowed to attend the march.”

Perhaps the Manchester Evening News failed to see the thousands who promised to turn up outside Wandsworth Prison and got excited. To add to the confusion, the organisers of the Manchester demonstration are telling everyone that it is not actually an EDL demo anymore, but instead it is a “Northern Alliance” demonstration. Either way, poor form by the paper to be honest.

Carroll: Yeah but no, but. I am the leader.