The day Nick Griffin 'became a victim of race hate' By James Tozer
2nd November 2009
British National Party leader Nick Griffin feared he could be shot after an Asian heckler racially abused him and made a gun gesture with his hand, he told a court. The far right party's MEP was protesting over the arrest of sympathisers who had distributed leaflets linking Muslim gangs to the heroin trade when Tauriq Khalid shouted abuse from a passing car, it was claimed yesterday.
Mr Griffin, who last month controversially appeared on the BBC's Question Time show, took the alleged threat so seriously that he left the demonstration and hid in a car. But he admitted he hadn't heard the heckler threaten to shoot him and had made the assumption from the gesture.
Khalid, 23, went on trial yesterday accused of racially abusive and threatening behaviour towards the politician, who was this year elected a Euro-MP for North West England. Giving evidence, Mr Griffin said he had been giving television interviews outside Burnley Police Station in November last year when passers-by began hurling abuse. He said: 'Some time after that another car came past and I was not so pre-occupied. The driver stopped, he was going from right to left, he had his window open and he shouted out, I thought, "White bastards", and drove off.'
Moments later, the man drove back the other way, Mr Griffin said. 'He stopped the car, he had his window down this time, and he was leaning out of the window and pointed at me in a gang gun gesture. He shouted out, "Griffin, you bastard. I am going to..." but I didn't at the time catch it. But I took it as to "kill" or "shoot you" as it was the same time as the hand gesture.'
Mr Griffin told Preston Crown Court that his security team advised him to leave the demonstration in case 'he came back to shoot me', and he sat in a car for 30 minutes. He returned to the protest and was told a supporter had jotted down the registration plate. Mr Griffin then made a complaint to police.
Ian Metcalfe, prosecuting, said that during the demonstration, 'Mr Griffin received some signals of support from members of the public and also signals of reproach from others. The prosecution say the defendant went further and indeed broke the law.' Mark Stewart, defending, said Khalid admitted shouting abuse but claimed that because Mr Griffin was being interviewed, he was not concentrating fully and misheard what was said. Mr Stewart said that while his client was 'not proud' of his behaviour, he had shouted 'fucking wanker and flashed Mr Griffin the V- sign. Mr Griffin denied this, saying: 'I don't think "Nick Griffin, you fcuking wanker" can be misheard as "white bastards".'
He added: 'There is a difference between a V- sign gesture and a gun gesture. It is a threat. I am quite used to having people flicking the Vs at me, it doesn't bother me. But there is a difference between that and a threat like this. It is a direct threat.'
Khalid, from Burnley, denied making threats to kill or abusive taunts. He told police that he may have flicked Mr Griffin the V-sign and shouted 'Get out of Burnley'. The trial continues.
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It's good to know that legally there's no problem calling Griffin a 'fucking wanker'. The thought of him hiding in his car all paranoid is worth a wee fine though! haha
BNP set to sign first non-white member (he's an anti-Islamic Sikh who once gave a character reference for Nick Griffin)
An elderly Sikh who blames Muslims for the death of his father is set to become the British National Party's first non-white member.
Rajinder Singh, an anti-Islamic activist who describes the religion as a 'beast', has lent his support to the far-right party for the last decade even though he currently remains barred from joining because of the colour of his skin.
But he will soon be able to sign up as a fully-fledged BNP member after the party last weekend began the process of changing its constitution so its membership rules do not discriminate on the grounds of race or religion.
Controversial: Rajinder Singh, who once appeared on the BNP's internet TV channel, is set to become the party's first non-white member
Mr Singh once provided a character reference for Nick Griffin during his racial hatred trial. He said he would be 'honoured' to join the party.
However in the video posted at the bottom of this page, Mr Griffin suggests paying Sikhs to return to India.
He said: 'Lots of Sikhs would go home and West London wouldn't be so crowded at rush hour time. Everybody's happy.'
BNP spokesman John Walker said Mr Singh would be the ideal first non-white candidate to join the party.
He said: 'I suggested it myself - if we're going to do this [open up BNP membership to non-whites] then Rajinder Singh would be a good person to sign up.'
'Mr Singh has been supportive of the party for years.
'He's here [in Britain] not to throw his weight around, he's here under our protection.
'He fully accepted our membership criteria. He said "You have the right as a people to defend yourself in a 'manly' fashion."'
Mr Singh was born in Lahore, Pakistan, but fled communal tensions and came to Britain in 1967.
The former teacher from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, is openly anti-Muslim after his father was killed during the Partition of India in 1947.
He has believed for the last decade that the BNP can be persuaded to accept Sikhs as British.
'I am a retired teacher, living a quiet life,' he told The Independent. 'I got in touch with the BNP on certain core policies that appeal to me.
'I also admire them since they are on their own patch and do not wish to let anyone else oust them from the land of their ancestors.'
"I come from partitioned Punjab that saw a lot of bloodshed in 1947,' he added. 'Anyone escaping that genocide would pray to God, say never again and vote for BNP.'
Mainstream Sikh groups said they were appalled by Mr Singh's involvement with the BNP.
Dr Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, said: 'Sikhism stresses equality for all human beings.
'Therefore Sikhs who are true to their faith, will having nothing whatsoever to do with any party that favours any one section of the community.'
Martin Wingfield, the BNP's communications and campaigns officer, is already preparing to welcome Mr Singh into the fold.
He wrote to members on the party's website: 'I say adapt and survive and give the brave and loyal Rajinder Singh the honour of becoming the first ethnic minority member of the BNP.'
In December 2001 Mr Singh and another Sikh from Slough who goes under the name of Ammo Singh announced their intention to set up an Asian Friends of the BNP group to act as a supporting body and conduit for funds for people sympathetic to the party's anti-Islamic stance.
The party had little success and was widely condemned by Sikh and Hindu groups.
BNP loses town council by-election - then blame women and Christmas
14th December 2009
By Edmund Tobin
guardian-series.co.uk
CHRISTMAS, the weather, and women, have all been blamed by the British National Party (BNP) for losing them one of their safest seats. In a closely fought by-election battle (for Loughton Town Council's Broadway ward), Katie Nicholson of the Loughton Residents' Association (LRA), won by 23 votes ahead of The BNP’s Edward Long.
BNP district council group leader Cllr Pat Richardson said: “I'm a little bit disappointed but it was very close. There was the weather, it's the run up to Christmas and other matters. There's always apathy. It seems to be the main presence for people these days. They're turned off by the whole business of politics. I think it was partly tactics on the part of the other group. They had a woman in. It seems to make a difference. It' s only one round not the whole thing. I think a lot more people are edging towards us.”
Loughton's LRA town mayor Cllr Ken Angold-Stephens hailed the result as a fantastic success. He said: “It was an excellent result for us. It's the first time we have contested that ward and to come from nothing to win was an incredible achievement. It was the BNP's strongest ward so I think they must be hugely disappointed. Last time there was a big protest vote and people voted BNP because they had no other choice. We have given them that choice.”
The election was called after the resignation due to ill health of the sitting BNP councillor Garry Martin.
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haha, excellent news. It might only be a small election, but it is a solid blow for them to lose what they'd have thought was a safe seat.
BNP changes all-white constitution and ejects Times reporter from meeting Times reporter Dominic Kennedy is evicted from the BNP meeting in Hornchurch
Dominic Kennedy
The British National Party voted today to change its constitution to allow black and Asian people to become members. The decision came at an extraordinary general meeting in Essex that was called after a court ordered the far-right party to comply with race relations laws. A court will decide in March whether the changes bring the BNP within the legislation.
However, the party’s democratic credentials were called into question when a reporter from The Times was bundled out of a press conference shortly before Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, was due to speak. A party official objected to a profile which had appeared in the newspaper at the weekend.
The Times had been invited by Simon Darby, the party's press officer, with other media, to hear Mr Griffin describe the constitutional changes. However Richard Barmbrook, a local councillor and a member of the London Assembly, who was upset by an article about him in The Times on Saturday, said that the newspaper was unwelcome inside the Elm Park pub in Hornchurch, where the meeting took place.
After The Times tried to explain that the newspaper had been officially invited into the building, the BNP's security staff lifted and shoved its reporter out of the building, grabbing his nose. A punch was also thrown by security staff and the reporter was flung at a parked car outside.
Mr Griffin said The Times had lied about the party. He said: “Because he is from The Times, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and it lies and it lies and it lies about this party. So he was told ’we’re sorry, you told one lie too many’, The Times, so we are not allowing anyone from The Times in – kindly leave. He refused to leave when he was asked so he had to be encouraged to leave.”
A BBC reporter asked if he would be removed if he said the wrong thing. Mr Griffin replied: “If you utter some outrageous lie about me... you won’t be welcome again.”
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They're really making massive strides towards civilisation!
‘Racist’ London BNP chief threatened with suspension
Ross Lydall and Jonathan Bernard
26.03.10
The Evening Standard
The BNP's London campaign chief was today facing suspension as a councillor after launching a racist “tirade” against Nigerian church-goers. Bob Bailey, 44, took an “antagonistic and offensive” tone when a black pastor applied for planning permission to convert Barking offices into a church.
A meeting in Barking town hall was in uproar when Mr Bailey said: “We don't want any more Nigerian churches in the borough.” The public gallery was packed with members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. He said he had visited the premises and told the planning committee meeting last July: “These people eat off the ground.” He added: “We don't want the amount of black children.” A rival councillor called him a “racist pig”.
Barking and Dagenham council's standards committee was meeting today to decide whether to suspend the leader of the 12-strong BNP opposition for up to six months. A preliminary report by the council's monitoring officer found that Mr Bailey, a former Royal Marine, had brought the authority into disrepute, failed to treat others with respect and may have breached equality laws.
Mr Bailey, who was said by a doctor last year to have a “possible personality disorder” when he claimed that he was banned from driving because of “conspiracy against the indigenous people”, is responsible for the BNP's London campaign in the general election and borough elections. Barking is the BNP's number one target seat as its national leader Nick Griffin is standing against the sitting Labour MP, Margaret Hodge.
The church, whose 400-strong congregation is predominantly Nigerian, was granted permission to convert offices into a place of worship, despite Mr Bailey voting against. He was said to have breached planning laws by “closing his mind” and being “biased” against the application. He claimed there were already more than 20 Nigerian churches in the borough — the most in London and more than any other denomination.
The council report said: “Mr Bailey made a series of comments expressed in a derogatory tone. The comments were intended to, and did in fact, cause offence on racial grounds.”
Pastor Thomas Aderounmu, 55, of the Redeemed Church, said today the remarks would encourage ethnic minorities to vote against the BNP in May.
He said: “It was just derogatory statements. He was very specific on Nigeria. I don't know what Nigerians have done to him. It was very personal. Their actions will work against them.”
'Palace coup': Mark Collett, seen right with the BNP leader Nick Griffin, has been sacked as the party's PR chief BNP's head of publicity arrested over threats to kill Nick Griffin in 'palace coup'
5th April 2010
The British National Party has confirmed it has sacked its head of publicity after he was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill the party leader Nick Griffin. The far-Right group accused Parliamentary candidate Mark Collett, 29, of trying to launch a 'palace coup' against Mr Griffin.
The BNP confirmed that Mr Griffin had contacted the police claiming to have received death threats. Humberside Police said a man had been arrested 'on suspicion of making threats to kill' and later bailed.
A force spokesman said: 'A 29-year-old man was arrested on Thursday 1 April on suspicion of making threats to kill. He was interviewed by Humberside Police detectives and has been released on police bail pending further inquiries. This investigation was initiated as a result of a complaint by a member of the British National Party and inquiries are ongoing.'
Mr Collett, who appeared in a documentary called Young, Nazi and Proud while a student in Leeds, was responsible for producing the BNP's publicity material and edited its newspaper. He had been due to contest the Sheffield Brightside seat - currently held by former Labour minister David Blunkett - at the coming general election.
A leaked copy of the BNP organisers bulletin stated the party had run 'an extensive and long-running' investigation into allegations of financial irregularities. It stated: 'We are able to say that Mark Collett was conspiring with a small clique of other party officials to launch a "palace coup" against our twice democratically elected party leader, Nick Griffin, and that in order to create the artificial climate of disillusionment necessary for this to stand any chance of success, lies and unfounded rumours have been spread, and were planned to be spread much further. Mr Collett has therefore been relieved of all positions within the party with immediate effect.' The email also stated Mr Griffin had made a statement to the police after 'serious allegations' affecting his 'personal safety' came to light.
Party officials were expected to hold a meeting today to discuss what they say are 'urgent organisational matters' and Mr Griffin has said he will make a statement in the next day or two.
A spokesman for anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said: 'Discontent about Griffin's leadership has been simmering since his disastrous Question Time performance and surrender to Trevor Phillips. But it appears that rows about money, in particular Griffin's European expenses, have caused this explosion. Nick Griffin is constantly claiming he is the leader of a moderate, non-violent organisation. It is difficult to see how he can square that assertion with his statement to the police that his own head of publicity has been plotting to kill him.'
I finally worked out how to grab video from the Guardian website, so here's the brilliant clip of the BNP candidate being heckled during the by-election campaign in Glasgow NE last November.
Get it right up ye's, ya nazi bassas!
And here's video of Billy Bragg challenging Richard Barnbrook of the BNP recently...
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