Feature: Inside the BNP
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 12:00 AM
The leaked BNP membership list gives outsiders a much-improved insight into where the far-right party draws its support from.
By Emmeline Saunders and Alex Stevenson
Perhaps the most surprising figure is that of 134 councillors, a significant number across the country which underlines the extent of its reach into Britain's local authorities.
But the most extraordinary revelation offered by this list is the extent to which the BNP is, 'normalised'. The grades of membership are utterly mainstream, whether it be the 1,151 who accept the 'family' membership category or the 1,211 in the 'family plus' grade. There are 6,672 members with 'standard' membership and 2,030 with 'gold' membership, an enhanced form of association which party leaders actively promote as being elitist.
Unlike Britain's main parties, which have active student branches at most universities, the BNP's penetration into higher education institutions is extremely limited. It can only muster 198 students across the country.
By contrast levels of support among the retired and unemployed are higher. There are 1,731 people who fall into the 'unwaged' grade and 2,969 in the 'OAP' category. Women appear to be in a minority. Only 2,803 out of the total 16,144 members are identifiable as such, although some titles - like doctors - don't reveal their first names.
Earlier today a group of former senior military figures attacked far-right extremists for attempting to "hijack" the reputation of the armed forces. They didn't name the BNP, which has a sprinkling of military figures among its membership. Three majors and a lance-corporal are listed.
The crusty middle England cohort which this appears to reinforce isn't reflected in the up-to-date technology which some members are using. Approximately one in three information pack requests are now made via text message to the BNP. Of the 1,085 renewal or information requests made in April this year, just 154 were made with a phone call. Requests made after reading a BNP leaflet numbered 340. Could the high number of text requests indicate a growing familiarity among party members with the country's "floating voters"?
In geographical terms there are some surprises. The highest concentration of BNP members is in Yorkshire, with 1,705 members as of April this year. Other BNP-heavy counties are Essex, with 935 members; Lancashire with 878; West Midlands with 626; Kent with 562 and Leicestershire with 494 members.
East and West Sussex have a combined total of 518 members, Surrey has 447 and London hosts 537. In contrast, the Isle of Wight has just 30 paid-up members of the BNP.
A statement by wikileaks.org, the website that leaked the list, said the data had been "verified to be accurate in all cases".
"However, it should not be assumed that every person with a BNP membership number is a current member of the BNP. For instance, journalists and opponents have sometimes joined the BNP to obtain information about it," it added.
A spokesman for the party said today the list appears to contain some people who are no longer members. Leader Nick Griffin also said the list could contain those who showed an interest in the party but did not become members.
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