BNP on its last legs as MEP quits
The British National party (BNP) appeared to be on its last legs today, after one of its two MEPs quit the party.
Andrew Brons, who previously tried to oust party leader Nick Griffin, said his position had become so weak he had to drop out.
"I have been marginalised to such an extent, in what is left of the British National Party, that I have been expelled in all but name," he wrote on his website.
"My position in the rump of the BNP is analogous to that of an employee who has been constructively dismissed."
Brons caused uproar and despair in British political circles after he and Griffin won seats to the European parliament in 2009, but in an example of the in-fighting which often typifies far-right groups he then went on to unsuccessfully challenge Griffin for the leadership.
The Brons departure marks another low point for the fascist party, which has been hit by defections and a membership exodus over recent years.
Brons suggested 80% to 90% of party members, activists and officials had left and that Griffin bore "heavy responsibility".
Griffin's reputation never recovered from a controversial Question Time show in which he was savaged by guests and audience members. He later claimed the invitation had been a trap to discredit him.
Brons became the BNP's first MEP when he won Yorkshire and the Humber seat with ten per cent of the vote. A lecturer in Harrogate College, he then went on to work for the National Front before joining the BNP.
