Comment: What's going on in the BNP?

Sonia Gable, deputy editor of Searchlight magazine

Saturday, 22, Nov 2008 12:01

No sooner had the British National Party bemoaned the "deliberate media blackout" of the party's annual conference in Blackpool on November 15th than the media were all over the fascist party. But it was not quite the publicity they wanted.

A list of BNP members had been posted on an internet blogsite, with home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and interesting notes about their jobs, hobbies, whether they were activists or party donors and concerns about individuals who might prove an embarrassment to the party, including a prominent activist with unspecified convictions.

It unleashed a media feeding frenzy. The national papers and radio and television stations pored over the names searching for minor celebrities, service personnel, teachers, doctors and anyone else who might spark a 'shock horror' reaction in readers. There were former members of all the three main political parties, which was no great surprise. Two members of Queen Elizabeth's staff were said to be on the list, though one turned out to be retired and the other said he had never actually joined.

And that was the problem. The list contained 12,801 names – more if associated family members are included – compared to the BNP's current membership of around 9,300, down from 9,784 at the end of 2007. So there were at least 3,500 who were lapsed members or people who had merely shown some interest.

Several newspapers produced maps and all kinds of statistical analysis. Local papers counted all the members in their readership area. But it meant little because the list was unreliable.

The names appeared largely to date from late 2007 with a few more recent additions. Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, seized on this to blame a "former head of administration of the party," who had kept a "membership and skills list". This was Kenny Smith, one of the leaders of a rebellion in the BNP last winter over the incompetence and behaviour of three key party officers. The biggest crisis in the BNP since its formation in 1982, it quickly turned into a challenge to the leadership of Griffin himself.

However Griffin is a crafty and manipulative tactician and the rebels proved no match for Griffin's ability to hold onto the reigns of party power. The rebel leaders were quickly expelled and, out in the cold, never managed to capitalise on their largely justified grievances.

Since then, Smith has become a convenient scapegoat. When the BNP's 2007 accounts embarrassingly failed to pass audit, Griffin wrote: "Accurate accounting for this year is problematic owing to the point-blank refusal of the former head of administration to account for large amounts of expenditure."

Smith was also blamed in the 2006 accounts, both for the fact that they were several months late, incurring a fine, and for a qualification to the auditors' report on the grounds that no vouchers had been produced to show how £14,000 transferred to Smith had been spent.

Smith strenuously denied leaking the list and grabbed another chance to hit out at Griffin. "Whatever the reasons for the publication of the list, ordinary BNP members should not have to suffer because of the crass incompetence, flawed personality and arrogance of the party leader."

It does seem unlikely that Smith and his supporters were responsible for the publication of the list, in contravention of a court injunction and legal proceedings by the BNP which have already cost them money. The BNP has never been very good at data security and such lists were undoubtedly held and circulated by several senior members. It is not the first time such a list has leaked, though never before in such spectacular form.

A more likely explanation is that it has come from a senior BNP member with a more recent grudge against the party. There are plenty of possibilities. Griffin runs his party in an autocratic manner and stamps firmly on any dissent. The annual party conference debates motions supposedly put forward by the party's regions, but in fact selected by its central Advisory Council. Although it is possible to force a leadership election, every obstacle is put in the way of a challenger. And although the party website allows comments, only those supporting the party's line are posted and anyone expressing hostile sentiments has their website registration cancelled.

Whoever did it, Griffin had to act fast to save his embattled party. A few members insisted that the leak only confirmed their allegiance; many others were worried. Police officers are prohibited from BNP membership and joining the party could constitute gross misconduct leading to dismissal. At least one officer has already been suspended and several police services are scanning the list carefully.

Others too feared for their jobs. It is interesting to consider why someone in a sensitive position, perhaps working in teaching, local government, the civil service or the NHS, should join a party that they clearly realise is so disreputable that it would cause them to be ostracised.

Here the BNP apparently scored a bit of a coup. "One of this country's top employment law firms … has offered pro bono – free – representation to any person who is threatened by their employers as a result of the 'leaked membership list' smear," announced the party website. The firm was not named. Solicitors often work pro bono, partly mindful of the good publicity this generates, but these solicitors must have realised that helping the BNP for free was more shameful than charitable.

In reality it would be difficult to sack an employee with more than a year's service simply for belonging to the BNP unless the employer can show that membership is incompatible with the individual's job or has a negative impact on colleagues, customers and the local community, and that there is a clear policy spelling this out.

Protection of the law was not enough for the BNP's self-styled 'legal eagle,' however. Writing on his blog the day the story broke, he advised: "For those people who have been named on the list all you need to do is deny you are a member if asked. Your employer cannot ascertain whether you are actually a real member of the BNP, and we will confirm that you are not a member if you ask us." In other words the BNP was prepared to back up its members' lies with more of its own.

The BNP also played the victim card as hard as it could. There were ridiculous accusations that 'call centres' were being used to make threatening phone calls to BNP members. The media sought out members who expressed fears that they or their families would be attacked. Then, what would normally be treated as a minor incident of only local interest about a suspicious car fire became a national story because it happened in a street where a party member lives, though the car was not connected with the member.

We at Searchlight would condemn absolutely anyone who thinks the way to fight the BNP is by physical attacks on individuals or their property. But history shows it is the racists who call for violence against opponents. A vicious hate website called Redwatch posts photographs and personal details of hundreds of people, many supplied by BNP organisers and activists, as a way of intimidating their political opponents. Some have had threatening phone calls and abusive letters as a result. Others have been attacked. They include two teachers whose car was firebombed outside their home in Leeds in a case of mistaken identity, and Alec McFadden, president of Merseyside Trades Council, who two years ago was confronted on his doorstep by a man wielding a knife and slashed repeatedly across his face in front of his two young daughters.

Griffin, a conspiracy theorist par excellence, claimed the list had been leaked to coincide with a hearing of the General Teaching Council (GTC), which he expected would stop a BNP member from working as a teacher. "Had that been the result," Griffin wrote, "the verdict would have been a big news story, which would have set things up perfectly for the follow-up publicity storm about thousands of BNP members being 'exposed' which would have broken over the rest of the week."

In the event the GTC postponed the hearing, but the publicity storm happened anyway and Griffin worked desperately on spinning it in the BNP's favour. "Nothing could show better just how frightened the liberal 'elite' now are of our coming breakthrough," declared Griffin in an "urgent message" two days after the story broke.

"The publicity about the high quality of our membership has massively improved our image," he claimed. "The whole affair has blown up in the faces of the plotters and the anti-British traitors. The public are more eager for our message than ever, and many of our new website visitors will keep coming back, become committed nationalists, and join our ranks."

The BNP may gain a few members out of the thousands who visited its website, assuming they accept Griffin's assurances that the party's "investment in new technology and procedures" will stop any more leaks. What the party finds hard is keeping members. Less than 40 per cent of members renew after the first year, the party itself admits.

We have been contacted by people on the list who say they joined but quickly became disillusioned when they found out the truth, which is that the BNP is still a racist party infested with thugs and Holocaust deniers. The presence of a few managers, IT professionals and ex-servicemen will not change that, just like two years ago when it was revealed that a principal dancer with the English National Ballet was a BNP member.

Sonia Gable is deputy editor of Searchlight magazine.

Searchlight has been published monthly since 1975 and specialises in investigating and campaigning against the far right.

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