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| lets just say the bnp are all idiots | |||
| {{Other uses}} | |||
| {{pp-move-indef}} | |||
| {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2010}} | |||
| {{Very long|date=December 2009}} | |||
| {{Infobox political party | |||
| |country = the United Kingdom | |||
| |name_english = British National Party | |||
| |name_native = | |||
| |logo = ] | |||
| |leader = ] ] | |||
| |chairman = | |||
| |secretary_general = | |||
| |leader1_title = Deputy Leader | |||
| |leader1_name = Vacant | |||
| |foundation = 1982 | |||
| |dissolution = | |||
| |membership = 14,032 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bnptv.org.uk/2010/06/membership-database-overview/ |title=Blog Archive " Membership Database Overview |publisher=BNPtv |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> | |||
| |headquarters = PO Box 14<br>]<br>SY21 0WE | |||
| |newspaper = Voice of Freedom | |||
| |youth_wing = ] | |||
| |ideology = ]<br />]<ref name="bnpelection2004"/><ref name="informaworld.com"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Copsey|first=Nigel |title=Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|date=September 2009|edition=2nd|accessdate=19 October 2009|isbn=0230574378}}</ref><ref name="bnplondonbomb">{{Cite journal|last=Wood|first=C|month=December|year=2008|title=British National Party representations of Muslims in the month after the London bombings: Homogeneity, threat, and the conspiracy tradition |journal=British Journal of Social Psychology|volume=47|issue=4|accessdate=15 January 2009|doi=10.1348/014466607X264103|page=707|last2=Finlay|first2=W. M. L.|pmid=18070375}}</ref><br />]<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Golder|first1=M.|title=Explaining Variation In The Success Of Extreme Right Parties In Western Europe:|journal=Comparative Political Studies|volume=36|pages=432|year=2003|doi=10.1177/0010414003251176}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Jocelyn A J|title=The Dynamics of Social Change in Radical Right-wing Populist Party Support|journal=Comparative European Politics|volume=3|pages=76|year=2005|doi=10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110050}}</ref><br />]<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bonnett|first1=Alastair|title=How the British Working Class Became White: The Symbolic (Re)formation of Racialized Capitalism|journal=Journal of Historical Sociology|volume=11|pages=316|year=1998|doi=10.1111/1467-6443.00066}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Back|first1=Les|last2=Keith|first2=Michael|last3=Khan|first3=Azra|last4=Shukra|first4=Kalbir|last5=Solomos|first5=John|title=New Labour's White Heart: Politics, Multiculturalism and the Return of Assimilation|journal=The Political Quarterly|volume=73|pages=445|year=2002|doi=10.1111/1467-923X.00499}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gerstenfeld|first1=Phyllis B.|last2=Grant|first2=Diana R.|last3=Chiang|first3=Chau-Pu|title=Hate Online: A Content Analysis of Extremist Internet Sites|journal=Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy|volume=3|pages=29|year=2003|doi=10.1111/j.1530-2415.2003.00013.x}}</ref><br />]<br> | |||
| |position = ]<!-- references for this are in the lead section --> | |||
| |international = | |||
| |european = ]<ref>{{Cite book|title = BNP in alliance with nationalists|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8356284.stm|publisher = BBC News|date = 12 November 2009|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> | |||
| |europarl = ] | |||
| |colours = ], ], ] | |||
| |website = | |||
| |colorcode = {{British National Party/meta/color}} | |||
| |seats3_title = ] | |||
| |seats3 = {{Infobox political party/seats|2|72|hex=#2222FF}} | |||
| |seats4_title = ]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/council/html/region_99999.stm |title=Local Council Political Compositions |author=BBC News |date=10 May 2010 |accessdate=9 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="Keith Edkins"/> | |||
| |seats4 = {{Infobox political party/seats|28|21871|hex=#2222FF}} | |||
| }} | |||
| The '''British National Party''' ('''BNP''') is a ] political party formed as a splinter group from the ] by ] in 1982. It restricted membership to "] British" people until 2010, after a legal challenge to its constitution.<ref></ref> | |||
| The BNP advocates "firm but voluntary incentives for immigrants and their descendants to return home",<ref name = "BBC-Rebuilding">British National Party: ''Rebuilding British Democracy'' (general election manifesto 2005 online at </ref> as well as the repeal of anti-discrimination legislation. All mainstream political parties in the UK are united in opposing the BNP.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} | |||
| The BNP finished fifth in the ] with 5.2% of the vote and secured one of the ]'s 25 seats. It won its first county council seats in 2009 and two seats in the ]. During the ], the BNP received 1.9% of the vote and failed to win any seats. | |||
| The BNP's media profile has increased under its current leader, ], a former national organiser of the National Front.<ref>BBC News </ref> | |||
| {{TOC limit|3}} | |||
| ==History== | |||
| ===Background, National Front outgrowth=== | |||
| ]s, demonstrating outside a factory.|] march from the 1970s. The movement from which the BNP would emerge by 1982.]] | |||
| The British National Party{{#tag:ref|The name British National Party had been used in politics previously by four organisations, most notably by the ] which became the ] and by ] initiated by ], which became part of the ]. Tyndall was a leading member of the 1960s BNP and a founder of the present party.|group=note}} was founded in 1982 following a split within the ] (NF) two years previously.<ref name="cook">{{harvnb|Cook|2000|p=88}}</ref> | |||
| The NF had organised marches in an attempt to further raise its profile. These sometimes led to violent clashes with political opponents.<ref name="twotwoseven">{{harvnb|Robin|1989|p=227}}</ref> Left-wing groups set up the ] campaign against the NF.<ref name="twotwoseven"/> After a poor showing at the ], internal factional division heightened within the NF. This culminated in chairman ] leaving the party in 1980,<ref name="betz">{{harvnb|Betz|1998|p=145}}</ref> founding the New National Front, which became the BNP two years later.<ref>{{harvnb|Barberis|2005|p=191}}</ref> At its foundation, the party included a faction of the disintegrating ]. | |||
| ===Tyndall leadership, early years=== | |||
| According to '']'', a magazine produced by Tyndall, the split within the movement was not initially intended to be permanent.<ref name="betz"/> | |||
| During the ], the new party fielded 53 candidates,<ref name="eightthree">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/roots/1979.stm|title=BNP: under the skin, 1979-1983|author=BBC |date=25 November 2001|accessdate=4 January 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref> enough to qualify for a televised party political broadcast. This featured chairman Tyndall, flanked by two British flags, and footage of the ], a violent riot between predominantly black local residents and the police.<ref name="harri">{{harvnb|Harrison|1983|p=155}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|According to academic Martin Harrison in ''The British General Election of 1983'', the BNP broadcast "was less heavily anti-black than the National Front's".|group=note}} All candidates combined, the BNP achieved only 14,621 votes in the general election, compared to the NF's 27,065.<ref name="butler">{{harvnb|Butler|1983|p=345}}</ref> It was revealed afterwards that the BNP Deputy Chairman ] had been working as a mole on behalf of the anti-fascist magazine '']''.<ref name="bnpbarb">{{harvnb|Barberis|2005|p=178}}</ref> | |||
| During the mid-1980s, the party began to develop friendly relations with organisations such as the NF ]{{#tag:ref|There were overtures at a possible BNP and NF Flag Group reunification as the ''Nationalist Alliance''. It was ] of the NF Flag Group who attempted to engineer this.<ref name="copsey"/> It came to nothing after ], one of the NF Flag Group leaders, rejected the possibility in ''The Flag'' magazine. Wingfield had a long-standing grudge with BNP chairman Tyndall.<ref name="copsey">{{harvnb|Copsey|2004|p=30}}</ref>|group=note}} and allegedly with the controversial ].<ref name="bnpbarb"/> The BNP also made contacts on the continent, particularly with ] of the radical Odal Group, which succeeded the ].<ref name="bnpbarb"/> In 1986, Tyndall was imprisoned for inciting racial hatred.<ref>{{harvnb|Szajkowski|2004|p=498}}</ref> While in prison, he wrote the part-autobiographical, part-political ''The Eleventh Hour''. ] was the ''de facto'' leader of the BNP during this time.<ref>{{harvnb|Eriksen|2006|p=99}}</ref> | |||
| ===Gains at local level, into the 1990s=== | |||
| ] | |||
| A 1988 '']'' report revealed that BNP Deputy Chairman Richard Edmonds was involved with a newspaper called the ''"Holocaust" News'', published by the Centre for Historical Review.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Holocaust hate sheet alarms British Jews|author=]|date= 6 March 1988|accessdate=4 January 2010}}</ref> The publication claimed that the ], as presented in state-sponsored accounts, was an elaborate, politically motivated hoax. It promoted instead the '']'', the ''Ball Report'' and the '']''.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} | |||
| The BNP mobilised 200 people for a "Rights for Whites" demonstration resulting in the ]. The BNP claimed the demonstration was in support of white parents who withdrew their children from predominantly Muslim schools.<ref name="dr">{{Cite news|author=] |date=1 July 1989}}</ref> Around this time, the party saw a popularity growth in east London and relocated its bookshop to a heavily fortified headquarters at ].<ref>{{harvnb|Boothroyd|2001|p=22}}</ref> At the ], Tyndall and ] were noted candidates who unsuccessfully stood for election.<ref name="twothree">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/roots/1992.stm|title=BNP: under the skin, 1992-1993|author=BBC |date=25 November 2001|accessdate=18 January 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barberis|2005|p=177}}</ref> Following this, BNP candidate ]—a last minute replacement for ]—won the party its first ] seat in 1993 from Labour, during a local-by election for the ], ].<ref name="cook"/> The seat was fought on a "Rights for Whites" platform, in which it was alleged black families were being favoured in local housing initiatives.<ref name="bnpbarb"/> | |||
| In 1991, a security force made up of nationalists drawn from ] firms was created to defend far-right activists, allegedly in response to a hammer attack at ] Library.<ref name="inde">{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/combat-18-memoirs-of-a-streetfighting-man-1142204.html|title= Combat 18: Memoirs of a street-fighting man |work=] |date=1 February 1998|accessdate=18 January 2010|location=London|first=Nick|last=Ryan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/online/issue30/lob30-10.htm|title= Combat 18 and MI5: some background notes |author=Lobster Magazine|year=1995|accessdate=19 January 2010}}</ref> The force firebombed the headquarters of the communist newspaper, the '']'', and by 1993 had transformed into the ]<ref>{{harvnb|Atkins|2004|p=67}}. {{harvnb|McAuley|2003|p=152}}. {{harvnb|Cameron|2002|p=111}}. {{harvnb|Gabriel|1998|p=164}}. {{harvnb|Thurlow|1998|p=269}}.</ref> paramilitary organisation ].<ref name="inde"/> That same year, the BNP proscribed membership of the group<ref name="twothree"/> and claimed it had been infiltrated by ].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7736000/7736870.stm|title=Interview with the British National Party|author=] |date=19 November 2008 |accessdate=19 January 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref> Nick Griffin, who would later become BNP chairman, stated in ''Spearhead'' during 1999 that members of Combat 18 had been a faction of the ] some years earlier, from which they were expelled, but never part of the BNP. He claimed that it had "been known for some years that MI5 encouraged or even ordered the setting up of C18 in order to disrupt and discredit the BNP after historic electoral success in Millwall in 1993", and also that '']'' had confirmed that Combat 18 was a state-sponsored "honeytrap" right from the start. It was revealed around this time that another ''Searchlight'' mole, Tim Hepple, had infiltrated the BNP, proving controversial in far-left circles, since he was the primary organiser of the Dewsbury incident in 1989.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|2003|p=171}}</ref> However, Hepple also worked as a ''Searchlight'' mole amongst the radical left as an "agent provocateur".<ref name="spunklib"/> According to author Larry O'Hara, Hepple attempted to get ] to publish works by radical nationalists, with the intention of publishing an expose in ''Searchlight'' that they were "working with fascists"—thus leaving them open to attack from all sides.<ref name="spunklib">{{Cite news|url=http://www.spunk.org/texts/antifasc/sp000525.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020523081701/http://www.spunk.org/texts/antifasc/sp000525.html|archivedate=2002-05-23|title=At War with the Truth: The True Story of Searchlight Agent Tim Hepple|author=Spunk Library |accessdate=20 January 2010}}</ref> This happened to ].<ref name="spunklib"/> | |||
| Political opponents claimed that "racist incidents" occurred around the BNP's headquarters and instigated a "close down the BNP" march in October 1993.<ref name="welling">{{Cite web|url= http://www.dkrenton.co.uk/welling.html|title= Memories of Welling|author=DK Renton |publisher=DKRenton.co.uk |accessdate=22 January 2009}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|The march was organised by the ].<ref>{{harvnb|Dearlove|2000|p=108}}</ref> Thousands of people attended the demonstration, for which 2,600 police officers were deployed.<ref name="hans">{{Cite news|url=http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1993/oct/18/welling-disturbances|title=Welling: Disturbances|author=]|date=18 October 1993 |accessdate=30 January 2010}}</ref> A hardcore element associated with the ] and ] <ref name="swpmilitant">{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/hardleft-violence-hurting-antiracist-organisations-1504398.html|title=Hard-left violence 'hurting anti-racist organisations' |work=]|date= 15 November 1993|accessdate=22 January 2010|location=London|first=Jojo|last=Moyes}}</ref> refused to accept police instruction to divert the march away from the BNP's headquarters itself, once it had gone past it. In a resulting riot, 21 police officers and 41 demonstrators were injured,<ref name="hans"/> leading to a frontpage headline "Masked mob stone police" in the '']''.<ref name="welling"/><ref name="mailwelling">{{Cite news|title=Masked Mob Stone Police: 100 hurt as riot erupts on march|author=]|date=17 October 1993}}</ref>|group=note}} In 1995, Welling Council shut down the BNP headquarters.<ref>{{harvnb|Saggar|1998|p=136}}</ref> | |||
| The same year, relations were built up with ]'s US-based ].<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.newcomm.org/reports/Beyond_a_Dead_Mans_Deeds_color_web.pdf|title= Beyond A Dead Man's Deeds: The National Alliance After William Pierce|work= Newcomm.org |publisher= CNC: Center for New Community | location = ] | year = 2002 | accessdate= 2011-03-08 | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5x1l8qetv | archivedate = 2011-03-08}}</ref> ] joined the party in 1995 and Tyndall allowed him to edit ''Spearhead''. Griffin stated in ''The Rune'' that the Holocaust was a "mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter witch-hysteria".<ref name="guardng"/> He was consequently prosecuted under the Public Order Act at the instigation of ] MP.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/legan/legan029.pdf|title= The British State versus Freedom of Expression: The Case of R. v. Griffin|author= David Botsford|publisher=] |accessdate=24 January 2009}}</ref> During the ] the BNP's highest results were in the ] and ].<ref>{{harvnb|Eatwell|2004|p=67}}.</ref> | |||
| ===Griffin leadership, identity nationalism=== | |||
| In October 1999, Nick Griffin, supported by ], stood against Tyndall for leadership of the BNP.<ref name="eatw"/> Griffin won and began "modernising" the party,<ref name="eatw"/> changing the policy on non-European immigration from mandatory to voluntary ] and moving from a focus on the ], to allowing Jews to stand for the party.<ref name="Nationalism and Israel">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=1057|title=Nationalism and Israel |date=28 July 2006 |publisher=British National Party |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071014195726/http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=1057 |archivedate=14 October 2007}}</ref> A new monthly newspaper, ''The Voice of Freedom'', was initiated, as well as a journal, ''Identity''.<ref name="eatw"/> During the ], following the ],<ref name="geed"/> ] and ] polled highest for the BNP.<ref name="geed">{{harvnb|Geddes|2002|p=194}}</ref> Following ] the BNP made further political capital.<ref>{{harvnb|Abbas|2005|p=58}}.</ref> | |||
| ] MEP, chairman of the BNP]] | |||
| At local level, the BNP continued to improve on its electoral results in 2002—03,<ref name="eatwo">{{harvnb|Eatwell|2004|p=75}}.</ref> gaining council seats in ], ] and Burnley,<ref name="eatwo"/><ref>{{Cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2690555.stm| title=History of the BNP|publisher=BBC News|date=24 January 2003|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> despite an extensive opposition campaign.<ref name="eatwo"/> | |||
| After the 2004 elections,<ref name="secretag">{{harvnb|Brinks|2006|p=91}}</ref> the BBC and ''Searchlight'' created a documentary called ''The Secret Agent'',<ref name="secretag"/> featuring ] infiltrating the BNP. In it, Griffin and ] made comments critical of Islam. Following the documentary, ] froze the party's accounts.<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3901621.stm|title=Barclays Bank bans BNP accounts|publisher=BBC News|date=16 July 2004 |accessdate=7 February 2007 }}</ref> Collett and Griffin were acquitted on charges of incitement to racial hatred in 2006.<ref name="cleared">{{Cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/6135060.stm|title=BNP leader cleared of race hate |publisher=BBC News|date= 10 November 2006|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> The BNP branded the BBC "cockroaches".<ref name="cleared"/> | |||
| Maureen Stowe, a successful BNP candidate in Burnley, left the party after being repelled by its racist nature. She told ''The Guardian'', "I became a BNP councillor, like most people who voted for me, by believing their lies".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/mar/24/localgovernment|title=Dazed and confused: How did avowed non-racist Maureen Stowe get herself elected as a BNP councillor?|author=Tash Shifrin|work=The Guardian|date=24 March 2004|location=London|accessdate=26 March 2010}} - 81k</ref> | |||
| Following the ] bombings in London, the BNP released fliers with the slogan; "maybe now it's time to start listening to the BNP".<ref name="nowlab">{{Cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4674675.stm|title=BNP campaign uses bus bomb photo |publisher=BBC News|date= 12 July 2005|accessdate=25 January 2010}}</ref> Griffin claimed that this was the "cost of voting Labour",<ref name="nowlab"/> attacking the government for bringing the United Kingdom into an "illegal" ] and for its immigration policies.<ref name="nowlab"/> ] claimed in 2006, that support for the party stood at up to 7%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yougov.com/archives/pdf/omi060101069_1.pdf|title=]|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20061102183815/http://yougov.com/archives/pdf/omi060101069_1.pdf|archivedate=2 November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1516300/BNP-set-to-win-seats-as-support-surges.html|title=BNP set to win seats as support surges|last=Jones|first=George|date=21 April 2006|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=29 September 2009|location=London}}</ref> Large gains were made in the ], where the BNP more than doubled its number of councillors<ref name="double"/> and became the second party on the ] council.<ref name="double">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4974870.stm|title=BNP doubles number of councillors|publisher=BBC News|date=5 May 2006|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> | |||
| In February 2005, the party provoked controversy in denouncing a charity appeal following the ], calling it a "devious way to flood Britain with immigrants" and comparing the catastrophe to flooding in ] at the beginning of 2005,<ref></ref> which claimed three lives.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6613750/Cumbria-floods-history-of-recent-storms.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Cumbria floods: history of recent storms | date=20 November 2009}}</ref> | |||
| {{Recentism|date=February 2010}} | |||
| ====''The Guardian'''s infiltration==== | |||
| In December 2006, it was revealed that a '']'' journalist, Ian Cobain, had worked undercover in the BNP for seven months, becoming the party's central London organiser.<ref name="Cobain Inside">, by Ian Cobain, ''The Guardian'', 21 December 2006.</ref><ref> by Ian Cobain, ''The Guardian'', 21 December 2006.</ref> Among the accusations made by the paper was that the BNP used "techniques of secrecy and deception ... in its attempt to conceal its activities and intentions from the public". It asserted that the BNP operated with a "network of false identities" and organised rendezvous points to allow members to be directed to "clandestine meetings". Party members were directed to avoid "any racist or anti-semitic language in public". Cobain also claimed that the membership in central London had expanded beyond the party's traditional range, now including "dozens of company directors, computing entrepreneurs, bankers and estate agents, and a handful of teachers".<ref name="Cobain Inside" /> | |||
| Following the report, the campaign group ] called for ballerina ] to be dismissed from the ], because her views on immigration were "incompatible with a leading arts institution such as the English National Ballet" and because she had "used her position to support a party which fosters division".<ref name="BNP-ballerina-BBC">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6241763.stm|title=Storm grows over 'BNP ballerina'|date=8 January 2006|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> Clarke said: "the BNP is the only party to take a stand against immigration".<ref name="BNP-ballerina-BBC" /> | |||
| The BNP was investigated by the ] in 2007, after ''The Guardian'' revealed that it had set up a front organisation to raise money from sympathisers in the United States.<ref> ''The Guardian'', 12 April 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.</ref> | |||
| ====2007 split==== | |||
| {{Undue|date=February 2011}} | |||
| In 2007, three BNP councillors resigned. In Epping, Terry Farr resigned after suspension for writing abusive letters to ].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4287114.stm|title=BNP letter councillor suspended|date=27 September 2005|work=BBC News|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/1532030.breaking_news_bnp_councillor_resigns_from_district_council/ |title=BREAKING NEWS - BNP councillor resigns from district council (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series) |publisher=Guardian-series.co.uk |date=10 July 2007 |accessdate=27 February 2009}}</ref> In Sandwell, James Lloyd was disqualified for not attending any meetings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.expressandstar.com/2007/10/16/bnp-man-kicked-out/ |title=BNP man kicked out|work=Express & Star|accessdate=19 September 2008}}</ref> In Blackburn, Robin Evans left the party and wrote a letter to his former colleagues denouncing it as a party of drug-dealers and football hooligans. Evans remains a councillor, describing himself as a "national socialist".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1517025/Vote-BNP-and-youre-as-bad-as-they-are.html?mobile=true |title='Vote BNP and you're as bad as they are' |work=Daily Telegraph author=Melissa Kite |accessdate=19 September 2009|location=London | first=Christopher | last=Middleton}}</ref> | |||
| In late 2007, several BNP officials, including councillor Sadie Graham and head of administration Kenny Smith, had pressed for the expulsion of three senior officials—treasurer John Walker, his deputy Dave Hannam and director of publicity Mark Collett—who they accused of bringing the BNP into disrepute. The BNP later accused Graham and Smith of being "]" infiltrators.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nick Griffin's New Year Speech|url= http://www.bnp.org.uk/2007/12/31/%e2%80%9cwe%e2%80%99re-the-ones-who-modernised-the-bnp-%e2%80%93-and-we%e2%80%99re-the-ones-who-intend-to-keep-it-modernised%e2%80%9d-new-year%e2%80%99s-message-from-nick-griffin/|accessdate=14 February 2008 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080209012659/http://www.bnp.org.uk/2007/12/31/%E2%80%9Cwe%E2%80%99re-the-ones-who-modernised-the-bnp-%E2%80%93-and-we%E2%80%99re-the-ones-who-intend-to-keep-it-modernised%E2%80%9D-new-year%E2%80%99s-message-from-nick-griffin/ |archivedate = February 9, 2008}}</ref> In December Graham and Smith launched a ] detailing their complaints against the trio.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Enough Is Enough|url=http://enoughisenoughnick.blogspot.com|accessdate=3 January 2008}}</ref> They were dismissed from their positions by Nick Griffin. During the ensuing dispute, members of BNP security seized a computer from Graham's home. Griffin claimed that they were recovering party property, while Graham claimed that it was her own. A number of BNP councillors later resigned the whip after Councillor Nina Brown claimed that BNP Security had misled her into giving them the key to Sadie Graham's home.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/dec/18/politics.thefarright |title=Spying claims rock BNP |work=The Guardian |author=Matthew Taylor and Hélène Mulholland |accessdate=19 September 2008|location=London|date=18 December 2007}}</ref> | |||
| A number of BNP officials resigned in support of Smith and Graham, or were expelled. These included the head of the Young BNP.<ref name="voiceofchange1">{{Cite web|work=Voice of Change website|title=About Voice of Change |month=January|year=2008|url= http://www.voiceofchange.org.uk/about.php|archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20080122044433/http://www.voiceofchange.org.uk/about.php|archivedate= 2008-01-22|accessdate = 28 March 2010}}</ref> The BNP leadership said that the significance of the dispute was exaggerated and that it would quickly blow over.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The Guardian|title=BNP at war amid allegations of illegal activity |date=22 December 2007|url= http://politics.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2231430,00.html|accessdate=3 January 2008|location=London|first=Matthew|last=Taylor}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|work=BBC News|title=BNP divided after leadership row|date=19 December 2007|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7152657.stm|accessdate=3 January 2008 | first=James | last=Hardy}}</ref> In late December 2007, the dissidents began to refer to themselves as the "Real BNP". They said that they would stay within the BNP and campaign for a change of leaders. | |||
| In January 2008, the group launched a new website called "Voice of Change", "an umbrella group to assist candidates who wish to stand as independent nationalists in the local elections in May 2008, and in any local by-elections throughout the year". They aimed to challenge Nick Griffin's leadership, calling him "tyrannical", "arrogant" and surrounded by "yes men".<ref name="voiceofchange1"/> | |||
| The internal democracy of the BNP has been criticised by members for giving too much power to the chairman and for not being widely available for the membership to consult.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/dewsbury-news/Auty-quits-after-BNP-leadership.4455958.jp |title=Auty quits after BNP leadership bid fails - Yorkshire Evening Post |publisher=Yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk |author=Richard Edwards |accessdate=19 September 2008|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kKpPK7Qw|archivedate=10 June 2009}}</ref> In 2007, a leadership challenge to Griffin by Colin Auty and Colin Jackson resulted in resignations and expulsions among their supporters and 67 senior activists. | |||
| ====Question Time appearance==== | |||
| {{Main|Question Time British National Party controversy}} | |||
| In 2009, Nick Griffin appeared on the BBC's ], amid significant public controversy. | |||
| ====BNP and theatre==== | |||
| In March 2010, ''A Day at the Racists'' by Anders Lustgarten was performed at the ]. The play deals with the rise of the BNP in Barking.<ref>Claire Allfree, , ''The Independent'', 9 March 2010</ref> | |||
| ====2010 Leadership challenge==== | |||
| Following the 2010 General Election, Nick Griffin announced that he would step down as leader in 2013.<ref name="guard"></ref> Three senior BNP members subsequently challenged Griffin for the leadership of the party.<ref></ref> After failing to secure enough support to trigger a leadership ballot, Richard Barnbrook was expelled from the party.<ref name="Taylor-09-30-2010">{{cite news|last=Taylor|first=Matthew |title=BNP expels Richard Barnbrook as bitter feud threatens to tear apart party|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/29/bnp-barnbrook-expelled-griffin-feud|accessdate=30 September 2010|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2010-09-30 | location=London}}</ref> | |||
| ==Structure== | |||
| The chairman of the BNP has final say in all policy matters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/resources/constitution_8ed.pdf |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070629010001/http://www.bnp.org.uk/resources/constitution_8ed.pdf |archivedate=29 June 2007 |title=BNP Constitution Section 3 |format=PDF |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> 15 further members of the party leadership have responsibility for various areas of its operations. These executive positions work alongside an Advisory Council, the party's senior policy body, which meets at least three times a year. Its role is to "inspect the party's accounts, ensuring proper conduct of the party's finances, and to act as a forum for the party's leadership to discuss vital issues and carve out the party's agenda".<ref name = "BNP-Party">. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> The ''Trafalgar Club'' is the party's fundraising arm.<ref>, BNP website. Retrieved 7 February 2008.</ref> | |||
| The party is organised around 12 regions, based upon the UK ] constituencies,<ref name = "BNP-Party"/> each with an organiser.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/organisation/regions.htm |title=British National Party - Chairman Nick Griffin - Working to secure a future for British children |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070101160507/http://www.bnp.org.uk/organisation/regions.htm |archivedate=1 January 2007}}</ref> The party also organises four groups that deal with specific areas of activity–Land and People (rural affairs), Pensioners' Awareness Group, the Friends of European Nationalism (a New Zealand-based organisation) and the Ethnic Liaison Committee, which co-ordinates work with non-whites.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/organisation/circles.htm|title=Circles and Associations |publisher=British National Party |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071015092439/http://www.bnp.org.uk/organisation/circles.htm |archivedate=15 October 2007}}</ref> The BNP has 16 specifically official posts: | |||
| * Chairman – ] | |||
| * Deputy Chairman – ''vacant'' | |||
| * Director of Administration – ''vacant'' | |||
| * National Treasurer – Clive Jefferson<ref></ref> | |||
| * National Organiser - Adam Walker<ref></ref> | |||
| * National Media spokesman - ]<ref></ref> | |||
| * Legal Director – ''vacant'' | |||
| * Editor of ''Identity'' – ] | |||
| * Editor of ''Voice of Freedom'' – ] | |||
| * Head of Publicity – ''vacant'' | |||
| * Head of the party's 18-30 group ']' – Kieren Trent | |||
| ] was head of the BNP's education and training department,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=hate_factory |title=Article in Searchlight Magazine |publisher=Searchlightmagazine.com |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> Adivsory Council member, editor of the BNP's website<ref>{{Cite web|http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=239|title=searchlight magazine September 2008 |publisher=searchlightmagazine.com|date=12 September 2008 |accessdate=31 October 2009}}</ref> and foreign affairs spokesman but resigned from all positions due to financial disputes.<ref></ref> | |||
| ==Policies== | |||
| {{Nationalism sidebar}} | |||
| ===Economic policy=== | |||
| The economic policy of the party has developed over time. In the 1990s, the party reflected ] and ], although in comparison with other radical nationalist parties, the BNP focuses less on ].<ref name="routledge">{{harvnb|Davies|2002|p=149}}.</ref> It has called for British ownership of its own industries and resources and the "subordination of the power of the City to the power of the government".<ref name="routledge" /> It has promoted the regeneration of farming in the United Kingdom, with the object of achieving maximum ] in food production.<ref name="routledge" /> It has advocated ending overseas aid in order to provide aid within the UK and to finance the repatriation of immigrants.<ref name="routledge" /> | |||
| In 2002, the party criticised corporatism as a "mixture of big capitalism and state control", saying it favoured a "] tradition established by home-grown thinkers" favouring small business.<ref name="eatw">{{harvnb|Eatwell|2004|p=69}}.</ref> In its 2005 manifesto, the BNP opposed "], ], ] and ]".<ref name="bbcmanifesto">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/BNP_uk_manifesto.pdf|publisher=BBC.co.uk|title=BNP General Election Manifesto 2005|accessdate=19 October 2009}}</ref> The BNP rejects the notion of ] and "submitting to the dictates of the international marketplace" which "has no loyalty to this country".<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> The BNP has claimed that it is possible for a national economy to thrive outside of the ] model, pointing to 21st century examples such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore.<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> The BNP claims that, while immigration increases the ] by providing cheap labour, it decreases the ], which the BNP claims is most representative of the economic well-being of British people.<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> | |||
| The party says that "old-style socialist methods" of tax and spend "turned out to have harmful effects" and it would instead seek "non-destructive means to reduce income inequality".<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> Central to the BNP's economic policies are greater share ownership and the establishment of ]. The party advocates the provision of extra resources for "especially gifted children" and the reversal of closures of special needs schools.<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> | |||
| ===Social and cultural policy=== | |||
| The BNP advocates ] and ] for paedophiles, terrorists and murderers.<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> It proposes to increase defence spending and to reintroduce compulsory ]. It has proposed that men should keep a rifle and ammunition in their homes.<ref name="bbcmanifesto" /> Its policy is "to end the conflict in Ireland by welcoming Eire{{sic}} as well as Ulster as equal partners in a federation of the nations of the British Isles".<ref>, BNP Website. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| The party says it supports animal welfare (such as the banning of ] and ] slaughtering and the phasing out of factory farming).<ref name="Derek Adams, against Halal.">{{cite news|title=Oldham by-election: profile of candidates|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/byelection/8256488/Oldham-by-election-profile-of-candidates.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=Tuesday 05 April 2011}}</ref> Nick Griffin and other BNP members attended the 'Liberty & Livelihood' march organised by the pro-hunting ] in 2002.<ref></ref> | |||
| ====Race and immigration policies==== | |||
| At its founding, the BNP was explicitly racist. In 1990, it was described by the ] committee on racism and xenophobia as an "openly Nazi party ..."<ref name="bnputs">{{Cite news|title = BNP: under the skin|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/roots/1984.stm|publisher = BBC|accessdate = 4 June 2007}}</ref> In 1993, the party's deputy leader ] said, "We are 100 per cent racist".<ref name="bnputs"/> When ] became chairman in 1999, the party began to change its stance on race issues. Griffin espouses "]" based on "concern for the well-being of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish ethnic nations that compose the United Kingdom". | |||
| The BNP's 1992 General Election manifesto said that the party had "no quarrel with the ordinary Jew who goes about his own business and does not attempt to influence national affairs in the interests of his racial group", but was opposed to Jewish people "whose activities in pursuit of the interests of their own co-racialists here and around the world can sometimes bring them into conflict with British interests".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tyndall|first=John |title=Fight Back! ''The Election Manifesto of the British National Party''|publisher=British National Party|year=1992}}</ref> | |||
| The party does not regard non-white people as being British, including those born in the UK or who are naturalised British citizens. Griffin has stated that "non-Europeans who stay", while protected by British law, "will be regarded as permanent guests".<ref name=racereality>Griffin, Nick . Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| The party has stated that it does not oppose the Jewish, Hindu or Sikh religions but does not accept practising Sikhs or Hindus as culturally or ethnically British.<ref name=Blake2005>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=390 |title="Asians" in Britain: A personal message from the BNP's webeditor |last=Blake |first=Steve |date=12 July 2005 |publisher=British National Party |quote=ndigenous Britons, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and the many other ethnic and culturally different groups.... |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071014195804/http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=390 |archivedate=14 October 2007}}</ref> The BNP has previously worked with extremists from the Sikh and Hindu communities on an anti-Muslim campaign<ref> ''The Observer'', 23 December 2001. Retrieved 7 February 2008.</ref> and has actively tried to win Jewish votes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/10/thefarright.race|title=BNP seeks to bury antisemitism and gain Jewish votes in Islamophobic campaign|work=]|date=10 April 2008|accessdate=22 April 2008|first=Matthew|last=Taylor|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| The BNP is opposed to mixed-race relationships because "when whites take partners from other ethnic groups, a white family line that stretches back into deep pre-history is destroyed."<ref name=bnpfaq>, bnp.org.uk, Retrieved on 4 July 2009</ref> Nick Griffin stated: "...while the BNP is not racist, it must not become multi-racist either. Our fundamental determination to secure a future for white children is restated, and an area of uncertainty is addressed and a position which is both principled and politically realistic is firmly established. We don't hate anyone, especially the mixed race children who are the most tragic victims of enforced multi-racism, but that does not mean that we accept ] as moral or normal. We do not and we never will".<ref name=racereality/> | |||
| The party did however have a half-Turkish Cypriot, half-English councillor in ].<ref> ''BBC News''</ref><ref> ''Guardian Unlimited'', 10 December 2006. Retrieved 5 February 2008.</ref> In 2006, Sharif Abdel Gawad, partly Armenian and Greek, was chosen as a council candidate in ]. ], the BNP's first councillor in Birmingham, has denied claims made by her stepmother that she is mixed race.<ref>''BNP councillor denies that her father is black'' The Express 19 June 2006; Tom Price</ref> | |||
| The BNP supported ] lecturer ], who was suspended after stating that the ] "has demonstrated to me beyond any reasonable doubt there is a persistent gap in average black and white average intelligence".<ref>Joe Priestley, , BNP Website, 3 April 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite news | |||
| |last = Halpin | |||
| |first = Tony | |||
| |title = Lecturer is suspended for 'racist' IQ claims | |||
| |work = The Times | |||
| |date= 24 March 2006 | |||
| |url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/news/article694940.ece | |||
| |accessdate = 13 August 2007|location=London}}</ref> Ellis called the BNP "a bit too socialist" for his liking and described himself as "an unrepentant ]" who would support "humane" repatriation.<ref> ''The Observer'', 5 March 2006. Retrieved 5 February 2008.</ref> | |||
| In 2006, ] confronted the party's national press officer, Phil Edwards (real name Stuart Russell<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/pr_machine/default.stm |title=BNP: Under the Skin |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>), with a tape of a telephone conversation in which he said that "the black kids are going to grow up dysfunctional, low IQ, low achievers that drain our welfare benefits and the prison system and probably go and mug you."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=BRKk2K3fMk0 |title=Youtube.com |publisher=Youtube.com |date=27 April 2006 |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> He responded: "If I thought I was going to be recorded ... I would not have used such intemperate language, but let’s be honest about it, the facts are there."<ref> ''The Sunday Times'', 30 April 2006. Retrieved 5 February 2008.</ref> | |||
| =====British Army immigrant issue===== | |||
| It has been claimed that the BNP is opposed to allowing British Army ] the right of settlement in the United Kingdom. In 2009, Nick Griffin said: "We don't think the most overcrowded country in Europe, can realistically say, 'Look, you can all come and all your relatives'...When the Gurkhas signed up—frankly as mercenaries—they expected a pension which would allow them to live well in their own country".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00kctbm |title=BBC iPlayer |publisher=bbc.co.uk |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref><ref name="Daily Mirror">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/13/bnp-keep-the-gurkhas-out-of-here-115875-21354308/|title=BNP: Keep the Gurkhas out of here |publisher=Daily Mirror|date=13 May 2009|accessdate=17 May 2009}}</ref> Later, he said that if he could swap "100,000 members of the Muslim community, who say that they support al Qaeda" for the Gurkhas it "would be a good exchange".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/BNP-Chairman-Nick-Griffin-Pulls-Out-Of-Royal-Garden-Party-Gurkhas-A-Good-Swap-For-Muslims/Article/200905415290010 |title=Sky News BNP |publisher=News.sky.com |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> Nick Griffin has described the commentary about his party's polices on the Gurkhas as "lies",<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6474863.ece | location=London | work=The Times | first=Russell | last=Jenkins | title=BNPs Nick Griffin finally gets to make a speech | date=10 June 2009}}</ref> stating the party has “never before even debated this issue”. He added, “…A BNP government would look far more sympathetically on the plight of the Gurkhas than the current Labour government.”<ref></ref> | |||
| ], a campaigner for the Ghurka's right of settlement, spoke to '']'' condemning a leaflet allegedly distributed by BNP candidate Adam Walker attacking her campaign and with a picture of a dead Gurkha soldier crossed out.<ref></ref> ''The Sun'' later retracted the allegation, saying that neither the BNP nor Walker were responsible for the leaflet.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2528210/BNP-election-leaflet-clarification.html|title=BNP election leaflet clarification |publisher=The Sun|date=10 June 2009|accessdate=13 July 2009|location=London}}</ref><ref></ref> | |||
| On 17 May 2009, '']'' wrote that the BNP's leader, Nick Griffin, had branded ], a black recipient of the ], an "immigrant" whose bravery was simply "routine". The ''Telegraph'' quoted the BNP website as calling Beharry's award of the Victoria Cross "positive discrimination by the ]-mad government".<ref name="Telegraph">{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/5336891/BNP-war-hero-Johnson-Beharry-only-got-medal-because-he-is-black.html|title=BNP: war hero Johnson Beharry only got medal because he is black |publisher=Telegraph|date=17 May 2009|accessdate=17 May 2009|location=London|first=Ben|last=Leach}}</ref> Beharry was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2005 for action in Iraq, when he returned to his burning armoured personnel carrier three times, under sustained enemy fire, to lift his wounded comrades from the vehicle.<ref name="Ministry of Defence">{{Cite web|url=http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/ophons05/beharry.htm|title=Private Johnson Gideon Beharry - Victoria Cross |publisher=Ministry of Defence|date=18 March 2005|accessdate=17 May 2009}}</ref> The BNP claimed: "All he did was drive away very fast from a combat zone."<ref name="Telegraph"/> | |||
| ====Criticism of Islam==== | |||
| The party states that it "has moved on in recent years, casting off the leg-irons of conspiracy theories and the thinly veiled anti-semitism which has held this party back for two decades. The real enemies of the British people are home grown Anglo-Saxon Celtic liberal-leftists ... and the Crescent Horde—the endless wave of Islamics who are flocking to our shores to bring our island nations into the embrace of their barbaric desert religion".<ref name="Nationalism and Israel"/> | |||
| Consequently, the party has shifted allegiance in conflicts involving Israel. Its head of legal affairs, Lee Barnes, wrote on the party's website about the ]: "As a Nationalist I can say that I support Israel 100% in their dispute with ]. In fact, I hope they wipe Hezbollah off the Lebanese map and bomb them until they leave large greasy craters in the cities where their Islamic extremist cantons of terror once stood."<ref>Lee Barnes , BNP Website, 28 July 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> In 2009, Griffin stated: "I have brought the British National party from the frankly an anti-semitic and racist organisation, into the only party which in the clashes between Israel and Gaza supported Israel's right to deal with Hamas terrorists."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6411261/BNP-on-BBCs-Question-Time-key-quotes.html|title=BNP on BBC's Question Time: key quotes|date=23 October 2009|publisher=Daily Telegraph|accessdate=30 April 2010|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| Griffin has said that this shift in emphasis is designed to increase the party's appeal: "We should be positioning ourselves to take advantage for our own political ends of the growing wave of public hostility to Islam currently being whipped up by the mass media".<ref>Nick Griffin BNP Website, 21 March 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> In a speech to local party activists in 2006, he said: | |||
| {{bquote|We bang on about Islam. Why? Because to the ordinary public out there it's the thing they can understand. It's the thing the newspaper editors sell newspapers with. If we were to attack some other ethnic group—some people say we should attack the Jews... But ... we've got to get to power. And if that was an issue we chose to bang on about when the press don't talk about it ... the public would just think we were barking mad. They'd just think oh, you're attacking Jews just because you want to attack Jews. You're attacking this group of powerful Zionists just because you want to take poor Manny Cohen the tailor and shove him in a gas chamber. That's what the public would think. It wouldn't get us anywhere other than stepping backwards. It would lock us in a little box; the public would think "extremist crank lunatics, nothing to do with me." And we wouldn't get power.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1269630805284168668|title=BNPtv films Nick Griffin Speaking at Burnley Branch Meeting March 2006|date=22 March 2006|publisher=Google Video|accessdate=29 September 2009}}</ref>}} | |||
| Suggested policies to deal with the threat from Islam include a ban on Muslims flying in and out of the UK.<ref> ''The Guardian'', 5 October 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2008.</ref> The BNP erected a plaque in ] in memory of a 19-year-old white man who was killed by Asian Muslims in February 2002. The plaque was later removed by the local council.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bnp-memorial-to-murdered-teenager-removed-by-council-570495.html |title=BNP memorial to murdered teenager removed by council - UK Politics, UK |publisher=The Independent |date=19 February 2004 |accessdate=10 June 2009|location=London|first=Andrew|last=Clennell}}</ref> | |||
| ====Opposition to homosexuality==== | |||
| The BNP states that homosexuality in private should be tolerated but believes that it "should not be promoted or encouraged".<ref>, BNP Website, 3 December 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> It is opposed to ]s and wishes to ban what it perceives as the promotion of homosexuality in schools and the media.<ref name=bnpfaq/><ref name="showarticle1"> BNP Website. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref><ref>'Tony Wentworth , BNP Website. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> It proposes that homosexuality should be returned "to the closet".<ref name="labpartyemails">{{Cite web|url=http://www.umu.man.ac.uk/labour/bnp.html |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060506040028/http://www.umu.man.ac.uk/labour/bnp.html |archivedate=6 May 2006 |title=Emails to/from the BNP |publisher=Manchester University Labour Club |accessdate=9 June 2006 }}</ref> | |||
| BNP spokesman Phil Edwards stated that homosexuality "is unnatural" and "does not lead to procreation but does lead to moral turpitude and disease".<ref name="labpartyemails"/> ], former Director of Publicity for the party,<ref> "Editorial Team," (retrieved on 10 June 2009)</ref> has described homosexuals as "AIDS Monkeys", "bum bandits" and "faggots", saying the idea of homosexuality was a "sickening thought".<ref>RE:Brand Episode 2 "Naziboy" </ref> | |||
| In the run-up to the 2005 general election, it was reported that ], the BNP candidate for Barking, had produced a homoerotic student art film in 1989.<ref> Pinknews. Retrieved 9 June 2006.</ref> Barnbrook and the BNP claimed that the film was artistic and about "sexuality, not homosexuality".<ref> ''The Guardian'', 11 May 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2006.</ref> | |||
| The BNP was criticised over a web article titled, "Liars, buggers and thieves", which grouped several gay politicians in with convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles. The author, BNP councillor Julian Leppert, defended it and said that the reason why gay MPs were included was because, "it fits in with the headline, the bugger part, I guess", and stated that the BNP are "a family party with family values".<ref>Geen, Jessica , ''Pink News'', 15 May 2009, Retrieved on 9 June 2009</ref> | |||
| It has been alleged that Nick Griffin had a four year homosexual relationship with ], although Griffin denies this.<ref>Tom Robbins, "Gay Tiff Reveals Soft Side of Far Right", '']'', 5 September 1999</ref><ref>Nick Griffin quoted in David Jones, "A Very Plausible Bigot", '']'', 29 April 2006</ref> In 2009, he said: "a lot of people find the sight of two grown men kissing in public really creepy. I understand that homosexuals don't understand that but that's how a lot of us feel."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8321683.stm |title=BBC - Nick Grffen attacks Islam |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=23 October 2009|date=23 October 2009}}</ref> | |||
| ===Political tendency=== | |||
| It has been claimed that the BNP has, since its foundation, been fascist. The party's predecessor, the NF, was overtly fascist, incorporating nationalism, racism and ] into its core ideology. This ideology was taken up by the newly formed BNP. Founder John Tyndall proclaimed: "'']'' is my bible".<ref> ''The Observer'', 24 August 2003. Retrieved 5 February 2008.</ref> Piero Ignazi has said that the "proto-Nazi" mould of the NF, and the "generalised nostalgia for all sorts of fascist tendencies" and association with "foreign ideologies", which continued under the BNP, accounted for the lack of success for both parties in comparison to successful far-right parties in Europe, which disavowed traditional fascism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Extreme right parties in Western Europe|author=Piero Ignazi|location=Oxford|publisher=]|year=2003|isbn=0199291594}}</ref> | |||
| The ''Daily Mirror'' has described the party's ]s as "vile prophets who preach a Nazi-style doctrine of racial hatred".<ref>James Lyons and Tom Parry, "The truth about fascist National Front past of Britain's two new BNP members in Europe", Daily Mirror, 9 July 2009</ref> An editorial in ''The Guardian'' characterises the BNP as "a racist organisation with a fascist pedigree".<ref>, The Guardian, 15 October 2009</ref> ] leader ] has described the BNP as "a party of thugs, fascists".<ref>Nick Clegg, speaking on ''Today'', BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2009</ref> According to ]: "If you vote for the BNP you are voting for a bunch of fascists... They dress up in a suit and knock on your door in a nice way but they are still Nazi thugs."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5395358/David-Cameron-attacks-fascist-BNP.html|title=David Cameron attacks 'fascist' BNP|date=31 May 2009|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=31 May 2009|location=London}}</ref> Former Home Secretary ] said: "These people believe in the things that the fascists believed in the second world war, they believe in what the National Front believe in. They believe in the purity of the Aryan race. It is a foul and despicable party and however they change their constitution they will remain foul and despicable."<ref>Alan Travis, guardian.co.uk, 16 October 2009</ref><ref>quoted in James Robinson, "The right to be heard?", ''The Guardian'' Media section, 19 October 2009 p1</ref> ] describes the BNP as "a racist organisation with known fascist roots and values" and wrote about its "racist and fascist agenda".<ref>Peter Hain, , ''The Guardian, 12 October 2009, p30</ref> | |||
| The BNP denies that it is fascist and claims that opposition parties are trying to "prevent freedom of speech".<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/3497436.stm|work=BBC News|title=Ex-BNP member backs anti-fascists|date=10 March 2004|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> Griffin has said that such accusations are "a smear that comes from the far left."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/113462/Griffin-denies-fascism-smears-#/|title=Griffin denies fascism 'smears'|date=12 July 2009|publisher=Daily Express|accessdate=10 October 2009}}</ref> He has also said that "he actually 'detested' fascism".<ref>{{Cite web|author=Sunday, 12 July 2009 |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Griffin_denies_fascism_smears&in_article_id=701299&in_page_id=34 |title=Griffin denies fascism 'smears' |publisher=Metro.co.uk |date=12 July 2009 |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> | |||
| Political scientists see the party as fascist and say that it has attempted to hide its true nature in order to attract popular support.<ref name="bnpelection2004">{{Cite journal|last=Renton|first=David|date=1 March 2005|title='A day to make history'? The 2004 elections and the British National Party |journal=Patterns of Prejudice|url=http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713722453|volume=1|issue=39|accessdate=15 th January 2009}}</ref><ref name="thurlow2000">{{Cite book|last=Thurlow|first=Richard C.|title=Fascism in Modern Britain|publisher=Sutton|year=2000|isbn= 0750917474|url=http://books.google.com/?id=vAWGAAAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1996">Copsey, N "Contemporary Fascism in the Local Arena: the British National Party and Rights for Whites" in Cronin, M (ed) ''The Failure of British Fascism'' (Basingstoke, 1996)</ref> Nigel Copsey examined the party's 2005 General Election manifesto ''Rebuilding British Democracy'' and concluded that it was a recalibration of fascism rather than a fundamental break with it.<ref name="informaworld.com">Copsey, N. , ''Patterns of Prejudice'', v. 41, Issue 1, February 2007 , pages 61 - 82</ref> | |||
| Historian Richard Overy has said that "Fascism with a capital F" was strictly a movement of the past. According to David Stevenson, "the BNP is different in style and structure from fascism in the 1930s" saying that although they do not wear uniforms they still count "bully boys" among their membership.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/09/bnp-fascism-meps-far-right |title=Leading historians on whether fascism is on the march again | Politics |publisher=The Guardian |date=9 June 2009 |accessdate=23 October 2009|location=London|first=Stephen|last=Moss}}</ref> | |||
| It has also been suggested that the BNP represents a hybrid movement containing elements of neo-fascism and anti-immigrant themes.<ref>Julie V. Gottlieb, Thomas P. Linehan, ''The culture of fascism: visions of the far right in Britain'', I B Taurus, New York (2004) pp70-71</ref> | |||
| ==Electoral performance== | |||
| {{Main|British National Party election results|Elections in the United Kingdom}} | |||
| The BNP has contested seats in England, Wales and Scotland. In January 2011 the party registered in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12349646|title= BNP registers in Northern Ireland for the first time | |||
| |date=Tue, 02/02/2011|publisher=www.bbc.co.uk/news|accessdate=Tue, 02/02/2011}}</ref> | |||
| ===General election performance=== | |||
| The British National Party has contested general elections since 1983. | |||
| {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" | |||
| |- | |||
| ! Year !! Number of Candidates !! Number of MPs !! Percentage of vote !! Total votes !! Change (percentage points) !! Average votes per candidate | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 54 || 0 || 0.0 || 14,621 || N/A || 271 | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 2 || 0 || 0.0 || 563 || 0.0 || 282 | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 13 || 0 || 0.1 || 7,631 || +0.1 || 587 | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 54 || 0 || 0.1 || 35,832 || 0.0 || 664 | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 33 || 0 || 0.2 || 47,129 || +0.1 || 1,428 | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 117 || 0 || 0.7|| 192,746 || +0.5 || 1,647 | |||
| |- | |||
| ! ] | |||
| || 339 || 0 || 1.9|| 563,743 || +1.2 || 1,663 | |||
| |} | |||
| ====1983-1992==== | |||
| The BNP achieved no real success in their first three general elections from 1983-1992. No deposits of contested constituencies were saved and its share of votes only ranged from 0.1% to 3.6% in each constituency.<ref name="parliament.uk"/><ref></ref> | |||
| In the ] the BNP percent of votes overall was only 0.02% of the electorate. | |||
| ====1997==== | |||
| In the ] the BNP for the first time saved 3 deposits (out of 56 contested seats).<ref></ref> Their highest amount of votes received was 3350 (7.5%) in the East End seat of ].<ref></ref> | |||
| ====2001==== | |||
| The BNP in the ] saved 5 deposits (out of 33 contested seats) and secured their best ever general election result in ] where party leader ] secured 16.4% of the vote. Their average votes per candidate also increased from 664 to 1,428, and they secured 47,129 votes in total. | |||
| ====2005==== | |||
| The United Kingdom general election 2005 was considered a major breakthrough by the BNP, as they picked up 192,746 votes in the 119 constituencies they contested and retained a deposit in 40 of the seats.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4519347.stm | work=BBC News | title=BNP sees increase in total votes | date=6 May 2005}}</ref> | |||
| ====2010==== | |||
| {{Main|United Kingdom general election, 2010}} | |||
| The BNP put forward 338 candidates for the ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bnpelectionresults.blogspot.com/2010/04/list-of-bnp-general-election-candidates.html |title=338 BNP PPCs |publisher=Bnpelectionresults.blogspot.com |date=2010-04-17 |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> gaining 563,743 votes<ref name="BBC National Results">{{Cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/|work=BBC News|title=BBC NEWS|Election 2010|UK - National}}</ref> but failed to win any seats. A record of 73 deposits were saved, however. | |||
| Party chairman Nick Griffin came third in the ] constituency, behind ] of Labour and Simon Marcus of the Conservatives, who were first and second respectively. At 14.6%, this was the BNP's best result in any of the seats it contested.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/a11.stm |title=Election 2010 | Constituency | Barking |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> | |||
| The total amount of votes for the BNP was 563,743 (1.9%). | |||
| ===Local Elections=== | |||
| The BNP's first electoral success came in 1993, when ] was returned as a councillor in ], London. He lost his seat in elections the following year. The next BNP success in local elections was not until the ] local elections, when three BNP candidates gained seats on ] council.<ref name="parliament.uk"></ref> | |||
| *In 2000 the BNP fielded 17 candidates in 12 councils and polled 3,022 votes. The average share of votes in wards contested was 8%. | |||
| *In 2001 the BNP fielded 4 candidates in three councils and polled 867 votes, with an average share of 4% in the wards contested. | |||
| *In 2002 the BNP fielded 67 candidates and polled 30,998 votes in 26 local councils. The BNP average share of votes was 16%. Three BNP candidates were elected for the first time in Burnley with an average share of 28.1%. | |||
| *In 2003 the BNP fielded a total of 217 candidates in 71 local authorities in England and Scotland. The party won a total of 13 council seats, polling over 101,221 votes and averaging 17% of the vote in those wards where they fielded candidates.<ref name="parliament.uk"/> | |||
| The BNP's success in the 2003 local elections sparked national media publicity.<ref></ref><ref></ref> The BNP scored the same year two later local by-election victories, the first in the Heckmondwicke ward of Kirklees Council on 14 August 2003. The BNP candidate, David Exley, polled 1,607 votes (44%). On 4 September 2003, Nick Geri won the Grays Riverside ward of Thurrock council, polling 552 votes (38%).<ref name="parliament.uk"/> Later in Burnley, the number of councillors increased, making the BNP briefly the second-largest party and official opposition on that council, a position it lost after the resignation of a BNP councillor who had been disciplined by the party. The BNP stood in the subsequent ]. | |||
| *In 2004 the BNP had 312 candidates stand for election in 59 local authorities in England and Wales, including 25 candidates in Sunderland, 24 in Birmingham and 23 in Leeds. The BNP won 14 council seats, and polled 190,200 votes. | |||
| *In 2005 the BNP fielded 41 candidates in 18 councils and polled 21,775 votes, averaging 11% share in the contested wards.<ref name="parliament.uk"/> | |||
| The party's biggest election success to date was a gain of 52% of the vote in the Goresbrook ward of ] in the 2004 local elections. The victorious councillor, Daniel Kelley, retired just 10 months later, claiming he had been an outcast within the council. A new election was held in June 2005, in which the seat was regained by the Labour candidate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/9-democracy/elections/results/elect-by-goresbrook-05.html|title=LBBD: Goresbrook Ward By-Election Result}}</ref> | |||
| *In 2006 the BNP polled a total of 229,389 votes, having fielded 363 candidates in 78 local authorities across England. The party averaged 18% of the votes in wards contested. The BNP fielded 40 candidates in Birmingham, 25 in Sunderland, 23 in Kirklees, and 22 in Leeds. 33 BNP councillors were elected; four lost their seats and they gained a seat with the defection of a Conservative councillor in Lincolnshire bringing their total to 49.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/SNSG-05064.pdf |title=Electoral performance of the British National Party in the UK |publisher=Edmund Tetteh (House of Commons Library) |date=15 May 2009 |accessdate=21 November 2009}} {{Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> | |||
| The biggest gain in the ], was in ] where the BNP won 11 of the 13 seats it contested,<ref>"BNP laughing stock at council meeting", ''Barking and Dagenham Recorder'', 18 May 2006.</ref> gaining 17% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/15/nick-griffin-barking-general-election|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=BNP leader Nick Griffin to take on Margaret Hodge in Barking|first=Peter|last=Walker|date=15 November 2009|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> The BNP also won three seats in ], three in ], three in ], two in ], two in ], and single seats in ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. In 2006, the BNP also gained its first parish councillor in Wales when Mike Howard of Rhewl Mostyn, ], previously an Independent, joined the BNP. | |||
| *In 2007 local elections the BNP polled 292,911 votes. They won 10 seats with a net gain of one.The party fielded a record of 744 candidates in 148 councils across England and Scotland. This was more than double the number of candidates fielded in 2006 and scored on average 13% of the votes in the wards where they contested.<ref name="parliament.uk"/><ref>{{Cite news|url= http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2444454.ece |title=BNP goes bourgeois as party aims for rural seats|publisher=The Independent|date=13 April 2007 |accessdate=22 April 2007|location=London|first1=Nigel|last1=Morris}}</ref> | |||
| In summary of BNP councillors from 2000-2007: from 2000 to 2001 the BNP had none, in 2002 they had three, by 2003 they had | |||
| 16 local councilors, this increased to 21 by 2005, in 2006 the biggest gain saw BNP's councillors rise to 48, and by 2007 to 50.<ref name="parliament.uk"/><ref>name="100council">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7382831.stm |title=BNP gains from Labour disaffection |publisher=BBC News |first=Dominic |last=Casciani |date=4 May 2008 |accessdate=19 September 2008}}</ref> | |||
| In 2007 the number of BNP councillors fell slowly due to resignations and expulsions, several of them associated with a failed leadership challenge in the summer. By the end of the year, the number was 42. In 2008 however the BNP increased their councillors to 55. | |||
| *In 2008 the BNP polled an average of 14% across 593 wards contested having fielded 612 candidates. The total number of votes polled by the BNP stood at 240,968. The party gained 15 seats and had 55 councillors in all local authorities.<ref name="parliament.uk"/> | |||
| The BNP did not field as many candidates for the 2009 local elections because of their focus on the European Parliament election the same year, but had a net net gain of 3 seats in local councils. | |||
| <ref></ref> A seat in a local by-election in Sevenoaks district, ], was also won by the BNP.<ref></ref> | |||
| About four BNP councilors resigned at the end of 2009, leaving the party with 54 councilors by 2010.<ref name="parliament.uk"/> In the 2010 May local elections, 26 BNP councillors lost their seats, leaving the party with 28 seats overall<!--NOT 19. The BBC table only lists the results from contested seats-->.<ref name="Keith Edkins">{{Cite web|url= http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/uklocalgov/makeup.htm |title=Local Council Political Compositions |author=Keith Edkins |date=10 May 2010 |publisher= |accessdate=9 May 2010}}</ref> In ], the party lost all 12 councillors that had gained seats in 2006.<ref> BBC, retrieved on 8 May 2010</ref><ref>, BBC, 8 May 2010</ref> | |||
| ===London Assembly and mayoral election, 2008=== | |||
| The '']''<ref>Andrew Gilligan , '']'', 1 April 2008, Retrieved on 2 April 2008</ref> reported at the beginning of April 2008 that Nick Eriksen, second on the candidates list for the ] and the party's chief London organiser, is the author of a far-right blog 'Sir John Bull'. On his blog, Eriksen said rape is a "myth" and claims women are like gongs as "they need to be struck regularly". Eriksen was removed as a BNP candidate because of these comments, but his position as a party official remains unclear.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-552692/Sacked-The-BNP-candidate-said-women-like-gongs--need-struck-regularly.html|title=Sacked: The BNP candidate who said 'some women are like gongs — they need to be struck regularly'|date=2 April 2008|accessdate=29 September 2009 | location=London | work=Daily Mail}}</ref><ref>Andrew Gilligan , ''Evening Standard'' 2 April 2008, Retrieved on 2 April 2008</ref> | |||
| BNP lead candidate ] won a seat in the ] in May 2008, after the party gained 5.3% of the London-wide vote, however in August 2010 he resigned his position from the party and became an independant.<ref>Taylor, Matthew (2010-09-30). "BNP expels Richard Barnbrook as bitter feud threatens to tear apart party". The Guardian.</ref> | |||
| ===European Elections=== | |||
| The BNP has taken part in European Parliament elections since 1999, when they received 1.13% of the total vote (102,647 votes). | |||
| ====2004 European Election==== | |||
| In the ], the BNP won 4.9% of the vote, making it the sixth biggest party overall, but did not win any seats.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"></ref> | |||
| ====2009 European Elections==== | |||
| {{Wikinews|United Kingdom elects first British National Party members of European Parliament}} | |||
| {{Main|European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)}} | |||
| In light of the ], there was media speculation that the BNP could do well in the polls, as voters sought an alternative party to register their protest.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5311556/MPs-expenses-Lord-Tebbit-says-do-not-vote-Conservative-at-European-elections.html|title=MPs' expenses: Lord Tebbit says do not vote Conservative at European elections |publisher=The Telegraph|author=Matthew Moore|date=12 May 2009|accessdate=13 May 2009|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| In May 2009, The '']'' revealed that the BNP had used stock photos to represent people supposedly in agreement with its policies.<ref name="SMirror"/> ] MP ] alleged misrepresentation and called on the Royal Mail to halt distribution.<ref name="SMirror">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/16/bnp-poster-campaign-for-british-workers-uses-american-actors-115875-21365018/|title=Exclusive: BNP poster campaign for British workers uses American actors|publisher=Sunday Mirror|date=16 May 2009|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref> The BNP claimed this was standard practise by political parties.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/local-elections/5331700/British-pensioners-on-BNP-election-leaflet-are-actually-Italian-models.html|title='British pensioners' on BNP election leaflet are actually Italian models |last=Moore|first=Matthew|date=15 May 2009|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=29 September 2009|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| The Archbishops of Canterbury and York said it would be tragic if people abstained or voted BNP at the local and European elections.<ref name="BBC-Bishops">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8065583.stm|title=Archbishops unite against the BNP|publisher=BBC|date=24 May 2009|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> | |||
| The BNP won two seats in the European Parliament. ] was elected in the ] regional constituency with 9.8% of the vote.<ref name="BBC-BNP first seat">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8088133.stm|title=BNP wins European Parliament seat|publisher=BBC|date=7 June 2009|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> Party chairman Nick Griffin was elected in the ], with 8% of the vote.<ref> "European Election 2009: North West" (8 June 2009 - retrieved on 10 June 2009)</ref> Nationally, the BNP received 6.26%. Griffin stated that it was "a great victory ... we go on from here." Meanwhile, the Labour and Conservative parties both referred to it as a "sad moment".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8088381.stm|title=BNP secures two European seats |date=8 June 2009|work=BBC News Online|publisher=BBC|accessdate=8 June 2009}}</ref> In local elections held the same day, the BNP also won its first three county council seats in ], ] and ].<ref>Brian Brady, , ''The Independent'', 7 June 2009 . Retrieved 13 June 2009.</ref> | |||
| ===Welsh Assembly=== | |||
| In the ] the BNP only stood one candidate, Pauline Gregory, in the South Wales East region, who obtained 3,210 votes (1.89%), losing the deposit. | |||
| In the 2007 ] ] the BNP fielded 20 candidates, four in each of the five regional lists, with ] standing in the ] region.<ref>, ''BBC News'', 16 April 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007.</ref> It did not win any seats, but was the only minor party to have saved deposits in the electoral regions with one in the North Wales region and the other in the South Wales West region. | |||
| ====2011==== | |||
| The BNP are fielding 20 candidates on the regional lists, and 7 are standing in FPTP constituencies (]: Mike Whitby, | |||
| ]: Brian Urch, ]: Anthony King, ]: Peter Whalley, ]: Mike Green and ]: Joanne Shannon).<ref></ref> | |||
| ===Scottish Parliament=== | |||
| In the ], the BNP only stood one candidate, Peter Appleby, in the ] who obtained 2,344 votes (1.1%), losing the deposit. | |||
| In the ] the party fielded 32 candidates, entitling it to public funding and an election broadcast, prompting criticism.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.uaf.org.uk/news.asp?choice=70209 |title=No to public funds for fascism |accessdate=22 April 2007 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070218001920/http://www.uaf.org.uk/news.asp?choice=70209 |archivedate = February 18, 2007}}</ref> The BNP received 1.2% of the vote and no seats, nor saving any deposits. | |||
| ====2011==== | |||
| The BNP are fielding 32 candidates on the regional lists in the ].<ref></ref> | |||
| ===Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly=== | |||
| The BNP will be fielding 3 candidates for three constituencies each in the ]. This will be the first time that the BNP has ever stood in Northern Ireland. | |||
| ==Legal issues== | |||
| ===Claims of repression of free speech=== | |||
| The BNP says that ] guidelines on reporting 'far right' organisations forbid unionised journalists from reporting uncritically on the party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/2008/03/the-media-reporting-on-the-bnp/|title=The Media: Reporting on the BNP|author=Martin Wingfield|date=16 March 2008|accessdate=17 August 2008}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> An example of this occurred in March 2011 when Simon Darby released a letter of correspondence online between Nick Griffin and Alastair Machray, the editor of the ], in which Machray admitted that "It is this papers policy to discourage the activities of the BNP". The letter was written in relation to an advertisement request made on behalf of the party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://simondarby.blogspot.com/2011/03/liverpool-echo.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter|title=Liverpool Echo |author=Alastair Macharay|date=Thursday, 10 March 2011|accessdate=Thursday, 10 March 2011}}</ref> | |||
| In September 2005, 60,000 copies of ''Voice of Freedom'', which had been printed in ], were seized by British police at Dover. The police later admitted this was a mistake and released the impounded literature shortly thereafter.<ref>, BNP Website, 12 September 2005. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| In April 2007, an election broadcast was pulled by ]' lawyers, who believed that the broadcast was defamatory of the ] of ], ].<ref>, BNP Website, 24 April 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/wales/story/0,,2064627,00.html|title=The Guardian - BNP forced to change election broadcast|location=London|first=Hélène|last=Mulholland|date=24 April 2007|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> The broadcast was made available to download from the BNP's website.<ref>. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| ===Employment cases and related controversies=== | |||
| In '']'', the ] overturned an employment appeal tribunal ruling that awarded BNP train driver ], damages for expulsion from a trade union. It found that the union was entitled to decide who could be a member, and that the UK was in breach of the ] in the way it had treated ASLEF.<ref>European Court of Human Rights: , Strasbourg, 27 May 2007</ref> Clive Potter, later an official of ], was expelled from his union. A court upheld the expulsion and found that it was based on previous exclusion rather than BNP membership.<ref></ref> | |||
| In another case, Robert Baggs claimed that he had been discriminated against because of "religion, or similar philosophical belief" after he was refused a job at a ] surgery. His claimed that the employer was in violation of the Employment (Religious Discrimination) Regulations of 2003. The Employment Tribunal found that membership of the BNP was not a "similar" belief,<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article384990.ece|work=The Times|location=London|title=BNP loses battle|date=26 April 2005|accessdate=27 April 2010|first=Daniel|last=Barrett}}</ref> and the case was rejected. Stuart Chamberlain of management consultants Gee Consult has advised that a similar case might be successful since the removal of the qualification "similar" from philosophical belief by an amendment in 2007. "Cases concerning claims made by British National Party's (BNP) members that their fascist beliefs were similar to religious beliefs have previously been decided in favour of the employer or potential employer. Under the new law, a strong argument could be made to the contrary."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.consultgee.com/aboutus/press_ReligiousDiscrimination.html |title=Press Release - Consult GEE |publisher=Consult GEE |accessdate=27 February 2009}}{{Dead link|date=May 2010}}</ref> This has yet to be tested. | |||
| Arthur Redfearn was a bus driver whose BNP membership was unknown to his employer, Serco, until he was elected as a councillor. His employer was concerned that he might endanger its contract with a local authority to transport vulnerable people of various ethnicities from a day centre and he was dismissed. The Employment Tribunal held that members of racist organisations could lawfully be dismissed on health and safety grounds if there was a danger of violence occurring in the workplace.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.emplaw.co.uk/researchfree-redirector.aspx?StartPage=data%2f2005irlr744.htm |title=Disclaw Publishing - Employment Law, unfair dismissal, redundancy pay |publisher=Emplaw.co.uk |accessdate=27 February 2009}}</ref> It had been unsuccessfully argued at the Employment Tribunal that Redfearn had been racially discriminated against because the BNP is a whites-only organisation, and was treated unfairly in comparison to racist organisations that were non-white.<ref>{{Cite BAILII|country=ew|litigants=SERCO LIMITED and ARTHUR REDFEARN|court=EWCA|division=Civ|num=659|para=16|date=25 May 2006}}</ref> | |||
| In 2002, a BNP candidate and Regional Organiser, Kevin Scott, was dismissed from the ] hardware store in ]. The management said this was not due to his party membership but due to "low morale" amongst other staff who did not want to work with him, and also the number of calls from customers expressing their disapproval. Scott settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, although the BNP had pledged to support any action.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2264846.stm |title=UK | England | Store settles with sacked BNP worker |publisher=BBC News |date=17 September 2002 |accessdate=27 February 2009}}</ref> | |||
| In 2010, weeks before the ], the BNP candidate for ], Robert Grierson, resigned as a barrister at St Philips chambers in ] after various newspapers including the '']'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.birminghampost.net/news/newsaggregator/2010/03/25/barrister-standing-for-bnp-leaves-birmingham-chambers-65233-26111456/|title=Barrister standing for BNP leaves Birmingham Chambers|date=25 March 2010|publisher=The Birmingham Post|accessdate=11 February 2011|location=Birmingham}}</ref> '']''<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/25/barrister-bnp-loses-chambers-grierson|title=Barrister standing for BNP at election loses post at chambers|date=25 March 2010|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=11 February 2011|location=London|first=Owen|last=Bowcott}}</ref> and the '']''<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260696/Barrister-Robert-Grierson-stand-British-National-Party.html|title=Barrister forced out as he stands for BNP in General Election|date=25 March 2010|publisher=The Daily Mail|accessdate=11 February 2011|location=London}}</ref> ran articles concerning his political ambitions. | |||
| ====Organisations which ban BNP membership==== | |||
| =====Police===== | |||
| Membership of the BNP, ] and the National Front by police officers and staff was prohibited by then Home Secretary ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/the_british_national_party_26#incoming-53709 |title=The British National Party |publisher=WhatDoTheyKnow |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> following an undercover TV exposure of racism in a police training centre.<ref>Stuart Jeffries, , ''The Guardian'', 21 October 2003</ref> The Association of Chief Police Officers banned serving police officers joining the BNP in 2004.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Reporter |first=Staff |url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2333676.ece?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News |title=Force sack 'BNP' cop | The Sun |News |publisher=The Sun |date=2009-03-21 |accessdate=2010-06-18 |location=London}}</ref> Despite this, Simon Darby has claimed that the BNP still has members who remain covert. Manchester Police Authority has viewed footage taken at BNP events in order to identify off-duty officers in attendance at a BNP St George's Day rally, wearing BNP badges and T-shirts, with the slogan "Love Britain or Fuck Off".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/may/12/ukcrime.thefarright |title=Inquiry into claim that police joined BNP event Politics | The Guardian |publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=27 February 2009|location=London|first=Matthew|last=Taylor|date=14 May 2007}}</ref> | |||
| A retired police officer, John Phazey, stood as a BNP European Assembly candidate. He denied that he was a racist or that the police were institutionally racist, saying: "Of course you heard words like Paki and nigger, but it didn't mean much more than someone saying Paddy for an Irishman or Jerry for a German...It was just jokes in the canteen. You'll get that anywhere when you have men in their 20s and 30s together".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20031026/ai_n12586083/ |title=This BNP member was a policeman for 30 years. He might dismiss racism Sunday Herald, The | Find Articles at BNET |publisher=Findarticles.com |date=26 October 2003 |accessdate=27 February 2009 | first=Home | last=Affairs}}</ref> | |||
| A Police Community Support Officer, Ellis Hammond, was found to be a BNP member after he was discovered stockpiling weapons at his home, including a ].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3512152.ece |title=BNP member covertly poses as policeman - Times Online |publisher=Times Online|accessdate=27 February 2009|location=London|date=9 March 2008|first=Daniel|last=Foggo}}</ref> Gary Marsden was sacked from his job within the ] in 2007, for performing folk music at the BNP's Red, White and Blue Family Festival, and allowing his CDs to be sold by the Party, although it was accepted that he was not a member.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.andrewbronsmep.eu/?q=content/when-west-yorkshire-police-decides-whos-member-british-national-party|title=When West Yorkshire Police decides who's a member of the British National Party. | |||
| |date=Tue, 01/02/2011|publisher=www.andrewbronsmep.eu|accessdate=Tue, 02/02/2011}}</ref> | |||
| After BNP membership lists were leaked on the Internet, a number of police forces investigated officers whose names appeared on the lists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/19/police-bnp-far-right-list |title=Police scour BNP membership to find officers breaching ban |publisher=The Guardian |accessdate=23 October 2009|location=London|first=Ian|last=Cobain|date=19 November 2008}}</ref> In March 2009, PC Steve Bettley of Merseyside Police, whose name appeared on one of the lists, was dismissed. | |||
| <ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2333676.ece?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News|title=Force sack 'BNP' cop|date=21 March 2009|publisher=The Sun|accessdate=29 September 2009|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| =====Prison service===== | |||
| A ban on BNP membership was imposed by Martin Narey, Director of the Prison Service, in 2002. Narey told the BBC that he received hate mail and a death threat as a result.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4247329.stm|title='No-one wanted' top UK jails post|date=8 February 2005|accessdate= 4 October 2008|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> | |||
| =====Other professions===== | |||
| {{As of|2009}}, only the police and the prison services have an official prohibition on BNP membership.<ref name="The Guardian">{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/28/nick-cohen-bnp-criminal-offence|title=Why I wouldn't ban BNP members from being teachers|publisher=The Guardian|date=28 June 2009|accessdate=1 December 2009|location=London|first=Nick|last=Cohen}}</ref> A ban on BNP membership was considered in the civil service in 2004 and in the probation service in 2005.<ref> BBC News, 19 September 2004. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref><ref>Alan Travis , ''The Guardian'', 1 February 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> In October 2005, a proposal to ban the BNP from Dorset Fire Brigade, proposed by the management and the Fire Brigades Union, was turned down by the Fire Authority.<ref>BBC News , 24 October 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> The president of the BNP-linked trade union Solidarity, Adam Walker, resigned from his job at a college for accessing BNP websites and posting comments using a school laptop during working hours.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5701277.ece|work=The Times|location=London|title=Protestors gather outside hearing of Adam Walker BNP teacher|date=10 February 2009|accessdate=27 April 2010|first=Joanna|last=Sugden}}</ref> He was cleared of racism but found guilty of misconduct by the ].<ref name="news1">BBC News , 25 May 2010.</ref> His brother, Mark Walker, was suspended from another college for allegedly accessing pornography using school equipment,<ref name="markwalker">, ''Northern Echo'', 13 November 2008, Retrieved on 22 January 2009</ref> and was eventually sacked on the basis of his sickness record.<ref>, ''Northern Echo'', 16 October 2008, Retrieved on 30 November 2009</ref> His supporters told the press that he had been suspended for accessing the BNP website and had been victimised because of his political beliefs.<ref name="news1"/> | |||
| The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service declined to act against a BNP council candidate, Ian Johnson, after he wrote in his election leaflets that he was a retained firefighter, despite ] pressure to do so.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3806643.stm|title=Call to sack BNP fireman rejected|accessdate=19 November 2008|date=16 June 2004|publisher=BBC News|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040619155029/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3806643.stm|archivedate=19 June 2004}}</ref> | |||
| Liam Birch, a sociology student standing as a BNP council candidate for Southway was dismissed as assistant warden at Plymouth University, when he posted in a blog that "The Jews declared war on Germany, not the other way round".<ref>, ''Western Morning News'', 9 June 2006. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| In February 2009, the ] voted to ban its clergy from joining the BNP.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7880313.stm|title=Synod votes in favour of BNP ban |date=10 February 2009|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=10 February 2009}}</ref> | |||
| ===Association with violence=== | |||
| John Hagan claims that the BNP has conducted right-wing extremist violence in order to gain "institutionalized power".<ref name="haganwilliam">{{Cite book|last=Hagan |first=John |title=International handbook of violence research |publisher=Springer |year=2003 |isbn=9781402014666 |page=406}}</ref> Critics of the BNP, such as ] in a 1997 report, have asserted that the party recruits from skinhead groups and that it promotes racist violence.<ref name="humanrightsw">{{Cite book|title=Racist violence in the United Kingdom |url = http://books.google.com/books?printsec=frontcover&vid=ISBN1564322025&vid=LCCN96077750 | publisher=Human Rights Watch |year=1997 |isbn=9781564322029 |page=13}}</ref> | |||
| In the past, Nick Griffin has defended the threat of violence to further the party's aims. In 1986, when Griffin was Deputy Chair of the NF, he advised his audience at an anti-] rally to use the "traditional British methods of the brick, the boot and the fist."<ref>''Yorkshire Post'', 17 February 1986</ref> After the BNP won its first council seat in 1993, he wrote that the BNP should not be a "postmodernist rightist party" but "a strong, disciplined organisation with the ability to back up its slogan 'Defend Rights for Whites' with well-directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate". In 1997 he said: "It is more important to control the streets of a city than its council chambers."<ref name="guardng">{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2002/sep/01/features.magazine37|title=Flying the flag|last=Anthony|first=Andrew|date=1 September 2002|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=6 October 2009|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| The BNP defends itself by arguing that over 20% of the working population has some criminal record or another and that a large proportion of MPs, councillors and activists in the other three main parties also have unsatisfactory past records.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} | |||
| A BBC '']'' programme reported on a number of BNP members who have had criminal convictions, some racially motivated. The BBC's list<ref></ref> is extensive. Some of the more notable convictions include: | |||
| * ] had convictions for assault and organising paramilitary neo-Nazi activities. In 1986 he was jailed for conspiracy to publish material likely to incite racial hatred.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite book|title=Racist violence in the United Kingdom |url = http://books.google.com/books?printsec=frontcover&vid=ISBN1564322025&vid=LCCN96077750 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |year=1997 |isbn=9781564322029 |page=14}}</ref> | |||
| * In 1998, Nick Griffin was convicted of violating section 19 of the ], relating to ]. He received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was fined £2,300.<ref>{{Cite web| http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/legan/legan029.pdf|title=the British State Versus Freedom of Expresion|format=PDF}}</ref> | |||
| * Kevin Scott, who in 2001 was the BNP's North East regional organiser, has two convictions for assault and using threatening words and behaviour.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/membership/organisers/kevin_scott.stm|title=BBC News: BNP - Under the Skin|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> | |||
| * Joe Owens, now expelled but previously a BNP candidate in ] and former bodyguard to Nick Griffin,<ref>Owens, J ''Action! Race War to Door Wars'', 2007, Lulu.com ISBN 1430322594</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title = 'Senior BNP official suggested assassinating prominent politicians'|author = Neil Mackay|url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20060528/ai_n16432216/|publisher = The Sunday Herald|date = 28 May 2006|accessdate = 29 January 2008}}</ref> served eight months in prison for sending razor blades in the post to Jewish people and another term for carrying CS gas and knuckledusters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/page.cfm?objectid=12800817&method=full|title=icLiverpool: BNP man sent razor blades to city Jews}}</ref> | |||
| * Tony Wentworth, former BNP student organiser, was convicted alongside Owens for assaulting demonstrators at an anti-BNP event in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/s/163/163054_bnp_pair_fined_for_brawl_on_campus.html|title=Manchester Evening News: BNP pair fined for brawl on campus}}</ref> | |||
| * Colin Smith, who in 2004 was the BNP's South East London organiser, has 17 convictions for burglary, theft, possession of drugs and assaulting a police officer.<ref>{{Cite news|title = On the Le Pen menu: roast beef and raw bigotry|author = Sophie Goodchild|url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/on-the-le-pen-menu-roast-beef-and-raw-bigotry-561175.html|publisher = The Independent|date = 25 April 2004|accessdate = 29 January 2008|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| * ], at the time BNP National Organiser, was sentenced to three months in prison in 1994 for his part in a racist attack. Edmonds threw a glass at the victim as he was walking past an East London pub where a group of BNP supporters was drinking. Others then 'glassed' the man in the face and punched and kicked him as he lay on the ground, including BNP supporter Stephen O'Shea, who was jailed for 12 months. Another BNP supporter, Simon Biggs, was jailed for four and a half years for his part in the attack.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Anger as BNP chief walks free over race attack|url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/anger-as-bnp-chief-walks-free-over-race-attack-1423282.html|publisher = The Independent|date = 18 June 1994|location=London|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> | |||
| ====Tony Lecomber cases==== | |||
| ] was jailed for three years for possessing explosives, after a ] exploded while he was carrying it to the offices of the ] in 1985.<ref>{{Cite news|author = John Davison, Ian Burrell and Cyril Dixon|title = Exposed: Labour trickery that hyped BNP to election victory|work = ]|date = 19 September 1993}}</ref> He was jailed for three years in 1991, whilst the BNP's Director of Propaganda, for assaulting a Jewish teacher.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/membership/advisory/tony_lecomber.stm|title=BBC News: BNP - Under the Skin|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref><ref>"On the seamier side: the shadow of racist politics", ''The Economist'', 7 December 1991</ref> | |||
| ====Robert Cottage case==== | |||
| In 2007, Robert Cottage, a former BNP council candidate, was sentenced to two and a half years for possession of explosives but a conspiracy charge against him was withdrawn after two juries had been unable to reach a verdict.<ref>"Second jury fails to agree on BNP 'bomb' pair", ''The Guardian'', 13 July 2007</ref> The prosecution claimed that Cottage had plans to assassinate ] and Liberal Democrat peer ].<ref>, ''The Guardian'', 13 February 2007, Retrieved on 13 February 2007</ref> | |||
| The chemicals recovered by police are believed to be the largest explosives haul ever found at a house in Britain.<ref>, ''Pendle Today'', 6 October 2006, Retrieved on 13 February 2007</ref> | |||
| ===2008 membership list leak=== | |||
| On 18 November 2008, a list of over 10,000 BNP members was published by ] in breach of a court injunction.<ref name=guardian-2008-11-18> James Sturcke, Matthew Weaver and Ian Cobain, The Guardian</ref><ref>, Nico Hines, The Times</ref> This included names, addresses and other personal details. People on the list included prison officers (barred from BNP membership), teachers, soldiers, civil servants and members of the clergy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9808105a-b6a5-11dd-89dd-0000779fd18c.html|title=Probe into officer on BNP list|date=20 November 2008|work=Financial Times|accessdate=12 December 2008}}</ref> One of those named disavowed his membership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/11/18/bnp-membership-list-published-analysis-of-legal-position-for-blogs/|title=BNP Membership List Published: Analysis of Legal Position for Blogs|last=Wardman|first=Matt|work=The Wardman Wire |accessdate=18 November 2008}}</ref> | |||
| Nick Griffin claimed that any party member dismissed from employment would be able to receive substantial compensation,.<ref>, ''Metro'', 19 November 2008</ref> The BNP advised those named on the list to deny their membership and said that they would confirm that in writing if required.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://leejohnbarnes.blogspot.com/2008/11/bnp-fake-membership-list-issues.html |title=Lee John Barnes, BNP Legal Director |publisher=Leejohnbarnes.blogspot.com |date=18 November 2008 |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> The BNP claimed it contained the names of persons who had never been members of the BNP.<ref name="guardian-2008-11-18"/> The BNP's Lee Barnes claimed that the list was false.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://leejohnbarnes.blogspot.com/2008/11/bnp-fake-membership-list-issues.html |title=21st Century British Nationalism: BNP Fake Membership List Issues |publisher=Leejohnbarnes.blogspot.com |date=2008-11-18 |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> | |||
| People affected by the disclosure included a DJ, Rod Lucas, who was dropped by the ] radio station. He said: "I am an investigative radio journalist and am a member of over 20 political parties and pressure groups...It doesn't necessarily mean I agree with their views."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3484612/Rod-Lucas-dropped-by-TalkSPORT-after-BNP-links-emerge.html|title=Rod Lucas dropped by TalkSPORT after BNP links emerge|date=19 November 2008|accessdate=19 November 2008|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}}</ref> A drama teacher at a prep school whose name was found on the list had been dismissed from a previous position as a result of her BNP membership.<ref>{{Cite news| first = Neil |last=Sears| title = Teacher at prestigious prep school faces probe after her former job with BNP is exposed| work = Daily Mail| accessdate = 12 December 2008| date = 22 November 2008| url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088392/Teacher-prestigious-prep-school-faces-probe-job-BNP-exposed.html | location=London}}</ref> | |||
| Following an investigation by Welsh police and the ], two people were arrested in December 2008 for breach of the ] concerning the leak.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/dec/05/bnp-leak-arrests|title=Two held over BNP membership leak|work=The Guardian|date=5 December 2008|location=London|first=Angela|last=Balakrishnan|accessdate=26 March 2010}}</ref> Matthew Single was subsequently found guilty and fined £200. The fine was criticised as an "an absolute disgrace" by a BNP spokesman and a detective sergeant involved said he was "disappointed" with the outcome.<ref name="manfined">{{Cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8231475.stm|title = Ex-BNP man fined over names leak|accessdate = 5 September 2009|date = 1 September 2009|publisher = BBC News|location = United Kingdom|archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5jYzMxUWR|archivedate = 5 September 2009}}</ref> | |||
| ===Equality and Human Rights Commission=== | |||
| The ] sent the BNP a letter in 2009, ahead of legal action, setting out concerns about the BNP's constitution and membership criteria. It alleged that the BNP's constitution restricting membership to white people was unlawful under the Race Relations Act. The BNP chose to fight this opinion in the ]. | |||
| The Commission issued county court proceedings against party leader Nick Griffin and two other officials.<ref>, BBC News. Retrieved 24 August 2009.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/august-2009/commission-issues-county-court-proceedings-against-the-bnp/|title=Commission issues county court proceedings against the BNP|date=24 August 2009|publisher=Equality and Human Rights Commission|accessdate=20 November 2009}}</ref> | |||
| The conclusion of the case in October 2009 saw costs awarded against the BNP.<ref>, EHRC, Retrieved on 19 October 2009</ref> The BNP stated that Griffin was "required in Brussels" on that day. Griffin had written to BNP members preparing to concede the case because it would be too expensive to fight<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b947072a-98aa-11de-aa1b-00144feabdc0.html |title=/ UK - BNP’s ‘whites-only’ rule set to be axed |publisher=ft.com |date=3 September 2009 |accessdate=23 October 2009}}</ref> and would "strip the party of the ability to fight the next general election".<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6820847.ece|work=The Times|location=London|title=British National Party forced to admit nonwhites|date=4 September 2009|accessdate=27 April 2010|first=Fiona|last=Hamilton}}</ref> Griffin subsequently announced that he would ask BNP members to accept the court's decision and allow non-whites to join the party,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6820847.ece|title= | |||
| British National Party forced to admit non-whites|publisher=The Telegraph|accessdate=15 October 2009|location=London|date=4 September 2009|first=Fiona|last=Hamilton}}</ref> claiming that this action "outflanked" the EHRC.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bnp-may-have-to-admit-black-and-asian-members-after-court-challenge-1803635.html|work=The Independent|location=London|title=BNP may have to admit black and Asian members after court challenge|date=16 October 2009|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> The BNP anticipated that its members would accept the change on financial grounds.<ref name="dailymail.co.uk">{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220565/BNP-change-whites-membership-rules-fall-foul-discrimination-laws.html |title=BNP to change 'whites only' membership rules so as not to fall foul of discrimination laws | Mail Online |publisher=Dailymail.co.uk |date=2009-10-15 |accessdate=2010-06-18 | location=London}}</ref> | |||
| The BNP agreed to suspend further membership applications until an Extraordinary General Meeting in January 2010 confirming changes to the constitution. The case was adjourned in order to ensure compliance.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220565/BNP-change-whites-membership-rules-fall-foul-discrimination-laws.html |title=BNP to change 'whites only' membership rules so as not to fall foul of discrimination laws | Mail Online |publisher=Dailymail.co.uk |date=15 October 2009 |accessdate=23 October 2009 | location=London}}</ref> As a result of the case, Welsh Secretary ] protested against the BBC's inclusion of Griffin on the ] programme, claiming the court case meant the BNP was "an unlawful body". ], director of ], said: "A shiny new constitution does not a democratic party make. It would be a pyrrhic victory, to say the least, if anyone thought that giving the BNP a facelift would make the slightest difference to a body with so much racism and hatred pumping through its veins."<ref name="dailymail.co.uk"/> | |||
| The courts declared that the new constitution still breached equality laws and was still indirectly discriminatory. Judge Paul Collins ordered the BNP to pay costs and said its membership list must remain "closed" until it complied with race relations laws. The BNP claimed that it had a waiting list of black and Asian people and wanted more applications from ethnic minorities.<ref name="New BNP rules rejected by court">{{Cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8564742.stm|work=BBC News|title=New BNP rules rejected by court|date=12 March 2010|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> | |||
| In November 2010, the BNP leadership was accused of lying over the matter by the EHRC who claimed that the offending passage had not been removed but merely altered.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/08/nick-griffin-high-court-bnp | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Matthew | last=Taylor | title=BNP leader Nick Griffin accused of lying over party's constitution | date=8 November 2010}}</ref> In a subsequent hearing the BNP leadership was found not guilty of the contempt of court. The EHRC said: "Eighteen months and seven court hearings later Mr Griffin has finally amended the constitution to bring it in line with what the Commission had originally requested."<ref> | |||
| {{cite news| url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bnps-nick-griffin-defeats-contempt-legal-bid-2162992.html | location=London | work=The Independent | first1=John | last1=Aston | title=BNP's Nick Griffin defeats contempt legal bid | date=17 December 2010}}</ref> Griffin said: "This is a great day, because the British National Party has won a spectacular ] victory".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2010/dec/17/bnp-nick-griffin-legal-penalties-video | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=BNP leader Nick Griffin avoids legal penalties | date=17 December 2010}}</ref> | |||
| ==Opposition== | |||
| The BNP is condemned by many sections of the media, including right-wing newspapers such as the '']''. High-ranking politicians from each of the mainstream parties have, at various times, called for their own supporters to vote for anyone but the BNP,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1756111,00.html|title=Guardian: Cameron: vote for anyone but BNP|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=18 April 2006|accessdate=26 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Blair admits 'paying penalty' for US links|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1541686/Blair-admits-paying-penalty-for-US-links.html| accessdate=20 February 2007|location=London|first=George|last=Jones|date=6 February 2007}}</ref> In 2008, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated: "Londoners and the rest of the British people know that backing the BNP is totally at odds with what it really means to be British—and the great British values the rest of us share, such as democracy and decency, freedom and fairness, tolerance and equality."<ref name="Brown">{{Cite news|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/04/29/hope-not-hate-vote-for-equality-freedom-and-hope-by-gordon-brown-115875-20398497/|title=Hope not hate: Vote for equality, freedom and hope|last=Brown|first=Gordon|date=29 April 2008|publisher=Daily Mirror|accessdate=7 October 2009}}</ref> ] leader ],<ref name="telegraph.co.uk">{{Cite news|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Cameron calls on voters to back anyone but the BNP|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1516510/Cameron-calls-on-voters-to-back-anyone-but-the-BNP.html| accessdate=5 December 2006|location=London|first=George|last=Jones|date=24 April 2006}}</ref> ] party leader ],<ref name="cleggtoday">Nick Clegg "... a party of thugs, fascists." Speaking on ''Today'', BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2009.</ref> and former Lib Dem leader Sir ]<ref>{{Cite web|work=Liberal Democrats|title=Lib Dems appeal to ethnic minority voters|url=http://libdems.org.uk/news/lib-dems-appeal-to-ethnic-minority-voters.10064.html | |||
| |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071014184609/http://libdems.org.uk/news/lib-dems-appeal-to-ethnic-minority-voters.10064.html | |||
| |archivedate=14 October 2007 | |||
| | accessdate=4 October 2007}}</ref> have all condemned the BNP. | |||
| The British Government announced in 2009 that the BNP's two MEPs would be denied some of the access and information afforded to other MEPs. The BNP would be subject to the "same general principles governing official impartiality" and they would receive "standard written briefings as appropriate from time to time", but diplomats would not be "proactive" in dealing with the BNP MEPs and that any requests for policy briefings from them would be treated differently and on a discretionary basis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/09/diplomats-shun-nick-griffin-bnp-europe |title= UK diplomats shun BNP officials in Europe|accessdate=23 October 2009|location=London|first=Ian|last=Traynor|date=9 July 2009|work=The Guardian}}</ref> | |||
| Amongst the most visible and vocal opponents of the BNP and other far right-wing groups are ] and '']''. Unite Against Fascism, which aims to unite a broad spectrum of opposition to the far-right, includes the ], the ] and the ]. ''Searchlight'' has monitored the activities of far-right groups in Britain and abroad, including the BNP and its members, for many years. | |||
| Some opponents of fascism call for no coverage to be given to groups or individuals enunciating what they describe as "]". The "]" stance is to deny perceived fascist hate speech any sort of publicity. The policy is most commonly associated with university student unions and debating societies,<ref></ref> but has also resulted in BNP candidates being banned from speaking at various hustings meetings around the country. In 2005, the '']'' newspaper was criticised after publishing an interview with Nick Griffin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=971585|title=Yorkshire Evening Post: BNP interview fury}}</ref> Also in 2005, an invitation to Nick Griffin by the ] Union Debating Society to participate in a debate on multiculturalism was withdrawn after protests.<ref>Russell Jackson, , ''The Scotsman'', 5 February 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2009.</ref> ] has been taken against the BNP stalls in shopping centres.<ref>, ''Edinburgh Evening News'', 29 March 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2009.</ref> The BNP claims that such cases exemplify how political correctness is being used to silence it and suppress its right to freedom of speech.<ref> BNP Website, 4 February 2005. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| In May 2007, a presentation by Nick Griffin was to be held at the ], but the University withdrew permission due to concerns over the large number of people opposing the meeting and possible disruption it could cause.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/6644117.stm|title=BBC News: University halts BNP speech plan|date=10 May 2007|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref> | |||
| In October 2010, a ] councillor in ], ], condemned a BNP leafleting campaign in his home town of ] opposing a refugee dentention centre being built there.<ref> '']''</ref> | |||
| The Anti-Nazi League-organised group, ], organises regular music events in opposition to the far-right.<ref></ref> | |||
| ===Veterans and Second World War=== | |||
| In June 2009, the ] wrote to Griffin privately to ask him to stop wearing their poppy symbol. After he refused and wore the badge at campaign events and on the party's televised election broadcast, The Legion said in an open letter: "True valour deserves respect regardless of a person's ethnic origin, and everyone who serves or has served their country deserves nothing less ... appealed to your sense of honour. But you have responded by continuing to wear the poppy. So now we're no longer asking you privately. Stop it, Mr Griffin. Just stop it."<ref>Taylor, Matthew. , 13 June 2009, Retrieved on 13 July 2009</ref> In September 2009, the Legion accepted a donation which it had initially rejected from BNP member Rachel Firth. Firth had spent 24 hours raising the money, half of which was given to the Legion and the other half to the BNP. The Legion said that Firth had assured them that the donation would not be exploited politically although the story was later "splashed across" the BNP's website. BNP spokesman Simon Darby denied that the party exploited the story.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8250086.stm|title=British Legion accepts BNP gift|last=Furlong|first=Ray|date=11 September 2009|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=6 October 2009}}</ref> | |||
| ]'s family has criticised the BNP after the party used his image and quotes from one of his speeches in its campaign. Churchill's grandson, ], described the BNP as "monstrous" and said its use of Churchill was "offensive and disgusting".<ref>, ''BBC News'', 26 May 2009, Retrieved on 13 July 2009</ref> | |||
| The BNP was also caught up in a dispute with 1940s singer ] after she objected to the party selling copies of her ] CD on its website to fund its European election campaign.<ref>, '']'', 18 February 2009, Retrieved on 13 July 2009</ref> | |||
| ==Online presence== | |||
| In September 2007, '']'' newspaper reported that ], the online competitive intelligence service, said that the BNP website had more hits than any other website of a British political party.<ref> ''Daily Telegraph, 17 September 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2008.</ref> In 2009, the party's website came under fire after it was revealed that much of the merchandise it sold was made in ], contrary to the party's pledge of "British Jobs for British Workers".<ref>Richards, Victoria, , ]. Retrieved 21 September 2009.</ref> | |||
| ==Affiliated organisations== | |||
| ===Officially linked groups=== | |||
| * The short-lived ] gave financial assistance to the BNP from American supporters, and it also facilitated contact between far right figures in both countries.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} | |||
| * The Trafalgar Club is the BNP fundraising club, and the name the party uses to book hotels and conference facilities. | |||
| * The BNP Ethnic Liaison Committee is an organisation that people from ] can join. The committee has joined with BNP members in staging demonstrations. | |||
| * Great White Records is a record label launched in January 2006 that is described by the BNP as "a patriotic label". It launched a campaign to introduce British ] to schoolchildren. Most of the songs were sung by Doncaster folk musician Lee Haggan, and were written by Nick Griffin. Haggan denied that the BNP was targeting schools; in a TV interview Griffin said "It's a great way of getting our message to children."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.doncastertoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=786&ArticleID=1363019|title=Doncaster Today: Town Folk Musician Records CD for British National Party}}</ref> | |||
| * Albion Life Insurance was set up in September 2006 as an insurance brokerage company on behalf of the BNP, in order to raise funds for its actvities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-151726902.html|title=BNP sets up life firm, ''Highbeam''}}</ref> The firm ceased to operate in November 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=185|title=A Finger in Too Many Pies, ''Searchlght''}}</ref> | |||
| * The BNP obtains some of its funding from the sale of books and heraldic or Norse jewellery. The merchandising arm of the British National Party is the Excalibur brand.<ref>. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| ===International political contacts=== | |||
| The BNP and the French ] have co-operated on numerous occasions. ] visited the UK in 2004 to assist in launching the BNP's European Parliament campaign and Nick Griffin repaid the favour by sending a delegation of BNP officials to the FN's annual 'First of May ] parade' in Paris in 2006.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3654941.stm|title=BBC News: Le Pen UK visit sparks protests|date=25 April 2004|accessdate=31 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=288|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071014195748/http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=288|archivedate=14 October 2007|title=BNP: BNP Leader flies in to help French in Euro poll}}</ref> The BNP has links with Germany's ]. Griffin addressed an NPD rally in August 2002, headed by ], who ] accused of trying to remove immigrants from eastern Germany. In the run-up to the ], Nick Griffin visited Sweden to give the ] his endorsement. Members of the Swedish National Democrats were present at the BNP's 2005 ''Red White and Blue'' rally.<ref>, BNP Website 22 August 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| In London on 16 May 2008, Nick Griffin met leaders of the Hungarian far right party ] to discuss co-operation between the two parties. Griffin spoke at a Jobbik party rally in August 2008.<ref>The Sun, 28 November 2008</ref> In April 2009, ], deputy chairman of the BNP, was welcomed with fascist salutes by members of the Italian nationalist ] during a trip to Milan. Darby stated that the BNP would look to form an alliance with France's Front National in the European Parliament,<ref>The Independent, 9 June 2009, page6</ref> though this has not happened. | |||
| ===Alleged front organisations=== | |||
| * ] has been linked to the BNP,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stopthebnp.org.uk/index.php?location=news&art=354|title=Stop the BNP: BNP trade union unmasked}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article342406.ece|title=The Independent: BNP trade union unmasked|location=London|first=Barrie|last=Clement|date=1 February 2006|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref> but its president, ], and the BNP both deny that it is a BNP ].<ref> BNP Website, 26 January 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2008.</ref><ref>Jeannie Trueman Third Way website. Retrieved 4 October 2008.</ref> | |||
| * The ] was set up by BNP members and supporters to organise Christians "in defence of traditional Christian values". The ] has said that support for organisations such as the BNP is incompatible with Christianity. The Council's liaison officer denies it is a BNP front.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Giles Fraser |url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/farright/comment/0,,1766154,00.html |title=God is the God of all|date=3 May 2006 |publisher=Politics.guardian.co.uk |accessdate=23 October 2009|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1754762,00.html |title=Jamie Doward: "BNP link to new campaign groups"|date= 16 April 2006 |publisher=Observer.guardian.co.uk |accessdate=23 October 2009|location=London}}</ref> | |||
| * Opponents of the BNP claim that the ] is a front for BNP activity, although the BNP denies any link and says that the EDL is "proscribed" to its members.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.4398/pub_detail.asp |title=Britain's Street Protests – What is Going On?|date=6 July 2009 |publisher=Family Security Matters |accessdate=9 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bnp.org.uk/2009/09/the-english-defence-league-a-statement-from-the-bnp%E2%80%99s-national-organiser/ |title=The English Defence League|date=30 September 2009 |publisher=BNP|accessdate=31 October 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> It has been reported that an EDL website was set up by Chris Renton, a BNP activist who has been accused of hijacking the EDL.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/english-defence-league-chaotic-alliance|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=English Defence League: chaotic alliance stirs up trouble on streets|first=Robert|last=Booth|date=12 September 2009|accessdate=27 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6790067.ece|title=Far-right group, the English Defence League, in disarray after Birmingham fracas|date=10 August 2009 |publisher=The Times|accessdate=31 October 2009|location=London | first1=Nico | last1=Hines | first2=Costas | last2=Pitas}}</ref> In a radio interview in July 2009, EDL spokesperson Paul Ray confirmed this <ref>The Adrian Goldberg Show, Talksport Radio (UK), 6 July 2009</ref> but the EDL attempted to distance itself from him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/features/Businessman-bankrolls-street-army.php |title=English Defence League: Businessman bankrolls ‘street army’ |publisher=Hopenothate.org.uk |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> The website was taken down, according to Hopenothate ”in an apparent attempt to conceal any link”<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1304/Far-right-group,-the-English-Defence-League,-in-disarray-after-Birmingham-fracas |title=HOPE not hate news: Far-right group, the English Defence League, in disarray after Birmingham fracas |publisher=Hopenothate.org.uk |date=2009-08-10 |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref> In an broadcast audio conversation with Simon Darby, Nick Griffin claimed that the EDL was a “Zionist false flag operation” and "a neo-con operation”. They claimed that it was an attempt to provoke a low level civil war.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chandler |first=Neil |url=http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/105162/Oh-it-s-our-fault-is-it-mr-griffin-We-cop-the-blame/ |title=Simply The Best 7 Days A Week :: News :: Oh, it’s our fault is it, Mr Griffin? |publisher=Daily Star |date=2009-10-25 |accessdate=2010-06-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Posted by simon |url=http://simondarby.blogspot.com/2009/09/putting-down-marker.html |title=Simon Darby: Putting down a marker |publisher=Simondarby.blogspot.com |date=2009-09-25 |accessdate=2010-06-18}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> In 2010, Lee Barnes was removed as head of the party's legal department for calling for "British nationalists to join the EDL demonstration".<ref>. Bnp.org.uk. Retrieved on 2010-08-14.</ref> | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| {{Reflist|group=note}} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| ===Footnotes=== | |||
| {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} | |||
| ===Bibliography=== | |||
| <!-- Please order books alphabetically by the author's last name --> | |||
| {{Refbegin|2}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Muslim Britain: communities under pressure|last=Abbas|first=Tahir |year=2005|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=1842774492|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups|last=Atkins|first=Stephen|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0313324857|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century|last=Barberis|first=Peter|year=2005|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=0826458149|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties|last=Boothroyd|first=David|year=2001|publisher=Politico's|isbn=1902301595|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The new politics of the Right: neo-Populist parties and movements in established democracies|last=Betz|first=Hans-Georg|year=1998|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=0312213387|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Nuclear Terrorism: A Threat Assessment for the 21st Century|last=Cameron|first=Gavin|year=2002|publisher=Palgrave USA|isbn=978-0312219833|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Liberation and Purity|last=Bhatt| first=Chetan |year=1997 |publisher=Routledge| isbn=1857284240| ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The British General Election of 1983 |last=Butler|first=David|authorlink=David Butler (Oxford)|year=1983|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780333345788|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Nationalist Myths and Modern Media: Contested Identities in the Age of Globalization|last=Brinks|first=Jan Herman |year=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=1845110382|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The Longman companion to Britain since 1945|last=Cook|first=Chris|year=2000|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=0582356741|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and its Quest for Legitimacy|last=Copsey|first=Nigel|year=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=1403902143|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The Routledge companion to fascism and the far right|last=Davies|first=Peter|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415214947|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Introduction to British politics|last=Dearlove|first=John|year=2000|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=0745620965|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge|last=Eatwell|first=Roger|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415369711|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Engaging anthropology: the case for a public presence|last=Eriksen|first=Thomas Hylland|year=2006|publisher=Berg Publishers|isbn=1845200659|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Whitewash: Racialised Politics and the Media|last=Gabriel|first=John|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415149693|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Extremist groups: information for students, Volume 1|last=Gale|first=Thomson|year=2006|publisher=University of California|isbn=1414411197|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Labour's second landslide: the British general election 2001|last=Geddes|first=Andrew |year=2002|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=0719062667|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Black Sun|last=Goodrick-Clarke|first=Nicholas|year=2003|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=0814731554|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=An Introduction to Politics, State and Society|last=McAuley|first=James|year=2003|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-0803979321|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The British General Election of 1983 |last=Harrison|first=Martin|year=1983|publisher=Macmillan|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The Routledge dictionary of modern British history|last=Plowright|first=John|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0203088468|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Traditions of intolerance|last=Robin|first=Anthony|year=1989|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=0719028981|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Britain's changing party system|last=Robins|first=Lynton J|year=1994|publisher=Leicester University Press|isbn=0718514947|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Into a world of hate: a journey among the extreme right|last=Ryan|first=Nick|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=041594922X|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Race and British electoral politics|last=Saggar|first=Shamit|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1857288300|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=The Radical Right in Britain: British History in Perspective |last=Sykes |first=Alan| year=2004| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=0333599241|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Revolutionary and dissident movements of the world|last=Szajkowski|first=Bogdan|year=2004|publisher=John Harper Publishing|isbn=0954381122|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{Cite book|title=Fascism in Britain: From Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front|last=Thurlow|first=Richard|year=1998|publisher=I B Tauris & Co|isbn=978-1860643378|ref=harv}} | |||
| {{Refend}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{Commons|British National Party}} | |||
| * '''' — official party website | |||
| * '''' — official party video media | |||
| * '' - official party Facebook page | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' — hosted by the BBC | |||
| * '' | |||
| * '' | |||
| * '' — hosted by Scribd | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * '''' | |||
| * | |||
| {{British National Party}} | |||
| {{British political parties}} | |||
| {{Nationalism in the United Kingdom}} | |||
| {{UK far right}} | |||
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Revision as of 16:37, 27 April 2011
lets just say the bnp are all idiots