Simon Bennett, the British National Party’s former webmaster, has accused Nick Griffin’s supporters of “depravity” by running a vile hate mail campaign against him in his home town of Camelford, in Cornwall, and the surrounding area.
Police told him they had been “inundated with complaints from local residents” who had received a leaflet accusing Bennett of “theft”, “using illegal narcotics”, hiding from “bailiffs and angry ex-clients” of a “string of failed businesses”, “forgery and deception”, and threatening ex-clients with “blackmail in the form of financial extortion”.
The leaflet advises residents with any information on these matters to contact the police or Social Care Services in an apparent attempt to cast doubt on his suitability as a parent.
Bennett has strongly denied all the allegations, which he says put him and his family “at risk from physical attack from some of the more extreme members in right wing circles, which I believe is exactly what Nick Griffin & Co have intended”.
Griffin and Bennett had a serious fallout a few days before the May elections over Griffin’s daft insistence on adding a Marmite image to a version of the BNP’s election broadcast released on the website. Griffin apparently wanted to gain publicity by provoking a response from Unilever, which owns the Marmite brand. It was the culmination of a year-long dispute with Jim Dowson, the convicted criminal and close aide of Griffin, who in effect owns the BNP.
Bennett, who supports Eddy Butler’s challenge to Griffin’s leadership, warns: “If you previously had any doubts that reform is needed with the BNP, then you may want to consider that this type of hate campaign could be bought onto anyone that dares to question the current leadership or refuse to ‘play ball’ or ‘put up and shut up’.”
Meanwhile, the latest attack on one of the anti-Butler blogs has confirmed that the BNP remains a thoroughly racist, antisemitic and homophobic party.
In an attempt to smear Butler by association, the Eddy Butler exposed website lists some of his supporters and their “offences”. Two are condemned for being gay and a third is described as “another long-term bachelor”. Another has “half-caste kids”. One man not only has a “wife of chinese [sic] extraction” but, no doubt worse in BNP eyes, “has worked extensively in Israel”.
Another Butler supporter listed is Jeff Marshall, the central London organiser whose poisonous outburst following the death of David Cameron’s disabled son was quoted in many HOPE not hate leaflets and newspapers. His view that it would be a kindness to kill children with disabilities did not prevent him from being put forward as a council candidate in the BNP’s top target borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Now that he is out of favour with Griffin, he is described as “deeply weird”. The blog continues: “As you hear him lisp and see him slime around, simply ask if you would be comfortable having him babysit?”
Lawrence Rustem, a former BNP councillor in Barking and Dagenham, was one of the earlier victims of the so-called “attack blogs” for expressing support for Butler. Until Butler announced on 30 June that in the event of his victory his deputy chairman would be Nick Cass, the Griffinites were putting it about that Rustem was in line for the role. Rustem is unpopular in the racist BNP because his father was a Turkish Cypriot.
In a new video released on YouTube Rustem criticises Griffin’s decision to stand as the BNP candidate in Barking in the general election. Griffin had a “negative impact” on the campaign and went down very badly on the doorstep, according to Rustem, who also condemned the party’s head office for giving “less than zero” support to its 12 councillors in Barking and Dagenham during the four years since their election in 2006.
The vicious attacks on Butler and his supporters show that Griffin is growing increasingly desperate, a fact that is confirmed by Griffin’s attempts to manipulate the election. An official statement on the BNP website states that nomination forms will be sent to every BNP member eligible to nominate candidates and must be returned to the party by post between 20 July and 10 August.
Butler has pointed out that the party constitution does not require the party to issue nomination papers but only that a candidate for the leadership must obtain the signatures of 20% of the membership with two years’ continuous membership.
Advising members to send nomination forms to his campaign address not to the party, Butler writes: “They are trying to get members to send their nomination papers directly to them. This is a disgusting abuse of process, similar to the sort of thing one would have expected in Soviet occupied Eastern Europe. I am afraid to say that the Party centre has so far acted in an appalling manner so far with regard to this year’s leadership election. They are bugging gatherings, closing down branch meetings, sacking officials and even suspending the membership of people who support a leadership challenge. The idea that people should send their nomination papers to Clive Jefferson’s Elections Department is nothing short of outrageous and can only be viewed as an attempt to derail the Party’s internal democratic process.”
Unfortunately for Butler, the BNP constitution, largely imposed upon the party membership by Griffin under the guise of complying with the requirements of the court in a legal action brought by the Equality Commission, affords many more opportunities for Griffin to thwart any leadership challenge.
Hope Not Hate
