Racist Scottish Defence League hijack army logos for website

ARMY chiefs have declared war on the neo-Nazi Scottish Defence League for using Royal Regiment of Scotland logos to boost its membership.

Top brass have hit out at the racist SDL for hijacking the historic badges and emblems for political gain and tarnishing the good reputation of the armed forces.

The official SDL website features the Royal Regiment of Scotland logo and the words "Support Our Troops" alongside pictures of badges reading "Scottish Casuals".
A shaven-headed SDL thug was also spotted brandishing an army flag at a recent demonstration in Glasgow.

The Army insist the anti-Islamic SDL was breaking copyright laws.
They said: "Emblems, logos and insignia belonging to the army are Crown copyright and cannot be used without permission. It is very unlikely that this, or any other politically-affiliated group would be given that permission"

And Colonel Bob Stewart, former UN commander in Bosnia, added: "It is utterly contemptible and disgraceful that this group should use emblems and badges of the Royal Regiment of Scotland."

A rag-tag mob of SDL fanatics - who are closely linked to the BNP - brought chaos to Edinburgh last month during a tense stand-off between the far-right group and anti-fascist protesters.
The Daily Record

Conservatives ignored secret report on extremist Polish allies (UK)

David Cameron forged his controversial EU alliance with rightwing Polish politicians despite a secret report by his own party which warned that they had homophobic and nationalistic tendencies, senior EU figures have told the Observer.

The report, drawn up by Tory officials in 2007, concluded that the Conservatives should be wary of a link with the Polish Law and Justice party (PiS) because its members were on the far right, with some tending towards antisemitism.

Two years later, however, the concerns raised in the internal document were brushed aside as Cameron split from Europe's mainstream centre-right group to form a new alliance with Law and Justice and other right-of-centre parties in other member states.
One of the Law and Justice MEPs, Michal Kaminski, who has been accused of blatant homophobia and supporting antisemitic causes in his past, was appointed to lead the group. The party was in mourning yesterday after one of its most senior figures, the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, was killed in a plane crash in western Russia.

Kaminski denies being a homophobe, despite having defended public remarks in which he described gay men as "poofs".
Ten days ago the Observer asked the Tories to confirm the report's existence, and for an explanation of why its findings were not acted on, but the party has not responded.
The revelation that the Tory leadership received internal advice from its staff to reject Law and Justice will raise new questions as to how William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, and Cameron have been able to claim their new partners are from Europe's "mainstream".

A former Polish MEP, Jozef Pinior, said he had been shown a summary version of the report in 2007 by "Conservative friends" in the parliament. It contained advice "not to break away from the European Peoples party (the mainstream centre-right group) ... it made clear it was too politically dangerous", he said.

Edward McMillan-Scott, the former Tory MEP who was expelled from the party after raising concerns about Kaminski and Law and Justice, said: "I knew the report existed but I never saw it. I took my party at its word at the time when it said that it would not sign up with those from the wild fringes of European politics. But I was wrong."
Another senior EU source said: "We know about the report. The main piece of work runs to 200 pages or so. It was thorough. Serious concerns were raised about Law and Justice and several other potential allies at that time."
The Guardian

Confusion over BNP's election campaign (UK)

The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, yesterday started his campaign to become an MP as a Sunday Telegraph investigation uncovered apparent electoral irregularities involving the far-Right party.
As well as challenging Labour for the parliamentary seat of Barking in east London, the BNP’s main hope is to take control of the local council. But at least three BNP council candidates in the borough appear to have registered at "front addresses" to get around the requirement that local authority candidates must live in the area.

According to the electoral register, Eddy Butler, until recently the BNP national election organiser, lives in Loughton, Essex, 10 miles from Barking. Neighbours there said they had seen him within the last few days.
However, he has submitted nomination papers giving an address in Ellerton Gardens, Dagenham. Mr Butler also recently registered himself on the roll at this address but neighbours shown pictures of him did not recognise him.

At the Dagenham address, the curtains both upstairs and downstairs were drawn in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. Contacted by telephone, Mr Butler admitted he still visited his Loughton property, that he owned the house and that members of his family still lived there, but insisted that he now lived in the rented Dagenham house.
Another BNP candidate in Barking and Dagenham, Chris Roberts, lives in Benfleet, near Southend, around 20 miles from Barking. However, in his nomination form, Mr Roberts gives an address in Arden Crescent, Dagenham — which is the home of the BNP’s London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook. Again, Mr Roberts recently registered on the electoral roll at this house.

A third candidate, Gavin Cardy, gives an address in Sylvan Avenue, Chadwell Heath. The electoral register indicates that his permanent address is actually in Fulham in west London.
If the three are not genuinely living at addresses where they have registered, they could be guilty of electoral fraud and could be disqualified if elected.
Mr Roberts and Mr Cardy were not available for comment, but Bob Bailey, the leader of the BNP group on Barking council, said: "As far as I know, they have all genuinely moved address. It’s all pukka."

Mr Barnbrook said: "Chris Roberts spends enough time at my house to fulfil what the law says, and that’s good enough."
The BNP has struggled to find enough genuinely local candidates in Barking. The Sunday Telegraph has learned that, including Mr Butler, Mr Roberts and Mr Cardy, it had found only 34 candidates for 51 council seats.
Party sources admitted that other candidates had been rejected by council officials for not giving local addresses on their nomination papers.

A spokesman for the anti-fascist group Searchlight said: "There are clear signs that the BNP campaign is faltering."
Mr Griffin said yesterday he was "very confident" about the Westminster contest. However, private polling for Labour is understood to show that the BNP leader is a potential drag on the ticket.
The Telegraph