Meet the mates of the BNP's "Man of God"

Banned from election hustings organised by the PCS trade union on July 16th, the BNP huffed and puffed and threatened to hold a press conference on the steps of Norwich City Hall to whine and whinge about their treatment. At the appointed hour the police were there in force, the press were there in force, and dozens of antifascists turned out, all eager to hear what the BNP and the bogus "reverend" Robert West had to say.

Alas - and true to form - Norfolk BNP had an attack of cold feet and with news of their press conference well and truly leaked their members stayed home to watch television (as most of them have been doing throughout the Norwich North by-election campaign).

Which was a pity, because we really wanted to have a chat with two friends of the Vicar of the Parish of The Front Room, located at 35 Farrow Avenue, Holbeach.

The first was Martin Roberts, seen below with His Eminence Robert West.

Until recently Roberts was the BNP's national enquiries secretary and Worcestershire organiser, but then the alleged Falklands veteran decided to drag his racism all the way to Norfolk - in fact, to 22 Church Road in hitherto unsullied Potter Heigham, where he relocated his online Calder Designs business.

During last week's little contretemps on Mousehold Lane in Norwich Roberts repeatedly asserted that he wasn't a Nazi (or a racist), but until the BNP ordered its members to remove all outward signs of support for Nazism Roberts had no problems at all shifting stocks of badges aimed squarely at the neo-Nazi market, which he sold alongside a range of BNP tat.

Nor does he have a problem hosting Calder Designs with NoisyDinosaur, run by BNP web guru Lambertus "Bep" Nieuwhof, an Afrikaaner immigrant convicted of attempting to blow up a church school in Nelspruit, Transvaal, in 1992. Nieuwhof had also been a member of Eugene Terre'Blanche's terrorist neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement. Nieuwhof eventually fetched up in Hereford, close to Martin Roberts' old turf.

With the Nazi stuff tucked away under the counter, Roberts intoduced a range of "golly" badges in the colours of various football clubs. These are clearly intended to insult and inflame - there's no other purpose to them - and are equally clearly sold on their parasitic but completely bogus association with the football clubs concerned, including our own Canaries - a club with a long standing committment to anti-racism.

So that's one of the fake reverend's dodgy friends we can't wait to meet again.

The other is Steve Ames. Steve is a man of convictions, lots of them, but they're not of the Christian variety. Here he is in all his glory, looking like a character dreamed up by Harry Enfield.

Ames runs one of the strangest second hand car dealerships you're ever likely to come across this side of Arthur Daley.

For one thing, you only get to visit his Trident Cars "showroom" by appointment, and his website gives only a vague location off the Norwich Ring Road. The funny thing is, all the photographs of the cars in his "showroom" seem to have been taken at or near 18 Carterford Drive, which happens also to be just off the Norwich Ring Road, and is Ames's home address. In fact, here's Ames's plush showroom, right at the end of the Carterford Drive cul-de-sac.

But Steve is so much more than a second hand car salesman. He's the violent goon mate of the Holy Robert who snarled "I can do what I fucking well like" while committing an unprovoked assault against an antifascist during last week's tete-a-tete between three antifascists and twenty BNP members outside the Duke of Norfolk pub.

When he realised the cameras were out Ames backed off, probably because - being a frequent client of theirs - he realised that telling a court "I can do what I fucking well like" wouldn't go down too well.

Steve has form, you see, and a fair old bit of it at that.

Back in 2001 our Steve was up before the beaks for harrassing a girlfriend who'd dumped the hot headed hooligan, and only narrowly escaped a prison sentence. Just two years before the romantic racist had been convicted of harrassing two other women (we hope any females visting Ames's open air "showroom" at the end of that cul-de-sac take a burly escort for protection), and, as it turned out, Ames had been in court so often since the mid 80s he was probably on first name terms with the magistrates.

Having witnessed Ames's violent temper at first hand, we're not surprised that Ames is considered first rate material for that party of law, order and stalkers, the BNP, or that he's a mate of the unholy Robert West.

More is coming to light all the time on the unsavoury activities of Steve Ames, but to keep you going (and to give your weekend a lift) here's the Norwich Evening News's report of the hilarious case of the Rejected Racist and his "war of love" - just click the pic:

Oldie but goldie - BNP dimbo doesn't notice daughter's boyfriend is mixed race

BNP nut Liz Walton comes out in support of West

BNP isolated as MEPs take up European seats

British civil servants and officials imposed a "cordon sanitaire" around British National Party MEPs as they took up their two seats in the European Parliament. The pair were banned from an official government reception for British MEPs, hosted by Glenys Kinnock, the Europe minister.

Nick Griffin, the BNP's leader, elected in the North West of England last month, dismissed the drinks party ban and the prospect of socialising with Baroness Kinnock. "I am not in the least bit fussed about not being able to drink champagne with Glenys Kinnock. She is a political prostitute," he said. "She and her husband started off their careers as anti-common market and now they are there not just with their noses in the trough, they are in the trough."

A spokesman for Baroness Kinnock refused to comment on Mr Griffin's remarks.

Under new guidelines, agreed by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Griffin and his colleague Andrew Brons, representing Yorkshire and Humber, will be isolated and kept at arms length from the world of officialdom and diplomatic socialising.

"Officials will not engage in any other contact with elected representatives of any nationality who represent extremist or racist views, unless specific permission has been granted to do so on a particular occasion," a government spokeswoman said.

The BNP is planning a challenge to any government moves to bar its MEPs from briefings by officials.

The MEPs have been placed in seats numbered 780 and 781, just one row in front of the new Conservative and Reformist Group founded by the British Tories. They were originally put next to Northern Irish MEP Diane Dodds but the Democratic Unionist refused to take up her place.

Both will collect combined salaries and allowances worth over £350,000 a year each but the BNP has failed to find enough far-Right colleagues across the EU to form a new bloc in the parliament.

Mr Griffin is expected to sit on the parliament's environment committee and Mr Brons on the constitutional affairs committee. Both MEPs have pledged to attend sessions of the parliament and to play a full role holding the EU to account.

"We will attend sessions. The EU has no right to legislate over Britain but the reality is that the parliament has real powers and we will do what is in power to improve legislation," said Mr Griffin.

Glenis Willmott, Labour's leader in the European Parliament, made a statement to MEPs condemning the BNP.

"Sixty years ago we fought against the fascists together. Today two UK fascists are taking their seats in this parliament for the first time. Today is a sad day for Britain and we will not let matters rest," she said.

Telegraph

Centre for Social Cohesion reveals BNP's online fascist network

Centre for Social Cohesion reveals BNP's online fascist network
Centre for Social Cohesion Press Release 13 July 2009

On the day before two leading British National Party (BNP) members take their seats in the European Parliament, a new Centre for Social Cohesion report reveals that members and supporters of the BNP and its online activists display significant ideological affinity with key tenets of the neo-Nazi ideology. This included: support for violence; antisemitism and an admiration of the Third Reich; extreme racist views; and Holocaust denial.

The BNP and the Online Fascist Network shows blogs run by members and self-professed supporters of the BNP continue to host, and link to, material that is pro-Nazi, racist, antisemitic, and homophobic. The BNP continues to sell books produced by neo-Nazi publishing houses on its website.


Support for violence

> Lee Barnes – leading member and head of the BNP legal team – supports the National Front on his blog. He refers to the group as a valid ‘nationalist’ organization and suggests that they operate as a street force for the BNP.

> Barnes advocates the downfall of western civilization: ‘The West deserves all it gets. The faster the fools that run the West destroy the West the better.’

> The BNP supporting blog Britain Awake praises Combat 18 and supports violent attacks on Muslim women. Britain Awake is hosted by a self-described member of the BNP who claims to have attended the party’s annual Red, White and Blue festival.


Antisemitism and an admiration of the Third Reich

> The official BNP YouTube account and the official YouTube accounts of the Thurrock and Burnley BNP branches show close links with neo-Nazi and antisemitic activists and organisations.

> Blogs run by members and self-professed supporters of the BNP continue to host, and offer links to, material that is pro-Nazi, racist, antisemitic, and homophobic.

> A member of the Covert Tactics blog, strongly linked with the BNP, refers to Jews as ‘greedy subhuman scum’. One member, Tommy Williams, is a neo-Nazi whose name appeared on the leaked list of BNP members. The blog expresses admiration for Hitler and has on a number of occasions denied or trivialised the Holocaust.


Extreme racist views

> So-called patriotic concerns of the BNP mask an underlying fear of racial ‘dissolution’ and a commitment to ‘soft’ ethnic cleansing in the form of policies attempting to coerce non-white Britons into leaving the UK.

> Material found on BNP supporting YouTube accounts, blogs, and internet forums contravenes the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.


Holocaust denial

> The BNP website promotes books by neo-Nazi publishing houses which are dedicated to rehabilitating Nazism and denying the Holocaust.


Edmund Standing, author of the report, says:

“The report shows that the BNP is a party dedicated to promoting racism, and continues to attract and empower adherents to neo-Nazi ideology, whose supporters include admirers of Adolf Hitler.”


Douglas Murray, Director of the CSC, says:

“This report shows that members and supporters of the BNP continue to hold and express the vilest racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexist views - shocking even to those of us who thought our opinion of the BNP could never be lower.”


Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, Research Fellow at the CSC, says:

“The BNP leadership insist that they are a mainstream political organisation, yet this report demonstrates how abhorrent their views truly are."

For a pdf of the full report access this link

Press enquiries: 0207 222 8909 / 07538 248610 / pressoffice@socialcohesion.co.uk

The Centre for Social Cohesion is an independent think tank

* The Centre for Social Cohesion * Clutha House * 10 Storey's Gate * London * SW1P 3AY *
* 0207 222 8909 email: mail@socialcohesion.co.uk *

Accrington BNP supporter spared jail after targeting Asian family

A man who made his Asian next door neighbours’ lives a misery with his anti-social and racist conduct was spared immediate jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Nigel Hesmondhalgh, 36, who had a British National Party sticker in the window of his Accrington home, was abusive and insulting to the couple, repeatedly picking on the wife. He piled dog dirt up in the alley outside their home and told them: “It’s a white country, not a Muslim state.”

Hesmondhalgh, said to be the carer for his brother, who has learning difficulties, told the husband of the couple he should be scared and shouted support for the BNP.

The couple had lived in their home for 14 years before he moved in. The defendant, who has since moved but wants to go back to the property on Higher Antley Street, had earlier admitted racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.

Hesmondhalgh, who has almost 90 previous convictions and has been flouting the law since he was 11, had struck while on bail for similar allegations which were left to lie on the file. He kept his freedom but his hostile and anti-social conduct was slammed by a judge, who warned the courts would not tolerate it.

The defendant, of Stanley Street, Accrington, was given 36 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, with 18 months supervision and the Thinking Skills programme.

Martin Hackett, defending, said the offence was unpleasant. Hesmondhalgh had been very close to his mother who died last July and he may have been adjusting.

Lancashire Telegraph

BNP leader has drink thrown over him

The leader of the British National Party had a pint of beer thrown over him at a Cotswold pub on Saturday night. Nick Griffin was dining with colleagues from the right-wing party in The Falcon Inn in Painswick when the incident happened.

An 18-year-old was ejected from the pub for arguing with the group, and waited outside for them to leave. When the party walked out of the pub, at around 11.30pm, the teenager threw a drink over Mr Griffin.

A statement issued by Gloucestershire police today confirmed the incident. It said: "On Sunday, July 12, Gloucestershire Constabulary received a phone call from an 18-year-old man stating that he had been assaulted the previous night, July 11, outside The Falcon Public House on New Street, Painswick.

"The man stated that he had been asked to leave the pub after he was involved in an argument with a group of diners. He left the premises but remained outside and a while later, at approximately 11.30pm, the group of diners left and he threw drink at them. Following this the group restrained him and it was during this time that the man states he was assaulted and bruising caused to his face. He did not wish to make a formal complaint about the incident."

Simon Darby, spokesman for the BNP said: "It appears this was an opponent of ours who thinks he can go around throwing drinks over people."

This is Gloucestershire

Huge BNP turnout to support West - 20 descend on derelict pub - intimidated by 3 anti-fascists

The BNP's top-secret RV point
Three HOPE not hate campaigners surprised and angered the BNP in Norwich on Saturday when they arrived to monitor what the BNP supposed was a secret meeting point at the Duke of Norfolk pub in Mousehold Lane. Unknown to the fascists, who snuck into the area for a leaflet and canvass session, the closed public house had been watched since early that morning.

The arrival of the fake "reverend" Robert West - the BNP's candidate in the Norwich North by-election - prompted the three anti-fascists to move in closer, and it was several minutes before the BNP noticed we were clicking away.

The penny drops
We approached the ropey reverend to ask who ordained him, but the prefabricated prelate went all sheepish on us and demanded that we address him as "reverend". We decided to address him as "fake".

Would you buy a used crucifix from this man?
We also asked him about Leader Nick's call for the sinking of refugee boats, because we couldn't find the verse in the Bible which states: "Blessed are those who torpedo black people on the high seas, for they shall inherit the Earth."

Needless to say West wasn't too interested in answering that point and went off to pretend to look through some BNP "literature" - a shoddy leaflet claiming that blacks are being housed ahead of whites by Norwich City Council (if they knew anything about Norwich North they'd know it's within the boundaries of Broadland District Council, and the housing policies of Norwich City Council have no effect in the constituency).

Those fellow fascists of West's who approached us all began with the "I'm not a racist" spiel then proceeded to justify blasting black people out of the water, one idiot talking about the New Testament's justification for Nick's sink 'em policy, then going on about the Old Testament when, quelle surprise, he found himself out-brained by a real Christian who'd done more than read the Bible's title.

While this was going on one or two of the motley assembly of 20 race haters were obviously losing it, and one of their goons suddenly jumped the wall separating us and attacked one of the HOPE not hate trio from behind, grabbing him around the neck, wrenching his arm behind his back and hustling him along the pavement.

Realising the camera's on him, West's goon backs off
When I pointed out he was committing a serious criminal offence the goon retorted "I can do what I fucking well like" - just as we saw outside Parliament the other week, when BNP goons ordered the public out of the way while they escorted Griffin and Brons to an egg-pelting party, and then again when they felled and trampled a black woman as they rushed their terror-struck Leader away from the scene.

The attack on our man prompted two of the BNP, including West, to call the police to claim that the three of us were victimising the 20 of them, and in minutes three police cars came blazing into the scene.

The lies quickly agreed to by the BNP didn't compute with the police, and the officer who interviewed us was quite ready to arrest the BNP goon. I've got to say I was in favour of it, but it would have meant hours at Norwich police station and the loss of our cameras, so our man declined to press charges.

Edith Crowther, who stood in King's Lynn Gaywood in the county council elections, explained that she had a degree in Arabic and that her goon mate was a "working class man from a poor council estate who doesn't know any better.."

What they're driving on poor council estates these days - West's thug and his 4x4
The kind of poor council estate where everybody owns a petrol-hungry 4x4 with a personalised numberplate, eh, Edith?

Crowther ("My husband sometimes lets me out of the house") was peremptorily told to stop talking to us. We can't say whether it was her husband who gave the order.

Motley collection - would-be BNP boat sinkers
The turnout for the BNP was pathetic. Despite a national call for help most of the twenty belonged to Norfolk BNP, with few of them from Norwich - and almost all of them had out-of-county accents. Until recently, while the rest of the BNP prepared to fight elections Norfolk BNP prepared to order lunch, but we still couldn't help but notice the absence of some of Norfolk BNP's biggest online loudmouths, who, like most of the BNP, are too ashamed to show their faces in public and prefer to do their politicking from the anonymity of a keyboard.

After that not much happened. Everybody, including us, had to give their details to the police, and that kept the BNP corralled on the pub car park for more than an hour. When told they were free to go, the BNP cars waited around while a number of mobile phone calls were made, leading the HOPE not hate trio to suspect that something else was being planned, then they made a number of unsubtle feints (we're not that stupid, West) and finally drove off in convoy.

As we had no chance of reaching our cars in time to follow, and as the police were still watching, we decided to call it a day at that point, happy that we'd acheived what we set out to do - but there's a way to go in the Norwich North by-election yet, and we're pretty sure we'll be meeting up again with the BNP and its deceitful devil-dodger some time very soon.

UK diplomats shun BNP officials in Europe

The government is to single out Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, the British National party's two newly elected representatives in the European parliament, for special treatment, denying them some of the access and information afforded to all the other 70 UK MEPs.

Under new guidelines drafted in Whitehall and in the Foreign Office following the June elections to the European parliament, the two BNP leaders will be kept at arms' length from the kind of routine contacts and socialising that take place between British civil servants and MEPs in Brussels and Strasbourg.

When the new parliament convenes next week in Strasbourg, Glenys Kinnock, the new Europe minister, is to host a reception for all British MEPs. Only Griffin and Brons have not been invited.

"Officials will not engage in any other contact with elected representatives of any nationality who represent extremist or racist views, unless specific permission has been granted to do so on a particular occasion from the FCO permanent under-secretary and the minister for Europe," said a government spokesperson.

The official said that the BNP duo 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 British diplomats made plain that they would not be "proactive" in dealing with the BNP MEPs and that any requests for policy briefings from Griffin or Brons would be treated differently and on a discretionary basis.

A Brussels-based civil servant said it was acceptable for him to meet MEPs across the party spectrum for a drink, but that any such meetings with Griffin or Brons would be frowned upon.

The MEPs of the anti-EU UK Independence Party have been invited to next week's government reception.

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said he was satisfied that he was treated equally by the 155 diplomats and civil servants working at the British mission to the EU, known as Ukrep, in Brussels.

"During the British [EU] presidency in 2005, I remember Jack Straw telling me that we'll be treated the same as all the others," said Farage. "If we ring Ukrep, we would expect to be treated fairly by them. If we contact them, they help us even though they're almost certainly closer to the other parties. We've not found them to withhold stuff from us if we ask."

Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEP, said that the BNP represented a special case and that the government was entitled to differentiate in its dealings with elected representatives.

"A line has been crossed [with the BNP]. It's a difference of degree. It's not surprising that the government has to draw up guidelines to deal with a different situation."

Following the European elections, the civil service and government officials considered a range of options for dealing with the BNP, from an inclusive non-discriminatory approach to total quarantine, effectively ostracising them. David Miliband, the foreign secretary, is said to have signed off a decision that would bar the BNP people from government and embassy events in Brussels, while providing the extremists with some policy information.

"I don't think the policy of isolating them, of a cordon sanitaire, will work at all," said Farage. "It's a mistake. They're elected representatives, whether we like it or not."

The isolation has been compounded by Griffin's failure over the past week to cobble together an alliance of extremists in the parliament in order to qualify for official caucus status and thus benefit from better funding, speaking time, and committee positions.

To qualify, a parliamentary fraction needs to muster 25 MEPs from at least seven EU countries. Griffin's signature failure was not persuading Italy's anti-immigration party, Liga Nord, to join him. Instead the Italians linked up with Farage's Ukip.

The Guardian

BNP members banned from joining Methodist Church

The Methodist Church has become the first major denomination in the UK to ban all its members from joining the British National Party (BNP).

A resolution passed by the annual Methodist Conference, meeting in Wolverhampton, declared that “No member of the Church can also be a member of a political party whose constitution, aims or objectives promote racism. This specifically includes, but is not solely limited to, the British National Party”.

The news follows a similar ban on Church of England clergy, but the Methodists have gone much further, saying that no-one can even be a member of the Church while also belonging to the BNP.

“We must be clear that racism is a denial of the Gospel” said Rev Sylvester Deigh, who proposed the motion.

“An openness to all people, regardless of nationality, is at the heart of Methodist identity” he continued.

The motion was seconded by the Rev Dr Angela Shier-Jones.

While strongly condemning racism and the BNP specifically, the motion declares that “those who support racist parties are also God’s children, and in need of love, hope and redemption”. Supporters of the measure are keen to stress that no-one will be banned from attending a church – only from membership of it.

The BNP have in recent months attempted to appeal to Christian voters, claiming to be protecting the UK's “Christian heritage”.

They have fielded the Rev Robert West as their candidate for the Norwich North by-election on 23rd July, though he has failed to make clear in which church he has been ordained.

Most Christian denominations have condemned the BNP and called on their members not to vote for it. However, the thinktank Ekklesia has pointed out that churches need to disassociate themselves from the “Christian nation” rhetoric which the BNP exploits.

The Methodist Church will now undertake the legal work required to put their agreed measures into practice and report back to the Methodist Conference in July 2010.

Ekklesia

BNP's sink 'em policy claims first success

Demo against 'growing threat' of BNP

A wave of protest against the British National Party is to culminate in a protest march in Lincoln.

Lincoln and District Trades' Council organised the march following the election of two BNP members to the European Union. The group is keen to highlight what it feels are the real policies and background of the BNP.

Secretary of the Lincoln and District Trade Union Council Graham Peck said: "Lincoln and District Trades' Council is bitterly disappointed with the recent election of two British National Party members to the European Parliament. In the light of this growing threat in the county, and the election on our doorstep of Andrew Brons for Yorkshire and Humberside region, the Trades' Council has decided to call a demonstration to oppose the rise of the racist BNP."

The far right organisation had 23 candidates standing in the Lincolnshire County Council elections, but did not make any gains in the area. Boston is currently the only place in the county with a BNP councillor.

The rally is due to be held on Saturday, meeting outside the University of Lincoln at 11.30am before leaving at noon and heading up Wigford Way, along Guildhall Street and down High Street.

East Midlands regional organiser for the BNP Geoff Dickens said: "Irrespective of what people like to think, different communities do not get on well together. Some of the more established communities of immigrants from the 60s and 70s are as much in despair of the new groups and the state of the country as the BNP."

Lincolnshire Echo


Full details from L&DTUC:

The assembly point is in front of Lincoln uni, and we will be congregating at 11.30 to leave at 12, marching up Brayford Wharf East, along Wigford Way, turning left down Guildhall Street and right on to the High Street before stopping for a rally in front of the former Tourist Information centre

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