BNP comes to Norfolk

Far-right politician Nick Griffin last night defended his right to visit Norfolk despite an outcry over his controversial views.

The British Nationalist Party leader, pictured, spoke at a pub in King's Lynn in the afternoon before attending a meeting at a conference centre in Stoke Holy Cross, near Norwich.

Police said they were aware of his presence in the county and were monitoring it but did not expect trouble. A spokesman added: “They are a legitimate political party.”

Mr Griffin dismissed those who objected to his visit as “a bunch of silly students and elderly University of East Anglia lecturers who do not represent Norfolk people”.

Mr Griffin was famously cleared of inciting racial hatred in a 2006 trial after attacking Islam.

Stoke Holy Cross resident Jason Wallmsley said many had been shocked at the party's decision to visit the village. He said: “Decent people live in this village and the owners of the venue should be thoroughly ashamed.”

Nobody from the Old Mill in Stoke, where Mr Griffin addressed about 70* people, was available to comment on their decision to host the meeting. The party would not identify the pub in King's Lynn but said about 50 people attended**.

Norwich Evening News

*This is, as usual, a lie. We don't have the exact figures for that meeting yet, but our source disputes that anything like 70 BNP members attended, or that all of them were from Norfolk. **Strange, then, that our very reliable source in Norfolk BNP gives a figure of 26, again, many of them NOT from Norfolk. DG