Dicky dips out

According to El Grauniad the bottle loving Dickie Barnbrook called in sick this morning just before he was due to answer charges of bringing his office into disrepute. Barnbrook claims to have been signed off for two weeks by his GP.

The hearing will resume on either August 12th or 4th September.

The ordiginal complaint against Barnbrook was made by friend of Norfolk Unity Cllr. Val Rush, a cabinet member on Barking and Dagenham council. Staunchly antifascist and acknowledged for her untiring work on behalf of her constituents, Cllr. Rush is one of a number of Barking and Dagenham Labour councillors deselected at the instigation of supporters of local MP Margaret Hodge.

Hodge is widely blamed for talking up the chances of the BNP in Barking and Dagenham, which helped them secure 12 seats on the council.

BNP official under investigation for comments about archbishop of York

City Hall chief executive believes that BNP deputy leader Simon Darby, who works part-time at the GLA, has a 'prima facie' case to answer for remarks about John Sentamu and fellow Ugandans

A City Hall investigation is under way after a senior BNP official on the devolved London government's payroll described the archbishop of York, John Sentamu, as an "ambitious African" and said his fellow Ugandans threw spears at their enemies.

The Guardian understands that City Hall's chief executive, Leo Boland, decided to act following concerns raised by Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London.

Sentamu, who fled Idi Amin's dictatorship in 1974, had criticised comments made by the BNP chairman, Nick Griffin, who said that black and Asian Britons "do not exist". But in a series of interviews and online comments, the party's deputy leader, Simon Darby, who has a part-time job at the Greater London authority, attacked the archbishop saying he should "not interfere in the political process".

"He's not in any position to tell me or anyone else who is, or isn't, English. If I went to a Uganda village and told them that they were all genetic mongrels and that anyone could be Ugandan I'd still be picking spears out of myself now."

On his blog Darby, who also tops the BNP candidate list in the Midlands in the forthcoming European elections, added: "Our old friend John Sentamu, or to give him his full name John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, has been up to his old tricks once again. As if the responsibilities of being the archbishop of York were not enough the ambitious African has apparently used his power and influence to kindly bestow upon the world the right to be English."

A source close to City Hall told the Guardian that Boland believes that there is a "prima facie" case for Darby to answer. Though Darby, who works for the London assembly's lone BNP member, Richard Barnbrook, is not in a politically restricted post, he is subject to a code of conduct governing all staff.

Earlier this week, Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham, condemned Darby's comments and said he should face disciplinary action for breaching his employment contract to "promote equality of opportunity".

Darby has insisted his comments were not racist. "I don't see how that is offensive or racist. It can be twisted or distorted to look that way, but what I am saying is factual. There are lots of indigenous people there [in Uganda] and in the bush they have spears – that is their lifestyle. I am not implying that all Ugandan people use spears at all. I was speaking specifically about the indigenous people. The spear is an integral part of their culture and lifestyle."

Polling experts believe that the far-right party has a chance of picking up its first seats in the European parliament in the June although leaked documents obtained by the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight show it has already scaled back its ambitions to focus on two regions, the north-west and the west Midlands.

"They had hoped to hide their campaign of hate behind a mask of respectability, but now that has been torn away," said a Searchlight spokesman. "Even someone as internationally respected as Dr Sentamu is not immune from their poisonous slurs."

The Guardian

Richard Barnbrook sidelined for BNP Euro election campaign?

I had to laugh last week when the BNP's Activists' and Organisers' Handbook and BNP Language & Concepts Discipline Manual got some coverage in the press.*

It was all too easy to see our favourite London-based fascist in the pages describing 'Walter Mitty characters' and 'oddballs'.

Apparently:

The Internet is also populated by superficially convincing conspiracy theorists. A few of these theories may actually be true, but the general public are unlikely to work that out, so for nationalists to accept and publicise them would only allow the media to portray us as cranks. If you have any such 'hobbyhorses', keep them strictly to yourself, don't discuss them at meetings and don't post them anywhere in cyberspace.
[From part 23, 'Technology', of Activists' and Organisers' Handbook.]

I wonder if they mean conspiracy theories like:

Most of it [real crime, which is done on the streets, as opposed to fake crime, which presumably goes on in buildings and forests] is being done by immigrants or by the sons of immigrants who have been protected by a despicable government desperate for the Ethnic Block-Vote.

Which appeared in an early version of Barnbrook's blog post Blame the Immigrants before it was swiftly removed from the post.

Or maybe they mean posts like one that was incredibly swiftly stuffed in the memory hole - the classic Throw the lot out - which included this:

Labour want to keep the terrorists here because they depend on the votes from the Muslims, and the Muslims have assured Labour that they will always vote for them as long as they don't come down too hard on any suicide bombers or jihadists.

The BNP also say:

never speak of the situation in Britain as hopeless or of British society as corrupt to the point of worthlessness.
[Bold and underlining in original. Sorry. From rule 10 of BNP Language & Concepts Discipline Manual]

I wonder if this rule had anything to do with the infamous Blame the Immigrants being removed from the blog completely, since it said, comically:

I have no time for these liberals. I despise them.....not for their person, but for their values....for everything that they believe in, although I am not so sure that they even believe it. I am talking about all these dirty politicians and journalists who sit in their homes smoking their drugs and telling themselves they have made Britain better. Well its not. Its a cess-pit and its the young people who have to swim in its filth.

Cess pit, eh?

Barnbrook has also recently stopped his practice of giving 'Walter Mitty' style interpretations of his performance in Mayor's Question Time while linking to actual footage exposing the reality of his abysmal performance, which sees him often impatiently dismissed, or openly laughed at and made to look a fool. Not by stopping the bits where he pretends to have really stumped the Mayor when in fact he's been told off for eating a banana or something, but by leaving out the links to the actual videos.

In fact, quite a lot seems to have been left out of Barnbrook's blog recently. I'm not just talking about New'd Labour in which he includes 'hilarious' pictures of himself and a woman in her underwear standing outside Jaqui Smith's house, but leaves out the detail that he stuffed mucky books through her letterbox (Google it - it was covered on the BNP site). I mean the entire blog. There hasn't been anything there for the best part of a month - despite his having led the BNP charge at the St George's celebrations in London last week, and the whole thing has been pretty anodyne for quite a while now.

Activists' and Organisers' Handbook is now missing rules 14 and 15, as pointed out by Eric the Fish. Don't be fooled into thinking this means the BNP have dropped the idea that there can't be Black or Asian Britons. Griffin himself appeared on Radio 4 to defend the idea after all.

It seems that the BNP have realised what those of us who oppose them have known for ages. That the BNP themselves are our best asset. Whether it's their members and representatives or their actual policies and rules, things seem to be disappearing all over the place. It should be worrying for the party that its member with the most political power and potentially the highest profile in the party needs to be censored so often and hidden from you. Mind you, given the picture at the top here, you can understand why, eh?

*You'll have to Google them if you want a look, I'm afraid. I have a policy of not linking to the shovel-headed goons' own website.

Five Chinese Crackers

Richard Barnbrook under new investigation by GLA

BNP London Assembly Member Richard Barnbrook is under investigation for another alleged breach of the GLA code of conduct, Tory Troll can reveal.

The complaint, made by James Cleverly AM, concerns material distributed during the recent closely fought Bexley Council by-election.

Barnbrook is accused of distributing petitions for the controversial BNP-backed 'London's Mothers Against Knives' campaign with City Hall given as the contact address.

He also stands accused of misusing GLA resources as well as other related breaches of both the GLA code of conduct and the Local Authority Publicity Code.

At a recent meeting of the City Hall Assesment Sub-Committee it was decided that the complaint warranted further investigation by the Monitoring Officer.

Sanctions for breaking the code range from an obligation to make a formal apology to full suspension from office.

A separate complaint about 'false' claims that he made in a Youtube video on the subject of murders in Barking and Dagenham is also still under investigation.

Tory Troll

Richard Barnbrook investigated over murder claims

Richard Barnbrook, the BNP's only London assembly member, is under investigation after being accused of wrongly alleging that three murders took place in the borough.

Mr Barnbrook, who is GLA member for Barking and Dagenham, claimed in September that a girl and two others were murdered in knife attacks. He made the claims on Youtube website, accusing London Mayor, Boris Johnson and councils of failing to do more to tackle knife crime.

GLA's standards sub-committee referred the allegation for further investigation after viewing the broadcast last month. Mr Barnbrook could be suspended by the GLA for up to six months if the complaint is upheld.

Executive Member for Safer Neighbourhoods and Policing, Cllr Val Rush, lodged the complaint, after stating that there had been no murders during this period.

Mr Barnbrook said in the Youtube video in September: "In Barking and Dagenham three weeks ago there was murder of a young girl. Again two weeks ago there was another attack by knives on the streets of Barking and Dagenham and two people were murdered."

Mr Barnbrook has been advised to make no comment while the investigation is underway.

Barking and Dagenham Post

London mayoral race hots up over tussle

LONDON (Reuters) - The race to be mayor of London took a twist on Wednesday when a far-right party offered backing to the frontrunner, who quickly distanced himself from the unwanted endorsement.

The British National Party, known for its anti-immigrant views, said supporters should vote for its candidate as their first choice and feel free to list Boris Johnson (left), a conservative who currently leads the polls, as their second choice.

"A second choice vote for him gives you the chance to vote BNP as your first preference and still vote to get Livingstone out of office," the party said on its Web site, referring to the incumbent mayor.

"In this race, the Tory clown Johnson is a lesser evil than the Marxist crank Livingstone," the party explained. Tory is a word used to describe Britain's Conservative party, for whom Johnson is a member of parliament.

More than five million Londoners are due to vote in the election for mayor on May 1, casting a ballot not only for their top choice to run the city and its 11 billion pound ($22 billion) budget, but for their number two candidate as well.

Johnson, an ex-journalist with a cartoonish reputation who is known for making brash comments, sought to distance himself from the BNP, saying he wanted nothing to do with the party.

"Boris thinks the BNP doesn't represent the views of the London he knows and loves," said a campaign spokeswoman, Katie Perrior.

"I think people know Boris well enough to know that he would never have the same views as the British National Party."

It was Livingstone, who has been mayor since 2000 but is lagging Johnson in the polls, whose campaign pointed out the BNP's second preference comment, and appeared to use the endorsement to score political points.

"That the BNP have called for a second preference vote to the Tory against me is no surprise," Livingstone said in a statement emailed to journalists.

"I hate and despise everything the BNP stand for as against every value of London as a great multi-ethnic, tolerant and diverse city."

London only created the position of an elected mayor in 2000, but already it is one of the most hotly contested elections in the country, closely followed by national leaders who can gain leverage from the results.

As well as Livingstone and Johnson, the leading four candidates include a gay former police chief and a 33-year-old member of the Green Party.

Issues on the agenda for the winner include the environment, cutting down on teenage crime, improving roads and cycle lanes, investing more in public transport and keeping the city at the forefront of finance, where it has become a global leader.

(Reporting by Luke Baker; Editing by Matthew Jones)

---------------------

BNP assembly candidate quits after blog row

A BNP London Assembly candidate has quit after a row over controversial comments he made on his blog.

Nick Eriksen, who lives in Richmond, was criticised after it was revealed he had posted comments saying women would be more bothered by having their handbag stolen than by being raped.

Until his resignation Mr Eriksen BNP's London organiser was the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly.

In the posts, made under the name Sir John Bull in August 2005, the former Tory councillor wrote: "I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal."

He added: "To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence."

A spokesman for the British National Party explained this morning that although Mr Eriksen had done the "honourable thing" and resigned he felt his comments were taken out of context.

"The BNP is a party that is tough on crime. And to prevent any confusion Nick has decided to do the honourable thing and resign," the spokesman said.

On the blog - billed as Britain's most hard-hitting, controversial and politically incorrect - Mr Eriksen also states men are more intelligent than women, and mums who use nannies are not fit to care for their children.

Wimbledon Guardian