An open letter from Nick Lowles - Give one hour to stop the BNP!

Dear reader,

I am writing this open letter to you because I need your help. With the European election only a few weeks away it is absolutely vital that we all do what we can to stop the BNP from winning seats in the European Parliament. A significant BNP victory would herald the era of four-party politics and the BNP, with its leaders who peddle race hate, division and fear, would become a lasting national threat, and one that will play out in the ballot box and in our communities.

But they need not win. This election is being contested under proportional representation and so every vote counts. It is also a turnout election so we need everyone who opposes the BNP’s politics of hate to vote and convince others around them to vote.

This month Searchlight is launching its “Donate an hour” initiative. We are asking all our readers and supporters to give us a minimum of one hour to help us stop the BNP. Towards the end of this letter I will give you five ways you can help stop the BNP.

We are facing the biggest political challenge to date but if everyone who opposes the BNP’s message of hate does something then we can stop them.

The BNP threat

The threat from the British National Party in the forthcoming European election is very real. With just a small increase in the share of the vote the party secured at the last European election in 2004, the BNP could win three or more seats. Let there be no misunderstanding, a substantial breakthrough in the European election would change the British political landscape for years to come.

And it would change for the worse.

Each MEP is entitled to around £250,000 a year for staff and office support. Rather than benefiting voters in the region, the BNP would employ organisers to push its racist agenda in local and national elections.

That’s exactly what it has done in London, where its representative on the London Assembly employs two people, the party’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, who lives in Wales, and its Essex organiser Emma Colgate, who lives in Thurrock.

More importantly, a significant BNP breakthrough would fundamentally change the BNP’s fortunes and our ability to stop them. They would achieve a respectability and credibility that they can now only dream of. They would become regular fixtures on news programmes and we would no longer be able to pressurise the authorities to stop their activities.

As MEPs, they would be able to intervene on any issue and in any community they wish. We only have to look back to Oldham a few years ago to see how this can play out on the streets, winding up communities and pitting neighbour against neighbour. Increased tensions, fears and violence will likely follow.

Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, needs to increase his 2004 vote in the North West from 6.4% to just 8.5%. Simon Darby only has to increase the BNP’s 7.5% vote in 2004 to 10.5% to take a seat in the West Midlands. And Andrew Brons requires his share of the vote to grow from 8% to 10.5% to take a seat in Yorkshire and The Humber.

The BNP even pose a threat in the East Midlands and London. They need to double their 6.5% vote in the East Midlands but with 26% of the electorate having voted for the UK Independence Party in 2004, which is now a mere shadow of its former self, this is not unfeasible. The BNP might only have polled 5.3% in London in last year’s London Assembly election but this could easily rise to the necessary 8.5% if inner London, which came out strongly for Ken Livingstone and Labour 12 months ago, remains at home this time.

Turnout will be a major factor.

Few people appear interested in the European election. A poll taken towards the end of last year found only 3% even knew that there was an election this year at all. Most people who are interested probably dislike the EU all the same.

In 2004 the BNP was prevented from winning through a high turnout, caused largely by all-out elections in the Metropolitan authorities in the North and West Midlands on the same day, and a huge vote for the UKIP. Neither of these factors are likely to benefit us this time. With no local elections in the urban areas of the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber and the West Midlands, turnout is likely to plummet.

In 1999, when the European elections was held without other elections at the same time, turnout nationally was just 23%. It was even worse in the North West, where the biggest BNP risk is. Twelve of the 20 local authorities with the lowest turnout were in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, with just 13% of people voting in Liverpool.

If there is anything like a repeat of this turnout then we have little hope of stopping the BNP. One trade unionist in Burnley put it very succinctly at a recent meeting. If only one million of the five million registered voters in the North West bother to vote then Nick Griffin will only need 90,000 votes to get elected. And they will certainly get this.

If two million people bother to vote, achieving a 40% turnout, then the BNP will need 180,000 votes. Suddenly it becomes more difficult for them. If there is a 50% turnout then the BNP will need 225,000, which surely is beyond their reach.

Turnout is absolutely crucial. In a short election campaign we will try to depress the BNP vote but that is far more difficult, and time consuming, than turning out our anti-BNP vote. And this has to be our crucial task. A turnout of less than 30% and it will be virtually impossible to stop the BNP from winning seats.

Mobilising

It is against this backdrop that the HOPE not hate campaign is being organised. It will be our biggest and most sophisticated campaign to date. During May we are organising days of action and mass leafleting all across the country. So far we have activities organised in over 70 local authority areas, with more to be confirmed. Some will be small events, with just a handful of people, but others will mobilise hundreds. There is now a competition between Manchester and Liverpool for who can put more people on the street on 16 May. Wigan has set itself a target of delivering 50,000 newspapers and Barking and Dagenham is aiming for more than 250 people to take part in its day of action.

However, we also recognise that we alone cannot defeat the BNP. The HOPE not hate campaign is working with a number of partners who have their own networks, among them trade unions and faith groups. If the trade unions can increase polling day turnout among their 750,000 members in the North West they can really influence the outcome. If these trade unionists can persuade their partners to vote, that will push up the turnout even further.

We are working with all the main trade unions, often customising specific literature with messages that are pertinent to their members.

Faith groups will be crucial. They have a credibility and authority in many of the communities where local politicians have disengaged. In Greater Manchester alone, the Anglican Church has over 500 full-time employees and a similar number of part-time workers, and the church as a whole has the largest community outreach project in the country. Give these people the arguments and tools to take the message to their congregations and we are really beginning to motor.

The Jewish community is already organising. In parts of north London turnout among Jewish voters in 2008 was almost 80%, largely mobilised based on the desire to defeat the BNP. A similar campaign in Manchester and Leeds is being organised and will obviously boost our vote.

High stakes

The stakes have never been higher. I’m presuming that you, as a reader of Searchlight, share my opposition to the BNP and its politics of hate. But now I must ask you to do a little bit more. If we are to defeat the BNP then we must all play a role, and we must do it now.

We have to say to ourselves, and our friends: If not me, who? If not now, when?

This is why I am asking you to donate a minimum one hour to fight the BNP. That’s my ask to you and I hope it will be your ask to your friends and family.

Many of you could probably donate far more than an hour to the campaign, but even if it is only one hour it can make a difference.

One hour is enough time to deliver 150-200 leaflets or newspapers. It is enough time to address a union branch meeting or send an email to all your friends and family explaining why you are voting in this election and to urge them to do the same.

If we all gave just one hour then we can do an enormous amount. If every Searchlight reader delivered at least 150-200 leaflets then over a million could be distributed. This could be doubled if we all found one other person to do it as well. This would be multiplied several times over if the 22,000 on our growing HOPE not hate email list also committed an hour.

And if everyone donated just two hours during May then really anything is possible.

We are building something very special this year at the HOPE not hate campaign. We are combining traditional anti-fascist campaigning with community organising. We are using new technology to bring in tens of thousands of new activists into the campaign in a way that the political parties cannot. We are doing all this because the threat is so real.

I hope you will give me the hour and in the process play your part in the HOPE not hate campaign. Please don’t wake up on 5 June thinking there was one more thing you could have done.

Yours in solidarity

Nick Lowles

Please get involved by visiting http://www.hopenothate.org.uk

Searchlight

Former BNP member warns party is focusing on Wales

A former British National Party insider who is now a campaigner with anti-fascist group Searchlight has warned that the party is intent on making Wales one of its strongest areas.

Matthew Collins, who was in Cardiff to address a fringe meeting at the Plaid Cymru conference, said leading figures in the party were convinced the would drive disenchanted working class communities into the BNP’s arms.

The far-right party has recently increased its activity in several parts of Wales, notably in Carmarthenshire, where it now has a community councillor.

Mr Collins, 37, became involved with the BNP in South London when he was 15. He was quickly promoted within the inner circle of activists and became privy to many of the party’s secrets. After a violent attack by BNP sympathisers on a group of protesters, Mr Collins became disillusioned and decided to contact Searchlight. For three years he passed information to Searchlight, including details of planned activities by BNP members and the breakaway group Combat 18, whose founder and former leader Charlie Sargent is serving a life sentence for murder. Two TV exposes were made based on his disclosures.

When he came under suspicion, Mr Collins fled to Australia for 10 years. He kept up his campaigning, exposing financial irregularities that led to far-right politician Pauline Hanson being jailed. He returned to Britain in 2003.

Yesterday he said: “The BNP has a great interest in Wales. Nick Griffin, the leader, and Simon Darby [leading member and spokesman] live here. It’s something to do with the Welsh history of dissent, which they think they can tap into, and the fact there are a lot of poor working class communities where they hope to increase support in the recession.

“I get the feeling people in Wales are a bit complacent about the BNP. While I don’t think they have a chance of winning a seat in Wales at the European Parliament election in June or at the general election, they will definitely challenge for a regional seat at the next Assembly election.”

Wales Online

BNP man jailed for attack on woman

The Wakefield Express reported today that a Mapplewell man has been sent to prison for attacking his ex-partner. What was not mentioned in both the newspaper and the courtroom was that the convicted man was none other than John Aveyard, former organiser of the BNP's Wakefield branch.

Aveyard, who has stood for the BNP in the general and European elections and has also been a BNP council election candidate on three occasions including last year when he stood in Wakefield South, was sent to prison for 22 weeks for assault and harassment. This is not the first time Aveyard has had a brush with the law. In 2005 he received a £100 fine with £75 costs for failing to maintain proper records at his Wakefield taxi firm, which is a condition of his private hire licence. You can read full details about his latest conviction in the following article taken from the Wakefield Express.

Kirklees Unity

Jailed for attack on ex-partner

A man who sneaked into his ex partner's car, attacked her and said he was going to 'do her in' has been jailed. John Aveyard opened the passenger door of Jane Skeet’s car and climbed in city magistrates were told. Prosecutor Joseph Spencer said "She asked what he was doing, and he grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the face".

He grabbed her mobile phone, told her he was going to drive her away and 'do her in' Aveyard punched her repeatedly, trapped her in the footwell and got into the drivers seat, but Ms Skeet managed to escape.

The police officer investigating said in six years of service, he had never seen anybody as frightened or as upset as Ms Skeet. Aveyard was on bail for harassment when be attacked Ms Skeet on October 17. He had been harassing her for months, turning up at her home in the middle of the night and confronting her new partner before the attack. They had been together for 12 years and lived in Woolley before they split in April last year. Ms Skeet moved out and began a new relationship with Ian Tippett.

The court heard Aveyard, 47. had been stalking Ms Skeet and making threatening phone calls. He turned up at Ms Skeet's partner’s home in York, demanding to speak to her. Ms Skeet reported it to police the next day and Aveyard called her as she spoke to an officer.

Mr Spencer said: "The police officer heard the defendant admitting turning up to the address in York. He stated 'There are lots of ways to find out where someone lives, it's not difficult,'"

Police found an envelope at Aveyard's house with Mr Tippen's car registration number written on it and diary entries about the couple. Matthew Standbury. mitigating, said Aveyard had admitted the offences at the earliest opportunity.

Aveyard, of Towngate, Mapplewell, was jailed for 22 weeks for assault and 11 'weeks concurrent for harassment. A restraining order was made banning him from contacting Ms Skeet and Mr Tippett.

Wakefield Express

Asylum seeker gallery protest

A man heckled from the public gallery at a Town Hall meeting as Sheffield councillors pledged to support a family of asylum seekers facing deportation.

The man, thought to be a member of the British National Party, shouted repeatedly that Priviledge Thulambo (above, centre) and her two daughters, who fled Zimbabwe, had "no right to be here". The unexpected outbursts interrupted Council Leader Paul Scriven who looked stunned before continuing his speech. And Labour councillor Gill Furniss said afterwards that she was "outraged" at the man's comments.

The shouting came as church leaders urged the council to help Priviledge, 39, and her daughters Lorraine, aged 18, and 20-year-old Valerie. Priviledge says she was tortured and raped in Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe's men and her husband killed. She arrived in the UK in 2000, her daughters followed in 2004, and they settled in Heavygate Road, Walkley.

But the Home Office has refused to grant the family asylum because their documents said they were from Malawi, a country to which it is safe to return. The Thulmabos insist they are Zimbabwean – and that their Malawian passports were fakes used only as a desperate means of escape.

Jane Padgett, on behalf of 400 campaigners supporting the family, told the meeting: "In 2007, Sheffield declared itself a City of Sanctuary and we are calling on the council to make urgent representations to the Home Secretary. This family were arrested at 7am one morning last December and taken to an immigration centre. They have lived here for several years and made an enormous contribution to our community."

Coun Scriven said: "I personally know Priviledge, after dancing with her at an evening at St Mark's church a few years ago, and hers is a story of horror. Her husband was murdered for being a politician and opposing people in power. That was his only so-called crime. Priviledge has deep strength and compassion for social justice and a belief in Britain's democratic system which is now failing her and her family.

"They are a hard-working family who stood up against the evils in Zimbabwe and they deserve our protection. It will be a national disgrace if the Home Secretary exports them to possible death."

Councillors of all parties agree to write again to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith urging her to stop the deportation.

The Star

Churches dismiss BNP’s Jesus election poster

Three British Churches have dismissed a new advertising campaign to be launched by the BNP featuring Jesus and his teaching on persecution.

The far-Right party's new poster advert quotes John 15.20, in which Jesus says: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

The advert then asks: “What would Jesus do?”

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church said they wanted to reminded people of the true Christian message of love for all people following the inclusion of Jesus in the poster.

Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relations for The Methodist Church, said: “When Jesus was asked about what was the most important rule of life he said, 'Love God with all of your being and love your neighbour as yourself.'

“It’s ironic that the BNP is using the world’s most famous Jew to promote its racist message.

“Our traditions have a history of promoting racial justice and inclusion and rejecting messages of hate and fear.

“It is always important that people go out and vote, especially in these extremely difficult economic times. Sadly, in the past, economic problems have been exploited by extremists as opportunities to scapegoat minorities.”

BNP leader Nick Griffin sent an email to BNP supporters on Sunday in which he said the aim of the advert was to attract more Christian voters.

The BNP was, he said, “the only political party which genuinely supports Britain’s Christian heritage” and “will defend our ancient faith and nation from the threat of Islamification”, reports Ekklesia.

Mr Griffin also criticised moves within the church to ban membership in the BNP, referring to the recent vote in Church of England’s General Synod banning Church members from joining the party.

“Jesus was viewed as a revolutionary figure, hated and hounded to death, not by 'evil men' but by the corrupt hypocrites who ran the church. Has nothing changed in two thousand years?” he wrote.

“On June 4th, the leaders of Britain's churches will find out that millions of good decent people support the British National Party.

“It's not racist to support British jobs for British workers or to be opposed to militant Islam, it's just common sense and in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Co-director of Ekklesia, Jonathan Bartley, said the advert was a “gross misrepresentation” of Jesus Christ and Christianity.

“Jesus was completely opposed to bigotry. He is recorded in the Gospels as challenging those who didn’t welcome foreigners - not as working for their exclusion," he said.

The three Churches will launch an election pack at the end of April, which will call on local church leaders to engage positively with politicians and reject racist political activity.

Christian Today

Manic Street Preachers stop right-wing group from using music

BNP completely miss the point of 'If You Tolerate This...'

Manic Street Preachers have stopped the the British National Party from using one of their songs, which they did completely without the band's permission.

The far-right political party were hosting a video on their website, and on a youTube account, under the heading 'The Cesspit Called London' which was soundtracked by the band's 1998 Number One single 'If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next'.

Ironically, the lyrics to that song concern the International Brigade – the group of volunteers, including Welsh farmers, who went to Spain to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

The phrase appeared on a poster published at the time.

The band's label SonyBMG immediately issued cease and desist orders, and the material has now been taken down.

NME

Crawley Police anger at BNP crime slur

A slur by a right-wing politician has provoked an angry response from police.

British National Party leader Nick Griffin used Crawley as an example of rising crime across Britain, during a speech in the area last week.

But his estimate of crime figures was more than 10 times higher than the reality.

Speaking at a party meeting in Crawley Down last Thursday, Mr Griffin said England only saw 300 burglaries a year in the 1930s. He added: "There must be more than that in Crawley in a month."

Police figures show there have been less than 300 in Crawley in the last year.

Chief Inspector Steve Curry, district commander of Crawley Police, said: "Mr Griffin is clearly not well informed and his comments are quite wrong.

"If allowed to remain unchecked, they could contribute to affecting some people's perception and indeed their fear of crime. From 1 April 2008 to today, 266 people have had their homes burgled in Crawley. I want to see this number reduced further so more people don't have to go through this experience."

Mr Griffin spoke as part of the BNP's Battle For Britain campaign for the European elections on June 4. During his speech at the Haven Centre, he branded Islam a "bizarre medievalist desert sect."

Arif Syed, chairman of Broadfield Mosque, said: "Within the democratic system we live in, Mr Griffin can hold what views he chooses. The fact of the matter is that three great religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have their roots in the desert regions of the Middle East.

"It is difficult to believe that any religion would survive the test of time if it was as exclusive and insular as Mr Griffin appears to suggest."

This is Sussex

Luton: BNP racists stir the pot

Let's get something out of the way first.

This blog has no time for extremists of any kind - left, right, black, white, Muslim, Christian, Jew. To us they're all agents of totalitarianism and tyranny, and they all go in the box marked "nutcases".

Nor do those of us behind this blog support the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq

Some of you reading this will already have seen news coverage of the disgraceful scenes in Luton on Tuesday, when a tiny number of people claiming to represent Islam were permitted by the police to hold a provocative demonstration abusing troops of the Anglian Regiment, just returned from Iraq.

Naturally that inflamed the crowd - of all ethnicities and religions - who lined the streets of Luton to welcome home the soldiers, and as a result the actions of 20 or less extremists gained national publicity and gave their mirror-image extremists in the racist BNP the opportunity to spew their spite and bile on all Muslims.

It's no secret that the vast majority of Muslims were against the invasion of Iraq. It's no secret that the majority of British non-Muslims were against it. And it's no secret that the invasion was justified by government lies and sleight of hand.

You don't need to be a Muslim to know that the British people were sold a pup.

So most of us oppose the war and the occuptation. But we don't blame the soldiers who took part in it, and that just happens to be the view of the vast majority of British Muslims.

Luton has a Muslim population approaching 30,000. 20 extremists, not representative of that population, and many of them not even living in Luton, turned up to spread their message of hate - and that was after weeks of attempting to spread their poison in Luton, and weeks of attempting to recruit local Muslims to take part of their demonstration.

They failed badly.

Here in the East of England we were treated to longer and more detailed local news footage from Luton than most people saw on the national news programmes. I recorded most of it in anticipation of the BNP working itself into an anti-Muslim frenzy.

It's revealing. In the shots of the flag waving crowd cheering the Anglians along there are quite a number of Sikh turbans, and a large number of people of South Asian appearance. There are also quite a number of Muslim women (the Anglians do have Muslim soldiers, for the BNP's benefit).

Why the police allowed 20 extremist lunatics anywhere near the Anglians' parade when they knew their intentions were provocative and could easily (and nearly did) end in violence is anybody's guess. If they thought they were doing Luton's Muslim community any favours they were wrong. It isn't what that community wanted, but it's that community that has been unfairly tarred with the extremist brush.

A nut is a nut is a nut, whether he's an extremist Muslim nut or a racist BNP nut, and they and their messages of hate should all be kept off the streets.

Muslims long ago replaced Jews as hate figures for the BNP, and naturally they're playing up events in Luton for all they're worth.

Idiot racist and apparently BNP "defence spokesman" Peter Mullins, trying to pretend that the 20 nuts in Luton represented all Muslims says on the terminally slow BNP website: “Luton is well known as a heavily Muslim colonised town, and it is little wonder that there was nearly a confrontation between indigenous British people watching the parade and the Muslim protestors."

Well, the news coverage we saw here shows a pretty multi-racial crowd, none of them especially pleased by the antics of the 20 nuts.

Lickspittle, rank coward, bigot, armchair Nazi and activism avoider Paul Morris was quick off the mark on his Green Arrow hate blog - the same one which called the police "sh*teaters" no so long ago. This time he says the police "are as yellow as their jackets". He should know. Being yellow is something standing joke Morris is celebrated for in antifascist circles.

The facts are simple.

Just 20 nuts who failed to gather any support at all from Luton's Muslim community were allowed by a perverse police decision to create havoc, gain national publicity, bring shame to the community they do not represent and give their siamese twin haters in the BNP an opportunity to libel all Muslims with their lies and misrepresentation.

It's not the start of a civil war and it's not the start of a Jihad. But it is the start of another BNP campaign of hate and lies.

Don't let them get away with it. 20 nuts do not represent Britain's Muslim population any more than the racists of the BNP represent Britain's white population.

They're all just nuts together.

New BNP Euro roadshow poster unveiled

Well, we think it's far more in keeping with recent remarks by the BNP's blog battalion that Dame Vera Lynn is an "anti-British traitor" and an "old hag".

Sample far-Right quotes from BNP hangout Stormfront and various BNP-supporting blogs regarding Vera Lynn, who objected to the BNP using her songs for political purposes:

"What do you expect as i think she is not of English decent ,perhaps of Jewish origin"

"Would she have preferred the songs to be re-written to reflect modern times under a 21st century incompetent Labour government? 'There'll be dark clouds over, the white cliffs of Dover when the next boatload of disease-ridden immigrants arrive from the sub-Saharan continent, tomorrow, just you wait and see...' Maybe the BNP will give her a small Royalty from the sale of these CD's; to help towards the cost of her nursing in East Sussex"

"So it's ok for a hypocrite like her to make money from it (she didn't write it) but not a democratic, patriotic political party! Would she be so concerned if Neo-Labour used it?"

"At the age of 91 the old hag is clearly senile because not only didn't she write the song, copyright belongs to the record company, not to her! If it's still valid, that is. It really gets up my nose when some jumped-up celebrity attacks the only democratic political party left in Britain. From her home in 'hideously white' Ditchling, East Sussex, I wonder how many Mosque's she can see. How many race-riots she has witnessed? How many young girls groomed for sex by Muslim men in the area does she know about? How many black-on-black killings have happened in her 'community'? How many black-on-white racist murders? How many schools in her 'community' have predominantly non-white pupils? Do Ditchling police disriminate against white male recruits?"

"Haha it always amuses me when these celebrities get their knickers in a twist because the BNP are using their songs or quotes."

"The original one hit wonder, a a tuneless dirge that was as well."

There are more like that, many more, but you get the picture: Vera Lynn, wartime forces' sweeheart, British icon - hated by the people who very definitely wouldn't have fought them on the beaches.

Lies, exaggeration, evasion

I'd back the Poles against the BNP every time

When it comes to the British National Party, you really couldn't make it up. I've been involved in sprightly online debate with its sympathisers for writing here that the economic crisis is in danger of turning the European Muslims of the Noughties into the Jews of the Thirties.

According to my detractors, that nice Mr Raja and his daughters at the newsagent are bent of the destruction of civilisation as we know it, all Muslims are plotting world takeover and we're blind if we don't see the dangers of immigration, la la la la la la....

One of the recurrent themes from these hysterics is that I haven't done my research. Now it transpires that the BNP has used a picture of a Battle of Britain pilot and his plane to evoke the great days of Great Britain that we have apparently squandered by allowing in foreigners.

Trouble is, the pilot is Polish and the markings are from the 303 Squadron of fighters which comprised emigre Poles who had retreated from the Nazi occupation of Poland and France.

While it is skin colour that principally occupies the restricted minds of the BNP, they do of course want Polish workers barred as part of their proposed ethnic cleansing of the UK. The Poles of WWII could tell them a thing or two about ethnic cleansing.

In the greatest fight for freedom of the 20th century, against the kind of dark doctrines that the BNP today espouses, the Poles not only distinguished themselves in the Battle of Britain, but rode mounted cavalry against Nazi tanks. Respect.

Hmm. Poles or BNP members? I know who I'd want in my trench.

George Pitcher - Daily Telegraph

St Albans campaigner warns of "racists and fascists"

Activists who fear the far-right British National Party may be holding a rally in the St Albans area have vowed to prevent it with a noisy but peaceful demonstration.

The party has announced on its website that it will be holding a “Battle for Britain Campaign Road Show” at an unknown Hertfordshire location on Saturday to mobilise support for its efforts win a seat in the European Parliament in June. The website proclaims: “We will unveil our strategy for the election as well as having party chairman Nick Griffin delivering his ‘Call to Arms’ keynote speech..

“These black tie premier events will be a spectacular start to our campaigning, with a sound, light and vision show that will inspire us all as we take centre stage in this year’s epic struggle to secure our place in history. A champagne reception and light supper will be provided. Believe me, you do not want to miss out, so get your tickets today, while there are still some left!”

Jon Berry , who lives in St Albans and is the local representative of the national organisation Unite against Fascism said: “The BNP don't say exactly where they are going to hold their meetings because they don't want us turning up and demonstrating.

“We will find out where it is and if it is anywhere around St Albans I can promise there will be a noisy demonstration to show these rascists and fascists, many of whom have criminal convictions for violent offences, that we don't want them here. We will be entirely peaceful and legal, but I think we can ensure that any venue which allowed it self to be used as a platform for the BNP will regret it.”

Simon Deakin, an elected BNP member of Markyate Parish Council, who is standing in the Markyate and Flamstead division in the election for Hertfordshire County Council said: “It is more likely that the meeting will be somewhere in the Broxbourne area. If these demonstrators want to stand around wasting their time that is up to them. One of them should stand against me in the county council elections – we'd see then who got the most votes. Since I've been elected I've done a lot of positive things for Markyate .”

Last month, BNP leaflets distributed in Flamstead and Markyate provoked a number of complaints from villagers as they appeared to have been sent out with official parish council literature promoting the village hall.

Councillor Deakin says the official literature was distributed by him and other party members in accordance with a vote of the authority's halls committee.

St Albans and Harpenden Review