Missing: the BNP’s 2010 accounts

The British National Party has again failed to submit its accounts on time in contravention of electoral legislation. This is the fourth time the party faces fines for late accounts and news of it emerged just ten days after Clive Jefferson, the party treasurer, claimed in a document issued in support of Nick Griffin’s campaign to retain the party leadership that criticism of the BNP’s financial position was merely “black propaganda”.

This time, however, the BNP might face more than just the fines of £1,200 it usually pays for submitting accounts nearly six months after the deadline of 7 July. Announcing the absence of the 2010 accounts of the BNP and the Christian Party, the Electoral Commission said it was now “reviewing the circumstances of these cases” and that “late submission of accounts without reasonable excuse is a breach of party funding rules”.

It went on: “The Commission has a range of sanctions enabling it to deal with those who do not comply with the rules. These include issuing substantial fines and serving compliance notices requiring parties to take specific steps by a required date to ensure compliance with their obligations in future; where a party does not comply within the timescale set, they may face additional fines.

“When deciding what sanction is appropriate the Commission considers a range of factors including whether parties have failed to comply with their obligations in the past. Repeated non-compliance is an aggravating factor which can significantly increase the penalties issued.”

A fourth failure in five years, coupled with the fact that the 2009 and 2008 accounts when they did turn up contained material deficiencies, must surely attract the highest sanction.

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said: “The rules on party funding are intended to ensure that voters can see where political parties get their funding from, and how they spend it. The 2010 statements of accounts which we have published today help to provide transparency about the finances of the larger parties and their organisations, covering the period during which the campaigns for the 2010 UK general and local elections took place.

“The majority of parties and accounting units have complied with the law by submitting their accounts on time. However, despite the guidance and advice we offer to help parties comply with the law, two parties have yet again failed to provide accounts on time. This is not acceptable. We have commenced formal case reviews into the circumstances; if we are satisfied that the rules have been broken and the parties concerned do not have a reasonable excuse, we will use our new powers to impose sanctions in accordance with our published enforcement policy, to ensure future compliance with the law.”

Hypocritically, Jefferson had boasted about the party’s “financial transparency”. In an attempt to show that the BNP’s accounts were reliable, he explained that political parties with a turnover of more than £250,000 must have their accounts audited by an independent firm of chartered accountants before they are submitted to the Electoral Commission where they are “examined in minute detail … to ensure that the highest of standards and financial transparency are met”.

He added: “In previous years, the British National Party has had advice from the Electoral Commission and the Auditors, and, each time we have acted on advice, our system has become more robust and open.”

It is now very clear that the BNP’s accounting systems are far from “robust and open” and that he and the BNP are barefaced liars. Griffin had already secured election as party chairman for four years three days before the Electoral Commission’s announcement. The timing of the BNP’s leadership ballot is unlikely to have been accidental.

When Jefferson’s document and an accompanying Myth Busters leaflet, which claimed the BNP hardly had any debts, were published, we noted their silence on the 2010 accounts and concluded, correctly as it turned out, that it was business as usual for the BNP treasury department.

Jefferson ended his document by stating that the BNP intends “within the next few months” to publish its management accounts in a quarterly report to members and online. If its financial records are in such a dire state that it cannot even produce its annual accounts, Jefferson and the “retired chartered accountant” he says the BNP has employed are unlikely to be able to produce up-to-date management accounts, at least not accurate ones. That would Jefferson’s promise just another lie in support of Griffin’s campaign to stay in post despite all the disasters over which he has presided.

Thanks to Sonia Gable at HOPE not Hate/Searchlight

BNP may face court action over unpaid printing bill

Calls have been made for the leader of the British National Party to step down in a row over a £16,000 debt to a North-East printing firm.

The BNP owes the money to the Newton Press, a community newspaper based in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, for the printing of posters and leaflets during the run-up to last year’s General Election and publication of the party’s Voice of Freedom newspaper.

The company’s owners are now so fed up of waiting for the debt to be paid, they have released emails exchanged between the company and party leader Nick Griffin.

On January 1, last year, Stuart Howarth, print sales manager of the Newton Press, sent an email to several members of the BNP which said: “Still nothing from any of you, unbelievable.”

Six months later, he received a reply from Mr Griffin, which said his party officials were working on the matter. Mr Griffin, MEP for North- West England, wrote in his email: “In the meantime, please accept my most sincere apologies, both personally and organisationally, and assuance (sic) that you will get all your money as soon as possible.”

In August, payment had still not been received and the Newton Press instructed its solicitors to take legal action. The last email from Mr Howarth, on June 30, this year, said: “Anybody paying this bill or do I have to take even more action than I already have?”

Andrew Brons, BNP MEP for North Yorkshire and Humberside, who is challenging Mr Griffin for the leadership, said: “It is wholly unacceptable that honest businessmen, who supplied their services in good faith, are treated in such an appaling manner. This reflects badly not just on the current chairman, under whose watch these abuses of trust have taken place, but on all of us. We are all smeared by association.”

Ken Booth, a BNP member in the North-East, said the debt was the national party’s and was nothing to do with the local members. He said the situation was a disgrace and Mr Griffin should resign. “One of our main passions is local jobs for local people, yet the party can’t even pay a local printer. It makes a farce of our values.”

Clive Jefferson, BNP party treasurer, said: “We will be paying all our outstanding debts. I have a timeline for repayment worked out.”

Northern Echo

Der Untergang

British National Party declares war...on itself

Just over a year ago, the Brits woke up to discover that Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons from the far right had been elected as MEPs. Party leader Griffin declared that this was the beginning of a brave new world and got pelted with eggs on his way out of the count. Today, if there is any egg on their faces it is because they put it there themselves.

Since their arrival in Brussels the party has met with several challenges, not least a series of court cases, often from disgruntled former employees and the party is believed to be heavily in debt. One of the creditors is said to be a printing firm in Northern Ireland, who are rumoured to have sent some heavies round to Griffin’s home, demanding repayment.

With growing concern about the management of the party among members, Eddy Butler, one of Brons EP staff, challenged Griffin for the leadership, alleging financial irregularities and, amusingly for a party with a background in neo-fascism, accusations of a lack of internal democracy and alleging that Griffin was acting like a dictator. This led to a purge of anyone suspected of supporting Butler.

After the failure of the Butler campaign a new challenger arose, Richard Edmonds, formerly the editor of Holocaust News, which denied the genocide had occurred. He also has convictions for racial violence and told a journalist that the BNP was “100% racist”.

The battle in Brussels

Now, Brons has said he will challenge Griffin for the leadership of the sinking ship and has alleged that the leader has repeatedly tried to misuse EU funds. “In 2009, I was asked by our Chairman to share the expenses, from my European Parliamentary funding, of an office in Edinburgh for the use of Solidarity Chief and leading member of the National Liberal Party, Patrick Harrington,” Brons said.

“Furthermore, in December 2010, at the Annual Conference, a table was provided for the display of my first annual report and my MEP newsletters. I was not asked whether or not I wanted to have this facility; I was simply provided with it. Three weeks later I received an invoice for the sum of £500 from the Chairman’s wife.

“I was told that I should pay this amount from my General Expenditure Allowance – my office account. I refused to do, although I did seek advice on the matter from the financial authorities of the European Parliament. I have recently been informed by Clive Jefferson that I might be taken to the County Court for refusing to misuse European Parliamentary funding!

“In December 2010, I was asked by our Chairman and Clive Jefferson to employ, with European Parliamentary funding, Christopher Barnet, who was in charge of the Party’s Alfred programme to put canvassing returns onto a data base for future elections.

“I was told that he would ‘look after’ my website. I said that I wanted to know, from him, what precisely he would be doing for his salary. He never contacted me. Very recently, I received an invoice from Clive Jefferson for £2000 that was supposed to represent five months of ‘services.’ I told him that I had not entered into any contract with Mr. Barnet and to pay for unspecified services from European Parliamentary funds would be fraudulent.

Brons also revealed that OLAF are investigating Griffin.

In retaliation, Brons was asked to remove the BNP logo from his website, which may be a prelude to adding him to the long list of those ejected from the party.

The last throw of the dice

Griffin has announced a new campaign that will resurrect the party - a petition for a referendum on EU membership. He’s been a bit slow, UKIP, Nikki Sinclaire, Dan Hannan have already set up rival petitions on exactly the same call.

But there is something different about Griffin’s. He is boasting that he is using EP funding for it, but the website and all literature carry the same wording:

“We, the undersigned, demand a referendum on British membership of the European Union.

By signing this petition, I authorise Nick Griffin to send me further information on this and future campaigns”

It is impossible to opt out of this authorisation. It is likely that the real aim is to find potential new supporters and donors to the party. At the EU taxpayers expense. Those considering signing may wish to reflect on the party’s inability to keep its databases secret, there being several instances of supporters details being put online.

In the meantime, the membership is shrinking, the voters are ignoring them and the creditors are knocking on the door.

New Europe

Clive Jefferson Unleashes New Fundraising System

Clive Jefferson, the BNP's national treasurer, today unveiled a range of new measures to improve the BNP's fund-raising ability. Through the BNP website he announced ten 'highly effective' and 'groundbreakingly brilliant' initiatives which will 'revolutionise' their donations system and take the BNP into a new era of financial capability, a system which will leave the BNP's enemies and political adversaries 'quaking in their boots'.

We received a leaked copy of the article before it went to press on the BNP website,

Clive, I've gone through your article and edited the spelling mistakes and typos, it took me three fucking hours so you had better appreciate this, also, Nick says if this doesn't work don't expect to be invited to his Big, Bad, Boys Only BBQ in July.

The edit follows:

Clive Jefferson has today announced a new set of initiatives which will drive the BNP forward through financial ability and take the party into a new era of electoral breakthroughs. The new scheme, which is the brainchild of Jefferson, has been in the planning for several months, and is now ready to be rolled out.

The new fund-raising system has ten varied and very unique parts, however, they all fall under the same umbrella, the idea is to make it manageable, as being such a large organisation we had to implement a realistic system, however, we're confident that these new initiatives will quadruple our donations overnight and make much more money for Nick.

The ten elements are listed below:

• Strategy One: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the George and Dragon in Little Aversham
• Strategy Two: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Anglers Rest in Woodhouse Mill
• Strategy Three: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Bridge Inn in Heacham Vale
• Strategy Four: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Three Stags Head in Yeovil
• Strategy Five: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Big Tree Public House in Hartland
• Strategy Six: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Royal Oak in Somerton
• Strategy Seven: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Alma public house in Corsham
• Strategy Eight: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Nag's Head in Peckham
• Strategy Nine: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Red Lion in Tiverton Park
• Strategy Ten: A state of the art donations tin on the bar in the Horse and Cart in Fawley

We estimate the scheme will take around five months to fully implement, and are asking for donations to help us set up the donations tins, and also asking for any spare donations tins people may have, or even just roses tins with a hole in the top, just so long as they aren't too dented.

In the inevitable success of this scheme we plan to expand with a roll out of a further set of initiatives which will increase our system capacity by another 20%!

Simon Darby upon hearing of the new initiative announced: "Our enemies are going to shit when they see this, ten new and unique strategies which will allow the BNP to smash the Labour party up and down the country! Gone are the days of me and Nick standing on street corners with a bunch of commoners in cheap clothes and no culinary taste!"

Comments on the article were largely in praise of the new system, one member saying "Why didn't we think of this before? It has been right under our noses! For years we've been giving pennies to orphans and dogs and of course immigrants!!!!!!! Now the money can go where it is needed!". Another said "A brilliant idea, Clive should be awarded hardest working official in the BNP, shame that one has already been given to Nick this month, maybe next month?".

Turkey Breath

Jackie Griffin offers Insight into a Strange Marriage

'Well, I'm so proud of him, I mean, I'm not even sure what he does over there, even he doesn't seem sure, but I'm very proud, I watch his videos sometimes, so charismatic, this is the reason I married this man, one day soon, he'll be running the EU!

The other day he got home, he had been away a good few days, he came in and made some joke about the gravy train, and then ran into the toilet. He called me over, I love talking to him through a door, he was saying that there are some very important delegates coming over soon and that we must put on a banquet for them. I asked him who was coming and he said it wasn't important, but that they were important and that we would have to impress them.

I went out to the shops, it took me a good few hours and two journeys to buy everything Nick wanted. I was so nervous as well, we're always having important people call round, Simon Darby came in the other day to charge his iPhone, and Clive Jefferson came in for a cheese sandwich, but this was the big one. Important delegates from the European Parliament, I had to impress them! Again I asked who was coming, he told me Jacques Pierre de Gaulle and Heinrich Schmidt amongst others. I had no idea who they were, for all I know, he could have been making them up, but this is why I'm the wife of the leader of Britains fourth largest political party and not the leader of Britains fourth largest political party, or its most popular and hard working MEP!

Anyway, hours later, the banquet was ready, I went into Nicks office, he was sat there sleeping, he is so cute when he snores, he works so hard you know! I gently woke him up, he jumped up and shouted for the Green Arrow to put down weapons. Nightmares again, it's all the pressure the state put him under. He couldn't even remember what banquet I was talking about. I told him, the one with the very important delegates, all twenty of them coming over hungry to talk about important political things, this seemed to jog his memory, he ordered me to leave and said that he would be through shortly to greet them. I heard him pick up the phone as I left, but my mind was distracted by the house phone suddenly going off. I answered it 'The Griffeeeen residence, lady of the house speaking..' as we do here, and was told by a French man, I'm assuming Jacques Pierre de Gaulle, that the important delegates wouldn't be able to make it any more. Oh how devasted I was, not because I had been up for six hours preparing the food, the table, the house and the pets, but for Nick. He was in his office waiting for them to arrive and was so very excited!

He came out and looked at me, he had this weird look in his eyes, he said, who is it? I told him it was Jacques Pierre de Gaulle and that the important delegates wouldn't be able to come over. He said to me, what, the twenty important delegates won't be able to come round and talk about important political stuff any more? I told him no. I went to hug him, but he walked into the dining room and sat down. He said, 'well no point letting good food go to waste', and started eating. I asked him if he wanted me to ring Simon up so he could come round and talk about important political stuff, but he said he'd rather just eat on his own. I went back into the kitchen and started to tidy up, I had a lot to do, it's amazing how much mess you can make preparing a meal for twenty important European delegates.

These important European delegates you know, they do this at least three times a week, I'm always preparing massive banquets for them, and they're always letting him down. It's just as well he is a kind and patient man, if I was him I wouldn't even invite them round any more but he doesn't learn, still, at least the food doesn't go to waste, Nick can eat most of it, and what he doesn't he puts in a doggie bag for Jefferson along with the scrapings.'

Turkey Breath

Cumbrian Villagers Launch Legal Bid To Thwart BNP Candidate

A LEGAL challenge is under way to try to prevent a British National Party candidate taking an uncontested seat on Seascale Parish Council.

An appeal is being made through the High Court on the grounds that Sellafield process worker Malcolm Southward’s nomination for a place on the council is legally invalid. The appeal has been made by Coun David Moore on behalf of the parish.

He said: “We believe the information given on the nomination form is fraudulent. It says Mr Southward has worked in the parish of Seascale while employed by Sellafield for the past 12 months. This is false. Sellafield is in the parish of Ponsonby and Beckermet, not Seascale.

“We have brought this to Malcolm Southward’s attention. In fairness we are giving him the opportunity to resign and that would be the end of the matter. If he fails to do so then the right course of action is to call in the police to investigate under electoral law.”

Asked whether Mr Southward would be resigning, the BNP’s national nominations officer Clive Jefferson said: “Absolutely not. It’s sour grapes. The Electoral Commission has already told us the nomination is valid, we went to them after a previous complaint.

“At the end of the day Seascale is the postal address for Sellafield. We are not in the business of falsely submitting anything.”

Coun Moore said: “This is not about Mr Southward being a BNP candidate, it is to do with false information on a nomination. There are no politics on Seascale Parish Council but it is fair to say there is a huge amount of concern in the parish over this issue.”

As there are 12 candidates for the 12 seats on Seascale Parish Council, there is to be no election in the parish when Copeland goes to the polls on May 5.

Whitehaven News

At Last! A Sure-Fire, Solid Gold, Guaranteed Election-Winning Strategy For Clive Jefferson!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while: Busy with the Day Job...

I don't mind telling you that I'm getting pretty worried by Clive Jefferson's radical new election strategy.

Early days yet, but so far the BNP have swept to victory, trailing clouds of glory, in a number of Parish Council seats.

Under Clive “The Kingmaker” Jefferson's Svengali-like guidance and deep understanding of the Dark Arts, his charges have finally taken the reins of power.

Me? I'm terrified.

Jefferson is vindicated. All those late nights and the months of hard work (how does he do it? Where on earth could he be getting his boundless energy from?) have paid off, and it finally looks as though we were wrong all along and the BNP are, indeed, safely on the road to power.

It's a simple strategy, to be sure, but devastating in its ruthless efficiency.

All the Candidate must do is stand in a seat – and here's the knack – where no-one else is standing.

Quite brilliant!

Not only that, but Jefferson can then write (or get a grown-up to do it for him) that the Candidate has “won” a seat in an “election”.

And the Faithful are loving it!

(I'd like to announce, at this stage, that I have just been elected, by a staggering majority of 100%, to the position of “Bloke Who Makes A Cup Of Tea For My Wife”. A solemn duty I pledge to carry out with diligence and pride.)

Roll on the May round of elections, and I fear the position could get even worse: All those BNP Candidates standing in Seats with no other Candidates standing are probably going to do very well indeed.

Of course, if there happen to be other Parties who have shown the ill-will, Machiavellian instinct and sheer pettiness to actually put themselves forward, the picture might not be quite so rosy.

In fact, given their record over the past couple of years, the BNP might not find things very rosy at all.

In my own Borough, Amber Valley in Derbyshire, they've mustered five Candidates. Nearby Heanor (next door to where the last couple of “Red White & Blue” hatefests have taken place) currently has two Borough Councillors - Lewis “The Boy” Allesbrook and Cliff “Creepy” Roper (as they're known by Council Staff). Neither of them are very effective, of course, and they cut a sorry sight at Council Meetings as they sit together in their own island of gloom, in turns ignored and derided by the other Councillors.

And they're hoping to be joined by others after May 5th, including Roper's wife, and the ghastly local White Supremacist, conspiracy theorist and hate blogger Maria Riley-Ward. This crew are concentrating their efforts on just two towns within the Borough – Alfreton and Ripley. Luckily, they've all got people from Real Parties standing against them, so they don't actually have a chance.

(I've just been elected, by an overwhelming majority, to the vital office of “Member In Charge Of Putting A Load In The Washing Machine”. I vow to live up to this signal honour by repaying fully the boundless trust placed upon my by my Electorate, and to check the temperature, because there are woollies in the pile...)

Of course, there's always the chance that, between now and Election Day, all of the other Candidates will either withdraw, change their allegiances, leave the country forever or meet with unfortunate accidents, in which event Jefferson can chalk up another series of stunning victories.

In fact, there's the distinct possibility that, between now and the next General Election, a series of catastrophes could befall anyone thinking of standing for any of the Real Parties, and Griffin could be handed the keys to Downing Street unopposed.

Which is, it so happens, the way he likes to do things anyway.

(I'm honoured to discover that I have been elected, by a massive landslide, to the esteemed position of “Man Who Puts The Wheelie Bin Out”. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my faithful Electorate, my hardworking Staff and the Returning Officer.)

In the Meantime, Chris Vanns finds himself as one of the Guardians of graffito'd bus shelters across Habergham Eves Parish.

Let's hope the power doesn't go to his head.

Of perverts and idiots...

A couple of interesting emails have arrived over the past two days, one of which asked what proof we have that Tom Holmes attempted to get off with a fourteen year old girl, the other of which is supposedly from someone close to Clive (sniff-sniff) Jefferson, who allegedly overheard Nick Griffin's pet moron on his mobile whining to either Mark Walker or Pat Harrington.

The former is pretty clear so we'll deal with that one first. Twenty-six year old Holmes has just been booted out of the BNP after evidence was revealed that showed he was grooming an underage girl. Quite why Holmes got the boot when the likes of Paedo Collett and his idiot chum David Hannam were allowed to get away with their little attempt at underage sex, who knows. However, Holmes is still going on about his innocence, claiming both that he wasn't interested in having sex with the girl even if she was sixteen and that he acted appropriately at all times. Holmes has tried this one over at the British Democracy Forum, too, stating very clearly,

'Never mentioned anything about getting her to have sex with me when she's 16, actually.'

Oh dear, what a terrible liar Tom has become. And here's the proof, from his Facebook page...

Click on image for full-size

Tom's remark "Awww :( 2 years" shows pretty clearly that he's perfectly well aware of the girl's age, the pervert.

Holmes is apparently still claiming that he intends to stand as an Independent in his next local election, handing the seat over to the BNP if he wins. He won't, of course. The public doesn't take too well to men approaching thirty making remarks about fourteen year olds opening their legs for him, even if he is only hoping it will happen two years hence. As far as I recall, that's referred to as grooming.

Talking of perverts, we hear that Clive Jefferson, the stupidest man in the BNP, has apparently begun to bow under pressure from increasingly angry party members (and a hostile media) and has been begging Mark Walker or Pat Harrington to support him in persuading Porky Griffin to give the Kitchens the boot ASAP, preferably before even more information about Granny Kitchen's porn hits the media. Quite what anything in the BNP has to do with Harrington, we don't know, but he seems to have an uncommonly tight hold on both Griffin and the party. Perhaps Mrs K has been giving him lessons.

The interesting thing about this, assuming it's true, is that Jefferson wants to kick the Kitchens out but appears to be unable to. Why? As far as we know, he's been booting people out of the party wholesale for months - what makes the Kitchens so special?

Our correspondent suggests that the Kitchens will be gone by this weekend. Maybe but we doubt it. Martin Reynolds has been involved in porn and all kinds of shit (literally) for years and he's still around. Still, things could hot up in more ways than one as Spring approaches - we're told that there are quite a few more BNP-related revelations on their way. Can't wait.

Meanwhile, GrannyGate has claimed a victim. Paul Morris (not that one), the BNP's Eastern regional organiser, has jacked in his job in disgust at the adverse publicity that the Kitchens have spawned and the party's apparent unwillingness to get rid of them post haste. I doubt very much that he'll be the last to go - this story seems set to carry on a while yet.

BNP plays musical chairs

Nick Griffin has reshuffled several of the top positions in his dysfunctional British National Party in an attempt to maintain control, reward his supporters and sideline any criticism of his dictatorship.

Chris Beverley has been sacked as regional organiser of the big Yorkshire and The Humber region, one of the two that elected BNP representatives to the European Parliament in 2009. His replacement is Ian Kitchen, the party’s Wakefield organiser and Griffin loyalist. The BNP claims this will allow Beverley to spend more time on his European constituency job for Andrew Brons, the region’s BNP MEP.

Eddy Butler, who was expelled from the BNP after unsuccessfully challenging Griffin for the leadership last year, took a more jaundiced view. Claiming the party was desperate for Beverley not to show up Jefferson by achieving a better result in the coming Barnsley by-election than in Oldham, he added: “Chris Beverley was one of the last remaining competent Regional Organisers, one of the last capable election campaigners and one of the last independent voices left on the Advisory Council. As such his replacement was inevitable and long overdue.”

Stephen Squire has taken over as the party’s London organiser after serving a six-month apprenticeship under Griffin himself, who stepped in as the acting London organiser after the party’s May election debacle and the departures of a series of previous organisers.

Clive Jefferson has given up his job as North West regional organiser, to spend more time on the elections department, according to the BNP. The party’s elections function is sorely in need of competent leadership after a string of by-election failures, but whether Jefferson will be able to devote any more time to it is unclear. He also heads the BNP’s failing treasury department, which for three years has failed to maintain anything near adequate financial records, resulting in the party failing to achieve clean audit reports for 2008 and 2009, with 2010 expected to be similar.

In addition Jefferson, who has difficulty writing coherently, has just been appointed editor of the party’s Voice of Freedom newspaper, replacing Martin Wingfield, who Butler says is very “much out of favour”, though he remains communications and campaigns officer for Griffin’s European constituency.

Jefferson’s replacement in the North West region is Mike Whitby, the party’s Liverpool organiser. Whitby became Liverpool organiser at a heated branch meeting last July when Jefferson kicked out all the existing officers in a purge of dissidents. They had committed the crime of supporting Butler’s challenge.

Whitby seems suitably qualified to move the party towards the “increased militancy” that Griffin promised last December. After clashes between BNP activists and anti-fascists in Liverpool, which resulted in an assault conviction for one BNP man, Whitby promised that anti-fascists’ identities would end up on “a website far worse than Red Watch”, the hate site that encourages supporters to attack anti-fascists and their homes and families.

Another post Jefferson has given up is National Organiser, which has gone to Adam Walker, who also regains his job as staff manager. Walker works closely with Patrick Harrington, Griffin’s old mate from their days in the National Front Political Soldiers. Harrington was appointed the BNP’s head of human resources last autumn, but appears to act more as a general manager for Griffin. Many party members resent Harrington’s presence at the helm because he remains leader of a rival political party, albeit a very small one.

Butler claims that Walker was promoted “just to boost his profile in case he is needed as an alternative Chairman, should something ghastly in the realms of the judiciary happen to Nick Griffin”.

Finally, Jennifer Matthys, Griffin’s eldest daughter, is gradually assuming a greater role and now runs all party operations from a small office in Wigton, Cumbria. But according to Butler, “not enough money is coming in each week to cover the basics, via the appeals that Pat Harrington is now tasked with producing”. Perhaps engineering the departure of Jim Dowson, Griffin’s fundraising consultant, and Paul Golding, the party’s former national communications officer, was not one of Harrington’s smartest moves.

After Griffin announced last summer that he would relinquish the leadership of the party in 2013, speculation mounted that he was grooming her as his replacement, following the example of Marine Le Pen, who has just succeeded her father as leader of the National Front in France. However unlike Ms Le Pen, a lawyer who has held senior roles in the party for over 12 years and has built a firm political base as a regional councillor, Matthys has few qualifications for leadership and is unlikely to be accepted by party members in that role for some considerable time.

Searchlight / HOPE not hate by Sonia Gable

BNP’s delayed accounts reveal financial disaster zone

The British National Party’s treasury department appears to have “lost” nearly £90,000 of funds belonging to its local groups, according to the party’s 2009 accounts, released today.

The BNP’s national and regional accounts were submitted to the Electoral Commission on 6 January, two days before the fines for their late submission would have doubled to £2,500. They reveal the full horror of the disaster area that is the BNP’s treasury department.

Even Griffin could not deny it. “The patchiness of our professionalisation programme inevitably produced internal stresses and gaps, including in due course the late submission of accounts,” he wrote in his introduction.

Clive Jefferson, the BNP’s fifth national treasurer since the start of 2009 – four are listed in the accounts, Jenny Noble being omitted – spoke more plainly. “From what I have been able to determine, the root of the problem was the inability of central treasury and accounting unit staff to implement new system adequate to cope with the massive increase in income and expenditure in 2009, compounded with the failure of professional accountants brought in to address the weaknesses they were expected to rectify. Both I and the party Chairman are frankly at a loss to understand why this was the case”.

It was not of course the moronic Jefferson’s fault. “I was appointed the Party’s Treasurer on 28th October 2010, which was subsequent to the records for 2009 being made available to the auditor. I can provide no information of any value regarding the accounts.”

The “professional accountants” were those supplied by Jim Dowson in Belfast, until late last year the much hyped fundraising and management consultant, until he fell out with Griffin and Patrick Harrington, Griffin’s old comrade from his National Front political soldier days, who now helps Griffin run the BNP.

The regional accounts, which bring together the income and expenditure of all the party’s local groups, similarly include an “I know nothing” claim by the new regional treasurer James Mole, who took over from David Hannam in mid September 2010. No doubt he is hoping not to be blamed for the dire consequences of the party’ inability to maintain bank reconciliations and account properly for its income and outgoings. A reconciliation of branches’ and groups’ balances on the very last page of the regional accounts shows that only £4,496 is available to meet the £93,579 the party supposedly owes its branches, which means that local units are only “entitled to 4.8p in the pound”.

No explanation is given for how this happened. But on 16 January, Eddy Butler, who last summer failed in his challenge to Nick Griffin for the party leadership, wrote: “I recommend that all local units open their own bank accounts … If you want to be able to hold on to your locally raised money it is vital, no it is essential, that you do this. …

“If you pay into the BNP bank account your hard earned money will be drawn out and wasted by Nick Griffin to pay for the court cases he has negligently embroiled the BNP in.”

That wastage is not yet apparent in the 2009 accounts, which show only £52,122 spent on “legal costs”. Far more can be expected in 2010, which includes the damages paid over the stupid Marmite copyright breach, and 2011. However, in his introduction to the national accounts Griffin gave full vent to his hate for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which took legal action to force the party to end racial discrimination in its constitution. “Parallel to the officially sanctioned mob violence against us [a reference to the demonstrations against Griffin’s appearance on Question Time in October 2009], a campaign of ‘legal’ persecution was also launched,” wrote Griffin, an action “motivated not by genuine concerns about alleged ‘discrimination’ but by political malice”.

Griffin also reveals his continuing anger at having to admit ethnic minority members, who were “hitherto excluded primarily in order to provide at least one forum in which members of the indigenous community could discuss the problems inflicted upon them by the ruling elite’s policies of enforced multiculturalism”.

Griffin judges that 2009 was the party’s “best year ever” because of its European election success, but that victory held within it the seeds of the party’s subsequent decline. Admitting that the party’s activity had fallen off in the second half of 2009, Griffin ascribes it largely to the “energy that had to be expended at the top of the party getting to grips with the mechanics and responsibilities of representing British interests in the European Parliament”. In other words he accepts the criticism Butler has voiced recently that being an MEP means he cannot lead the party properly.

“Several new members of staff were brought in with the intention of avoiding this new focus leaving a management gap back at home, but by November it was becoming clear that this measure had failed and that clearing the problem up was likely to involve tough decisions and key personnel problems early in 2010,” Griffin continues. The results, in terms of legal expenses and settlements with former employees, will no doubt be revealed in the 2010 and 2011 accounts.

The audit report, by Silver & Co, who have audited the party’s accounts for many years, is surprisingly less devastating than the previous year, considering the admitted failures to keep adequate records, many of which are detailed in the accounts. Unlike in 2008, they consider that the financial statements “give a true and fair view of the state of the Party’s affairs as at 31st December 2009 … in so far as a full disclosure of the facts has been made in these accounts. But they cannot be classed as ‘true and fair’ under the usual definition of that term.”

Quite what that means is anyone’s guess, especially as the audit report goes on to state: “we have to accept that we cannot form an opinion as to the completeness of the financial statements, as we have had to base them on the information submitted, and controls were not in place to ensure the information on which these financial statements are based is complete”.

One suspects that the fudge of a report was the product of long and hard negotiations between Jefferson and the auditors to avoid a second wholly negative judgement and another investigation by the Electoral Commission of the party’s failure to comply with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

As for the accounts themselves, they confirm that the party did indeed increase its income to nearly £2 million although only £1.3 million is shown donations, the result of the controversial appointment of Dowson’s Midas Consultancy. The figures may be way out, however, as “whilst details of donations made were entered into the membership data base that information was not reconcilied [sic] to the bankings”.

Membership income rose from £166,006 in 2008 to £626,180, although membership numbers only went up from 9,801 to 12,632. Noting the inconsistency, the accounts add: “The figure shown seems high and may include an element of donation income”.

Income from commercial activities is well down – from £130,000 to under £30,000. Partly that is due to the party apparently not being able to sell a single copy of its two publications, Voice of Freedom and Identity. Income from “merchandise” – books, mugs, t-shirts, etc under the Excalibur operation – is down because it was franchised out to Arthur Kemp, the party’s South African website editor, during the year.

Costs of commercial activities grew to £450,000, resulting in a huge loss. However a note admits that this is the result of the party not having systems in place to split the huge costs of printing, postage and delivery between commercial activities and election material. If that split could not be made, it must surely follow that the party’s return of expenditure for the European election, which showed £283,000, cannot be correct. The accounts themselves declare £271,000 spent on the European election.

The list of admitted accounting failures goes on. “A considerable amount of the ‘Trafalgar Club’ costs could be considered to be more to do with printing costs. The total cost covered is £23,900,” another note states, adding: “In the nominal ledger the ‘description shown’ is either ‘inv Held by D Hannam’ or simply ‘D Hannam’, indicating that the invoice is not available within the Party’s records.

Hannam was widely derided as incompetent at the time of the internal rebellion in winter 2007/08 when he was regional treasurer, but was promoted to national treasurer in February 2010 and in July boasted that everything was in place to ensure all financial statements were submitted on time. By October he was out of the job.

Simon Darby, the BNP’s former deputy chairman, also failed to account for expenditure, with “no documentation” available to cover a payment of £3,000 for “security costs” during the period while he was treasurer.

And in the first four months of 2009 a total of £37,450 was “entered in the Purchase Ledger as J A Walker payments” for which “No documentary evidence was put through the records to show what these payments covered”. John Walker has held various jobs in the party, including national treasurer, and is currently on the staff of the BNP’s MEPs, paid out of European Parliament funds. The unexplained payments to him occurred while Noble was treasurer, but the accounts for some reason avoid mentioning her name.

The accounts also show the party spent £168,000 on additions to its vehicles, equipment, fixtures and fittings, much of it the result of appeals during the year. Such an investment might be expected to stand the party in good stead for the future, except that “The Treasurer is in the process of reviewing the schedules which back-up the schedule above, which the auditor has provided, both in terms of what assets were in existence at 31 December 2009, and after the current re-organisation of the Party and the closing of certain offices”. In other words the BNP has no idea whether its assets still exist or ever existed, and many have been scrapped because the party has closed most of its offices, including the Belfast call centre, which was under the control of Dowson.

Writing off the doubtful assets in the 2009 accounts would of course have increased its loss of £57,202 for the year, a far cry from the profit the party has at various times claimed it achieved in the year. The loss increased the party’s net insolvency to £361,000, as a result of which it owed over £355,000 to suppliers and £37,000 to HM Revenue and Customs in PAYE tax and national insurance on staff wages and VAT.

Among those owed money was “Ad Lorries Ltd”, actually Adlorries.com Ltd. The accounts confirm what Searchlight revealed many months ago, namely that “a considerable amount of transactions were paid through and processed through” this company, which is owned by Dowson. The full amount the party was invoiced by Dowson’s company in 2009 was £741,290, which included £58,680 of management fees for running the Belfast call centre, part of the £162,000 a year Dowson was paid by the party. However even Dowson had to wait for his money. At 31 December 2009 the BNP owed his company £71,967, the accounts reveal.

The amount going through Adlorries represents a huge proportion of the party’s total expenditure of just over £2 million, justifying Searchlight’s accusation that Dowson virtually owned the BNP. Another accusation that the accounts prove correct is that the party massively inflated its payroll, providing jobs for those in Griffin’s favour. Expenditure on staff costs more than doubled to £660,000 in 2009, though this includes around £100,000 of consultancy fees paid to Dowson.

One person who always gets whatever he wants from the party is its chairman. During 2009 the party spent the huge sum of £33,519 on installing a security system for him. Andrew Brons, the party’s Yorkshire MEP, only merited £9,136, as did a person by the name of “Ms E Uttley”.

Jefferson states that a programme has been agreed with the auditor to ensure that the 2010 accounts are submitted on time and that “we are able to repair to a large extent any possible deficiencies in the operation of the Treasury department in 2010”. Deficiencies in the party’s finances will be harder to repair. The party ended 2010 unable to pay its printers, with staff waiting for their wages and mounting legal expenses from failed court actions and employment tribunal cases.

On 18 January 2011 Griffin was required to pay £45,000 into court as a result of having to withdraw a court case against four former employees. The total cost is expected to be £115,000. He failed to make the payment. And with donations drying up and demoralised members deserting the failing party, the BNP is unlikely to dig itself out of its deep financial hole.

Thanks to Searchlight / HOPE not hate by Sonia Gable

Edit The BNP's Statement of Accounts can be found here

BNP loses deposit at Oldham

Another disaster strikes the ailing BNP, with the result of the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election continuing the consistently downward trend in its vote. The BNP polled just 1560 votes (just under 4.5%), which means the party can wave goodbye to yet another lost deposit, and was roundly beaten by UKIP (2029, or 5.8%), which will annoy pretty well everyone in the BNP.

It's worth remembering that Oldham was at one point an extremely important seat for the BNP - back in 2001 the party mustered up 11.2% and in the General Election last year they still managed to scrape together 5.7%. So what went wrong? Maybe it was the fact that the few local BNP activists left in Oldham refused to come out to support a candidate who had been foisted on them by Nick Griffin, who had already announced himself as a candidate only to back off rapidly when he realised how embarrassing (and likely) a low vote would be.

Or maybe it was the fact that Derek Adams, the BNP's candidate, is yet another bad-tempered, rude and arrogant shit along the lines of Lee Barnes (though probably not quite as insane). Certainly, Adam's behaviour at the hustings last week, where he took the stage and refused to leave until escorted off by the plods, didn't exactly endear him to the packed audience who booed him as he was hauled off.

Or maybe it's just that the BNP is crap and more people are realising it.

Labour: 14,718 (42.1%)
Lib Dems: 11,160 (31.9%)
Conservatives: 4,481 (12.8%)
UKIP: 2,029 (5.8%)
BNP: 1,560 (4.5%)
Green Party: 530 (1.5%)
Monster Raving Loony Party: 145 (0.4%)
English Democrats: 144 (0.4%)
Pirate Party: 96 (0.2%)
Bus Pass Elvis Party: 67 (0.1%)

It's just as well that many BNP members are delusional - no matter how you look at it, coming fifth and losing the deposit is not a good result. Or it isn't unless you're prepared to spin the result so much that reality doesn't get a look in. Here's a BNP supporter (Nick Griffin himself, I suspect) writing on the British Democracy Forum following the result being announced.

'Onwards and Upwards - Oldham was a good result for the BNP...With Nick Griffin standing we would undoubtedly have saved our deposit but he very selflessly stood aside for Derek, who with Clive's expert guidance fought a very good campaign...dig deep for the greater good of the party and for a just and noble cause...I'm sure genuine, loyal BNP members will join me in congratulating Nick, Clive and Derek, as well as everyone else who put it so much effort, on a fine result.'

Like I said, delusional.

BNP says election campaign cost under £30,000

Clive Jefferson, the BNP’s moronic national treasurer and elections officer

The British National Party promised to spend nearly half a million pounds on its general election campaign. In the event it paid out a mere £29,460 according to its election expenses return published today.

When the BNP launched its general election campaign fund on 10 April, it claimed it had already raised £275,000 towards the £455,000 cost of its campaign, and had paid £100,000 towards the £150,000 cost of printing 15 million leaflets “specially designed by industry experts to ensure maximum response and impact”. Either that statement or the party’s election expenses return – or both – must be untrue.

People who responded to the party’s appeals to “to save the country that our War Heroes fought and died for” by helping “the BNP get elected to local councils and to Parliament” must be wondering where their donations went.

The BNP has also breached electoral law by not having its expenses return audited. Parties that spent more than £250,000 on last year’s European election and the general election combined were required to submit an audited account. The BNP’s return showed expenditure of £313,217 on the two elections, but the box for the auditor’s name and address was blank.

Another unlikely element of the return, which was signed by Clive Jefferson, the BNP’s moronic national treasurer and elections officer, is the nil figure for unpaid invoices, despite revelations by former BNP officers that the party owes printers and other businesses large sums of money. Eddy Butler, who unsuccessfully challenged Griffin for the BNP leadership in summer, commented today that several of the invoices included in the return were unpaid.

Most of the claimed expenditure of £29,460 went on leaflets and newspapers, with only £562 devoted to the BNP’s television broadcast. No wonder it was so awful. The return also shows nothing spent on advertising. Yet on 30 April Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, appealed for donations to pay for newspaper advertisements in “working class target areas” in the final days of the campaign.

Another surprising revelation is that Sentinel Publications Limited spent nothing on the election campaign. Adam Walker, the BNP’s staff manager, registered the company as a third party campaigner for the election and BNP members distributed a nasty 12-page antisemitic newspaper in Barking and Dagenham that bore the company’s imprint. Butler recently described it as a “ridiculous anti-Hodge newspaper” and said party activists had to use “black marker pens to cross out an anti-Jewish remark”.

Even if Sentinel Publications Limited persuaded a printer to produce it for nothing, the value of the “notional expenditure” should have been declared.

Meanwhile Griffin has announced that he is to launch legal action to have the “Barking and Dagenham” election result overturned, claiming that Margaret Hodge, the Labour victor, lied during the campaign. Griffin stood against Hodge in Barking in the general election, but now reveals he was so much of an outsider that he does not even know the constituency name.

Griffin’s complaint follows the broadcast of the Channel 4 documentary The Battle for Barking on 30 November in which Hodge was recorded telling a public meeting that the BNP wants non-white people expelled from the country, dropped from an aeroplane or helicopter and left in the sea.

Over the past year Griffin has bankrupted the BNP through a series of reckless legal actions. He appears set on pursuing more of the same.

Hope not hate