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

Councillors upset as BNP takes seat

The parish of Seascale is in turmoil now that a member of the British National Party is one of its representatives.

Malcolm Southward has formally taken a seat on the parish council, against the wishes of the 11 other members. They claim the Sellafield process worker fell foul of electoral protocol by saying on his nomination form that he works in the parish of Seascale. But the BNP member is staying put with the apparent blessing of both Copeland Council and the Electoral Commission. The rest of the members are considering whether to contest the issue in the High Court or to dissolve the council and ask the borough council to take it over.

“The right thing to do would be for us to go to law but the cost could not be funded by the parish, it would have to be individuals so we will have to wait and see whether a benefactor comes along,” said Coun David Moore.

“The other option is for us to stand down and invite Copeland Council to run the parish and see what that brings. We feel the borough council should have stood shoulder to shoulder with us on this. It’s an unbelievable fiasco. We are in the right because clearly the BNP member does not meet the criteria. We were prepared to make a stand and go to law if necessary because we are convinced Mr Southward’s nomination was invalid, then shortly before the meeting our clerk got a call from the borough council instructing us to accept. Mr Southward may work at Sellafield but it’s in the parish of Ponsonby and Beckermet, not Seascale, so he doesn’t tick the electoral box.”

There was no election at Seascale because there were 12 nominations for 12 seats. Copeland council chief executive Paul Walker said: “We have fully complied with the nomination process for the local and parish council elections in Copeland as advised by the Electoral Commission.”

Whitehaven News

BNP faces meltdown at local polls after defections and infighting

Party to field 450 fewer candidates than in 2007 as leader Nick Griffin comes under pressure over organisation's finances

The British National party is facing political meltdown in next month's local elections after a string of defections and growing concern over its finances.

Dozens of prominent BNP figures have either been suspended or have resigned and in the past few weeks several former members have announced they are to stand for rival far-right and nationalist organisations.

The BNP is standing around 250 candidates in next month's elections, compared with approximately 700 in the equivalent polls in 2007.

The turmoil comes as the Electoral Commission announced this week that the party had "failed to comply with the legal requirement to keep adequate financial records" for the second year running, further increasing the pressure on the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, who fought off a leadership challenge last year.

"The position of the party is extremely dire," said Professor Matthew Goodwin, from Nottingham University, an expert on far-right politics. "The defections and rebellions are going strong and we have seen a whole host of key figures leave to join other far-right groups … Nick Griffin is becoming increasingly isolated."

The BNP says it is focusing on the elections to the Welsh assembly, where it claims it could secure two seats, but anti-Griffin rebels say the BNP should be making more progress in England as cuts bite and economic instability increases.

"There is growing anger within the party because there was a period when it looked like Nick Griffin may have been able to force the BNP into the political mainstream," said a spokesman for the anti-racist campaign Hope not Hate. "But it is clear Nick Griffin will himself be the BNP's nemesis. His mismanagement, arrogance and dictatorial leadership have dragged his own party off a political cliff."

The BNP's election prospects took a blow earlier this month when it emerged that around 15 former members, including some key figures such as former Yorkshire organiser Chris Beverley, had defected and are standing for the English Democrats in next month's elections. On his blog Beverley said it had been a "huge decision" and blamed the actions of Griffin and his leadership team for the party's problems.

Goodwin said: "There are just over 200 BNP candidates but there are 390 far-right candidates in total so what we are seeing quite clearly is that the far right is splintering, not just among one or two parties but among a whole host of groups and factions … it is the classic case of far-right parties in the UK shooting themselves in the foot."

Analysts say BNP infighting has allowed other far-right and nationalist groups to come to the fore. Organisations such as the English Defence League, the English Democrats and the British Freedom party are now challenging the BNP, but perhaps its biggest threat is a resurgent UK Independence party, which beat both the Conservatives and Lib Dems to come second in a byelection in Barnsley last month.

"The activists that are frustrated with the incompetence of the BNP are going to the EDL or other rightwing factions and many [former voters] are going to Ukip if they want something more respectable," said Goodwin. "The BNP are being outflanked on all sides."

Opponents say the defections and wider splits mean the party is struggling to stand candidates in some of its core areas.

BNP spokesman Simon Darby dismissed the defections, saying: "People have gone, that is it … but wait and see about that, I think they are going to regret that, just wait and see."

He defended Griffin, insisting he was still a popular leader and that it was "a miracle" the party was still operating following what he said was a relentless campaign to undermine it by the media and the state. "I am just pleased we are still here putting up a campaign in seats we may win … we are still in the game and are looking to regroup after all the dust has settled on this election," he said.

Griffin has come under growing pressure since the BNP's poor showing in last year's general and council elections, when it lost all but two of the 28 councillors up for re-election and was wiped out in its east London stronghold of Barking and Dagenham. It now has 23 councillors, compared with 54 a year ago, and several senior figures, including election co-ordinator Eddie Butler and London assembly member Richard Barnbrook, have come out against Griffin.

The rebels' anger is focused on Griffin's leadership style and concern about the party's debts which were exacerbated this week when the Electoral Commission said the BNP had failed to keep adequate financial records for the second year running.

"We have sought an urgent meeting with the party to discuss the steps they need to take to comply with the law," said a spokesman for the commission.

The party is reportedly £500,000 in debt although Darby said that the figure was "coming down".

"We are making good progress on that, that debt will be serviced," he added.

Although a poor showing in next month's elections would increase the pressure on Griffin to stand down, Goodwin said that remains unlikely.

"Griffin will hang on because the BNP constitution means it is almost impossible to oust him... [He] is doing the party in, it is not connecting with voters, they are running out of money but he is not going to go anywhere... they truly are a fading star and it is almost entirely because of Griffin's incompetence."

The Guardian

BNP reported over Scots leaflets

The BNP has been reported to the Electoral Commission over a campaign leaflet that falsely claims there are more Muslims in the UK than Scots.

A pamphlet was put through letterboxes across Scotland which said the BNP would put an end to mosque-building and warning of a “flood” of Eastern European immigrants about to arrive in Scotland.

Campaign group, Hope Not Hate, has reported the party over its claims. There are an estimated 2.4 million Muslims in Britain and more than five million in Scotland alone, 89% of whom declared themselves Scottish in the last census.

The far-right BNP is planning to field a record number of candidates in the next Holyrood and Westminster elections, but the Sunday Herald can reveal that a shortage of candidates has meant Nick Griffin’s daughter Jenny has been forced to stand in English, Welsh and Scottish elections under her married name, Jennifer Matthys. Opponents said it was damning evidence of the BNP’s lack of support.

A spokesman for Hope Not Hate said: “The BNP’s campaign of hate has been rejected by the Scottish people, which is why they have resorted to a tissue of lies. The BNP is desperate when Nick Griffin is forced to pressgang his own daughter into standing in three separate elections. This makes a mockery of their claims to be building support across the country.”

Aamer Anwar, human rights lawyer, said Muslims could be intimidated by the leaflets and they should call the police if they felt threatened. He said: “This could be considered breach of the peace. It’s racist nonsense which is totally inaccurate and trying to play on people’s fears.”

BNP Scottish organiser Gary Raikes said the leaflets were checked before going out and questioned whether the UK’s Muslim population had been accurately measured.

Herald Scotland

BNP registers in Northern Ireland for first time

The BNP has for the first time registered as a political party in Northern Ireland. This means it can now field candidates in the Assembly or council elections. The move was confirmed on Wednesday by the Electoral Commission.

The right-wing party has in the past expressed an interest in contesting elections in Northern Ireland but has so far failed to do so.

BBC

BNP found guilty of 'failing to keep accurate financial records'

The British National Party was guilty of a "clear failure" to keep accurate financial records for 2008, the Electoral Commission said today. But the commission said that although this was a breach of the law, no sanctions were available to punish the BNP.

After an investigation into the party's affairs for 2008, the commission said: "The registered treasurers for the party in 2008 breached the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 by failing to keep accounting records sufficient to explain, with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the party at the time."

However, there was no sanction or penalty available to punish the treasurers. Penalties were brought into force this month, but cannot be applied retrospectively.

The commission said because of the state of the records, it could not be certain that the party's submitted reports of donations were accurate. But the investigation "found no specific evidence to lead to the conclusion that they were not accurate".

Chief executive of the Electoral Commission Peter Wardle said: "Political parties are required by law to keep accurate financial records, and this clear failure to do so is a serious matter. It undermines the party's ability to demonstrate, and the commission's ability to verify, that the party is complying with the law. It is frustrating that, although we established that the party breached party funding law by not keeping adequate financial records, there are no sanctions available to us in relation to this breach.

"This has now changed for breaches of the law that occur after December 1 2010, when we have access to a new set of powers and sanctions. We have written to the party setting out our concerns. We will be meeting with senior party officials as soon as possible to ensure that their procedures for complying with the law are adequate, and monitoring the party to ensure they implement any necessary changes without delay."

24dash

Nick Griffin stages what may be his ‘last hurrah’ in Leicester

Leicester anti-fascists are calling for support for a protest at the Best Western Leicester Stage Hotel in Wigston, on the southern edge of Leicester, where the British National Party is holding its annual conference.

Over the past two days Leicester Police have been alerting leaders of the city’s communities that the racists were coming to town. Despite the BNP’s attempts to head off protests by posting on the party website that the three-day event was in South Derbyshire, all enquiries led to Leicester.

Tonight party members are sitting down to a “black tie dinner”, followed by a speech by Nick Griffin, the party leader, that will probably leave them with a bout of indigestion. Tomorrow will start with a financial report and “questions to panel”. It is unclear whether delegates will learn more about the party’s dodgy finances than the Electoral Commission, which is still waiting for its 2009 accounts and investigating the 2008 accounts that were submitted late.

The session will be followed by debates on “policy motions” submitted by each region and a “constitutional debate”. Andrew Brons, the party’s Yorkshire MEP, has undertaken a “consultation” on proposed changes to the BNP’s mammoth constitution, adopted only at the beginning of this year, which gives dictatorial power to the leader and makes it almost impossible to overthrow him.

Brons announced several weeks ago that the party’s elite “voting members” would get a chance to vote on constitutional changes at this weekend’s conference, but Eddy Butler, who unsuccessfully tried to call a leadership election in summer, has pointed out that no constitutionally binding vote can be taken at the conference because members have not been given the required 14 days’ notice of the proposals.

There will also be training workshops running alongside the conference “in a small room”. Presumably the party does not expect delegates to show much interest in sessions on “make your petition stall work for you” and the party’s fake Solidarity trade union.

The highlight of the event was supposed to be a “Christmas Grand Ball” on Saturday evening “complete with three-course meal, entertainment, music and refreshments”. This has now been demoted to a “Christmas party and late evening sing-along” according to the BNP website this afternoon.

On Sunday the party will yet again wheel out its fake vicar “Reverend” Robert West to hold a half-hour “Sunday Service”.

The day was supposed to continue with a two-course lunch followed by “a BNP Veterans Parade, a leadership Question Time, an audio-visual British history presentation and finally the keynote address from BNP leader Nick Griffin MEP”. Instead the BNP veterans have been relegated to a workshop in the “small room” and the BNP leader has ducked out of facing awkward questions from the members.

The BNP claimed a few days ago that the conference hotel was “fully booked”, despite the whopping £299 cost for a couple, or £189 single, to stay both nights in one of the hotels 79 rooms and attend all events.

The conference was open to all party members except, that is, the “many voting members” who according to Butler have been “suspended without charge” or were expelled several months ago and are still awaiting for their appeals to be heard. The police thought there would be no more than 100 people attending, which would be down on previous years.

Hope not hate