INTRODUCTION
No one who gets anything done in politics
fails to make enemies; it is an occupational hazard. However, when a political
leader makes enemies and becomes the subject of widespread condemnation far
beyond the norm, it is time to examine whether that person harbours particular
character failings that justifiably invite the hatred and contempt of others,
particularly when they are not political opponents but allies. In his political
career within British Nationalism. Nick Griffin has aroused just such feelings
across a wide spectrum, coming from people quite diverse in their opinions on
other matters and by no means in any kind of coalition with each other against
him. In this pamphlet are assembled just a brief collection of comments on Mr.
Griffin from various people in the Nationalist movement. Many more are on the
record, but we have excluded them here because do not want to make the pamphlet
too long. Are all these people unreasonable folk, bearing unwarranted grudges
and with axes to grind? Read for yourself and decide.
Among the several reasons for the opposition
that Mr. Griffin has aroused among nationalists is his record for the grossest
inconsistency. Once dubbed by a BBC reporter as a 'political chameleon', he has
changed stance so often on various issues, both political and tactical, that
many have been baffled when it comes to ascertaining what he really stands for -
or indeed whether in fact he stands for anything at all beyond his single-minded
personal ambition.
One particular field in which Mr. Griffin
has changed position drastically is the very field which most nationalists
consider to be of prime importance: race and immigration. His views as expressed
on this issue some years ago are unrecognizable compared with those he has been
expressing more recently. Many believe that in these matters he has 'sold out'.
His supporters, on the other hand, will maintain that he is merely 'boxing
clever'. But in answer to this latter claim there are two crucial points that
must be made. When policy changes of the magnitude of those made by Mr. Griffin
succeed in dividing party members and supporters as bitterly as has occurred
with those on the racial issue, that is not 'clever' politics; it is crass
stupidity - if not indeed something worse. The other point is that there is
nothing 'clever' in a politician coming out with such 'softly-softly'
declarations on race when his entire past record is a contradiction of them, and
can easily be seen as such when exposed to media scrutiny - as has already
happened with Mr. Griffin.
Because of Mr. Griffin's continual U-turns
on race and other matters, we are including in this pamphlet some prominent
samples of his past and more recent statements.
One thing is certain: in whatever political
organisation has opened its doors to him Nick Griffin has been a constant
catalyst of division and conflict, whether it be in his earlier years in the
National Front, his mid-term antics in groups like the Inter-national Third
Position or his later metamorphoses from hard-line militant to 'moderate' and
'modemiser in the British National Party. There are some striking similarities
between Mr. Griffin's 'conversions' and the 'road to self-discovery' followed in
the Conservative Party by Michael Portillo!
Some people are not going to like what they
read in this pamphlet, and this applies particularly to those who have pledged
their loyalty to Nick Griffin in his present role of BNP leader. But those
people should ask themselves: can all these observers be wrong? And: can a man
who changes position so often ever be really trusted?
In a few places we have used quotes from the
enemy media of press and broadcasting. We know of course that the media are
going to be 'anti-Griffin', just as they are 'anti' everything connected with
British Nationalist politics. It is for this reason that we have avoided
reproducing opinions from media commentators and restricted ourselves only to
facts, which are reported here as given. Virtually all of these facts are indeed
verifiable from our own sources.
Many of the most damning revelations
concerning Nick Griffin have come from his own mouth and his own pen. Some of
them are quoted in these pages, but for a further insight into the mentality of
the man under scrutiny we can do no better than recommend a reading of his own
booklet published in 1986. Attempted Murder. giving the Griffin view of the
wreckage of the National Front.
THE CHAMELEON
On race and repatriation
'Hand in hand with such an attitude often
goes a call to downplay certain particularly controversial issues. However minor
are such changes, their likely result is to convince a number of ideologically
motivated 'hard-liners' - in all probability just the kind of energetic and
enthusiastic youngsters who are most needed - that there is no place for them in
the new-look movement. If the changes do not produce the expected crop of more
'respectable' recruits, the organisation is thus left weakened. If, on the other
hand, a new wave of slightly more moderate members does join up and become
active, their presence will have a ratchet effect. When they find that they are
still attacked by the media, they will look around for further changes they
could make to make the organisation more acceptable. This is precisely the
spiral of sickly moderation which has led one failed nationalist splinter group
after another to purge itself of 'extremists', co-opt Winston Churchill as a
posthumous honorary member and finally drop the inconvenient commitment to
compulsory repatriation just before its last members totter off to rejoin the
Tory Party.
"The long and unbroken record of failure by all
who have followed this populist road is irrefutable evidence that it is a dead
end."
Nick Griffin (Spearhead, February
1996)
"Multi-cultural Britain is a failure and an
affront to nature, says Griffin. But he does not believe in forced repatriation.
"Instead, non-Whites and those of non-white
descent should be given money to help them return to their countries of origin.
"A tiny minority will be allowed to stay in the
UK because in Griffin's twisted words: 'A little salt in the soup is OK.'
"He likes the phrase and uses it at least four
times during our hour-long talk. Push him further and he continues with his
bile-filled theme. 'If you have soup without any salt it is frankly unpalatable
and the salt makes the soup slightly more interesting."
Report by Paul Byrne (The Mirror,
May 29th 2001)
"Mr. Griffin, affable and frank on most
topics, goes very stiff and strange when asked about the party regulation which
declares that membership is open only to those of British or 'closely kindred
European descent'...
"His hands tremble slightly as he refuses to
say what he thinks about this creepy stipulation...He explains that the
definition of 'closely kindred' is a 'grey area', which is one way of putting
it. Greeks can join but Turks can't. Bosnian Serbs can but Bosnian Muslims
can't.
"In fact, Muslims in general can't, because,
says the BNP. their first loyalty is to Islam rather than Britain.
"Some members think it should be changed. I
don't comment on it because it's a divisive issue,' intones Mr. Griffin, quite
unaware of how ludicrous this statement is, coming from the leader of a movement
which is not known for avoiding divisive issues."
Peter Hitchens (The Mail on Sunday
Review, February 9th 2003)
"And all the indications are that had we
been directly asked about a multi-cultural society in a referendum, we'd have
said no. Nonetheless, we've accepted it at the polls at every general election
since Macmillan and that 'never had it so good' speech. So we haven't a moral
right to turn round now and say: 'Right - you people out.' because effectively,
by our acquiescence, we've accepted them being invited in. Of course, we can
only put up with mass immigration if numbers are at such a level that we retain
our culture and our homeland, which every people and every nation have a right
to, and the newcomers don't want to change our society into something else.
"The best we can do, then, is cut the numbers
to a sensible proportion and make sure that the people who are here become as
British as they can be."
Nick Griffin to Jeremy Clarke
(The Spectator, March 27th 2004)
"The British National Party has told the
Today programme that it has made a huge shift in policy towards ethnic
minorities.
"I met Nick Griffin, the leader of the British
National Party last May... I half expected, half hoped, given his past he would
not want to be interviewed by an ethnic minority.
"But he was polite and statesmanlike... He even
asked whether he could shake my hand afterwards.
"This got me thinking. Is the BNP really
shifting its attitude towards ethnic minorities?
"Mr. Griffin says the dream of an all-white
Britain is no longer feasible. Indeed 'getting everybody out is neither humane
nor practical nor going to happen.' Britain needs to make the best of a bad
job..."
Barnie Choudhury (BBC Radio Four
Today programme on line, January 2002)
"The tendency within the nationalist
movement is to think within terms of multi-racialism, but the debate will be
about multi-culturalism. All the West Indians I met in Oldham, and you could
count them on one hand, were voting for the BNP. To an absolute purist that's
anathema. That's silly to me because one per cent of our genes are from Africa.
We've already assimilated a proportion and it hasn't had the terrible effects
that the purist race freaks talk about."
Nick Griffin (reported in The
Observer Magazine, 1st September 2002)
On the Jewish Question
"Hollywood is the heart of a race war - a
war to turn the white nations of the world into a demoralised, atomised,
mongrelised rabble...
"Having worked so hard to establish this deadly
stranglehold on long-term opinion-forming, the controllers of Hollywood, almost
entirely Jewish, were clearly deeply concerned when, at the end of the 1980s,
the long boom in consumer electrical goods gave several Japanese companies the
money and motivation to grab a piece of the lucrative Hollywood action."
Nick Griffin (Spearhead, January
1996)
"The Messianic nature of Judaism has clearly
always been an important factor, at least subconsciously, in the hugely
disproportionate role of racial Jews in both Communism and Capitalism."
Nick Griffin (Spearhead, February
1996)
"... Jews tend to be more intelligent than
Gentiles. That's just a straight fact.
"The party's constitution at the moment doesn't
allow it [Jewish and other non-European members]. It's the party's constitution.
It would be far better for the BNP to allow non-Brits as members. But politics
is a matter of the possible. We've had decades of Hollywood Nazism of the most
ill-concealed sort. It's not easy to turn the tanker around."
Interview with David Aaronovitch
(The Independent Review, May 2nd 2002)
"I think there is a closer correlation
between the interests of our party and the Jewish people than there is between
the Jews and the multi-culturalists creating the conditions for an Islamic
Britain in the future."
Statement by Nick Griffin (London
Jewish News, April 26th 2002)
On political imagery
"But we also need to provide the sense of
camaraderie and the thrill of the chase without which man sinks into terminal
boredom.
"This is the key to the mistake made every few
years by those who argue that nationalism should concentrate on presenting a
nice, 'respectable' image and forsake the rough and tumble of the streets for
the softly worded media interview. That way we won't arouse such hostility, our
would-be supporters won't be frightened off by angry opponents and more and more
people will be won over by reasoned debate.' Just like Communism, it seems
plausible in theory, but in reality it just doesn't work. On the contrary, every
time it has been tried it has not only failed to bring in new recruits but has
led to an inexplicable loss of many existing supporters.
"The cringing liberals and the populists have
got it all wrong. Far from confront-action frightening worthwhile people away,
by strengthening the bonds of the group it actually attracts them - provided you
win!
Nick Griffin (Spearhead, April
1996)
On non-white members in the BNP
"Blacks in the BNP? This is an area where
there are two motives for suggesting the thing in question. A few individuals -
the good-hearted but politically naive -think it would be a good thing because
it would help us to overcome the 'racist' tag... Others - the enemy plants and
the plain malcontents - know that it isn't really going to happen...
"The BNP's constitution expressly states that
only individuals of British (i.e. English. Scots, Welsh and Irish) or closely
kindred European stock may join as members. Not only do I not intend to try to
change this fundamental rule, but I would vigorously oppose anyone else
attempting to push for such a change..."
Nick Griffin (Identity magazine,
December 2003)
POSTSCRIPT:
Just seven months after these words were written. Mr. Griffin attempted to
push for a change in the very rules of membership he had said he would defend,
the pretext for this being anticipated new legislation that would force the
party to accept non-white members - a supposition for which there was not the
slightest foundation. Less than three weeks after that, Mr. Griffin altered
direction again, announcing on the BNP website that the change in membership
rules would not be made after all - this being in response to massive
grass-roots opposition from the party.
On his own leadership ambitions
"Nor is John Tyndall going to fall for the
equally clumsy attempts to make him think that I'm plotting to take his job...
Do I even want to lead the BNP? It's a lonely and thankless task, with a
frightening burden of responsibility... it is unthinkable that someone who has
been involved in an organisation for only a fraction of the time of his
colleagues should leap-frog to the top without proving his staying power and
suitability to both them and the membership at large. Such a process by its very
nature would require years."
Nick Griffin, writing on The Cook
Report TV documentary (Spearhead, July 1997)
POSTSCRIPT: Within 19
months from the writing of these words. Mr. Griffin ann-ounced his intention to
challenge John Tyndall for the BNP leadership.
On the BNP, its ideology and fighting for power
"Bluntly, I am not at all sure I belong in
the British National Party.
"As you will have probably gathered from my
Rune articles, my opinion of party political organisations with their primary
focus on parliamentary elections is very similar to that espoused by Colin
Jordan... I believe that the BNP continues to put far too many of its eggs in
the basket of mythical parliamentary democracy... I cannot see why we should
waste so much time appealing to dupes and morons [the British electorate] when
there is so much to be done recruiting, educating and equipping our
power-winning machine.
"Further, I am not a British Nationalist. I am
first and foremost a White Racialist, and second a Welsh
Nationalist... Nick
Griffin in letter to John Tyndall (November 14th 1994)
On Nazism
"The third 'H' which we have to identify and
actively reject is Hitler. Thankfully, the time has long gone when the BNP would
tolerate the known presence of deluded individuals as members or on our fringes
with a perverted nostalgia for the 1930s. But we now have to promote our
anti-Nazi credentials more vigorously...
"There are two main reasons for the pollution
of British Nationalism over three or four decades by this immensely damaging
1930s political necrophilia. First, there was the fact that several of the
leading figures in both the National Front and the old BNP had either flirted
with Nazism in the early stages of their careers or, even worse, were still
'closet' Nazis...
"The second reason is a little more complex. A
key part of the liberal-left's relentless campaign to demonise any white
resistance to their genocidal multi-racial experiment has been a huge propaganda
effort to convince the public that such resistance is a symptom of Nazism..."
Nick Griffin (Identity magazine,
June 2002)
"Many historians have stated that probably
no troops in the West today could be compared with SS troops. The culture of
National Socialist Germany idolised hero-ism and self-sacrifice, and SS troops
were hardened to outdoor life in the Hitler Youth. Today, the US Army discusses
'homosexual rights', the Union Jack flag is hidden in Northern Ireland to avoid
offending sensitive IRA sympathisers, and the 'Professionals' are riddled with
self-seeking careerists. What comparison could there be to the religiously
fanatical 'political troops of yesterday' whose motto was 'Believe, Obey,
Fight'?"
Article In The Rune magazine
(1995). Editor: Nick Griffin
"I would certainly like to take up your
suggestion of a regular exchange of the The Rune for Gothic Ripples. I have
found your series on the NS [National Socialist] Vanguard interesting and
thought-provoking so far, and look forward to the remainder.
"The next Rune is now being put together. Among
other articles we have a good brief history of the BUF [British Union of
Fascists] by a youngster in Scotland, a major piece of constructive criticism of
the BNP's over-emphasis on elections, and a feature on the law relating to
self-defence against red/Jew terror attacks." Nick Griffin
In letter to veteran Nazi Colin Jordan (22nd July 1995)
A perceptive report
"A committed activist, Griffin worked his
way up the ranks [of the National Front], which were not extensive, and in 1983,
along with a couple of other young hopefuls, he staged a coup that dislodged
Martin Webster, the leader at that time. Five years later. Griffin was among a
party of NF hierarchy which made an all-expenses-paid visit to Libya a few weeks
before the Lockerbie bombing (and just a few years after the murder of WPC
Fletcher). Their purpose was to gain funds from Colonel Gaddafi, who was also
bankrolling the IRA at the time. During this period, the NF adopted a
pro-Ayatollah Khomeini stance.
It was Tyndall who brought him back into
politics... Following the council by-election of the BNP's Derek Beacon in 1993,
Griffin wrote: The electors of Millwall did not back a post-modernist rightist
party, but what they perceived to be a strong, disciplined organisation with the
ability to back up its slogan "Defend Rights for Whites" with well-directed
boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will,
not of rational debate.'
"In 1997, Griffin was the subject of a Cook
Report sting. Thinking he was talking to representatives of the French National
Front, Griffin complained: 'Britain does not have the tradition of intellectual
fascism which is such an important factor in many other countries. While I do
have a number of proposals to help rectify this deficiency, the truth is that
this is a handicap which we can never overcome completely.' He also announced
that the BNP should not try to appeal to 'middle-class notions of
respectability... It is more important to control the streets of a city than its
council chambers.'
"It was after the Cook Report was aired that
Griffin re-evaluated his language and tactics Ditching Tyndall, he joined up
with the 'liberal' wing of the party. In September 1999, he defeated Tyndall in
the party's leadership election, and, a quarter of a century after joining the
far right, he found himself at its very centre. That's a lot of history to live
down. In the words of a newsletter written by his former comrades at the ITP:
'[Griffin] has been a conservative, a revolutionary nationalist, a radical
National Socialist, a Third Positionist. a friend of "boot boys" and the
skinhead scene, a man committed to respectable politics and electioneering, a
"modemiser". Which is he really?'
"Given this uncompromisingly aggressive
attitude. I wonder how he was able to work so intimately with Martin Webster.
Even by the eccentric standards of the far right. Webster stands out as a
fascinating oddity, if for no other reason than that as leader of the violently
homophobic NF. he was openly gay among fellow activists. Griffin was one of his
closest lieutenants for three years.
"'Erm,' Griffin pauses, 'it was uncomfortable
sometimes. He'd come into the office and put his arm around you and give you a
kiss on the cheek and you'd go "Yuck."
"He says he didn't protest because he was busy
plotting against Webster. A couple of years ago, Webster claimed that he and
Griffin had been lovers - something which Griffin, a father of four, vehemently
denies."
Report by Andrew Anthony (The
Observer Magazine, 1st September 2002)
COMMENTS FROM OTHER NATIONALISTS
One-time supporters speak
"I am supporting Nick Griffin in this
election. He has proved to be The Way Forward' for the British National Party
and I am confident in his commitment to the advancement of our party as we move
into the 21st Century."
Sharron Edwards (September 1999)
"As the millennium approaches, I feel our
party needs a refreshing change of leadership... we need a young man with
intelligence, drive and energy. We are lucky to have that person (a
Cambridge-educated family man) and the unique opportunity to have him take our
party out of fringe politics. That's why I'm support-ting Nick Griffin."
Steven Edwards (September 1999)
"The current leader (Nick Griffin) is a ...
and a ......... [words deleted to avoid possible libel action]... Decent people
have been badly let down... Griffin has wrecked and factionalised every movement
he has been associated with... If Griffin is replaced, we may be able to join
forces again."
Sharron and Steve Edwards (December
2000)
"We need a new leader... for a new century,
and we now have an exceptionally able candidate available from the new
generation - a Cambridge graduate... That's why we must vote for the future and
for Nick Griffin as the next leader of the BNP."
Michael Newland (September 1999)
"Griffin was elected on a clear pledge to
have full financial accountability and fell at the first hurdle when reasonable
questions were asked. He and Lecomber have shown themselves incapable of running
the organisation as a legitimate affair. I thought that Griffin had matured
sufficiently enough to behave sensibly and I was wrong...I misjudged him and
that was my terrible mistake for which I eat humble pie"
Michael Newland, recent BNP
Treasurer (September 2000)
From a leading BNP Organiser
"... the reason for all this mayhem? John
Tyndall had been invited to speak! The circus had come to town and it had
arrived in the wake of a determined attempt by the leadership of the party to
have me cancel Mr. Tyndall's invitation. Martin Wingfield e-mailed me a message
suggesting limply that if the meeting went ahead all our good work would be
undone. He was not serious of course; he was simply acting on instructions given
to him by either Nick Griffin or Tony Lecomber. both of whom regarded Mr.
Tyndall as a thorn in their side and simply wanted him out of the way...
"It was these events more than any other, I
think, that confirmed my worst fears, which were that the leadership of the BNP
were more interested in themselves than the party, as evidenced by their
preparedness to discredit their most successful branch simply to get at John
Tyndall...
"I quite simply could not get out of my mind
the fact that Mr. Griffin had not taken the time and trouble to enquire about
how we had achieved what we had in order that he might be in a position to help
other branches around the country achieve the same success for themselves."
Steve Smith (How it was Done, 2004)
"... I do not believe that Nicholas Griffin
is suited to the job of leading the British National Party to political success.
In my view Mr. Griffin is fundamentally flawed and psychologically disfigured as
a leader because he is predisposed to put himself first and the BNP second...
"Mr. Griffin, in my view, has little or no
humility, and is therefore unable to tap into that deep reservoir of strength
and resourcefulness that each and every one of us has but all too few of us are
able to recognise. This. I am sorry to say, is a character flaw which exposes an
absence of sincerity and integrity..."
Steve Smith (Article in Spearhead,
November 2004)
From a leading Nationalist writer
The article from which these excerpts are taken was written in response to comments made in a self-promoting interview given by Nick Griffin in Patriot magazine in the Summer of 1999.
"Nick makes some play with his past record in the nationalist movement. It is therefore necessary for us to delve into that swamp as well. Just note, to begin with, two fixed rules of the game which Patriot wants you to observe at all times:-
1) Nothing that ever went wrong in any organisation when Nick was at the head of it (which happened, regularly, frequently and often) was ever his fault.
2) Nothing that ever went right for any nationalist organisation which John Tyndall led was ever to his credit.
"Of course, though Nick was in the forefront of all of this, you understand that none of the new disasters that now engulfed the National Front was any of his fault. On goes our Nick, relentlessly suppressing material facts as eagerly he hunts out his scapegoats.
"'From 1983,' he says, 'the party (the
National Front) entered a period of rapid growth and improvement.' Strange to
say. neither we experienced NF-watchers in the British National Party, nor most
of the NF's surviving members, managed to notice any of this 'growth' or
'improvement'. Low morale, dwindling numbers and abysmal votes characterised the
party at that time, as far as any of us could see...
"So far as we knew by the mid-1980s, the only
'growth' or 'improvement' that were going on were in the area of ideological
eccentricity. Nick had always had a shine for Otto Strasser, the leftist German
Nazi of the 1920s, who believed in combining workers' control of German industry
with a foreign policy of alliance with Soviet Russia. To this Strasser worship
was now added, in Griffin's case an admiration for Libyan dictator Muhammar
Gaddafi, which extended to the point of political insanity.
"In fact, if the Front was, as he says in
Patriot, 'not worth saving' by 1989, when he left it, this amounted to nothing
that John Tyndall hadn't been telling him and his colleagues, year in. year out,
for a decade. But listening to good counsel is not our Nick's strong point. When
the Griffin bit is between the teeth as he rushes off with
pig-headed impetuosity on his latest half-baked
hobby horse, there really is no stopping him, as he looks neither to right nor
left, thundering into the valley of death - and of course dragging all and
sundry after him...
"During that decade, the British National Party
grew from almost nothing to become practically the only nationalist party - and
certainly the only viable one - in Britain, under the leadership of John
Tyndall. The National Front, during the same period, shrank from being the only
viable nationalist party in Britain to practically nothing - to a great extent
under the leadership of... Nick Griffin!...
"According to Patriot, Nick is a man of
'phenomenal vision'. The trouble is you can't tell what the vision is going to
be from one moment to the next. Since 1980, Nick has been, in succession, a
Strasserite Nazi, a pedlar of Mr. Gaddafi's 'Green • Book' summarising the
Libyan Utopia. ... a hard-line nationalist with a taste for physical
confrontation with the opposition (see articles in the Rune magazine written
when Nick first started moving in BNP circles), and latterly a 'modemiser' with
no taste for confrontation with left-wing opposition... Talk about all things to
all men!
"Nick's words seem to be whatever flavoured
chewing gum for the ears that he calculates his audience of the moment might
prefer. It's all done for effect."
John Morse (Spearhead, September
1999)
From a former BNP regional organiser
"... you will have seen February's Freedom
and the article concerning Charlie Bickerstaffe. Freedom is the official paper
of the party. Under current electoral law, candidates have to be endorsed by
Tony Lecomber as Nick Griffin's designated official for this purpose. It is
outrageous that Bickerstaffe is allowed to stand for the BNP. Inter-racial
marriage [which Mr. Bickerstaffe had endorsed in the case of his daughter] is
regarded by BNP members as perhaps the most selfish and heinous crime possible.
Clearly the Nick Griffin/Tony Lecomber combination is a disaster. In my view,
the party must urgently elect a new chairman who is prepared to run the party
according to its original purpose...
"Many people have said: 'Let's give Griffin
time to settle in; don't rock the boat.' However, in my opinion there is no
chance that he will settle down: he is funda-mentally unsuitable for the job.
Accordingly, as a founder-member of the party and someone who ostentatiously
abstained from voting in the last leadership election, I am now calling for the
party to start actively seeking a successor to Griffin...
"The BNP under Nick Griffin is not the BNP that
I helped to bring to life!"
Michael Easter (former BNP Kent
Regional Organiser) In a circulated letter to party members (17th February 2003)
From a nationalist lawyer
"Why aren't you a member of the BNP? Some of my
friends have asked me.
"It may be that 'events, dear boy, events' are
already demonstrating why, following the mysterious resignation of party
treasurer John Brayshaw in June, and Nick Griffin's failure to file the accounts
for the year ending 31st December 2003 with the Electoral Commission by a
generously extended deadline of 31st July 2004. not to mention the demonstrably
false reason assigned for this failure. To suggest that Barclays Bank's decision
in July 2004 to withdraw banking facilities contributed in some fashion to a
failure to file accounts to 31st December 2003 is not even a clever lie.
"The short answer to the question why I am not
a member of the BNP is not about personality differences or fine points of
ideology. You do not need to like people to work with them, as the Brown/Blair
working relationship shows. The completely ideologically pure party has a
membership of one.
"Rather, my reasons are firstly that the BNP
does not fulfill the minimal criteria for a properly run party, and secondly
that I am pessimistic about the prospects of reform from within. I will develop
these points as briefly as the subject matter allows.
"The lack of constitutional safeguards against
the abuse of disciplinary powers mean that anyone contemplating a challenge, or
even questioning the ruling clique's mismanagement of affairs, is likely to be
expelled on some specious pretext by a rigged tribunal.
"If instances are needed, in the summer of
2000, Nick Griffin expelled Treasurer Mike Newland for protesting at the plainly
unacceptable blurring of the boundaries between the chairman's private business
concerns as a second hand (Japanese) car dealer on the one hand, and party
finances on the other, not to mention the making of wholly illegal payments to
Tony Lecomber (whose criminal record is so obvious a liability to the party that
one is driven to speculate why Nick Griffin does not cut this albatross from
around his neck... but I digress). Deputy Chairman Sharron Edwards was then
expelled for asking questions about the accounts that Nick Griffin could not
answer. Finally. Steve Edwards was expelled for being married to Sharron
Edwards, who had asked awkward questions about the accounts that Nick Griffin
could not answer!
"To quote the unfailingly eloquent Jonathan
Bowden, 'you can't expel people for saying: where's that quid?', especially not
if the quid has gene missing..." Yet that is precisely what happens in the BNP.
and all those who actively or passively support its current leadership
(including such former critics as the unfailingly eloquent Jonathan Bowden!)
share moral responsibility for its actions.
"Moving rapidly up to date from 2000 to 2004,
Nick Griffin and Co. are busily suspending whole branches that have had the
temerity to ask John Tyndall or Richard Edmonds to speak on subjects of pressing
concern to the party's members. They would undoubtedly expel both John Tyndall
and Richard Edmonds, had Nick Griffin not recently discovered (at considerable
expense to his party's funds) that he is not above the law."
Adrian Davies (Internet posting),
August 2004
From a long-standing Scottish BNP member
"... I was also an NF [National Front]
member since 1979. and I well and truly remember Nick's antics on the NF
Directorate. I have nothing against the man personally and admit that he is an
outstanding publicity director, but he is no party leader and never will be.
Under his 'leadership' the NF became fragmented, ended up an insignificant
laughing stock then disintegrated altogether. Surely no one with an ounce of
common sense would want this to happen again.
Tom Toye (In letter to John
Tyndall, July 17th 1999)
From the International Third Position (ITP)
"Despite the fact that Mr. Griffin has
launched some truly vile accusations against the leadership and activists of the
ITP - accusations both personal and political in nature - we have never
responded. However, we would like to take this opportunity to indicate the kind
of 'managerial flair' and 'financial astuteness' that Mr. Griffin would have us
all believe he possesses, and which were really the fundamental cause of his
separation from the ITP.
"In 1990 it was decided by the ITP to buy in
printing equipment, so as to enhance our political independence and to provide
the beginnings of an economic base for the movement. This was our first major
step in the Counter-Power strategy. Mr. Griffin was, unfortunately, put in
charge.
"He promptly found the only alcoholic,
suspect-homosexual vendor of printing equipment in the country. He paid down
many thousands of pounds of another nationalist's money for a set-up that we
were told would be ample for our needs. Four or five months after the money had
been paid down, we still had not received the equipment. It was only through the
perseverance of other leaders that we tracked down the shyster businessman who
had been paid for it and forced a delivery. The upshot, however, was that Mr.
Griffin had outlaid a huge sum for what can only be described as junk. Of
course, by this time Mr. Griffin had lost interest in this particular venture
and was moving on to other 'get-rich-quick' schemes. This event, coupled with
too many others of a similar, if less serious, nature, led Mr. Griffin to be
kept wholly out of anything connected with money"
Statement from ITP of August 20th
1999 (submitted to and printed in Spearhead, September 1999)
From an independent Nationalist magazine
"... Griffin has played a major part in
almost every split and factional in fight in the last 20 years... Starting with
the 1981 New NF split, when Tyndall left the NF over its refusal to make him
Fuhrer. Griffin was there hedging his bets and getting rid of those in his way
to attaining power Next came his involvement in the plot to oust megalomaniac
homo Martin Webster. Once again, Griffin was paving his way to power. Next came
the 1986 Cadre/Flag Group split, in which Griffin. Harrington and Holland ousted
Anderson, Wingfield & Co. The argument centred over the control of the party's
printing operations, Griffin denouncing all and sundry as state agents in his
booklet Attempted Murder.
After destroying the Cadre NF along a merry
jaunt through the wilderness of political lunacy, came his [Griffin's] departure
from the ITP again over money and printing equipment...
"... the damage he [Griffin] has done to our
cause is due to his being a career politician who is solely out for his own
gain. Everything that Nick does is geared towards promoting himself and lining
his pockets... History is repeating itself when one of the first things Griffin
does after taking charge of the BNP is to send himself a large portion of the
party's funds to extend his own house. Anyone who has ever had any significant
contact with Griffin can only be struck by the man's arrogance and the
indifference he shows to anyone he does not consider his intellectual equal or
whom he cannot use to his own advantage.
"Griffin is bad news for the survival of our folk
because his only interest is himself, and this is at the expense of everyone
else..."
Article in NST magazine, circa
2000/01
From a veteran Nationalist
"Griffin the Trimmer now fancies himself as
a mini-Churchill for the BNP. After experimenting with a faction of the National
Front, he entered the BNP intent on conspiring against and ousting John Tyndall.
its founder. Building up a faction of discontent by trotting around the country,
he got himself voted into power..."
"Griffin's mainstream debut. The sign that his
sell-out is succeeding is the fact that, although the media maintains and will
continue its obligatory fulminations against the BNP, Griffin is beginning to
find doors opening to him as a convert to the conventional party game."
"Do you think this significant accommodation of
Griffin indicates the beginning of some policy of sweet tolerance of racial
nationalism by the other participants in the programme representing the
mainstream or multi-racial media? Or would you say that instead this indicates
that he is now seen by them and the rest of those who really rule behind the
window-dressing of the ballot box as a useful instrument for taming the BNP,
turning it into a safe outlet for the discontent with multi-racial-ism which
they know to expect and want channeling into impotence? Beat the BNP from within
by extracting its teeth is a smart procedure and the most likely explanation of
the beginning of Griffin's rise to respectability."
Colin Jordan (Gothic Ripples,
December 2002)
