Re: British political realignment?

[Michael Pugliese <debsian@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Subject: [UK_Left_Network] UK: BNP - A Party On The Fringe - BBC Online


> http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1505000/audio/_1509333_tory17_griffin.ram
> (RealAudio clip: Edgar (Nicks Dad) Griffin)
>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1505000/video/_1509204_griffin_sat_25aug_wt_vi
.ram
> (RealVideo clip: Edgar Griffin on BNP Manifesto)
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1510000/audio/_1510295_ukipclip.ram
> (RealAudio clip: UKIP)
>
>
> 1) BNP: A party on the fringe
> 2) Ousted Tory 'not welcome' in UKIP
> 3) Edgar Griffin interview in full
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
>
> Friday, 24 August, 2001, 13:13 GMT 14:13 UK
> 1) BNP: A party on the fringe
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1507000/1507680.stm
>
>
> BNP supporters celebrate a rare election victory in 1993
>
> Edgar Griffin has been expelled from the Tory Party for his links with the
far-right BNP - a party that remains isolated in British politics.
> Just as you could once distinguish a Conservative MP from a Labourite, by
the three-piece pin-striped suit versus the brown anorak, so it was easy to
identify a far-right activist - jackboots, tattoos and a skinhead haircut.
>
> But the far right in Britain today, or at least some elements of it, have
become altogether less visible.
>
>
>
>       Party founder, John Tyndall
>
> Under its current chairman, Nick Griffin (whose father, Edgar, has been
expelled from the campaign team for prospective Tory leader Iain Duncan
Smith) the British National Party has been trying to give itself a makeover.
>
> The party, which marks its 20th anniversary next year, has sought to tone
down its racist bullyboy image, in an apparent bid to imitate the electoral
success of the French National Front and the Austrian Freedom Party.
>
> Once all but banished from our television screens, the BNP has gradually
surfaced in the media in recent months, to comment on the racial tensions
that sparked a series of riots in the north of England this summer.
>
> Mr Griffin has used the unrest as a platform to voice the party's stance
on immigration and racial integration.
>
>       BNP general election facts
>       1997: Fielded 57 candidates; won 35,833 votes
>       2001: Fielded 33 candidates; won 47,225 votes
> But he has also used his appearances on television, radio and in the press
to try to convey a different image of the party, which is widely associated
with promoting racism.
>
> Formed in 1982 by John Tyndall, the British National Party's guiding
principle has always been to oppose non-white immigration into the UK and
endorse repatriation of blacks and Asians living in Britain.
>
> But in the minds of the public it became inextricably linked with the
National Front, which had been co-founded by Mr Tyndall in the 1960s and had
a reputation for ruthless violence against immigrants.
>
> As leader of the BNP, Mr Tyndall did nothing to assuage opinion, prepared
as he was to be photographed in jackboots and armbands in front of pictures
of Adolf Hitler.
>
> Criminal conviction
>
> Mr Tyndall was convicted of incitement to racial hatred in 1986 and has
been jailed three times.
>
>
>
>       Cambridge graduate and convicted criminal, Nick Griffin
>
> The subtle change of tack came after Mr Griffin took over at the top in
1999. In its new guise, the BNP rejects accusations that it is racist and it
says it has severed links with the National Front.
>
> Under its current policy, the party backs an immediate halt to "all
further non-white immigration" and the "voluntary resettlement" of
non-whites to "their lands of ethnic origin".
>
> Some critics of the party, who include the journalist Nick Cohen, say in
the small print it endorses considering "forcible repatriation" for those
non-whites who refuse to return, although no reference can be found to this
on the BNP's website.
>
> Political analysts believe the shift in BNP policy is designed to appeal
to middle class white suburbanites who feel alienated by multiculturalism
and liberal values.
>
> Cambridge graduate
>
> Mr Griffin, a Cambridge law graduate, is pictured on the BNP website in a
family shot with his wife and four children. However, no mention is made of
the fact that he too has been convicted of inciting racial hatred.
>
> At the general election in June, he stood for the seat of Oldham West and
Royton, where weeks earlier racial tension had led to rioting, and won 16.4%
of the vote. The party made significant in-roads in another Oldham seat and
in Burnley, but elsewhere it struggled.
>
> In London, where 14 of its 33 candidates stood, it failed to make
significant gains. In the East End seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, where the
party did best in 1997, the BNP saw its share of the vote halve from 7.5%
last time to just over 3%.
>
> Sunday, 26 August, 2001, 12:37 GMT 13:37 UK
>
>
>
> 2) Ousted Tory 'not welcome' in UKIP
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/wales/newsid_1510000/1510295.stm
>
>
>
> Edgar Griffin had been considering joining the UKIP
>
> The former Conservative campaigner ousted for alleged links with the BNP
has been told not to bother applying to join the UK Independence Party.
> The UKIP told the BBC on Sunday that Edgar Griffin - whose son is BNP
chairman Nick Griffin and wife Jean stood as a candidate at the last
election - would not be welcome because of his past connections with the
nationalist organisation.
>
>
>
>       He would not be acceptable with the ties and links that he has
clearly got
>
>       UKIP chairman in Wales Neil Warry
>
> Mr Griffin, 79 - an active Tory for more than 50 years - was expelled from
the Conservative Party on Friday amid allegations that he had answered the
telephone on behalf of the BNP.
>
> The former deputy chairman of the Montgomeryshire Conservative Association
said on Saturday that he would continue to fight his expulsion, but revealed
that if he was not successful, he would be looking to join the BNP or the
UKIP.
>
> But speaking on BBC Wales's Sunday Edition, the UKIP's chairman in Wales,
Neil Warry, said his party would not welcome Mr Griffin.
>
> "He would not be acceptable with the ties and links that he has clearly
got," Mr Warry said.
>
> "We are a non-racist and non-sectarian party. We had candidates at the
last general election who were from all ethnic backgrounds."
>
>
>
>       Edgar Griffin's son is BNP chairman Nick Griffin
>
> Mr Warry said an application from Mr Griffin would be unlikely to get past
the first hurdle.
>
> "Everybody has to sign a declaration when they join the UKIP that they are
not part of an extremist party, which the BNP would be considered.
>
> "So with his background, he would not be able to sign that declaration,
and therefore he would not be able to join."
>
> On Thursday, the leadership election team of Tory leadership contender
Iain Duncan Smith struck Mr Griffin off the list of vice presidents, amid
tabloid claims that he had answered a BNP helpline.
>
> Investigation call
>
> Mr Griffin spent the day protesting his innocence but, in a series of
interviews, he made inflammatory comments about asylum seekers and William
Hague.
>
> He spoke out in favour of funding voluntary repatriation for immigrants -
a BNP policy.
>
> Mr Duncan Smith was angered by the incident and urged the Welsh
Conservatives to immediately investigate how Mr Griffin Snr had held office
in Montgomeryshire Conservative Association.
>
> Mr Duncan Smith - standing against Ken Clarke for the Tory leadership -
accused his opponents of a "two or three day campaign of vilification and
smears".
>
> On Saturday, Mr Clarke accused the Duncan Smith camp of "losing its cool"
over the row.
>
> Earlier, Conservative vice chairman Steve Norris, a prominent supporter of
Mr Clarke, said Mr Duncan Smith's "whole stance" attracted people like Mr
Griffin.
>
> He warned against the party becoming a "xenophobic, racist rump".
>
> Friday, 24 August, 2001, 11:47 GMT 12:47 UK
>
> 3) Edgar Griffin interview in full
>
>
>
> Edgar Griffin has been sacked from Iain Duncan Smith's campaign team and
expelled from the Tory party over his links to the far-right BNP party.
> Here is a full transcript of his interview on BBC Radio 4's Today
programme on 24 August, and an interview which followed with the Tory MP
David Maclean, assistant campaign co-ordinator for the Duncan Smith
campaign:
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> Question (Q): Edgar Griffin has been sacked - although he has been denying
that - anyway he is on the line, so is the Tory MP David Maclean, system
campaign co-ordinator for the Duncan Smith campaign. Mr Griffin can I clear
up this business? Have you resigned, have you been sacked, are you still
vice-president, what is going on here?
>
> Edgar Griffin (EG): Well, I have offered to them that if I am any
embarrassment at all to Mr Duncan Smith obviously I shall resign from his
campaign committee as vice-president.
>
> I don't want to be a thorn in his side at all. I am satisfied that I shall
be prepared to do whatever he wants in the matter of distribution of his
literature - which was planned 10 days ago - I shall continue to do that.
But certainly technically I am quite prepared to resign as vice president of
his campaign.
>
> Q: But you haven't actually been told have you that you have been sacked?
>
>
>
>
>
> EG: Well no - the point is last evening the last call I had from Mr
Lloyd-Davis was that there was no..
>
> Q: Mr Lloyd-Davis is the chairman of the Conservatives in your part of the
world?
>
> EG: In Wales. There was no problem whatsoever as far as he was concerned.
But really and truly the waters have got so muddied now that - well, I was
absolutely flabbergasted when I saw Mr Jenkin last evening - poor man seemed
to have been bullied and flustered..
>
> Q: Mr Jenkin?
>
> EG: Yeah - after he was on TV.
>
> Q: You mean Bernard Jenkin?
>
> 'Sacked immediately'
>
> EG: Yeah. The point is he seemed to be so flustered - perhaps he was
bullied by the commentators - I don't know but I was flabbergasted to hear
him say - you know, how can they say I am an infiltrator? I have been in the
Conservative Party since 1948 and virtually never been out of office in that
time.
>
> Q: Well I tell you what, we can clear up this business of whether you have
been sacked or not quite easily because we have got David Maclean, as I say,
on the line - let's just sort that out. Has he been sacked Mr Maclean?
>
> DM: Yes, he has. Let me make one thing clear, I am not going to debate
with Mr Griffin. Mr Griffin is not part of this campaign...
>
>
>
>       Mr Griffin is not part of this campaign
>
>       David Maclean
> Q: He was until last night! With the best will in the world - he is on
your campaign literature.
>
> DM: At half-past-five we discovered this problem, at a quarter-past-six he
was made an offer he could not refuse and he is no longer a part of the
campaign. Iain insisted that he be out immediately.
>
> We then reported him to the party in Wales so the party there can
investigate how this came about. As far as we are concerned and Iain is
concerned he has fought the BNP all his life, he abhors what they stand for.
>
> EG: What do they stand for Mr Maclean? What are you talking about? What do
the BNP stand for?
>
> DM: I am sorry, I am not going to debate that with Mr Griffin.
>
> 'Grassroots opinion'
>
> EG: Well you are not a democrat then are you? Unless you are prepared to
face facts and speak the truth you are not part of the democratic procedure.
>
> Q: Let's go to Mr Maclean in a moment then because he doesn't want to
debate with you. Let's deal with a couple of the things that you yourself
have been saying Mr Griffin. You say you've been a member of the
Conservative Party since the 40s..
>
> EG: 48
>
> Q: Right, 1948. Have you been expressing the sort of views that you're
quoting as having expressed in the newspapers today, throughout that time?
For instance do you believe as you have been saying that it is perfectly
right - and this is a BNP position isn't it? - that black people should be
voluntarily repatriated?
>
>
>
>       If black people wish to be repatriated then they should be
assisted - of course - that is Tory grassroots opinion
>
>       Edgar Griffin
> EG: Not should be voluntarily repatriated - if they wish to be repatriated
then they should be assisted - of course - that is Tory grassroots opinion.
>
> Q: Is it?
>
> EG: If they want - of course it is. Obviously if someone comes along from
the Caribbean and wants to be helped to return to the Caribbean then they
should be helped shouldn't they? That is only common sense.
>
> Q: And you reckon that a lot of people in the Tory Party believe that do
you?
>
> EG: Well, I would suppose virtually everyone of the grassroots that you
could talk to would say that if they want to return to their homeland they
should be helped. There is no compulsion about it, it is purely voluntary.
>
> Q: But this applies of course only to black people?
>
>
>
>
>
> EG: Well, well, the point is it would be for people from Pakistan, for
people from India, for people from China - anyone who wants to return should
be assisted obviously, it is only common sense.
>
> Q: What about people from Australia?
>
> EG: Well why not?
>
> Q: So it might apply to white people as well might it?
>
> Immigrant policy
>
> EG: I suppose so yes - of course. But the point is that's not necessarily
BNP policy, that's simply common sense.
>
> Q: Is it? Well it is specifically BNP policy isn't it that non-white
immigrants who are legally here will be encouraged to their lands.
>
> EG: No, you are overstating it - not to be encouraged at all.
>
> Q: No I am not overstating it - I am quoting from the BNP policy
statement.
>
> EG:The point is what do I know of their statements? In all conscience I am
a Conservative Party member - I don't know every dot and full-stop of their
programme - their manifesto.
>
> All I can tell you is that their manifestos are prepared by professional
people on committees such as doctors and nurses on the health service and
teachers on education and farmers on agriculture, retired police and prison
officers on law and order.
>
> They have got professional people now working - barristers and lawyers -
on their legal side. They have got a lot professional people who produced
their manifesto - as you well know on social justice - British jobs for
British workers - trade union involvement and an increase of trade with our
ex-colonies, particularly the Caribbean.
>
> Q: Let's not go into every detail of BNP policy. Let's turn to
relationships with the Iain Duncan Smith campaign - they are - we have just
heard now from Mr Maclean - they are very surprised that somebody with your
views..
>
> EG: My views are ordinary Tory views - there is nothing strange about my
views.
>
>
>
>       They are ordinary Tory views - there is nothing startling or
extraordinary about my views - they are perfectly normal.
>
>       Edgar Griffin
> Q: Let me finish the question - if I may - they are surprised that
somebody with your views holds the position that you held until yesterday
evening. Now does that surprise you? What has your relationship been with
the campaign? Have you met Iain Duncan Smith?
>
> EG: No I have never met him and I haven't talked to him, I have only
talked to the Welsh people who invited me to assist and be vice president of
the campaign.
>
> Q: So you were invited to be a vice president?
>
> EG: Yeah.
>
> Q:Is it your...did they know what your views are?
>
> 'Ordinary Tory views'
>
> EG: What are my views? They are ordinary Tory views - there is nothing
startling or extraordinary about my views - they are perfectly normal.
>
> Q:And they were quite happy with them?
>
> EG: Of course. As a Conservative Party member, I have every reason to
differ in detail occasionally from another party member.
>
> Q: And you never made any attempt to conceal your views from any of the
other people in the party?
>
> EG: Absolutely not. My views are perfectly well known. They are quite
ordinary. They are simply in line with frankly the ordinary common or garden
worker in the party.
>
> Q: Thanks very much for that. Let me turn now to David Maclean.
>
> DM: I wondered when you would turn to me now.
>
>
>
>       I have never met a single other Conservative in all my life in
politics who shared those views which Mr Griffin has explained on your
programme this morning
>
>       David Maclean
>
> Q: Well there we are - give you a chance to rebut that if you wish, what
he just said.
>
> DM: I am grateful to you for exposing the extremism of Mr Griffin's views
and I think that the action Iain took last night within 45 minutes of
hearing of this chap - to bounce him immediately off the campaign, to report
him to the party in Wales and also to carry out an investigation as to why
some people in Wales clearly knew of this man and had taken no action, were
content for him to be a member of the party when his views are clearly
abhorrent.
>
> I have never met a single other Conservative in all my life in politics
who shared those views which Mr Griffin has explained on your programme this
morning.
>
> Q: Well let's deal with that. Mr Griffin says he has never made any secret
of his views - indeed he thinks that most grassroots members of the
Conservative Party hold those same views. How can it have happened do you
think?
>
> DM: Well he is utterly wrong - he is utterly wrong in that regard. Someone
in Wales has made a mistake.
>
> And the other thing which is now rather interesting is clearly someone
knew about this and no action was taken and then it comes out to the press
in this sort of manner.
>
> Q: Well quite apart from no action being taken - he was invited to be vice
president of the campaign and here's a man...
>
> DM: Let me tell you how that happened - that is quite simple - because our
organisers in Wales phoned round Conservative offices and said are there any
Conservative officers, or chairmen or vice chairmen who might support Iain
Duncan Smith.
>
> His name was given to us along with a host of others. Now we don't run an
MI5 system whereby we can check every single person who volunteers to help -
that was a job for the party in Wales to root out people like this.
>
>
>
>       You don't necessarily need to be an MI5 investigator to take a
second look perhaps at somebody whose son is the leader of the BNP
>
>       John Humphrys
> Q: You don't necessarily need to be an MI5 investigator to take a second
look perhaps at somebody whose son is the leader of the BNP.
>
> DM: It is not our job to take a second look at people who are chairmen or
vice chairmen of a local party in Montgomeryshire.
>
> Q: Well isn't it?
>
> DM: No, because if there were official Conservative members there, we
assume that the party locally has actually been satisfied.
>
> Q: Should he be sacked from the party now?
>
> DM: Well I am quite clear from what I have heard this morning he should
be. But that is a decision the party in Wales will have to take and I hope
they take it speedily.
>
> Iain Duncan Smith will be very keen to see people like this - not just off
his campaign, not just a million miles from us, but out of the Conservative
Party because their views do not represent a single shred of what the
Conservative Party stands for today.
>
> And I also say to some of my colleagues who have jumped on the bandwagon
to try and smear Iain this morning - we didn't say a word about Ken and the
tobacco problems - this problem was dealt with rapidly and swiftly by Iain.
>
> This person - his wife - even fought Iain in his constituency. He has
fought these people all his life - he abhors everything they stand for and
to try and smear Iain as a sort of extremist with links to people like this
is despicable and I call on my colleagues - let's start talking about the
issues, stop the smear campaign and talk about the things that matter to
people in this country.
>
> The interview ended.
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Keaney <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>
To: PEN-L (E-mail) <pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, August 27, 2001 3:18 AM
>Subject: [PEN-L:16382] British political realignment?


>BNP leader claims more
>Tories for his party
>
>MICHAEL SETTLE
>
>The Herald, 27 August 2001
>
>     THE far right British National Party last night
>     claimed it was "becoming home" to large
>     numbers of disaffected Conservative party
>     members who shared its "common sense"
>     views.
>
>     Giving its first response to the Tory sacking of
>     Edgar Griffin, the father of its chairman Nick
>     Griffin, the BNP said on its website that the
>     expulsion of the 79- year-old former aide to the
>     Iain Duncan Smith leadership campaign was
>     "disgraceful" and showed how far the
>     Conservative party was willing to "appease
>     the forces of political correctness".
>
>     While the BNP acknowledged its policies
>     differed substantially from those of the
>     Conservatives, it nonetheless claimed Tory
>     grassroots were patriots "who abhor political
>     correctness and who would find the common
>     sense policies of the BNP largely in line with
>     their own".
>
>     Denouncing claims it was trying to infiltrate
>     Tory ranks as "fantasy", the far right party
>     declared: "The BNP is becoming home to
>     large numbers of activists and members from
>     the Conservative party and we welcome it.
>
>     "A large number of BNP organisers around
>     the country are themselves ex-Tory and
>     ex-Labour activists and left these organisation
>     in disgust at their craven sell-out to the forces
>     of political correctness".
>
>     It added: "We fear that if the Tory party
>     embarks on a witch-hunt of those who have
>     similar views to the BNP, then the Tory party
>     will become nothing but a hollow shell."
>
>     It has been suggested there are "hundreds" of
>     BNP supporters eligible to vote in the Tory
>     leadership election because they have not yet
>     cancelled their Conservative party
>     memberships.
>
>     The BNP claims only served to deepen Tory
>     wounds as yesterday Ken Clarke and his rival
>     sought to draw a line under the Griffin affair,
>     both declaring it was time to "move on".
>
>     Today, the leadership candidates will both be
>     promoting their one-nation Tory credentials
>     when they separately address Asian
>     businessmen in West London.
>
>     However, a Clarke supporter balked at Mr
>     Duncan Smith promoting himself as a
>     one-nation Conservative, saying: "It's a
>     rebranding not even the greatest PR agency
>     could achieve."
>
>     The Duncan Smith camp received a boost
>     yesterday with a poll, saying 76% of Tory
>     members had voted for or intended to vote for
>     the shadow defence secretary.
>
>     Significantly, the poll, taken after the Griffin
>     affair broke, also showed only 38% of
>     members had cast their vote by the weekend,
>     leaving more than six in 10 still to do so before
>     the September 11 deadline.
>
>     The Clarke camp responded by pointing to the
>     numbers polled (just 229), to its own private
>     surveys, which showed their man was ahead
>     and by revealing two new grandee supporters:
>     Scottish peer Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the
>     former Lord chancellor, and Peter Brooke, a
>     former party chairman.
>
>     As both camps pledged a "purge" of far right
>     elements within Tory ranks, Lord Taylor of
>     Warwick urged the leadership candidates to
>     act on their sentiments. "Nice words; will they
>     mean it?" asked the black Conservative peer,
>     who led the attack against ex-MP John
>     Townend's "mongrel race" comments before
>     the general election.
>
>     He warned: "Race will come back time and
>     time again to hound the Conservative party. It
>     is a cancer that is in the body that will spread
>     and eventually kill the Conservative party."
>
>     To avoid a repeat of the Griffin affair, Mr
>     Duncan Smith is said to be planning to "audit"
>     Conservative members about their past and
>     present memberships of other political
>     organisations.
>
>     Steven Norris, Conservative party deputy
>     chairman and one of Mr Clarke's key
>     supporters, said the ex-chancellor could be "a
>     purging agent" to rid the party of extreme right
>     wingers.
>
>     But Lord Taylor seemed unconvinced by the
>     pledges.
>
>     He said: "Iain Duncan Smith was part of the
>     leadership team who did absolutely nothing
>     about racism.
>
>     "He was part of the leadership campaign
>     responsible for William Hague's 'foreign land'
>     speech. He is therefore tainted by association.
>
>     "So Iain Duncan Smith's protestation that he
>     would purge racists - I hear what he says, but
>     it's about action."
>
>     He added: "Kenneth Clarke must not be smug
>     and complacent because the Edgar Griffin
>     incident is not only a stain on Iain Duncan
>     Smith's reputation but it is a stain on the
>     Conservative party's reputation."
>
>     Mr Griffin, a retired accountant from Welshpool
>     in Powys, who had been a vice-president of
>     Mr Duncan Smith's campaign in Wales, was
>     expelled from the Tory party after his links to
>     the BNP emerged last week.
>
>     Perhaps more damaging to the Conservative
>     cause generally was Mr Griffin's assertion, that
>     most Tories and BNP members held similar
>     views, such as on the voluntary repatriation of
>     blacks and Asians; a claim repeated by the
>     BNP itself yesterday.
>
>Full article at:
>http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news_home.html
>
>Michael Keaney
>Mercuria Business School
>Martinlaaksontie 36
>01620 Vantaa
>Finland
>
>michael.keaney@xxxxxx
>