The British naval base at Gibraltar
James Bethell, Director of Nothing British, has slammed Nick Griffin MEP over comments he made to Spanish journalists about Gibraltar.
The BNP leader said on his party’s web site that he would be prepared to hand over the strategically important naval to the Spanish and thereby betray the 30,000 British citizens living on the island, which has played key roles during World War Two and the Falklands War. Griffin made the remarks about the 300 year-old British territory to suck up to Spanish fascists.
As The Sun have reported this morning, Griffin’s bizarre reasoning is that it would help the Spanish combat radicals in nearby northern Africa.
Deceitful Griffin told fellow fanatics: “Taking into account the geographical situation of Gibraltar and the Muslim threat on its door, I would prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one.” He added: “It would be much easier to sort it out if we had nationalist governments in Britain and Spain because it would then be an agreement between equals.”
Speaking to The Sun, James Bethell said: “Nick Griffin talks about protecting our national interest but he would surrender our sovereignty to Spanish fascists in a heartbeat.”
“The only flag that should be flying over the Rock is the Union Jack.”
A recent referendum on the island, off the southern tip of Spain, saw 99.64 per cent vote to remain British.
Nothing British has also spoken to Andrew Rosindell MP:
“Nick Griffin has once again proved that there is nothing British about the BNP with his recent comments over his Party’s position on Gibraltar. By stating that he would be happy to see the Spanish flag flying over the Rock he has effectively sold out 30,000 British citizens. The people of Gibraltar is not Spanish. It is British. They have voted overwhelmingly to remain so. To suggest otherwise shows a gross misunderstanding of the crucial importance that Gibraltar holds in our proud history. It also raises serious questions as to how many other of our thousands of British citizens who inhabit our Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories around the World the BNP are willing to desert.”
Last week we reported on Griffin’s appearance at the neo-fascist rally in Spain that held on the anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator General Franco. We also reported that Griffin attended the rally with Roberto Fiore, a convicted Italian terrorist and close companion.
UPDATE:
You can find Nick Griffin’s remarks to Spanish journalists on the BNP’s web site: http://bnp.org.uk/2009/11/edl-aligned-fascists-fail-to-disrupt-bnp-attended-meeting-in-madrid/
Tags: Gibraltar, James Bethell, Nick Griffin
Another twisted half truth by nothingbritish. I bet his comments have been misrepresented as usual, in a vain and pathetic attempt to blacken the name of the BNP.
The only people to sell out the British people, have been the succesion of British governments, that have allowed a flood of foreigners into Britain, eroding its culture, history and living standards.
You bloody hypocrits nothingbritish, try to objectively understand the frustrations of your own countrymen first, before slagging off Griffin, as he appears to be the only British politician with the guts to stand up for your country.
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You make it sound like a done deal!
I would bet good money that the next Conservative would betray Gibralter long before Nick Griffin could or would!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by NothingBritish, NothingBritish. NothingBritish said: New post: Nick Griffin betrays Gibraltar (http://cli.gs/jbDYq) http://cli.gs/jbDYq [...]
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WTF, 20 years ago, while backpacking, i spent nearly 2 months in Gibraltar. I distinctly recall that Gibraltarians ( a true multicultural mix ) were fervently against any unification with Spain. They considered themselves Gibraltarians first, British second and in no way Spanish.
Any move to acquiesce to Spanish claims would be travesty.
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Now as you all know I am not a BNP fan, but I would like to question this story some more.
Just because The Sun decided to print it doesn;t make it true, I would like to see more detail on where this came from.
if it is from the Spanish Press why isn’t there any quotes from the publications is was in, or from the journalists it was said to?
I like a good story that shows up the BNP as much as the next man, but I expect it to be backed up with evidence that can be checked and verified.
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For instance if it’s on the BNP website add the link to the story, I have had a look and can’t find it on the BNP website.
I do like my evidence and supporting documents and data etc
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You can find it here: http://bnp.org.uk/2009/11/edl-aligned-fascists-fail-to-disrupt-bnp-attended-meeting-in-madrid/
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Griffin says:
“I would prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one”
And you immediately interpret that as betrayal of the Gibraltarian people who would genuinely prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one!
I knew you people were sick, twisted and perverted, but lets deal with the FACTS eh?
The Sun, rather like this pathetic site is becoming a laughing stock, they obviously think their readers are stupid and can feed them any old codswallop!
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Thanks Maurice,
I handn’t seen that one
,
Now he doesn’t directly say it ould be handed over, but you can certainly see it is implied bu the final quote.
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Davey use the full quote to put it in proper contect please
““It is a very complex issue which we will have to deal with in the future,” Mr Griffin said. “It would be much easier to sort it out if we had nationalist governments in Britain and Spain because it would then be an agreement between equals. I must say that taking into account the geographical situation of Gibraltar and the Muslim threat on its door, I would prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one.”
If we are to debate effectively all the evidence must be used.
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“The BNP leader said on his party’s web site that he would be prepared to hand over the strategically important naval to the Spanish and thereby betray the 30,000 British citizens living on the island”
No he never!
And Gibraltar is not an island either!
Do some proper research eh… NUMPTIES!
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The implication is certainly there, the BNP use far less obvious implications to create their stories so it’s only right that the same thing can be used in this case.
I have seen many stories on the BNP website where they skew the facts and figures to read hat they want them to read, so you can’t have your cake and eat it can you.
You can’t scream miss read when the BNP miss read facts and figures themselves constantly, the recent Population Predictions spring to mind where the BNP claimed on their website that the ONS had said the population of the UK would be over 73 million by 2029.
When the actual ONS report said it predicted 71 million by 2033, so the BNP not only added to the number they also changed the year, the ONS report didn’t mention 2029 in the report.
So they blag the figures whenever they feel like itm but dont like it when someone rightly in my opinion reads in an extra line into one of their own stories.
Double standards there
Here is the evidence to back it up for you:
ONS Report
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/pproj1009.pdf
BNP Version
http://bnp.org.uk/2009/11/new-official-estimates-predict-74-million-population-within-20-years/
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@ Annon…
Nowhere does he say it should be handed over, and nowhere does it say he would rather see the Spanish flag fly before the Union Jack.
The author of this article is just reading between the lines and coming up with his own version of events. Griffin was trying to be diplomatic on a sensitive issue between the 2 countries.
I seem to remember Jack ’son of a coward’ Straw coming out with something far worse:
“Mr Straw told a sparsely populated House of Commons that the joint sovereignty deal preserving Gibraltar’s identity and character was essential for the EU to move forward.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/gibraltar-enraged-by-straws-betrayal-648131.html
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@ Annon…
Nowhere does he say it should be handed over, and nowhere does it say he would rather see the Spanish flag fly before the Union Jack.
The author of this article is just reading between the lines and coming up with his own version of events. Griffin was trying to be diplomatic on a sensitive issue between the 2 countries.
I seem to remember Jack ’son of a coward’ Straw coming out with something far worse:
“Mr Straw told a sparsely populated House of Commons that the joint sovereignty deal preserving Gibraltar’s identity and character was essential for the EU to move forward.”
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Davey,
As I said above the BNP are not adverse to reading between the lines or faking the figures either.
Look at the evidence above and see for yourself what the BNP altered to suit there needs in the recent ONS Population Predictions.
So you can’t reallycomplain too hard when some impications are read into a story, when the BNP are happy to completly change the figures in the ONS report to suit their needs.
Like the Climate Change issue Nick Griffin says it’s all a New World rder conspiracy ………. see what I mean.
You can;t have it all ways.
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PS.
Bethell bleats:
“The only flag that should be flying over the Rock is the Union Jack.”
Gibraltar has it’s own flag which features a castle and a key you ignoramus, and the BNP was one of the only parties to campaign there in the Euro elections!
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“Mr Griffin said. “It would be much easier to sort it out if we had nationalist governments in Britain and Spain because it would then be an agreement between equals.”
This is the first part of the quote & as this scenario is unlikely, I can’t see this handover taking place in my, yours, Nick Griffin’s or anyones lifetime!
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Agreed @WTF
But do you or do you not agree that is a story worth making the voting public aware of?
I believe it is although the inference is pretty slim it is still there.
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If they are going to vote BNP maybe but the whole thing is a non issue, a non starter, a mere fart in a sewage farm that is politics.
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Yep 100% agreed, but as the BNP put it out themselves I think it’s fair game in politics to use it.
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@ Annon…
This is a non-story of no interest to the public, the author of the report is clearly an idiot and the Sun are even bigger idiots for printing it!
It’s obvious to anyone with an ounce of intelligence that this is just political mudslinging not honest factual reporting, Bethell clearly knows nothing of Gibraltar and has completely misinterpreted Griffins comments to fit his own bitter vindictive little agenda!
Bethell is a pompous old fool!
The tories talk out of their backsides, not so long ago the lightbulb-headed Daniel Hannan was accusing the BNP of being a left-wing anti-monarch party…
You couldn’t make it up!
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@Davey
““It is a very complex issue which we will have to deal with in the future,” Mr Griffin said. “It would be much easier to sort it out if we had nationalist governments in Britain and Spain because it would then be an agreement between equals. I must say that taking into account the geographical situation of Gibraltar and the Muslim threat on its door, I would prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one.”
Quoted on the BNP’s own website – so they put the inference out there, therefore anyone else has a legitimate reason to use it.
Sorry but the way it is.
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Must admit I’d prefer to see a Spanish flag fly in Gibraltar before an Islamic one!
But I hope it never ever gets near that situation.
But if it so, then it should be the Gibraltarians deciding that.
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@Davey
“Nowhere does he say it should be handed over, and nowhere does it say he would rather see the Spanish flag fly before the Union Jack.”
Nowhere in the ONS Population Prediction report does it say there would be iver 73 million people in the UK in 2029, but the BNP said it does?
See what I am getting at here, if they use their version of the figure that are factually incorrect, why can’t someone simply read between the lines of something they said?
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I thought on the BBC (well known liars) that they had said the population was going to go over 72 million by 2018(?) & that some politician (Alan Johnson?) said he wasn’t going to lose any sleep over that fact?
So where did the BBC get their figures from, not the BNP surely?
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You see Davey it’s politics, you can’t make up you’re own numbers and stories without having someone finding the errors in those stories (it took me just five minutes to find the ONS report and find the figures the BNP quoted were wrong).
And at the same time you can’t make up your own rules whereby it’s ok for you (the party) to be factually incorrect and then scream out when someone else reads between the lines of one of your own (the parties) statements.
In the real world of politics it happens and it’s just a fact of the way things work, all parties do it and individuals do it.
You may by all means defend the party when someone uses what they say and reads between the lines, but you must also be able to admit when they fiddle the numbers, and also you as a supporter/voter should be prepared to take your own party to task when someone proves that they basically lied (fiddled the figures) for you.
f the party feels they have to cook the numbers to keep you onside doesn’t that smack of desperation?
If the BNP where the so called “Honest Party” why did they decide to fudge the numbers ?
You see Davey you can’t scream at one set of people when your own party is more than happy to be sparing with the actual facts.
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@WTF, don’t know about that one, I can only supply the facts as I have read them in the ONS report. I remember (I think) the quote you are referring to, but if the BBC are making up their own numbers as well then I can’t control that one.
But like I said all the parties do it, it’s just politics as you know, there is no such thing as a trully honest politician in my opinion.
something I would hope we can agree on, it would be nice to see some trully honest politicians, do I need to remind you and other posters that Richard Barnbrooke made up murders?
See it happens on all sides, just the way politics is going, I also pull up other parties if they miss quote the facts, so not just something I do to the BNP.
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Well I think Richard Barnbrook’s mistake was to pick a week where the stab victims were still alive & in hospital rather than in the morgue!
But that’s politics.
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I believe that the Rock should be given a status such as that of the Isle of Man. The Spanish question was over when Spain signed the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Any attempt to handover Gibraltar is, in my eyes, treasonous.
Griffin should get a grip and stop being so near-sighted. First Labour and now the BNP! The loyal people of Gibraltar do not deserve this.
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Annon says: “You see Davey it’s politics, you can’t make up you’re own numbers and stories without having someone finding the errors in those stories”
It seems Bethell and the Sun newsliars can…
There is absolutely no evidence to say Griffin would sell Gibraltar down the river whatsoever! The tories and labour have both held secret talks with sinn fein terrorists regarding the future of Ulster, why doesn’t the Sun get hysterical over that?!
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One mans terrorist and all that
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This isn’t true! It’s a typical left-wing distortion from the Marxist, PC media!
The man was never even a BNP member when he made those comments/was arrested, which have nothing to do with BNP policy anyway as our policy all about making sure it only rains at night just like in the 1950’s.
Erm, I mean, are you sure this is the right rapid media rebuttal we’re reading here?
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Oh Davey Davey Davey,
You still are not getting what I said are you ?
Yes ok someone read between the lines of this story fair enough comment.
But you don;t seem to be mentioning what I explained to you before about the BNP fudging the Population Prediction Figures.
My point still remains if it’s ok for the BNP to fudge those figures why isn’t it ok for someone to read between the lines and get an extra line in the Gibraltar story, or is it only the BNP that are allowed to slightly overdo a story?
You keep attacking but offer no defence.
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[...] Nick Griffin betrays Gibraltar « Nothing BritishBy mauriceThe BNP leader stabs Gibraltar in the back to Spanish fascists.<http://www.nothingbritish.com/11/nick-griffin-betrays-gibraltar/> [...]
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Sam! Lovely, you’re back. What have you been up to?
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seems like he’s been gone for weeks! Maybe he is Santa.
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Re-arrange that name! S A N T A
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Antsa?
Tansa?
Ansat?
Tasna?
Tasan?
Natsa?
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”The island’s newspaper reports how “Griffin would abandon 30,000 Gibraltarians” to Spanish fascists.”
Really? Spain has a ‘fascist’ government in situ?
The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (Spanish: Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE), is the ruling party in Spain and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in 1833. It identifies itself as a centre-left, social-democratic, democratic socialist and progressivist party.
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Blogger s need to be more responsible, too many inaccurate stories being fed to papers who don’t check the facts. I am a proud British Gibraltarian and agree with the hypothetical statement re- a Spanish flag before an islamic one. But it means diddly squat! regardless what I think of Nick griffin!
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Well said rock age. Its been pathetic the way this non-story is being touted in the papers and in blogs. but then again nothing british and that idiot tory toff bethell jump on any story that is anti bnp before even looking into it.
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Yeah I’ll second Rock Ape, it is a non issue.
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Anyway on the 74 million UK population by 2029, I think if past policy is continued, then that figure is achievable but anything could happen before then, so I guess we best not count our immigrants before they hatch eh?
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I guess that if the BNP made electoral headway, then you would hear about black flight instead of white flight?
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The quote is very clear – notwithstanding its rhetorical tone. If there was a fascist government in Spain he would give Gibraltar to them. In effcet if Nick Griffin went back in a time machine to the 1930s he would have given Gibraltar to Franco. He has dug an awfully big hole for himslef (another one). As a Gibraltarian myself my take is that there is an awful lot of confusion on what Britishness actually means (in its traditional sense). In Gibraltar – becasuse of our historical legacy – we are very clear – just as people in Geat Britain were clear right up to the 1950s. Our allegiance through thick and thin (the good and the very bad times) is first to the Crown. It doesn’t matter what colour we are – a Gibraltarian defines him or herself in terms of both cultural heritage and an allegiance to the Crown. We don’t give a fig on who’s in Government in the UK – although by and large Gibraltarians are conservatives.
Our allegiance to the Crown also defines our nationality and we take the rights/benefits and obligations seriously despite 300 years of bullying from Spain (recently things appear calmer on that front). We define our British rights in terms of values in terms democracy, language and a british legal framework. Our obligations are defined in terms Britains national interest – both commercially and militarily.
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I think Nick should be more careful about what he is quoted as saying, he is not like Teflon Tony Blair who could get away with saying one thing to one audience & something else to another.
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A far better headline -
“Lib/Lab/Con Betray Britain” (and have been so doing for a very long time.)
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Trouble is the media have been doing it too.
The MP’s are the hand & the media is the glove, hence very little in the way of fingerprints!
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& of course James should know better, it is not the Union Jack unless it is on the Jack staff of a ship, it is the Union flag of the United Kingdom.
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wtf is right.it is the Union flag of the United Kingdom.
Its often flown incorrectly by “British Nationalists” with a few noted exceptions they arent terribly cultured or bright so it is to be expected. Ive often heard their chants of Ingerland reveberating around football stadiums…
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The correct way to display the flag is to remember that the “snow sits on the bough” nearest the top at the flag pole.
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Gibraltar Spanish! British out of the Rock!
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The Dons agreed that it would remain British in an international treaty (Treaty of Utrecht 1713). They were quite happy when it was used by Britain to help get Napoleon out of their country.
Gibraltar must stay British for as long as the Gibraltarians wish it to.
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http://bnp.org.uk/2010/01/media-rebuttal-unit-clocks-up-victory-over-lying-the-sun-newspaper/
I hope you will now print a correction and an apology. That’s the British thing to do.
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The ‘Scum’ forced to apologize:
“Of course, as The Sun newspaper knows, the BNP would never surrender Gibraltar, or the Falklands, or any other British outpost. However, that didn’t stop the propagandists at The Sun desperately trying to smear the party.
The Media Rebuttal Unit swung into action and after several weeks wrangling with The Sun’s editorial and legal team, that paper has now agreed to publish a letter in a future issue of that newspaper:
The BNP does not advocate the return of Gibraltar to Spain under any circumstances”
Where did The Scum source that article from I wonder Mr. Bethel???
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There’s one Sun set that should be permanent!
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Lord Bethel is an idiot! This article is a pack of lies!
Gibraltar is NOT an island, it’s flag is NOT the union jack it is a castle and key, and Nick Griffin and the BNP has NEVER said it would hand over the territory to anyone!
If bethel isn’t a simpleton then he is a very devious creature…
Bethel should hang his head in shame and resign!
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Well said Davey,this site is a total joke,Ive read it mate on the BNP website,I can’t believe the idiots that believe the sTORIE or LIEbor,JUST TAKE A LOOK AT OUR INDUSTRIES TO SEE WHAT THOSE WANKERS HAVE DESTROYED.
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Any person who attacks the bnp with such lies have to be looked at carefully. Why did they do it, what have they to gain by it, did money or favours come into the stage? Some of these people fear the bnp same as a vampire would fear a cross.
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