Links to recent coverage from Nothing British co-Founder, Tim Montgomerie, in the Daily Mail and ConservativeHome.

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Tony Canavan, vice-chairman of IKRA, said that SOTS’s attempt to associate itself with a bona fide veterans group like IKRA was “total twaddle”. He added:

“We are completely independent, non-political organisation. For the record, the Independent Kings Regimental Association has no association either with Soldiers off the Street or the British National Party.”

Maurice Cousins

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Steve Batkin (far-right) with his neo-Nazi friends

Steve Batkin, the controversial BNP councillor and school governor in Stoke, has defended his partaking in a neo-Nazi ceremony next to a memorial to those who died during the World Wars by saying that his former friends were “genuine patriots” but whose strategy was “wrong”.

In an exclusive interview with Phil Gregory from “Pits n Pots”, an excellent local blog based in Stoke, Batkin responded to Nothing British’s expose of him just before the General Election by saying:

“The people in the photograph, although they are genuine patriotic people, I believe their strategy is wrong”

“It was a risk, which has certainly backfired on me”.

Batkin also gave listeners an insight into his revisionist views on the Holocaust. He said:

” I’ve always believed about 300,000 people died in the Jewish holocaust, not 6 million … there’s no way , there was that many Jews in Europe at that time who could have sustained that amount of Deaths.”

Batkin serves as a School Governor in two Stoke on Trent Schools, Edensor Technical College and Mitchel High School. A representative from Edensor College has now called on Batkin to resign his governorship and position on the council.

Michael Coleman the BNP’s leader in Stoke has said he won’t fire Batkin because the photo’s were taken a long time ago. Perhaps they will reconsider this now that he has failed to provide a sufficient defence for his actions and has shown his true beliefs on the Holocaust.

Batkin is up for re-election in Stoke next year.

Maurice Cousins

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Pressure on BNP Cllr. Steve Batkin, Bentilee, is continuing to grow after Nothing British exposed him as being friends with a number of neo-Nazis, who he claims are members of Blood and Honour, an organisation proscribed to members of the BNP.

“Three hundred and twenty six thousand servicemen and women died in World War II so that we wouldn’t have Nazi salutes on the streets of Britain.”

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Simon Bennett and Eddy Butler have set up a new web-site calling on the BNP leader to stand down and for an urgent internal debate within the party.

The new Obama-style web-site, which is attempting to hijack and talk directly to the 25 000 BNP supporters currently on Facebook, calls on BNP members and supporters “to discuss the future of nationalism.” Adding:

“It is intended to be an open platform for honest open debate and the door is open to all nationalists.

The current structure and constitution of the British National Party does not allow open debate, criticism or opinions other than those of its leader / dictator. Nationalism as it stands is in disarray and for progress to me made we have to face up to the obvious fact that change and reform are a necessity for the uphill battle we face.”

Bennett himself has openly called for a “new leader” and said that criticisms about Griffin are “usually” stated “facts”. He also takes a swipe at the revolting Green Arrow blog – saying Paul Morris likes to “intimidate and bully women”.

Answering calls about why he has distanced himself from the Griffin leadership Bennett allegedly told one party supporter:

“The only traitor round here is griffin you f**king mug, just shut up and keep giving him your money you fool.”

But Bennett’s dissent has clearly rattled a number of BNP officials and supporters, including Debra Kent (see below), a BNP school governor and former PPC. Sean Allan, the BNP’s 15 year-old supporter has also voiced his concerns on Facebook.

Debra Kent responding to the concerns of a BNP supporter

When the rumours first started about Griffin’s leadership I thought he might ride them out. But this concerted on-line campaign may create enough dissent that will make it almost impossible for him to survive. Matthew Goodwin, an expert in the far-right politics from Manchester University, believes the BNP looks set to “implode”. He adds:

“Griffin may hang on but, if he does, it will only be because there is no easy way to oust him and no obvious successor. He had plans to expand his reach. Now he is fighting to survive.”

Screen grab taken from Sean Allan's Facebook page

Maurice Cousins

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Simon Bennett, the BNP’s former web-master, has taken his fight against the BNP to a new level and removed Griffin’s personal website.

He has, however, left Andrew Brons’ site alone.

It seems that Bennett is unlikely to give up any time soon – rumour has it he has launched a new website attacking the BNP. Things are from bad to worse for Griffin and the BNP.

Maurice Cousins

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Debra Kent with Nick Griffin and her partner James Clayton at the November 2009 BNP Trafalgar Club dinner

A BNP school governor has told fellow party members she believes that Jews have a “massive influence” in the media because most it is owned by them.

Debra Kent, an admin of the BNP’s official Facebook page, angrily responds to a commenter on the BNP’s group wall with a well known (“Jews control the mainstream media”) anti-Semitic myth:

“The Jewish have a massive influence in this country. The BBC and most of the media is Jewish owned.”

On Question Time Nick Griffin told the audience that both he and the BNP were no longer anti-Semitic. So why did Griffin allowed people like Kent to stand as his PPC for Lancaster and Fleetwood?

Prior to the BNP’s disastrous election campaign the party issued a warning to all candidates not to use Facebook. We now know why.

Maurice Cousins

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Screen grab taken from Collett's Facebook

The post-election BNP infighting has got even bloodier as yet more former officials and activists have decided to come out into the open following the party’s disastrous performance during the 2010 campaign.

Mark Collett, the former director of publicity, and Simon Bennett, the former BNP web-master, have both cross posted Eddy Butler’s controversial message, which criticised the Griffin leadership, on their Facebook pages. Collett blames Griffin for “appalling” election results and is calling on him to go. He writes:

“The measure of a man is that they can admit when they are wrong, sadly I doubt we will ever see that from Nick Griffin.”

Danny Lake, former head of the Young BNP, has also come out and is calling for a new leadership. Lake believes Griffin and the party should stop ”blaming the establishment, the electoral system” and start facing up to their responsibilities.

“The cold hard truth of the matter is that Griffin’s BNP … fails to come up with the right solutions and continuously fails in its attempt to understand the wider issues.

Until that party has new leadership, it won’t go any further.”

Daniel McDonald, a former BNP PPC for Horsham, has written on Nothing British’s wall he thinks Griffin and James Dowson are “scum” and believes the party’s membership needs “open their eyes”. McDonald also claims to have a dossier on both Dowson and Griffin and is threatening to publish it in the hope of persuading them of the need to change the leadership.

However, there still remains a number of die-hard Griffin loyalists within the party. Natasha Rowsell, who is married to John McLoughlin and whose family featured as the BNP’s poster family, is standing by Griffin. Rowsell has attacked Collett on his Facebook wall and called him “desperate”. She believes Griffin is the best hope for the party and has implied that potential challengers are lacking the intelligence to lead the BNP, adding:

“The party needs Nick and needs more leaders in all areas, I dont think that all candidates were up to scratch personally”.

Furthermore, the BNP’s internet troubles continue to grow, with Nick Griffin admitting on Facebook he has lost control of his party’s on-line operation.

Maurice Cousins

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Bill Murray, director of Soldiers off the Street, the BNP-linked veterans organisation, claims SOTS has “no affiliations with any political party and are strictly a none [sic] political organisation“.

In a March 2010 email to Garry Bushell, the TV journalist, Murray wrote:

“We have NO conection [sic] with the BNP. I was a member and resigned there is a hate campaign going on with Tim Montgomerie, James Bethell and Maurice Cousins with their site Nothing British. The Times and all the leading papers including the charity commision [sic] and trading standards have all spoken to me and rejected their claims but they will not stop”.

But a quick glance over at the website allstandtogether.co.uk (AST) shows his former party are perfectly happy to link him in with a whole host of other BNP front groups.

AST is another astro-turf organisation set up by the BNP’s Patrick Harrington, secretary of Solidarity, the BNP’s trade union. AST says it is a campaign set up to support Adam Walker, former BNP PPC and ex-teacher facing a disciplinary hearing. Harrington is also friends with Murray on Facebook.

Perhaps Mr Harrington, a close friend of Griffin, is unaware of  SOTS’s association with the Racial Volunteer Force and other extremist groups such as the English and Welsh Defence Leagues? Or Murray’s online friends which include open supporters of Blood and Honour and the British Freedom Fighters?

Maurice Cousins

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Pressure is mounting on British National Party leader Nick Griffin as party activists fury over the disastrous election campaign continues to grow and has now turned into open infighting.

On the BNP’s official Facebook page, Eddy Butler, BNP head of elections and former PPC for Harlow, has openly positioned himself as leader of the BNP and attempted to create some distance between himself and Griffin.

Butler has told party members, contrary to the official line taken on the party’s web-site, the BNP is “troubled times” and that he sympathises with many members who are feeling “disillusioned”. He adds (click here for a screen grab of Butler’s message on Facebook):

“I know some of you are thinking of quitting. This would be a fatal mistake… I will not insult your intelligence by claiming that we just had a good election. In most places (with the notable exception of Barking) our Parliamentary election results improved marginally but at the same time we lost over half of our ‘proper’ council seats.”

Butler has set out his stall to party members by saying the party needs a new leadership which “is a bonus and a credit to our Party in the eyes of the public and not a downward drag on our vote.” In a direct reference to Griffin’s bad judgement over the past twelve months on issues such as the EHRC and Marmite, Butler also calls for greater “political competence”, saying he wants the party to avoid “costly and unnecessary legal battles”.

Another critic to come out in to the open is Dave Strickson, a former PPC for Peterborough and council candidate in Thurrock. Strickson wrote on his Facebook wall “Griffin has to go.” He is calling for Emma Colgate to replace the unpopular leader and his calls are supported by Mark Collett, the former BNP publicity director, who attended Colgate’s count in Thurrock.

Nothing British has also spoken exclusively to Alby Walker, a former leader of the BNP in Stoke. Walker believes Butler is clearly “touting himself as a contender” for the leadership, but he didn’t think he would make much of a difference to the BNP’s electoral fortunes. “Butler lacks intelligence and is not very good at elections.”

Another former member of the BNP has told NB that Griffin’s election campaign “totally backfired” and said party members were feeling “deflated” and “furious” with the leadership. He said:

“Griffin should be very worried. The BNP is on the verge of implosion. Members are very angry.“

If Griffin had any sense he would do a Gordon Brown, but if I was a BNP member I wouldn’t expect any announcements too soon.

Maurice Cousins

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