Westminster insiders are saying that Michael Gove MP is being lined up to take on Nick Griffin MEP.
We believe that Michael would be a great choice to take on the BNP. He is thoughtful, intelligent and has an excellent track record on key issues such as Islamism. Furthermore, he is not a toff and has excellent command of the facts.
Nick Griffin may be saying that he is relishing his chance on QT, but with people like Gove taking him on he will know that he risks losing credibility with voters. This will not be a push over that Griffin and BNP followers think it will.
Elsewhere, there is mounting support for Evan Harris MP.
Nick Griffin starts new European Parliament term with attack on Turkey over Cyprus
Should the EU accept Turkey?
Nick Griffin has responded to an open letter from Antigoni Papadopoulou MEP, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, in which she raised the issue of Turkish war crimes during the invasion and occupation of Cyprus.
Griffin said that he wanted to expose Turkish “barbarism” and its record of “ethnic cleansing” in Northern Cyprus.
He went on to say: “This is just one more reason why there can be no place for Turkey within the European Union.”
Nick Griffin is right to raise the issue about Turkey’s cruel involvement in Northern Cyprus, but it sits at odds with his non-interventionist, national interest foreign policy.
Might this be an example of Nick Griffin trying to soften his image? Or is he trying to build broader coalitions within the EU Parliament? Our guess is that this is a play to the anti-Turkish sentiment amongst Europe’s neo-fascists, but particularly in Germany (NDP).
“Jack Straw will take on Nick Griffin”, says Cabinet
The Cabinet has agreed that Jack Straw MP should face Nick Griffin on BBC’s QT.
The decision was disclosed yesterday by Gordon Brown in an interview with Radio City in Liverpool. He said: “I’m not afraid of debating anybody. We have to expose what they are about.”
We believe that this is a positive step forward in the battle against the BNP. Only by taking them head on will you be able to defeat them. Let’s hope all the mainstream parties don’t skate around the issues.
*** Take our Poll on who the Conservatives should chose. ***
TUC calls for ban on BNP teachers
After yesterday’s announcement by union bosses to call for a ban of BNP members from the public sector, more details have emerged from their conference.
The TUC said urgent talks should be held with the government about the incompatibility of BNP membership and jobs in teaching, the NHS and other parts of the public sector.
As we have already said, we do not believe in legislating against legitimate political parties, however distasteful, and members of the BNP have an equal right to work in the public sector so long as the promote social cohesion and not division.
TUC should spend more time addressing the issues that drive people into the hands of extremists instead of wasting time on media grandstanding.
EDL thugs were caught shouting, "We hate Paki's more than you!"
Friday saw more more violence break out between the violent ultra-nationalist English Defence League, Unite Against Fascism and gangs of Asian youths, outside Harrow Central Mosque.
In scenes reminiscent from the 1970s, EDL skinheads raised Nazi salutes and chanted racist slogans such as “I hate Pakis more than you”.
A worrying development is the news that the EDL want to enlist football fans for a Mussolini “March on Rome”-style event. (On the basis , according to insiders, that “you need an army for a war”.)
The EDL are a rag-tag bunch of racists and football hooligans. UAF, however, should know better. After previous clashes we have said that UAF must restrain themselves more as their actions are counterproductive and actually heighten tensions.
It would appear that senior members of the Muslim community also agree. On Friday the General Secretary of Harrow Central Mosque expressed his anger at UAF for holding a counter protest (against the advice of the police) outside the mosque.
Violence and provacative behaviour will not help solve the problems of social cohesion in Britain. Dialogue, serious attempts at addressing alienated voter’s concerns and undistracted police work, however, will.
See Sky news report from Friday (note Martin Smith from UAF seen clearly walking alongside trouble causers – 35″)
Gordon Brown is considering putting Jack Starw up against Nick Griffin MEP on Question Time.
Some commentators feel there is a danger that Griffin may throw back at Straw the comments he made about Islamic veils in 2006.
Straw described them as a “visible statement of separation and difference” and called on women to cease wearing them. This allegedly led to ugly instances of yobs pulling veils off Muslim women in streets.
THE BNP has been accused of hijacking the legend of Owain Glyndr by printing T-shirts bearing the image of the historic Welsh figure.
The image used on the BNP T-shirts is taken from a statue of Owain Glyndr on a horse that was presented to the people of Corwen, Denbighshire, the town where Glyndr was born.
Sculptor Colin Spofforth, who spent four years creating the statue, said: “I certainly did not give any permission for it to be used and I would never have done.”
Mr Spofforth added: “Whoever has done this obviously does not know their Welsh history or what Owain Glyndr was all about.
The Rev Geraint ap Iorwerth, of St Peter ad Vincula Church in Pennal, where a bronze statue of Glyndr stands in the Princes’ Memorial Garden, said: “Owain Glyndr would be turning in his grave if he knew the BNP were using him as one of their heroes”.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warns there is a “distinct possibility” that weak economic growth and fears over a double-dip recession will lead to further redundancies in the coming years.
The CIPD says despite the UK falling into the worst recession since the Second World War, job cuts have not been as bad as in the 1980s or 1990s.
The Institute warns that unemployment could stay at 3.5 million for over a decade.
According to the US Department for Homeland Security, high unemployment has the potential to lead to alienation and statistically increases an individual’s susceptability to accept extremist ideas. The report cites a 2007 study from the German Institute for Economic Research, which says there is a strong association between a parent’s unemployment status and the formation of neo-fascist beliefs in children – specifically racism and xenophobia.
While the stock market and housing market may be coming out of the recession, hard working families are still suffering from the disastrous effects of the credit crisis on Britain’s heartland manufacturing and business support industries. As the head of the TUC has said today, the UK will only be fully out of recession when unemployment falls. So far, we believe that more needs to be done to tackle UK unemployment and re-tool our workforce.
