More false promises = more leadership betrayal

"Regulatory Action

"The following two parties failed to submit their accounts to the Commission.

"The British National Party

"Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship”

"The British National Party’s Regional Accounting Unit also failed to submit their accounts to the Commission.

"The SDLP Assembly Group accounting unit submitted accounts before the deadline, but failed to include an auditor’s report for their accounts as required by law; accordingly their accounts are considered to be late and are still outstanding.

"For late submission of their statements of accounts the parties will be fined a minimum of £500 and the accounting units will be fined a minimum £100. This figure will increase if the accounts are more than three months late."

The foregoing was published on the Electoral Commission's web site today, Thursday, 29 July 2010.

It means that yet again the British National Party, under the "leadership" of Mr Nick Griffin, has been made an object of public scorn. It means that the party donors' hard-earned money is yet again to be fruitlessly squandered to pay fines levied by the Electoral Commission, an independent regulatory authority.

But it means more than this. It means that the following promises by Mr Dave Hannam to finally get his act together are demonstrably untrue.

This is what Mr Hannam wrote in an article published on the BNP web site, http://www.bnp.org.uk/, on Tuesday, 27 July 2010, entitled "Treasury Report: High Turnover, Increased Financial Control and Regionalised Finances":-

"With these historical problems in mind, I took the decision to begin a fast implementation of new measures and controls. It has taken nearly a whole financial quarter to complete, but we are now in a position whereby we can ensure:

* Bookkeeping is maintained on a daily basis;

* All financial reports are available on a daily basis thus providing our fundraising consultant with fast and vital information;

* More in-depth quarterly reports are provided to the Advisory Council;

* All major expenditure is now strictly regulated; and

* All legally-required Statement of Accounts are submitted on time."

Evidently all legally-required statements of accounts are still not being submitted on time, are they Mr Hannam?

Furthermore, if the party employed a full-time national treasurer, who was being paid as such, I pose the question: why was book-keeping not already being maintained on a daily basis? Had no one thought that it might be a good idea for the full-time, salaried, national treasurer of the BNP do some work on the party's books on a daily basis, before Mr Hannam had his brainwave?

I note that the BNP's dubious 2008 accounts, the ones the independent auditors looked askance at, and that the Electoral Commission are currently investigating, are still not displayed prominently on the party web site. I challenge Messrs Griffin, Dowson, Kemp, and Hannam to publish them prominently there. Let our members see the figures, and the chairman's and auditors' reports; and when the 2009 accounts are eventually submitted to the Electoral Commission, publish them prominently on the party web site as well. Surely the members deserve at least this much openness from the leadership, do we not?