Planet Earth to Head Office: let's keep it real!

British National Party’s South West Organisation Calls for “Heads to Roll” after Head Office Lies Exposed

Posted by admin, on 7 July, 2011, to Andrew Brons' BNP Ideas web site

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The British National Party’s leadership team in the south west of England has called for “heads to roll” after a review which it conducted proved that the party head office had lied to the membership.

According to an entry on the southwestnationalists website, the party’s management team had been “asked by members to investigate” the allegation by the party’s head office that the BNP is “Britain’s fastest growing political party.”

This is, the southwestnationalists said, a claim which “some insist, is inconsistent with the evidence.

“Once again we have attempted to address this issue through an evaluation of the facts rather than the propaganda put out by Head Office (principally through its tightly censored website),” the website continued.

“As with the issue of party debt, the facts paint a picture entirely contrary to what Head Office would have us believe. Having looked at the two most important measures of progress – namely – the number of elected local councillors and size of the national membership, we have concluded that:

(1) The BNP only has around 20% of the number of elected local authority councillors it had two or three years ago. The party, as far as we can discover, only has 11 elected local authority councillors remaining from a peak of around 55. Although most councillor losses have arisen from incumbents failing to retain their seats on the back of falling BNP support, a significant number of councillors have simply “gone independent” in protest over how the party is allegedly (mis)managed by Head Office. In fact, last month, no fewer than three BNP councillors rejected the party whip and now sit in their respective council chambers as independents. Our research has also established that there isn’t a single BNP councillor left in former town hall “strongholds” such as Stoke, Epping, Bradford and Barking. Neither is there any BNP remaining presence on a whole raft of other local councils including Thurrock, Redbridge, Havering, Three Rivers (SW Herts), Gravesend, Blackburn, Sandwell, Dudley, Solihull, Leeds and Kirklees or, for that matter, on the London Assembly (Richard Barnbrook having gone independent late last year in protest over perceived mismanagement of the party). Even in our former Burnley “stronghold” the number of BNP councillors has declined from a peak of 8/9 to just 2.

(2) According to Head Office, the party has lost around 5,000 members over the last year, that is a drop from around 14,000 to around 9,000. If the figures for the Southwest region are indicative of the party as a whole, then it is entirely possible that the party has lost 7,000 members, rather than the 5,000 members that Head Office is prepared to admit to. A figure of 7,000 for the current national membership would appear to be supported by a recent communication from Head Office which claims that the party has around 3,500 voting members (that is, members with two years continuous service) – meaning the other 3,500 must be either members with less than two years membership or lapsed members renewing.

“As new members and renewals have been “slow” for some time we find it hard to justify 3,500 – far less the 5,500 that the official figure would suggest.

“Our conclusion is as follows: We believe that Head Office’s claim that our party is “Britain’s fastest growing party” is misleading at best, and downright dishonest at worst.

“With membership at 50% of what it was last year, our number of elected councillors almost reduced to single figures, and party debt in excess of £600,000, it would appear that those in the South West who have asked us to investigate their concerns really do have a point.

“The message would appear to be that if Head Office wants to retain whatever may remain of its credibility then it has to accept responsibility for the current dire state of the party – lessons need to be learned and heads need to roll!”