Audi alter partem

Acknowledgements to the British Democracy Forum for the following statement, which purports (and seems likely) to be a public statement by Mr Michael Stewart, in reply to certain comments made about him by Eddy Butler on his blog.

As is well known within the British National Party, this blog believes in free speech, within the parameters of the law, and those of good taste.  It also believes in justice, a part of which is, of course, the right of reply.  There are always two sides to every story and it is important to hear both before coming to a judgement.  If the leadership of the BNP had understood these basic principles, for which our people and our country have been famed throughout the world, and understanding, honoured them, much of the bitterness of the last twelve months, which has damaged and continues to damage our party so badly, might have been avoided.

That it has not been avoided must, in the final analysis, be the responsibility of one man.  The buck always stops with the leader, and especially is this the case in a party whose constitution gives that leader the powers of a virtual dictator, as ours does, notwithstanding the latest, yet-to-be- implemented, 'reforms'.

Mr Stewart invites members and supporters to resume their activism on behalf of the party.  But where is Mr Griffin's conciliatory gesture?  Where is the Chairman's attempt at reconciliation?

I shall not comment further, other than to say, regarding Mr Stewart's remarks about Mr Brons' alleged unwillingness to exploit his public office of trust as an MEP for party advantage: one may readily understand and sympathize with Mr Brons' refusal to bow to pressure from the party leadership to employ a person or persons whom that leadership might for the time being have found it expedient to have employed.  What is the old saying? "Once bitten, twice shy."

Don't Be Shy

Eddy Butler has been gracious enough to talk about me on his blog. In recent weeks, I have to confess I've not visited his blog in some time although it used to be quite interesting. This post was pointed out to me and has made me chuckle.

People who know me are probably already aware of all this but just so we're clear:

I'm clearly no "web genius" and in fact have made it a point to leave the details of web technology to people, who are interested in it.

Certainly I did go off in a huff in February of this year after an argument with Clive Jefferson at the Wigton office. It took me a few months to calm down although I remained in touch with my BNP friends.

The discussion around whether I would be given a paid position occurred in the previous September and October. This fell through in November, three months before the argument with Clive. I have never been an employee of the Party or either MEP and money certainly had no part in my decision to avoid Clive for a while.

Ed says about me "he is one of those new members of the BNP who, through observation of some other people’s behaviour, thinks that he is deserving of immediate payment for whatever he does." Nothing could be further from the truth and I have been an unpaid activist for several years, unlike Mr Butler who had a £40k salary and unlimited mileage. Bear in mind the Party approached ME about a position, not the other way round and as I've said before on this forum, there were no hard feelings on either side when the plan to employ me failed.

A paid position was not possible, apparently because of Mr Brons' reluctance to spend European budgets. Instead, he preferred to return the money to Europe at the end of each year. Opinions may vary, but I have the personal view that a good Nationalist, once elected to the European Parliament, must remain strictly within the law and must be seen to do so, but should also wring every possible advantage for the home Party from the position. Mr Brons does not appear to hold that opinion.

Although at the time, working for the MEP seemed to have potential, I have no current aspirations of taking a job with the Party or with either MEP.

I have no intentions of taking over Adam Walker's position. Anybody who sees the effort he puts in seven days a week for very little money and even less thanks would not want his job.

Eddy once described himself as having experience of databases. After he provided the Goresbrook spreadsheets, it became clear that this was not the case and his small amount of work was effectively worthless. He may have tried hard, though, I have no idea.

The only other time apart from Goresbrook, that I can remember seeing Eddy was at the High Court last year during the CEHR case, when he used the back door to arrive and leave, presumably to avoid the BNP members out front.

I did attend the Court with Adam yesterday. If he needed any help I could provide, it was better I was there in person than miles away from the Court. For the same reason, I also attended his recent appearance over the allegations of criminal damage. Compare this to Ed's presence at the High Court, for which I hope he was not being paid by Mr Brons, where his only motivation for going appeared to be to gloat.

Eddy calls me "an enthusiastic Griffinite attack dog on one of those internet chat forums that people like him populate." He means this one, so if you're reading this, do take note of how he feels about you as a BDF user. Does that also include Jelly-Wobble? Also, anybody, with whom I have crossed swords on this forum can presumably look back and see that I always do my best to be well-mannered and to avoid aggression. During the recent leadership challenge, I also publicly asked others on both sides to do the same.

"I know a little of Stewart and I have direct knowledge of his low and degraded character." Yes, I did complete a factual witness statement following a meeting with Eddy, where he was repeatedly offered a truce over his blog and was formally asked to cease his attacks on the Party. He would not remove or tone down his blog. I have not discussed this matter since out of respect for Eddy's privacy but with his permission, I would be willing to post the statement I made for people to make up their own minds as to whether they think me "low and degraded."

Personally, I see Eddy's blog as negative and destructive but that is clearly only my own view and this did not appear in the statement. I would like to see hatchets buried and Nationalists working together and see no part in that vision for blogs such as Eddy's.

"Stewart will be licking his lips at the prospect of getting himself onto Nick Griffin’s Euro Payroll" - time will tell, obviously, but I'm quite happy to be an unpaid BNP activist just like everybody else, who cares for their country.

Eddy mentions my "erstwhile amigo Adam Walker" - Adam and I remained friends even during my months of self-imposed isolation over the Clive argument. In fact Adam and his brother Mark are two of my strongest reasons for returning to activism. People may not always agree with the Walker Brothers, but I see what they sacrifice for the sake of their own people. Little people may stand back and call them names and by giving over so much of today's blog to having a pop at me, Eddy has paid me a compliment. I just wish he'd done it when his blog still meant something.

•I am not an important figure in the Party but I want my country back.

•I am somebody, who fell out with Clive but is able to see the bigger picture and come back to the BNP banner even though I do not see anybody in the Party or even the Party itself through any rose-tinted spectacles.

•I am somebody, who, to coin the phrase, would rather light a candle than curse the darkness and am willing to forget my differences and be active for the Party and for the good of our people.

Whilst bitter old Eddy is sat at home, waiting to see if the English Dems will have him, we're out again in the North East on Saturday with activists new, old and, like me, returning. If anybody wants to come along and help with the European Petition and actually spread a positive message, don't be shy.