The most hated man in nationalism?

Incompetent, or something worse?

Spotlight on an erratic record

INTRODUCTION

No one who gets anything done in politics fails to make enemies; it is an occupational hazard. However, when a political leader makes enemies and becomes the subject of widespread condemnation far beyond the norm, it is time to examine whether that person harbours particular character failings that justifiably invite the hatred and contempt of others, particularly when they are not political opponents but allies. In his political career within British Nationalism. Nick Griffin has aroused just such feelings across a wide spectrum, coming from people quite diverse in their opinions on other matters and by no means in any kind of coalition with each other against him. In this pamphlet are assembled just a brief collection of comments on Mr. Griffin from various people in the Nationalist movement. Many more are on the record, but we have excluded them here because we do not want to make the pamphlet too long. Are all these people unreasonable folk, bearing unwarranted grudges and with axes to grind? Read for yourself and decide.

Among the several reasons for the opposition that Mr. Griffin has aroused among nationalists is his record for the grossest inconsistency. Once dubbed by a BBC reporter a 'political chameleon', he has changed stance so often on various issues, both political and tactical, that many have been baffled when it comes to ascertaining what he really stands for - or indeed whether in fact he stands for anything at all beyond his single-minded personal ambition.

One particular field in which Mr. Griffin has changed position drastically is the very field which most nationalists consider to be of prime importance: race and immigration. His views as expressed on this issue some years ago are unrecognizable compared with those he has been expressing more recently. Many believe that in these matters he has 'sold out'. His supporters, on the other hand, will maintain that he is merely 'boxing clever'. But in answer to this latter claim there are two crucial points that must be made. When policy changes of the magnitude of those made by Mr. Griffin succeed in dividing party members and supporters as bitterly as has occurred with those on the racial issue, that is not 'clever' politics; it is crass stupidity - if not indeed something worse. The other point is that there is nothing 'clever' in a politician coming out with such 'softly-softly' declarations on race when his entire past record is a contradiction of them, and can easily be seen as such when exposed to media scrutiny - as has already happened with Mr. Griffin.

Because of Mr. Griffin's continual U-tums on race and other matters, we are including in this pamphlet some prominent samples of his past and more recent statements.

One thing is certain: in whatever political organization has opened its doors to him Nick Griffin has been a constant catalyst of division and conflict, whether it be in his earlier years in the National Front, his mid-term antics in groups like the International Third Position or his later metamorphoses from hard-line militant to 'moderate' and 'modemizer in the British National Party. There are some striking similarities between Mr. Griffin's 'conversions'and the 'road to self-discovery' followed in the Conservative Party by Michael Portillo!

Some people are not going to like what they read in this pamphlet, and this applies particularly to those who have pledged their loyalty to Nick Griffin in his present role of BNP leader. But those people should ask themselves: can all these observers be wrong? And: can a man who changes position so often ever be really trusted?

In a few places we have used quotes from the enemy media of press and broadcasting. We know of course that the media are going to be 'anti-Griffin', just as they are 'anti' everything connected with British Nationalist politics. It is for this reason that we have avoided reproducing opinions from media commentators and restricted ourselves only to facts, which are reported here as given. Virtually all of these facts are indeed verifiable from our own sources.

Many of the most damning revelations concerning Nick Griffin have come from his own mouth and his own pen. Some of them are quoted in these pages, but for a further insight into the mentality of the man under scrutiny we can do no better than recommend a reading of his own booklet, Attempted Murder, published in 1986. Giving the Griffin view of the wreckage of the National Front, Attempted Murder can be seen online by clicking on the 'Useful Link' to the right.

THE CHAMELEON

On race and repatriation

"Hand in hand with such an attitude often goes a call to downplay certain particularly controversial issues. However minor are such changes, their likely result is to convince a number of ideologically motivated 'hard-liners' - in all probability just the kind of energetic and enthusiastic youngsters who are most needed - that there is no place for them in the new-look movement. If the changes do not produce the expected crop of more 'respectable' recruits, the organisation is thus left weakened. If, on the other hand, a new wave of slightly more moderate members does join up and become active, their presence will have a ratchet effect. When they find that they are still attacked by the media, they will look around for further changes they could make to make the organization more acceptable. This is precisely the spiral of sickly moderation which has led one failed nationalist splinter group after another to purge itself of 'extremists', co-opt Winston Churchill as a posthumous honorary member and finally drop the inconvenient commitment to compulsory repatriation just before its last members totter off to rejoin the Tory Party.

"The long and unbroken record of failure by all who have followed this populist road is irrefutable evidence that it is a dead end."

Nick Griffin (Spearhead, February 1996)

"Multi-cultural Britain is a failure and an affront to nature, says Griffin. But he does not believe in forced repatriation.

"Instead, non-Whites and those of non-white descent should be given money to help them return to their countries of origin.

"A tiny minority will be allowed to stay in the UK because in Griffin's twisted words: 'A little salt in the soup is OK.'

"He likes the phrase and uses it at least four times during our hour-long talk. Push him further and he continues with his bile-filled theme. 'If you have soup without any salt it is frankly unpalatable and the salt makes the soup slightly more interesting.'"

Report by Paul Byrne (The Mirror, May 29th 2001)

"Mr. Griffin, affable and frank on most topics, goes very stiff and strange when asked about the party regulation which declares that membership is open only to those of British or 'closely kindred European descent'...

"His hands tremble slightly as he refuses to say what he thinks about this creepy stipulation...He explains that the definition of 'closely kindred' is a 'grey area', which is one way of putting it. Greeks can join but Turks can't. Bosnian Serbs can but Bosnian Muslims can't.

"In fact, Muslims in general can't, because, says the BNP. their first loyalty is to Islam rather than Britain.

"Some members think it should be changed. I don't comment on it because it's a divisive issue,' intones Mr. Griffin, quite unaware of how ludicrous this statement is, coming from the leader of a movement which is not known for avoiding divisive issues."

Peter Hitchens (The Mail on Sunday Review, February 9th 2003)

"And all the indications are that had we been directly asked about a multi-cultural society in a referendum, we'd have said no. Nonetheless, we've accepted it at the polls at every general election since Macmillan and that 'never had it so good' speech. So we haven't a moral right to turn round now and say: 'Right - you people out.' because effectively, by our acquiescence, we've accepted them being invited in. Of course, we can only put up with mass immigration if numbers are at such a level that we retain our culture and our homeland, which every people and every nation have a right to, and the newcomers don't want to change our society into something else.

"The best we can do, then, is cut the numbers to a sensible proportion and make sure that the people who are here become as British as they can be."

Nick Griffin to Jeremy Clarke (The Spectator, March 27th 2004)

"The British National Party has told the Today programme that it has made a huge shift in policy towards ethnic minorities.

"I met Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party last May... I half expected, half hoped, given his past he would not want to be interviewed by an ethnic minority [sic].

"But he was polite and statesmanlike... He even asked whether he could shake my hand afterwards.

"This got me thinking. Is the BNP really shifting its attitude towards ethnic minorities?

"Mr. Griffin says the dream of an all-white Britain is no longer feasible. Indeed 'getting everybody out is neither humane nor practical nor going to happen.' Bntain needs to make the best of a bad job..."

Barnie Choudhury (BBC Radio Four Today programme on line, January 2002)

"The tendency within the nationalist movement is to think within terms of multi-racialism, but the debate will be about multi-culturalism. All the West Indians I met in Oldham, and you could count them on one hand, were voting for the BNP. To an absolute purist that's anathema. That's silly to me because one per cent of our genes are from Africa. We've already assimilated a proportion and it hasn't had the terrible effects that the purist race freaks talk about."

Nick Griffin (reported in The Observer Magazine, 1st September 2002)

On the Jewish Question

"Hollywood is the heart of a race war - a war to turn the white nations of the world into a demoralised, atomised, mongrelised rabble...

"Having worked so hard to establish this deadly stranglehold on long-term opinion-forming, the controllers of Hollywood, almost entirely Jewish, were clearly deeply concerned when, at the end of the 1980s, the long boom in consumer electrical goods gave several Japanese companies the money and motivation to grab a piece of the lucrative Hollywood action."

Nick Griffin (Spearhead, January 1996)

"The Messianic nature of Judaism has clearly always been an important factor, at least subconsciously, in the hugely disproportionate role of racial Jews in both Communism and Capitalism."

Nick Griffin (Spearhead, February 1996)

"... Jews tend to be more intelligent than Gentiles. That's just a straight fact.

"The party's constitution at the moment doesn't allow it [viz, Jewish and other non-European members]. It's the party's constitution. It would be far better for the BNP to allow non-Brits [sic] as members. But politics is a matter of the possible. We've had decades of Hollywood Nazism of the most ill-concealed sort. It's not easy to turn the tanker around."

Interview with David Aaronovitch (The Independent Review, May 2nd 2002)

"I think there is a closer correlation between the interests of our party and the Jewish people than there is between the Jews and the multi-culturalists creating the conditions for an Islamic Britain in the future."

Statement by Nick Griffin (London Jewish News, April 26th 2002)

On political imagery

"But we also need to provide the sense of camaraderie and the thrill of the chase without which man sinks into terminal boredom.

"This is the key to the mistake made every few years by those who argue that nationalism should concentrate on presenting a nice, 'respectable' image and forsake the rough and tumble of the streets for the softly worded media interview. That way we won't arouse such hostility, our would-be supporters won't be frightened off by angry opponents and more and more people will be won over by reasoned debate.' Just like Communism, it seems plausible in theory, but in reality it just doesn't work. On the contrary, every time it has been tried it has not only failed to bring in new recruits but has led to an inexplicable loss of many existing supporters.

"The cringing liberals and the populists have got it all wrong. Far from confrontation frightening worthwhile people away, by strengthening the bonds of the group it actually attracts them - provided you win!

Nick Griffin (Spearhead, April 1996)

On non-white members in the BNP

"Blacks in the BNP? This is an area where there are two motives for suggesting the thing in question. A few individuals - the good-hearted but politically naive - think it would be a good thing because it would help us to overcome the 'racist' tag... Others - the enemy plants and the plain malcontents - know that it isn't really going to happen...

"The BNP's constitution expressly states that only individuals of British (i.e. English, Scots, Welsh and Irish) or closely kindred European stock may join as members. Not only do I not intend to try to change this fundamental rule, but I would vigorously oppose anyone else attempting to push for such a change..."

Nick Griffin (Identity magazine, December 2003)

POSTSCRIPT: Just seven months after these words were written Mr. Griffin attempted to push for a change in the very rules of membership he had said he would defend, the pretext for this being anticipated new legislation that would force the party to accept non-white members - a supposition for which there was not the slightest foundation. Less than three weeks after that, Mr. Griffin altered direction again, announcing on the BNP website that the change in membership rules would not be made after all - this being in response to massive grass-roots opposition from the party.

On his own leadership ambitions

"Nor is John Tyndall going to fall for the equally clumsy attempts to make him think that I'm plotting to take his job... Do I even want to lead the BNP? It's a lonely and thankless task, with a frightening burden of responsibility... it is unthinkable that someone who has been involved in an organisation for only a fraction of the time of his colleagues should leap-frog to the top without proving his staying power and suitability to both them and the membership at large. Such a process by its very nature would require years."

Nick Griffin, writing on The Cook Report TV documentary (Spearhead, July 1997)

POSTSCRIPT: Within 19 months of writing of these words Mr Griffin announced his intention to challenge John Tyndall for the BNP leadership.

On the BNP, its ideology and fighting for power

"Bluntly, I am not at all sure I belong in the British National Party.

"As you will have probably gathered from my Rune articles, my opinion of party political organisations with their primary focus on parliamentary elections is very similar to that espoused by Colin Jordan... I believe that the BNP continues to put far too many of its eggs in the basket of mythical parliamentary democracy... I cannot see why we should waste so much time appealing to dupes and morons [the British electorate] when there is so much to be done recruiting, educating and equipping our power-winning machine.

"Further, I am not a British Nationalist. I am first and foremost a White Racialist, and second a Welsh Nationalist..." Nick Griffin in letter to John Tyndall (November 14th 1994)

On Nazism

"The third 'H' which we have to identify and actively reject is Hitler. Thankfully, the time has long gone when the BNP would tolerate the known presence of deluded individuals as members or on our fringes with a perverted nostalgia for the 1930s. But we now have to promote our anti-Nazi credentials more vigorously...

"There are two main reasons for the pollution of British Nationalism over three or four decades by this immensely damaging 1930s political necrophilia. First, there was the fact that several of the leading figures in both the National Front and the old BNP had either flirted with Nazism in the early stages of their careers or, even worse, were still 'closet' Nazis...

"The second reason is a little more complex. A key part of the liberal-left's relentless campaign to demonize any white resistance to their genocidal multi-racial experiment has been a huge propaganda effort to convince the public that such resistance is a symptom of Nazism..."

Nick Griffin (Identity magazine, June 2002)

"Many historians have stated that probably no troops in the West today could be compared with SS troops. The culture of National Socialist Germany idolised heroism and self-sacrifice, and SS troops were hardened to outdoor life in the Hitler Youth. Today, the US Army discusses 'homosexual rights', the Union Jack flag is hidden in Northern Ireland to avoid offending sensitive IRA sympathizers, and the 'Professionals' are riddled with self-seeking careerists. What comparison could there be to the religiously fanatical 'political troops of yesterday' whose motto was 'Believe, Obey, Fight'?"

Article In The Rune magazine (1995). Editor: Nick Griffin

"I would certainly like to take up your suggestion of a regular exchange of the The Rune for Gothic Ripples. I have found your series on the NS [National Socialist] Vanguard interesting and thought-provoking so far, and look forward to the remainder.

"The next Rune is now being put together. Among other articles we have a good brief history of the BUF [British Union of Fascists] by a youngster in Scotland, a major piece of constructive criticism of the BNP's over-emphasis on elections, and a feature on the law relating to self-defence against red/Jew terror attacks."

Nick Griffin in letter to veteran Nazi Colin Jordan (22nd July 1995)

A perceptive report

"A committed activist, Griffin worked his way up the ranks [of the National Front], which were not extensive, and in 1983, along with a couple of other young hopefuls, he staged a coup that dislodged Martin Webster, the de facto leader at that time. Five years later Griffin was among a party of NF hierarchy which made an all-expenses-paid visit to Libya a few weeks before the Lockerbie bombing (and just a few years after the murder of WPC Fletcher). Their purpose was to gain funds from Colonel Gaddafi, who was also bankrolling the IRA at the time. During this period, the NF adopted a pro-Ayatollah Khomeinei stance.

"It was Tyndall who brought him back into politics... Following the council by-election of the BNP's Derek Beacon in 1993, Griffin wrote: The electors of Millwall did not back a post-modernist rightist party, but what they perceived to be a strong, disciplined organization with the ability to back up its slogan 'Defend Rights for Whites' with well-directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate.

"In 1997, Griffin was the subject of a Cook Report sting. Thinking he was talking to representatives of the French National Front, Griffin complained: 'Britain does not have the tradition of intellectual fascism which is such an important factor in many other countries. While I do have a number of proposals to help rectify this deficiency, the truth is that this is a handicap which we can never overcome completely.' He also announced that the BNP should not try to appeal to 'middle-class notions of respectability... It is more important to control the streets of a city than its council chambers.'

"It was after the Cook Report was aired that Griffin re-evaluated his language and tactics Ditching Tyndall, he joined up with the 'liberal' wing of the party. In September 1999, he defeated Tyndall in the party's leadership election, and, a quarter of a century after joining the far right, he found himself at its very centre. That's a lot of history to live down. In the words of a newsletter written by his former comrades at the ITP: '[Griffin] has been a conservative, a revolutionary nationalist, a radical National Socialist, a Third Positionist. a friend of "boot boys" and the skinhead scene, a man committed to respectable politics and electioneering, a "modernizer". Which is he really?'

"Given this uncompromisingly aggressive attitude. I wonder how he was able to work so intimately with Martin Webster. Even by the eccentric standards of the far right. Webster stands out as a fascinating oddity, if for no other reason than that as leader of the violently homophobic NF he was openly gay among fellow activists. Griffin was one of his closest lieutenants for three years.

"'Erm,' Griffin pauses, 'it was uncomfortable sometimes. He'd come into the office and put his arm around you and give you a kiss on the cheek and you'd go "Yuck."

"He says he didn't protest because he was busy plotting against Webster. A couple of years ago, Webster claimed that he and Griffin had been lovers - something which Griffin, a father of four, vehemently denies."

Report by Andrew Anthony (The Observer Magazine, 1st September 2002)

COMMENTS FROM OTHER NATIONALISTS

One-time supporters speak

"I am supporting Nick Griffin in this election. He has proved to be The Way Forward' for the British National Party and I am confident in his commitment to the advancement of our party as we move into the 21st Century."

Sharron Edwards (September 1999)

"As the millennium approaches, I feel our party needs a refreshing change of leadership... we need a young man with intelligence, drive and energy. We are lucky to have that person (a Cambridge-educated family man) and the unique opportunity to have him take our party out of fringe politics. That's why I'm supporting Nick Griffin."

Steve Edwards (September 1999)

"The current leader (Nick Griffin) is a ... and a ......... [words deleted to avoid possible libel action]... Decent people have been badly let down... Griffin has wrecked and factionalized every movement he has been associated with... If Griffin is replaced, we may be able to join forces again."

Sharron and Steve Edwards (December 2000)

"We need a new leader for a new century, and we now have an exceptionally able candidate available from the new generation - a Cambridge graduate. That's why we must vote for the future and for Nick Griffin as the next leader of the BNP."

Michael Newland (September 1999)

"Griffin was elected on a clear pledge to have full financial accountability and fell at the first hurdle when reasonable questions were asked. He and Lecomber have shown themselves incapable of running the organization as a legitimate affair. I thought that Griffin had matured sufficiently enough [sic] to behave sensibly and I was wrong...I misjudged him and that was my terrible mistake for which I eat humble pie"

Michael Newland, recent BNP Treasurer (September 2000)

From a leading BNP organizer

"... the reason for all this mayhem? John Tyndall had been invited to speak! The circus had come to town and it had arrived in the wake of a determined attempt by the leadership of the party to have me cancel Mr. Tyndall's invitation. Martin Wingfield e-mailed me a message suggesting limply that if the meeting went ahead all our good work would be undone. He was not serious of course; he was simply acting on instructions given to him by either Nick Griffin or Tony Lecomber, both of whom regarded Mr. Tyndall as a thorn in their side and simply wanted him out of the way...

"It was these events more than any other, I think, that confirmed my worst fears, which were that the leadership of the BNP were more interested in themselves than the party, as evidenced by their preparedness to discredit their most successful branch simply to get at John Tyndall...

"I quite simply could not get out of my mind the fact that Mr. Griffin had not taken the time and trouble to enquire about how we had achieved what we had in order that he might be in a position to help other branches around the country achieve the same success for themselves."

Steve Smith (How it was Done, 2004)

"... I do not believe that Nicholas Griffin is suited to the job of leading the British National Party to political success. In my view Mr. Griffin is fundamentally flawed and psychologically disfigured as a leader because he is predisposed to put himself first and the BNP second...

"Mr. Griffin, in my view, has little or no humility, and is therefore unable to tap into that deep reservoir of strength and resourcefulness that each and every one of us has but all too few of us are able to recognize. This, I am sorry to say, is a character flaw which exposes an absence of sincerity and integrity..."

Steve Smith (Article in Spearhead, November 2004)

From a leading Nationalist writer

The article from which these excerpts are taken was written in response to comments made in a self-promoting interview given by Nick Griffin in Patriot magazine in the Summer of 1999.

"Nick makes some play with his past record in the nationalist movement. It is therefore necessary for us to delve into that swamp as well. Just note, to begin with, two fixed rules of the game which Patriot wants you to observe at all times:-

"1) Nothing that ever went wrong in any organization when Nick was at the head of it (which happened regularly, frequently and often) was ever his fault.

"2) Nothing that ever went right for any nationalist organization which John Tyndall led was ever to his credit.

"Of course, though Nick was in the forefront of all of this, you understand that none of the new disasters that now engulfed the National Front was any of his fault. On goes our Nick, relentlessly suppressing material facts as eagerly he hunts out his scapegoats.

"'From 1983,' he says, 'the party (the National Front) entered a period of rapid growth and improvement.' Strange to say. neither we experienced NF-watchers in the British National Party, nor most of the NF's surviving members, managed to notice any of this 'growth' or 'improvement'. Low morale, dwindling numbers and abysmal votes characterized the party at that time, as far as any of us could see...

"So far as we knew by the mid-1980s, the only 'growth' or 'improvement' that were going on were in the area of ideological eccentricity. Nick had always had a shine for Otto Strasser, the leftist German Nazi of the 1920s, who believed in combining workers' control of German industry with a foreign policy of alliance with Soviet Russia. To this Strasser worship was now added, in Griffin's case, an admiration for Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi which extended to the point of political insanity.

"In fact, if the Front was, as he says in Patriot, 'not worth saving' by 1989, when he left it, this amounted to nothing that John Tyndall hadn't been telling him and his colleagues, year in, year out, for a decade. But listening to good counsel is not our Nick's strong point. When the Griffin bit is between the teeth as he rushes off with pig-headed impetuosity on his latest half-baked hobby horse, there really is no stopping him, as he looks neither to right nor left, thundering into the valley of death - and of course dragging all and sundry after him.

"During that decade, the British National Party grew from almost nothing to become practically the only nationalist party - and certainly the only viable one - in Britain, under the leadership of John Tyndall. The National Front, during the same period, shrank from being the only viable nationalist party in Britain to practically nothing - to a great extent under the leadership of...Nick Griffin!

"According to Patriot, Nick is a man of 'phenomenal vision'. The trouble is you can't tell what the vision is going to be from one moment to the next. Since 1980, Nick has been, in succession, a Strasserite Nazi, a pedlar of Mr. Gaddafi's 'Green Book' summarizing the Libyan Utopia, a hard-line nationalist with a taste for physical confrontation with the opposition (see articles in the Rune magazine, written when Nick first started moving in BNP circles), and latterly a 'modernizer' with no taste for confrontation with left-wing opposition... Talk about all things to all men!

"Nick's words seem to be whatever flavoured chewing gum for the ears that he calculates his audience of the moment might prefer. It's all done for effect."

John Morse (Spearhead, September 1999)

From a former BNP regional organiser

"... you will have seen February's Freedom and the article concerning Charlie Bickerstaffe. Freedom is the official paper of the party. Under current electoral law, candidates have to be endorsed by Tony Lecomber as Nick Griffin's designated official for this purpose. It is outrageous that Bickerstaffe is allowed to stand for the BNP. Inter-racial marriage [which Mr. Bickerstaffe had endorsed in the case of his daughter] is regarded by BNP members as perhaps the most selfish and heinous crime possible. Clearly the Nick Griffin/Tony Lecomber combination is a disaster. In my view, the party must urgently elect a new chairman who is prepared to run the party according to its original purpose.

"Many people have said: 'Let's give Griffin time to settle in; don't rock the boat.' However, in my opinion there is no chance that he will settle down: he is fundamentally unsuitable for the job. Accordingly, as a founder-member of the party and someone who ostentatiously abstained from voting in the last leadership election, I am now calling for the party to start actively seeking a successor to Griffin.

"The BNP under Nick Griffin is not the BNP that I helped to bring to life!"

Michael Easter (former BNP Kent Regional Organiser) in a circulated letter to party members (17th February 2003)

From a nationalist lawyer

"Why aren't you a member of the BNP? Some of my friends have asked me.

"It may be that 'events, dear boy, events' are already demonstrating why, following the mysterious resignation of party treasurer John Brayshaw in June, and Nick Griffin's failure to file the accounts for the year ending 31st December 2003 with the Electoral Commission by a generously extended deadline of 31st July 2004. Not to mention the demonstrably false reason assigned for this failure. To suggest that Barclays Bank's decision in July 2004 to withdraw banking facilities contributed in some fashion to a failure to file accounts to 31st December 2003 is not even a clever lie.

"The short answer to the question why I am not a member of the BNP is not about personality differences or fine points of ideology. You do not need to like people to work with them, as the Brown/Blair working relationship shows. The completely ideologically pure party has a membership of one.

"Rather, my reasons are firstly, that the BNP does not fulfil the minimal criteria for a properly run party, and secondly, that I am pessimistic about the prospects of reform from within. I will develop these points as briefly as the subject matter allows.

"The lack of constitutional safeguards against the abuse of disciplinary powers means that anyone contemplating a challenge, or even questioning the ruling clique's mismanagement of affairs, is likely to be expelled on some specious pretext by a rigged tribunal.

"If instances are needed, in the summer of 2000, Nick Griffin expelled Treasurer Mike Newland for protesting at the plainly unacceptable blurring of the boundaries between the chairman's private business concerns as a second hand (Japanese) car dealer on the one hand, and party finances on the other, not to mention the making of wholly illegal payments to Tony Lecomber (whose criminal record is so obvious a liability to the party that one is driven to speculate why Nick Griffin does not cut this albatross from around his neck, but I digress). Deputy Chairman Sharron Edwards was then expelled for asking questions about the accounts that Nick Griffin could not answer. Finally, Steve Edwards was expelled for being married to Sharron Edwards, who had asked awkward questions about the accounts that Nick Griffin could not answer!

"To quote the unfailingly eloquent Jonathan Bowden, 'you can't expel people for saying: where's that quid?', especially not if the quid has gene missing. Yet that is precisely what happens in the BNP and all those who actively or passively support its current leadership (including such former critics as the unfailingly eloquent Jonathan Bowden!) share moral responsibility for its actions.

"Moving rapidly up to date from 2000 to 2004, Nick Griffin and Co. are busily suspending whole branches that have had the temerity to ask John Tyndall or Richard Edmonds to speak on subjects of pressing concern to the party's members. They would undoubtedly expel both John Tyndall and Richard Edmonds, had Nick Griffin not recently discovered (at considerable expense to his party's funds) that he is not above the law."

Adrian Davies (Internet posting), August 2004

From a long-standing Scottish BNP member

"... I was also an NF [National Front] member since 1979 and I well and truly remember Nick's antics on the NF Directorate. I have nothing against the man personally and admit that he is an outstanding publicity director, but he is no party leader and never will be. Under his 'leadership' the NF became fragmented, ended up an insignificant laughing stock then disintegrated altogether. Surely no one with an ounce of common sense would want this to happen again.

Tom Toye (In letter to John Tyndall, July 17th 1999)

From the International Third Position (ITP)

"Despite the fact that Mr Griffin has launched some truly vile accusations against the leadership and activists of the ITP - accusations both personal and political in nature - we have never responded. However, we would like to take this opportunity to indicate the kind of 'managerial flair' and 'financial astuteness' that Mr. Griffin would have us all believe he possesses, and which were really the fundamental cause of his separation from the ITP.

"In 1990 it was decided by the ITP to buy in printing equipment, so as to enhance our political independence and to provide the beginnings of an economic base for the movement. This was our first major step in the Counter-Power strategy. Mr Griffin was, unfortunately, put in charge.

"He promptly found the only alcoholic, suspect-homosexual vendor of printing equipment in the country. He paid down many thousands of pounds of another nationalist's money for a set-up that we were told would be ample for our needs. Four or five months after the money had been paid down, we still had not received the equipment. It was only through the perseverance of other leaders that we tracked down the shyster businessman who had been paid for it and forced a delivery. The upshot, however, was that Mr. Griffin had outlaid a huge sum for what can only be described as junk. Of course, by this time Mr. Griffin had lost interest in this particular venture and was moving on to other 'get-rich-quick' schemes. This event, coupled with too many others of a similar, if less serious, nature, led Mr. Griffin to be kept wholly out of anything connected with money"

Statement from ITP of August 20th 1999 (submitted to and published in Spearhead, September 1999)

From an independent Nationalist magazine

"... Griffin has played a major part in almost every split and factional infight in the last 20 years. Starting with the 1981 New NF split, when Tyndall left the NF over its refusal to make him Fuehrer. Griffin was there hedging his bets and getting rid of those in his way to attaining power. Next came his involvement in the plot to oust megalomaniac homo Martin Webster. Once again, Griffin was paving his way to power. Next came the 1986 Cadre/Flag Group split, in which Griffin. Harrington and Holland ousted Anderson, Wingfield & Co. The argument centred over the control of the party's printing operations, Griffin denouncing all and sundry as state agents in his booklet, Attempted Murder.

"After destroying the Cadre NF along a merry jaunt through the wilderness of political lunacy, came his [Griffin's] departure from the ITP, again over money and printing equipment.

"... the damage he [Griffin] has done to our cause is due to his being a career politician who is solely out for his own gain. Everything that Nick does is geared towards promoting himself and lining his pockets. History is repeating itself when one of the first things Griffin does after taking charge of the BNP is to send himself a large portion of the party's funds to extend his own house. Anyone who has ever had any significant contact with Griffin can only be struck by the man's arrogance and the indifference he shows to anyone he does not consider his intellectual equal or whom he cannot use to his own advantage.

"Griffin is bad news for the survival of our folk because his only interest is himself, and this is at the expense of everyone else..."

Article in NST magazine, circa 2000/01

From a veteran Nationalist

"Griffin the Trimmer now fancies himself as a mini-Churchill for the BNP. After experimenting with a faction of the National Front, he entered the BNP intent on conspiring against and ousting John Tyndall. its founder. Building up a faction of discontent by trotting around the country, he got himself voted into power..."

"Griffin's mainstream debut, the sign that his sell-out is succeeding, is the fact that, although the media maintains and will continue its obligatory fulminations against the BNP, Griffin is beginning to find doors opening to him, as a convert to the conventional party game."

"Do you think this significant accommodation of Griffin indicates the beginning of some policy of sweet tolerance of racial nationalism by the other participants in the programme representing the mainstream or multi-racial media? Or would you say that instead this indicates that he is now seen by them and the rest of those who really rule behind the window-dressing of the ballot box, as a useful instrument for taming the BNP, turning it into a safe outlet for the discontent with multi-racialism which they know to expect and want channelling into impotence? 'Beat the BNP from within by extracting its teeth' is a smart procedure and the most likely explanation of the beginning of Griffin's rise to respectability."

Colin Jordan (Gothic Ripples, December 2002)

Acknowledgements to Imperium Press for the foregoing, which was originally published as a pamphlet