It now seems that there are 102 BNP members in the SE postcodes areas, a worrying number but my earlier point about their lack of significant presence in London remains. Yes Deptford is a BNP free zone, and there is only 1 each in New Cross and Walworth. Further out there are larger clusters though - particularly in Eltham. Complete breakdown is as folows:
SE1 (Bermondsey) - 5
SE2 (Abbey Wood) – 1
SE3 (Blackheath) - 6
SE4 (Brockley) -4
SE5 (Camberwell) – 6
SE6 (Catford) - 3
SE7 (Charlton) -2
SE8 (Deptford) – 0
SE9 (Eltham) – 17
SE10 (Greenwich) - 2
SE11 (Kennington) – 0
SE12 (Lee) – 1
SE13 (Lewisham) – 2
SE14 (New Cross) -1
SE15 (Peckham) – 5
SE16 (Rotherhithe) - 5
SE17 (Walworth) -1
SE18 (Woolwich/Plumstead) - 7
SE19 (Upper Norwood/Crystal Palace) - 4
SE20 (Anerley/Penge) - 6
SE21 (Dulwich) – 1
SE22 (East Dulwich) -2
SE23 (Forest Hill) – 6
SE24 (Herne Hill) – 3
SE25 (South Norwood) -5
SE26 (Sydenham) – 3
SE27 (West Norwood) -1
SE28 (Thamesmead) - 4
Not a lot of interesting detail in the list of local members, other than the fact that one SE18 member is Sean Pearson, who stood for the Conservatives in a 2006 local election in Greenwich Glyndon Ward and was until last year chair of the Swinton Circle - a group on the far right of the Tory Party (Malcolm Redfellow has more on this as well as some hilarious extracts from the list).
Some interesting as well as dubious comments to earlier post and also over at Brockley Central. One suggestion is that after the initial turmoil, the BNP might benefit from the fuss if they can present themselves as victims - there was a member on the news complaining about living in a 'fascist state' (oh my aching sides - read some history) - never mind the fact that it seems likely that the list was originally published by one of their own in a faction fight between wannabe fuhrers. The BNP are also getting lots of publicity, and will try and use the stories about teachers, police officers etc. to show that they are full of upright members of the community (actually there are only a handful of members named for any particular job).
There is some risk of this, and we certainly can't rely on the BNP continually shooting themselves in the foot. Still at least their opponents now know where to look out for them.
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31 comments:
The trend further out into the suburbs is more telling - take a look at the cluster around Bexleyheath (DA7).
Possibly linked to the relatively larger number in Eltham? Not exactly surprising, but concerning nonetheless.
I believe the BNP had it's 'book shop' in Welling years ago. Don't knows what's more shocking, the fact that some people genuinely think the BNP isn't racist or the idea that they can read.
Given that it's the NF that stands candidates in Lewisham I wonder whether they've got the neo-Nazi activists in this bit of SE London?
the bnp have had a fairly visible presence in places like downham, bellingham and bromley lately, they put in a lot of work in that area around the time of the mayoral elections regularly getting 50 odd members/activists out leafletting/campaigning so if that did translate into new members this probably wouldn't have been reflected on the leaked lists - downham's also where tess culnane, nazi granny and lewisham NF assembly candidate, BPP friend and ex bnp member lives, so it looks like the BNP are trying to mop up the 5% or so of the elecorate that the NF picked up in lewisham and bromley areas
Oh, it's definitely linked to the huge presence in Eltham/Mottingham, and the old "bookshop" in Upper Wickham Lane. Which was a handy address to direct "3 CDs now, pay later" to via those Britannia Music Club flyers which fell out of the BNP.
A couple of years back, on another blog, I had a long-running spat with a troll who insisted that there was no problem with racism and the BNP in Eltham and the wider suburbs. He kept quiet after I published a photo of a "people like you vote BNP" placard that had been outside the police station (!) for months...
fell out of the BNP? Fell out of the NME. Heh.
I suspect that the NF has even less active members than the BNP in SE London and that the vote they picked up in the GLA elections reflects 'brand recognition' rather than degree of organisation.
i'd agree with that and would add a proxy bnp vote being another reason
in the areas where BNP and NF went head to head (city and east is the only one i can think off) the BNP comfortably took the lion's share - 9% against 1% roughly
i'm sure if the BNP get together the money/resources to contest more areas in the future the NF vote in those areas will be wiped out
does anyone know if the nicholas stone who stood for the greens in telegraph hill ward in the 2006 council elections is related to nicholas stone, the sole new cross member of the BNP
.... whoa Fred that would be interesting wouldn't it? Shouldn't be hard to check, as they would have to had put their address on the nomination papers. There are clearly some political junkies who jump from one party to another throughout their lives, but then there's also deliberate infiltration by supporters of one party into another, generally for dubious reasons.
it's a match!
Blimey you're right - just found the poll list. What does it mean? I have emailed Sue Luxton for a comment.
i emailed chris flood, i'm sure he'll be interested
Lewisham Green Party Statement on Mr Nicholas Stone
Lewisham Green Party today confirmed that the name of a Mr Nicholas Stone who previously stood for the Greens in the local elections has appeared on the leaked list of alleged BNP supporters.
Darren Johnson, Leader of the Green Group on Lewisham Council said, "The policies of the Green Party and the BNP could not be further apart. The Green Party has long fought for equality for all and there is no room for anyone in the Green Party who holds racist views."
Mr Stone came to us from the Socialist Alliance and gave us no indication whatsoever that he shared the obnoxious views of the BNP. Mr Stone has had no active involvement in Lewisham Green Party for the past two years. Let there be no doubt that the Green Party stands firmly against racism in all forms."
Sue was he still a green party member as off a few days ago? if so has he been asked to confirm whether he is indeed a member, and if so, has he since been expelled? the statement only says he's not been active (since standing as a green party candidate in May 2006) which suggests he's still a paper member of the green party
(ps shouldn't the statement read that he was on the 'list of alleged BNP members' - a list of BNP supporters would be substantially bigger than the membership list)
(pps nice dig at the socialists in the statement!)
(ppps, i bet the green party wished they listened to nick long now)
Hi Fred
No, he isn't a Green Party member anymore. His membership lapsed in June 07 but he wasn't active in the local party for a number of months before that.
As for Nick Long, I'm happy to take his advice in his professional capacity as the Council's empty homes officer, but when it comes to electoral strategy and alliances, we part waves. Greens fully intend to stand a full slate again in Telegraph Hill ward at the next Council elections - we have a strong support base there, as the 22% Green vote there in the recent London Assembly elections testifies.
fair play sue, thanks for the response
To be fair to the Green Party, they are unambiguously anti-racist. The same is not true of all environmentalists - there's is certainly an extreme right version ('blood and soil', 'there's too many people in the country/world' etc.). The New Cross case is not the only one where somebody on that BNP list has previously had some Green connection - although the same could be said of all main parties. Is it all just down to political 'eccentrics' drifting from one party to another, or is there a pattern of deliberate attempted infiltration?
On a lighter note talking about this in the pub tonight somebody said 'bit green, bit fascist, sounds about right for Telegraph Hill'.
Never thought of Telegraph Hill in those terms. More like the natural habitat of the hobbit-trouser wearer.
Oh well to see ourselves as others see us!
Re effect of leaking the list on the BNP: in the short term, not good for them. They'd been making some moves recently with the aim of pulling a chunk of UKIP's membership into their embrace.
The leak seems to have been well-timed to scupper that.
Credit to the Green Party for issuing a statement. I'm 100% sure they would never allow someone to stand for them that was known to be racist or fascist. (In contrast, there seem to be a number of people moving back and forth between the Conservative Party and the BNP [and other far right grouplets] without appearing to bother the Tories.)
I have seen other examples of "mavericks" and political junkies, as you put it, wandering from home to home, flirting with extremist positions. There may, of course, be even more innocent explanation for this guy appearing on the list.
However, it worries me a bit about the Green Party's procedures for standing someone as a candidate, that they didn't know much about him beforehand.
P.s. have you seen the handy "BNP Near Me" interactive map at http://bnpnearme.co.uk/
I only just noticed that it's not just our local Greens who have been infested with BNP members - see this on Cheltenham.
Bob, I think it's stretching the point a little to suggest we are 'infested with the BNP'! One former member from the area was on their list. There was nothing in his behaviour to arouse any suspicion while he was a member, he stopped being active several years ago and his membership lapsed 18 months ago. I don't think there is much we feasibly could have done to prevent this unfortunately.
Anyway he may be entirely innocent - he claims in today's South London Press that he still supports the Greens and thinks his name may have been maliciously put on the BNP mailing list by BNP supporters where he used to work.
Anyway he may be entirely innocent - he claims in today's South London Press that he still supports the Greens and thinks his name may have been maliciously put on the BNP mailing list by BNP supporters where he used to work.
That's a relief, assuming it's true. Maybe I'm not as bad a judge of character as I was starting to think I was afterall. It does chime with comments Nick made when he was a member.
Sorry, Sue, "infested" was too strong a word - although even evidence of one mouse in my house gets me calling the council exterminators!
I am relieved to hear the possibility that Nicholas Stone was an innocent victim, and hope this can be confirmed. Just as it is important to expose fascists, it is important to clear the names of those unfairly slurred as fascists.
rumour has it that sadie graham has been arrested in connection with the leaked list
she may well have been a searchlight mole all along, although if so this would prove searchlight to be tactically incompetent if they think the leak is going to do more harm than good, on the other hand if they were savvy enough to realise the benefit the leaked list could do for the BNP this would be a case of job preservation - like phillips and co in the race industry who who have a vested interest in maintaining the ills that they are employed to supposedly combat
thought it might be of interest to some here to know that the nazi granny tess culnane has rejoined the BNP (from the NF) and is to stand for them in the forthcoming downham council by election in february - i would have thought her rejoining would have done more damage to the BNP's reputation than any of the leaked list stuff!
i wrote a post about this on the savecatford.org site
interesting to see the paltry punishment dished out to 'ex-BNP members' mat single (£200 fine) and sadie graham (all charges dropped altogether) , with the court upholding an order preventing their new address from being released
pretty lenient stuff given the nature of what happened - doesn't do anything to quell the notion that this was a state backed action (which backfired remarkably and ended up doing the opposite of what was presumably intended)
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