UK: British National Party membership list leaked, by Trevor Hemmings
01 January 2009
The leaked list of BNP members included teachers, nurses, members of the armed forces, civil servants and police officers - there were calls to ensure that “racism and fascism have no place in the classroom or lecture.”
In November 2008 the membership list of the British National Party (BNP), was posted on an internet blog, identifying thousands of their supporters, including a number of serving police officers and soldiers, businessmen, government employees, immigration service staff, solicitors, religious ministers, teachers, a doctor and schoolchildren. The list reveals that BNP members include around 20 in the USA, a handful in Australia and one in Oman. The list contains approximately 13,500 names (much fewer than the BNP’s publicly claimed membership), with home addresses, telephone numbers, emails and in some instances employment details. The membership list appears to have been released by a disgruntled party member or members.
The BNP’s leader, Nick Griffin, has acknowledged that the membership list is authentic but claimed that it was out of date as it was compiled at the end of 2007. One irony of the leaking of the list is that it has forced Nick Griffin is rely on the European Convention of Human Rights to prevent its further publication: the party is strongly opposed to the Convention and to the Human Rights Act which incorporated it into British law. The Information Commissioner, who enforces the Data Protection Act, and is investigating the matter with Dyfed Powys police, is looking not only at the posting of the list, but at the amount of information that the BNP holds on its own members.
One of the repercussions of the leak was that in January 2009, an official investigation was launched after two immigration service staff, both of whom work with asylum seekers, were found to have links to the extremists. One of the men resigned after his name was found on the BNP’s membership list while the other has been suspended while his employer makes inquiries about his links to the organisation. The Independent newspaper, which revealed the inquiry into the immigration employees, commented: “Both cases raise serious concerns about racism within the immigration system, where membership of extreme political groups has long been suspected.” [1]
Reactions: Unions and police
The publication of the list also brought renewed calls from trade unions for a ban on BNP membership in public sector jobs such as teaching and nursing. The list contained the names of around 15 teachers, nurses, members of the armed forces and civil servants as well as police officers. Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers union, told
The Independent newspaper: “Those who declare their affiliation to the BNP should not be allowed to work in the teaching profession or in public services.” [2] The University College Union (UCU) issued a statement with the National Union of Teachers (NUT), which stated:
The policies and positions of the BNP are incompatible with the ethos and values of teaching. Racism and fascism are the antithesis of the aims of education which strives for the liberation of every learner's potential, irrespective of age, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, race or religion.
In common with the mainstream political parties, NUT and UCU find the policies of the BNP utterly unacceptable. We call on the government to take urgent action to ensure that racism and fascism have no place in the classroom or lecture hall, and to give consideration to making membership of the BNP incompatible with registration as a qualified teacher or lecturer, in line with policy for the police.
Both unions find espousal of BNP policies to be incompatible with membership of our organisations.” UCU and NUT Statement [3]
However, the University of Cambridge has said that it will not take action against a named design engineer at the university’s Centre for Industrial Photonics, Arthur Nightingale, because the political affiliations of members of staff were “a matter for them provided that they do not affect their performance in the workplace.”
Nicola Dandridge chief executive of the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), rejected this arguing that while "primacy of freedom of speech is fundamental", universities had legal obligations to promote good race relations on campus:
It is hard to see how institutions can reconcile their duty to promote good race relations with staff being members of the BNP. This is particularly the case in relation to staff who have contact with students. Institutions may therefore consider that it is inappropriate for BNP members to have teaching and/or pastoral care responsibilities, or other direct contact with students. [4]
Police and prison officers have been prevented by law from joining the BNP since 2004 “because such membership would be incompatible with our duty to promote equality under the Race Relations Amendment Act and would damage the confidence of minority communities”, (Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police and spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers).[5] In January two Metropolitan police officers whose names appeared on the list were “cleared” of involvement with the BNP by an internal inquiry. PC Joe Cutting, from south London, and a part-time officer who has not been named, will return to full duties [6].
Merseyside police have investigated PC Steve Bettley for an “alleged relationship with the party” and he was sacked by the force in March. A Merseyside police statement said:
We are very clear - membership of the British National Party is totally incompatible with the duties and values of the police service and Merseyside Police. We will not accept a police officer or police staff being a member of the BNP. [7]
In December Nottinghamshire police arrested two people in Brinsley in connection with the publication of the membership list as part of an ongoing investigation into the leak that is being carried out with the Information Commissioner. A spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that Notts Police arrested two people as part of a joint investigation with Dyfed Powys Police and the Information Commissioner's Office in conjunction with alleged criminal offences under the Data Protection Act. The arrests followed an investigation into a complaint received about the unauthorised release of the BNP party membership list." [8]
One of those arrested has been named in the media as Sadie Graham, a former BNP councillor who was expelled by the party in December 2007 after allegedly being involved with an internet blog that “attack[ed] and smeared fellow party officials.” At the time, she said: "I am absolutely disgusted by the way they have treated me when I have done nothing but work hard for the party and have been responsible for bringing them forward in the East Midlands. I am now an independent councillor for Broxtowe. I would like to assure people that I am still nationalist and still believe in the principles of the BNP, but just disagree with the bad management of the party. I work very hard as a councillor and will continue to do so."
Graham is now an “independent nationalist” on Broxtowe Borough Council. She has said that she has received threats since the list was published and is planning to leave her home and go into hiding. [9]
Sources
1. The Independent 14.1.09
2. The Independent 20.11.08
3. UCU and NUT Statement (27.11.09) http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3623
4. Times Higher Education
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=404509&c=1
5. See http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=7753
6. BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7859299.stm
7. Quoted on the Lancaster Unity website:
http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/11/merseyside-police-release-statement.html
8. This is Nottingham
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/crime/arrested-Notts-BNP-membership-leakarticle-527013-details/article.html
9. This is Nottingham
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Arrested-councillor-received-threats/article-531509-detail/article.html