Under the upbeat headline “Kev Carroll Becomes British Freedom Chairman”, the British Freedom party reports the rather less positive news that their previous chairman, Paul Weston, has in fact resigned.
According to the BFP, Weston has “stepped down to concentrate on a literary contribution to the battle against Britain’s national trajectory”. Which I suppose is another way of saying that he has, quite understandably, decided that the BFP is a complete waste of time.
An activist for the far-right English Defence League who stood in the recent Rotherham byelection has been remanded in jail on burglary charges.
Brian Clint Bristow, usually known as Clint, came last in the 29 November byelection with just 29 votes. A little over two weeks later, on 16 December, the 39-year-old was charged by Humberside police with burglary. After being refused bail, he was remanded in custody and spent Christmas in jail.
He is accused of trespassing on private property and stealing toiletries, money and a mobile phone then making threats of violence. The alleged burglary took place in the coastal village of Bempton, near Bridlington.
Bristow was refused bail at Bridlington magistrates court and the case has been transferred to Hull crown court.
Spot the fascist thug: Alan Spence and Dipu Ahad
Sky Tyne and Wear has helpfully provided a platform for the English Defence League’s North East regional organiser Alan Spence to promote the EDL’s forthcoming protest against plans to convert Benwell Towers, the former setting for TV series Byker Grove, into a faith school for Muslims.
Sky doesn’t bother to inform its viewers that Spence is a notorious fascist thug, a former British National Party parliamentary candidate who a year ago was given a 7-month prison sentence for his part in an EDL attack on a left-wing meeting at Tyneside Irish Centre.
Still, even though Spence’s record of political violence is covered up, he is such an ignorant bigot that his TV appearance is unlikely to win any wider public support for the EDL’s message of anti-Muslim hatred. By contrast, local Labour councillor Dipu Ahad comes across as an articulate defender of the area’s growing diversity.
It was only last May that the tiny British Freedom party announced with a loud fanfare that English Defence League leaders Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll had become its joint vice-chairmen. The BFP declared that this was a “historic development” which established the party as “a new force in British politics”.
Since then things haven’t been going too well for the BFP. In October, Lennon tweeted that he had resigned from the organisation in order to concentrate on building the EDL, and he told the Independent that he was intending to stand for election under the banner of the EDL rather than the BFP. Even Carroll’s 10.6% of the poll as the British Freedom candidate for Bedfordshire police commissioner in November failed to provide a boost for the party. Although this was in fact a worryingly high vote for such a notorious figure on the far right, the result inevitably had a demoralising effect after the BFP led its supporters to believe that Carroll had a serious chance of winning, only for him to finish a distant fourth behind the successful Labour candidate.
Hope Not Hate now reports that on 11 December the electoral commission de-registered British Freedom because the BFP leaders failed to complete the necessary paperwork or pay the fee required to renew its registration as a political party, despite repeated reminders. Acording to HNH, this development “spells the end for the short-lived religious and racial extremists”. Well, maybe.
The English Defence League (EDL) is to stage a demo in Newcastle after the city council approved plans to turn the Byker Grove building into an Islamic school.
The protest has been criticised by interfaith and anti-fascist groups, with plans already under way for a counter-demonstration.
The rally, the first to be organised in Newcastle by the organisation since 2010, has been approved on a national level and will take place in May next year, according to an EDL regional spokesman.
About 40 people gathered for an anti-Islam demonstration in Oslo, and were met with jeers and chants of “no Nazis on our streets” from a larger group of counterdemonstrators.
The protest was staged by the Norwegian Defence League, a group inspired by the larger English Defence League, which has carried out rowdy anti-Islam protests in Britain. The defence leagues say they’re not racists but “patriots” opposing a perceived Islamization of Europe.
Police spokesman Finn Belle said Saturday’s demonstration was peaceful and police successfully kept the two sides apart. He said three counterdemonstrators were detained for disturbing the peace and were fined before being released.
Byker Grove will be transformed into an Islamic school. Council planning chiefs have given the go-ahead to plans to convert Bishop’s Palace – used to film the popular TV series – into a fee-paying faith school.
The BAHR Academy will cater for up to 340 boys and girls between 11 and 16 in Benwell, Newcastle. But the development of the currently empty and run-down site will also include a community building, coffee shop and events space open at weekends.
The English Defence League (EDL) is planning another march in Cambridge, according to campaigners. A “massive” counter demonstration has already been planned by Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF).
More than 670 officers policed an EDL march in the city in July, 2011.
Richard Rose, of CUAF, said: “Our head office has information that has been confirmed by the EDL that they will march in Cambridge on February 23. We have organised a counter demo opposing the EDL and what it stands for.”
The English Defence League has posted the latest message from its imprisoned leader Stephen Lennon, wishing his organisation’s now severely depleted troops a happy Christmas.
As you might expect, the letter consists mostly of an extended whinge about his personal predicament. However, “Tommy” does take the opportunity to offer us the benefit of his latest thinking on the origins and aims of Islam.
