BNP leadership challenge results

Below are the number of nominations received for each candidate in the recent BNP Leadership challenge with a turnout of 29%.

Although 29% might seem a low turnout, it must be remembered that the official nomination form stated that if you were content with Nick Griffin remaining as Leader of the BNP, there was no need to return the form thus showing a minimum support for the chairman of at least 80% of the party membership.

1. Mr Nick Griffin MEP 995
2. E. Butler 214
3. Mr Richard Barnbrook 23
4. Mr Derek Adams 4

None of the would be challengers managed to gather enough support for the leadership challenge to move to a full vote of the membership.

Taken from the Green Arrow website

BNP nominations are closed.

Nominations for the British National Party's leadership contest have closed, with three candidates hoping to challenge Nick Griffin.

Pub landlord Derek Adams, London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook and ex-national elections officer Eddy Butler are the declared contenders.

The party is set to announce later if any got the backing of enough long-term BNP members to force a full ballot.

Mr Griffin, leader since 1999, has said he intends to stand down by 2013.

The anti-immigration party has no seats at Westminster although it has two Members of the European Parliament and a member of the London Assembly.

It won 1.9% of the UK vote at the general election in May - up from 0.7% of the vote it got in 2005.

'More accountable'

Under the terms of the BNP's constitution, a leadership election is called every year.

The challengers have to secure the nominating signatures of 20% of those who have been party members for at least five years to force a full vote.

Mr Griffin, as existing leader, is deemed to have been nominated automatically if a full contest goes ahead.

The BNP has not yet revealed whether any of the challengers has mustered the support necessary to go to a party-wide ballot, telling the BBC they would announce the result later on Wednesday.

The four candidates have each posted short manifestos on the BNP website.

Mr Griffin says: "In 10 years, our activists and I have turned this party from a bad political joke into a major factor in British politics. There is still much to be done, and it is best done under proven, principled and visionary leadership, without futile, time-wasting elections."

Mr Butler says he believes the party needs "a complete re-launch in order to survive", promising to implement "changes to make the party more democratically accountable" and says he would "bring all functions such as the call centre back to the mainland and close the Belfast office".

Mr Adams says "our vote increased at the general election and we have more enquiries and a larger membership than ever", he pledges to be "a clean-hands candidate who will be a fresh face".

Mr Barnbrook argues that he has the "integrity, impartiality and lack of self-interest that will command the loyalty and solidarity of all the membership" and says he can "end the strife caused by this destructive, divisive and bitter campaign".

In May, Mr Griffin said he would stand down as leader by 2013 to focus on his campaign to be re-elected as an MEP for North West England in 2014.

All four candidate statements can be found at the special leadership challenge statement page here.

Results are due any time after 1pm today

Barking by-election results

Labour Councillor and Unison member, Lousie Couling, stood down after the May 2010 election as she was found to have stood illegally in the Goresbrook ward. Couling was a council worker and as such was not eligible to stand as a candidate.

Louise Couling resigned her council position to stand in today’s by-election.

She should have been prosecuted and disqualified from taking part.

Here are the results.

1^st Couling, Louise - The Labour Party Candidate. Votes cast = 881. Elected

2^nd Barnbrook, Richard - British National Party. Votes cast = 642

3^rd Taiwo, Felicia - Liberal Democrat Focus Team. Votes cast = 136

4^th Ayer, Paul - Conservative Party. Votes cast = 108

5^th Northover, Warren - Independent. Votes cast = 63

6^th Manning, Nobby - UK Independence Party. Votes cast = 50

7^th Choudhury, Faruk Ahmed - Independent. Votes cast = 11

Number of electors eligible to vote: 7,482

Turnout 25.29%

1 ballot paper was rejected

Compared with the May election results Richard Barnbrook's percentage was UP.

Billy Bragg gets confused over dictatorship versus democracy

Wootton Bassett: BNP Leader’s Sad Welcome to Loyal Members’ Son

Press Statement:
Wootton Bassett: BNP Leader’s Sad
Welcome to Loyal Members’ Son

British National Party Greater London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook today called for the indictment and prosecution of Tony Blair and all politicians responsible for the war in Afghanistan after attending a repatriation ceremony in Wootton Bassett for Rifleman Jonathon Allot, the son of loyal BNP members from Bournemouth.

Mr Barnbrook was invited to attend the sad ceremony by 19-year-old Jonny’s grief-stricken parents, BNP members who are strongly opposed to the conflict in Afghanistan.

“The British public are outraged and disgusted with the toll this unjust conflict is taking on our young people’s lives,” Mr Barnbrook said after throwing roses on the hearse carrying the remains of the 3 Rifles member who was killed as he was clearing explosives in Helmand Province.

Jonny was the front man in a patrol responsible for clearing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from pathways used by his comrades and was killed while on patrol to find a new base. “How much longer must the public endure these unbearable hardships? “How many times must young people's lives be so cruelly ended for a war which has nothing to do with Britain and in which no British interests are served?

“The time has come for the public to demand that the people responsible for the sad events of today, and all the other days, be held accountable for their actions. “Our troops should not be in Afghanistan. As if this was not enough, they have been sent there deliberately underfunded and ill-equipped and are expected to operate under the harshest conditions with substandard supplies and armour.

“The whole nightmare is a disgrace and Mr Blair, Gordon Brown, Iain Duncan Smith and all of the politicians who sent our soldiers to Afghanistan must be put on trial for the crimes they have committed against our nation,” Mr Barnbrook said. The BNP is considering sending a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan to obtain a first-hand account of the situation.

BNP

The Times Liar Ejected from BNP Conference

One of the Times liars, Dominic Kennedy, is ejected from the BNP Conference and Richard Barnbrook lays down the law.

What you don't realise is that Richard Barnbrook 'laid down the law' BEFORE the reporter entered the meeting, although the video implies it was after he was ejected.

Another typical propaganda stunt from the media scum.

Video courtesy of RW5001

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