March is set to be a busy time for BNP Scotland, with meetings being held in Aberdeen, Lothian’s and Glasgow in the first week, followed by a week long visit from the Truth truck touring all the seats we are contesting, then finishing with the BNP General Election fund raising road show including live music as well as an address from National Chairman Nick Griffin on the 27th.

Aberdeen will also see the first BNP bill board in Scotland going up as we continue to take our message to the people.

Along with paper sales and leafleting sessions already taking place across the regions this will greatly raise the BNP’s profile in the run up to what promises to be a very interesting election.

As always we need more activists to help out, if you want to get involved please contact your sub-regional organiser or the Scottish office.

BNP Scotland held an organisers meeting on Sunday 7th to discuss the General Election. Topics included candidate admin, dealing with the media and campaign tactics.
Ten confirmed prospective candidates will be standing in Scotland we hope to make that up to twelve to reach the target we set ourselves last year.

Aberdeen organiser, Barry Scott reported that his group will be putting up two billboards to aid Susan Ross’s campaign, a first for the BNP in Scotland, we are also hoping to secure the truth truck for a tour of our target seats backed up by a newspaper campaign based on the Barking paper used down south which Glasgow Organiser Walter Hamilton and other Scottish officials helped distribute in Nick Griffins seat.

A new organiser for Lothian’s was appointed to build on the good work done by Mike Coyle who sadly due to family bereavement has had to stand down from the role. I know all BNP members will wish him and his family well, we are all thinking of you at this difficult time.

Taking over from Mike will be David Orr Jnr whose father has been one of our longest serving activists and a prospective candidate in the coming election.

Photographs were taking by our own professional photographer, Dave Jeffries, who will be on hand to capture activities through out the campaign.

A fundraising evening with guest speaker Cllr Paul Golding will be held in Aberdeen on Feb 17th followed by another event in Glasgow in March with Chairman Nick Griffin or another high profile speaker. This weekend activists from Glasgow are travelling to Aberdeen to help Susan’s campaign. BNP Scotland have candidates standing in all North east seats in this election another first, one of many more to come!

The report of the recent Barking day of action on the main BNP site mentioned that activists had travelled down from Glasgow to help out over the weekend, it failed to name our super-actvists who are a credit and inspiration to BNP Scotland, well I am proud to put that right.

Well done Walter ‘Hammy’ Hamilton and Denise O’Neill from Glasgow.
Joe T Finnie from Renfrewshire and Kenny MacDonald from Edinburgh.

Stars each and every one!

Denise told newsteam, “After a photoshoot, everyone was allocated their designated areas. Heavy rain and wind did not deter our hardened activists and several hours work saw us distribute hundreds of copies of “The Voice of Barking & Dagenham” Sunday brightened up a great deal and we were joined by Nick Griffin with a couple of leafleters. Another few hundred were distributed and after 4 hours, we all retreated to a local hostelry where Mr Griffin and his team were well received. After an hour or so Mr Griffin left with Simon Darby to head for Brussels, but thanked us all for making the effort to start him off with his campaign. All involved with the week-end activities had a good time. Thank you everyone,”

NICK Griffin has received a sizeable mailbag concerning the Government’s plan to sell-off a Ministry of Defence building in Glasgow and then pay almost 40% more than the asking price to lease it back over 20 years.

Gordon Brown & Co wanted to sell Kentigern House (left) in the Anderston area of the city for £50million to the Canada Life insurance group to try to raise some quick cash to fund its ill-conceived adventure in Afghanistan.

The sale, however would have cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds more in the long run as the Government wanted to rent the building back for the next 20 years.

Canada Life would have received £70.2m in rent from the MoD over 20 years with interest adding another £1m-£2m over the period.

The sale-and-leaseback madness had led to employment concerns amongst the 1700 workers based in Argyle Street building where staff store military data and NATO records.

Thankfully, the sale has now been scrapped so Tina Wingfield, the MEP’s constituency office manager, was able to respond positively to worried constituents.

She wrote:

“While common sense has prevailed on this occasion and the sale plans have been abandoned, the fact remains that the MoD is being starved of the resources it needs to operate effectively. The proposal to sell Kentigern House was a desperate, short-sighted act by the MoD to secure essential funding to be spent on other commitments.
 
“This Labour Government has systematically scaled down the financial support given to the MoD, at the same time as continually extending the military’s commitments to unwinnable and wholly unjustifiable overseas conflicts.
 
“As Treasurer in 2004, Gordon Brown refused, for example, to release the funding required to buy new helicopters, which could now be used in service in Afghanistan. Instead, the lack of air support experienced by military personnel is now exposing them to Taliban attack, as they are forced to take dangerous journeys by road.
 
“MoD figures released this morning illustrate well the terrible consequences of the Treasury’s short-sighted penny-pinching. More than 1,000 servicemen and women have suffered combat injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, and 20% of army infantry personnel are now classified as unfit for frontline combat duties.

“Mr Griffin fully supports our brave armed services and has consistently campaigned for better equipment to be issued to them when they are deployed in combat zones.

“He is however, opposed to the Government’s callous use of British troops in foreign conflicts that do not involve the national interest and is calling for the return of our troops from Afghanistan.”

It’s a lovely sunny but chilly morning on Monday 9th November 2009 and BNP Scotland is delighted to welcome to the streets of Glasgow North East, Nick Griffin MEP and Richard Barnbrook GLA (Member of the Greater London Assembly) for a day’s campaigning in the constituency.

We started in Springburn Shopping Centre just after 11am where we spent a full hour in the presence of the national media.

Richard Barnbrook took up the megaphone and regaled shoppers with our message while BNP activists leafleted everyone coming and going. Meanwhile Nick spoke to an eager media as the Truth Truck drove all around the area with its positive message blaring from the speakers.

Interestingly, there was no sign of the other parties at all, as Nick went walkabout, meeting and greeting the locals.

It was then onto Saracen Street with the media keen to keep up.

Richard walked ahead of our entourage, right down one side of Saracen Street with his message sounding out from his megaphone. It was clear to us all in BNP Scotland that Richard is a real professional and judging from his confidence and skill, he has done this many times before! In fact, Richard told us that Glasgow North East reminded him of Barking and Dagenham 3 years ago.

Nick followed and greeted passers-by, shaking their hands, stopping to talk to them and giving them our leaflet. On the other side of the street, our party activists were handing out leaflets as the Truth Truck drove up and down the street.

On one side of the leaflets was the message “SNP – The Mass Immigration Party” and on the other “Fair Play for Glasgow – Stop Asylum Dumping Now!” The leaflet was well-received by everyone.

The leaflet continued: “The SNP are showing their real unpatriotic colours. They want to see even more immigration to Scotland and don’t care that it’s unfair on our own jobless, homeless and taxpayers. An SNP vote is a vote to import even more unemployment, crime and poverty into Glasgow.”

The Truth Truck is very tall and visible. As a passerby commented, “You can see it for miles!”

After spending time in Saracen Street everyone set off for Duke Street. Here we did the same thing. Our entourage walked down one side of the road, led by Richard with Nick and the media and our leafleters in tow, and then we walked down the other side, while the Truth Truck drove up and down and round about the entire area.

Nick was on top form and was as happy to be with us as we were to see him. He is a very friendly politician and loved to shake hands with the people who recognised him – which was everyone.

Everyone was friendly. The only sour note was from an SNP activist who stumbled into our entourage. He called one of our leafleters a “fascist”, only to be brought up short by our activist who rebuked him, “You Sir, have not been brought up properly!”

The frantic SNPer also received a particularly unwanted reminder of his own party’s history from our activist: “Calling us ‘fascist’ is rich coming from a member of a party whose former leader, Arthur Donaldson, was a Nazi sympathiser during WW2 and wanted to set up a Vichy-style regime in Scotland!” he was told. The SNPer stormed off in a huff – we guess the truth hurts!

The facts about Donaldson were explained in a 2005 Sunday Times article which stated:
“Arthur Donaldson, the former SNP leader, planned to set up a Vichy-style regime in Scotland in the event of a Nazi invasion, according to a newly released MI5 file. Donaldson intended to infiltrate the party with Nazi sympathisers, who would undermine the British war effort by carrying out acts of sabotage and spreading misinformation. Following a widely anticipated invasion by Hitler’s forces, the Nationalist leader hoped to establish himself as a ‘Scottish quisling’ in charge of a puppet government. Donaldson, who led the party from 1960 to 1969, was arrested in 1941 and was held for five weeks at Barlinnie.”
(Peter Day, “SNP boss planned Nazi Scotland”, The Sunday Times, 6 November 2005).

You can read the story yourself here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article587207.ece

Let our candidate Charlie Baillie have the final word after today’s wonderful activity. As he told us:

“This was a great day’s activism. Thanks to Nick Griffin MEP and Richard Barnbrook MLA for coming up to help. We really appreciate that. Nick got a great response from the voters and Richard is an extremely impressive politician who really helped to turn the visit into an event! It was especially appropriate that Nick and Richard were here on the same day that Alan Johnson, Home Secretary, was also in the constituency. This is a man who says in today’s papers that he wants ‘a debate’ on immigration. Well, talking is nice, but action is what is needed now! The fact is, Alan Johnson can debate immigration until the cows come home, but he has no intention of ever actually doing anything about it! The voters can see through him. That’s one of the reasons why voters in Glasgow North East are supporting the British National Party – the only party that is not just talking about it, but will actually do something to stop mass immigration.”

Voting is this Thursday 12th November between 7am-10pm. See the “Point of Light” manifesto on which Charlie Baillie and the BNP are standing here:
http://bnp.org.uk/2009/11/a-point-of-light-the-bnp-manifesto-for-glasgow-north-east

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6905279.ece

Mainstream parties say that Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time has raised the BNP’s profile.
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The mainstream political parties are increasingly worried that British National Party could achieve a political breakthrough in Scotland in next week’s byelection.
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Some privately believe that the BNP stands a chance of winning third place in Glasgow North East, ahead of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, or, at best, save its deposit — something the party has never achieved in an election in Scotland.
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In the European elections in June the BNP won 545 votes in Glasgow North East — 4.4 per cent of the overall vote on a 21.5 per cent turn out. To save its deposit on Thursday, the BNP needs to achieve 5 per cent. If the turn-out in Glasgow North East is around the predicted 40 per cent, the BNP would require only 1,200 votes to reach that target.
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The main parties believe that the BNP’s campaign was boosted by the appearance of Nick Griffin, the BNP’s leader, on Question Time last month. They also say that the BNP is feeding off voter antipathy created by the MPs expenses scandal
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Allied to that, Glasgow North East is the only Scottish constituency with a relatively high number of asylum seekers. Ten years ago the city decided to take part in the Home Office’s asylum seeker dispersal programme and many of the several thousand asylum seekers who were sent to Glasgow ended up in the constituency’s notorious Red Road towers.
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Asylum seekers say they regularly face accusations that they are given preferential treatment over local families when it comes to housing allocations.
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Labour MPs out canvassing in the constituency say that they have come across growing support for the BNP among voters.
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“It’s not just in these places where you would expect it but among some of the better-off people as well. I’m worried that the BNP could cause a real shock here,” said one.
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Another was concerned that the BNP could achieve 10 per cent of the vote, although his colleagues disputed that support was as high as that.
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Professor John Curtice, Britain’s most respected polling analyst, said: “You would have to say that this is potentially the best place in Scotland for the BNP.
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“The social profile in Glasgow North East means it is the kind of area where the BNP tend to do well throughout the UK. But you do not expect them to do as well in Scotland as they would do in the same social situation down south.”
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He said that the chances of the BNP coming third were slim. For it to do so would mean that support for parties other than Labour and the SNP had totally collapsed.
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The BNP candidate in the byelection is Charlie Baillie, a long-time member of the party. “The message is that the BNP is opposed to the dispersal policy enacted by the city council. We are opposed to mass immigration and we seek an immediate return for bogus asylum seekers,” he said.
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With the byelection campaign now in its final lap, the Labour candidate, Willie Bain, appears increasingly confident of holding off a strong challenge from the SNP and avoiding a repeat of Glasgow East byelection last year, when the SNP overcame a 13,000 Labour majority.
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Political observers say that the SNP campaign has failed to develop any real momentum.
Labour has made great play of the SNP government’s recent decision to cancel a rail link project from Glasgow to the city’s airport. The SNP has tried to hit back by reminding voters that they have been electing Labour representatives at all levels of government for the past 74 years but that the constituency still remains one of the poorest in the UK.
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The byelection was triggered by the decision of the former Commons speaker, Michael Martin, now Lord Martin of Springburn, to stand down in June as the MP for Glasgow North East in the wake of the expenses scandal.
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Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, which will also be fighting to save their deposits, did not contest the seat at the General Election in 2005, observing the Westminster tradition that the Speaker is not opposed.
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My information to date, which includes a very good estimate of the votes already cast via the postal votes, is that third place and a stunning shocker is ………..possible, very possible!

Lets not disapoint them! Every member who can get to Glasgow over the next week please contact 07827811008 or 07717774730

The British National Party will support the right of Scotland to have a referendum on independence, even though the party is opposed to independence per se, said Nick Griffin MEP.

Speaking after a packed out meeting to officially launch the BNP’s by-election campaign in Glasgow, Mr Griffin said that he supported the call for an independence referendum.

“We will oppose (independence) because we think overall it will be bad for Scotland and the United Kingdom. But if the Scots choose it then they are entitled to have it,” Mr Griffin said.

It was standing room only at a packed meeting for the official launch of the Glasgow by-election campaign at a plush hotel in Glasgow City centre on Tuesday night, reports our Scottish correspondent.

More than 80 members and supporters filled the room with members of the press in attendance to hear Mr Griffin, BNP Scottish leader Gary Raikes and candidate Charles Baillie speak.

Mr Raikes talked about election strategy in Scotland and of how important it was for supporters to take an active part in the campaign.

Mr Baillie provided a round-up of the campaign’s progress. Mr Griffin then spoke and a collection afterwards raised £890 for the campaign.

Mr Griffin then went live on a local radio station for nearly two hours the next morning, and conducted numerous media interviews.

Mr Griffin told the radio show that the BNP hoped to gain ground in Scotland and the main aim of contesting the Glasgow North East by-election was to build on the party’s profile before the next Holyrood elections in 2011.

“We were 4.4 percent in Glasgow North East in the European elections,” Mr Griffin said. “We are going to be running a better campaign and there is a lot of public interest and sympathy for us so I think it is realistic.

“In Glasgow there is a [Holyrood] seat to be taken with probably about 6.5 percent of the vote and we believe that is a do-able thing.”

The next stop on his tour was to visit the FEBA centre for ex-veterans. Some BNP members been involved with helping that organisation and Mr Griffin was able to speak to a number of veterans. He later described their accounts as “harrowing.”

Mr Griffin also spent some time with FEBA founder Mr Tommy Moffat. Many ideas for helping FEBA further were discussed which will likely come to fruition within the next few months.

Mr Griffin said he planned to continue supporting veterans. “If the generals want to be involved in politics for the British Isles, then all they have to do is come out openly and say that how the Government treats our ex-servicemen is a disgrace,” he said.

He also pledged to set up a support network for FEBA if it did not find the £100,000-a-year funding it needed over the next five years. “They are doing wonderful, important work here and they need recognition from the Scottish government,” he said.

Mr Moffat stressed that he was not a BNP member and said that FEBA was a non-political organisation.

What a day, my phone has been ringing all day with people wanting to get information, join or wanting help. Here are a few of the emails recieved.

dear sir/madam,
i m not a member but i do think some of your policies are a good idea- i just wanted to let you know i feel that nick griffin didn’t get a chance at all to give his views-it was a farce- and he was just set up completely, could you let him know that many people do support him and his party but a lot of people are scared to admit it in case they are accused of racism etc.

I have been reading the BBC comments page regarding Question Time last night and felt that I just had to send something directly to you at the BNP. I should mention that I have made a comment on the BBC website too!

I was appalled at the way Nick Griffin was treated. I have never been so outraged at a programme being so one sided. It was as if the audience had been hand picked and the panel were allowed to say what they liked without any intervention by David Dimbelby.

I noted with interest that when a gentleman stood up to ask why we are still allowing immigration when there is so much unemployment in this country , the microphone and camera were swiftly moved away to a lady member to the audience who wanted to have another “pop” at Nick Griffin.

Other panel members were allowed to get away with avoiding a particular question being asked, but Nick Griffin answered the question and was still set upon by the “mob”.

He was asked over and over again what he meant by indigenous! P L E A S E ! One member of the panel had us going back as far as the ice age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I have voted labour in my earlier years and then lib dem for the rest. However I did vote BNP in the last election and will continue to do so. People are so afraid to mention that they vote for BNP because words like Nazi and Fascist get thrown around. Yes maybe Hitler went about his “cause” all the wrong way and NO I don’t condone wiping out races , cultures or religions, but he did say he wanted Germany for the German people. Well , like you, I want Britain for the British people. I am sick and tired of being told that certain things in British society “offend” certain people. Well as the Australian Prime Minister said “you don’t have to live here”.

I wish you the best of luck for the future and can assure you of my continued support.

Just a note to say, well done Mr Griffin, I thought Question Time was very unfair on you, which shows how scared the other parties are of your continuing success.
You can count on my vote at the next election.

One thing that the British love more than anything is the underdog. We howled for justice against King Charles the First but cried the moment his head rolled off the block.
Last night we witnessed the pillory of Nick Griffin. He was placed in front of a hostile audience by people who should have known better.
Outside the studios, people who were high on the catharsis of protest; latching on to something to be angry about, be it nuclear submarines, animal rights or the rights of a woman to scare school children by dressing like Darth Vader as a sign of her religious sincerity.
Nobody came away from Question Time with honour all that happened was that thousands of British people saw Nick Griffin as the underdog and warmed to him because his treatment was unfair and undemocratic.
People haven’t just voted for the BNP out of cruelty and hate, they have voted because no-one else is listening to them. No-one listens to the parents of the ten last remaining white children in a Rochdale School. No-one listens to the Parents in Acton whose children sit twiddling their thumbs while Moslem Children go to pray. No-one listens to the people of Warwick who have watched as a gigantic mosque, against which they have had no say, grows up to dominate their City.
It is not racist to say that the growth of a Political Religion in Britain that has no regard to the laws or the customs of Britain is wrong.
It is not racist to say that wherever Islam holds sway no other religion is allowed to survive.
But somewhere, somehow, someone has labelled these views as racist.
Ignore the Sikhs who have come to Britain to escape Islamic aggression. Ignore the Hindus and the Buddhists who have done the same. Ignore the fact that Bangladesh, a state 50/50 Islamic and other religions at the time of Partition is now 98% Moslem and kick the hell out of a misguided, inarticulate, unfortunate person who has spent his life following the wrong path.
Like it or not, the bedrock of Britain is Christianity. Out Politicians have ignored that fact, allowed other religions to usurp that fact and Nick Griffin is the product.

I was shocked at the tactics the Question Time team used to set up Nick Griffin, it shows the levels that our so called national broadcasting corporation will stoop to. It seems to me that being caucasian and proud to be British is a crime and not fashionable, so they try, unsuccessfully, to make Mr Griffin out to be nothing but a racist. Well their plan is backfiring as myself and others I have spoken to who have never voted for the BNP intend to at local and national level. I find the way the recent cash/expenses scandal was brushed under the carpet a disgrace to every British citizen who voted for these bloated overpaid excuses for politicians. Additionally selling the UK out to Europe, and letting unskilled immigrants who sneak across our borders stay, with full benefits, legal aid, and housing priority over British citizens an absolute disgrace. I am so disheartened with the UK, I feel like a second class citizen in the country that I love. We are allowing the minority retain the power of the majority, change our laws and milk the system, so dont loose heart and fight the good fight, you are waking a sleeping giant and people all over our great nation feel the same…..

Dear All
As a 40 something couple we have no interest or leaning towards any political party and indeed neither have bothered to vote for years.
However having seen Nick Griffin on Question Time we are disgusted in the way he was treated by the audience and other guests. We feel
little was mentioned about BNP policies with the emphasis on portraying him as a rac
ist.

Wishing BNP and Nick EVERYsuccess

The media are sitting up and taking notice of the BNP campaign in Glasgow, a small piece in the Sun last week and a splattering of local papers, and now Charlie has been invited to do an interview for the BBC which should get an airing wednesday 21st.

Charlie also heads the list of candidates on the BBC web site!

Local Campaign manager Walter Hamilton has called tonight for members to help distribute 5000 new leaflets saying ” Just think a few hours of your time will help change history in Scotland”.

This is no idle boast, the times are changing, the BNP have never been out of the news during the run up to Nick Griffin MEP appearing on Question time, this is your chance to play a part in making history, a few hours is all we ask, help let the good people of Glasgow North East know there is a real alternative to the expense swindling gang of four, the BNP is here and it is here to stay!

Contact Walter Hamilton on 07717774730

Last night saw the first Aberdeen City meeting since new Organiser Barry Scott had taken on the role. .

“As this was my first meeting I was naturally apprehensive about meeting members for the first time “, said Barry, “but after the introductions were over, we all simply got down to business discussing Branch Strategy”.

It was agreed that our efforts would be concentrated on contesting Aberdeen South, currently held by Anne Begg of Labour. Members proposed a leafleting campaign in the days following Nick Griffin’s Question Time appearance on the 22nd of November, in the hope of benefiting from the good publicity this should bring.

The highlight of the evening was the very generous offer from one of our members, of payment in full, for the deposit for our candidate in Aberdeen South, who is to be announced in the next upcoming meetings.

A collection was held at the end of the meeting of which Fifty Three pounds was raised. This will be put to good use as payment for a Wreath to commemorate Remembrance Sunday at BNP Scotlands service on the 8th November.

Mr Scott finished his report by saying, “The over whelming support for the British National Party in Aberdeen really is an ‘un-tapped resource’ and I believe as a group we have a very exciting future ahead of us”.

Our candidate Charlie Baillie has reported that he has been receiving a warm welcome from voters while campaigning in Springburn over the last few days.
He also took time to give an interview to one Nick Griffin for BNPtv. Charlie has called for all members that can get to Glasgow either in the week or at the weekend to get in touch as its time for ‘all hands to the pumps’!

Contact Charlie on 07827811008