Schools are BNP target
by Peter Lazenby

YORKSHIRE schoolchildren are being targeted by the far-right British National Party.

Today one former recruit who joined the BNP in West Yorkshire when he was 15 told the YEP how he was drawn into their murky world - and how he broke away.

He spoke out on the second day of a YEP investigation into the BNP as ballot papers for new postal voting for the June 10 local and Euro elections are dropping through doors.

Richard - not his real name - said he wanted to come forward because he wanted to ensure voters have a clear picture of the BNP.

He said behind their suits they propagate a racist message and provide a haven for Nazi thugs.

At the time of his recruitment he was having problems at school and with his family.

"They knew who to prey on," he said. "People like me - I had problems at school."

One of his school pals introduced him to a BNP organiser. "He would say things you couldn't argue with - not that he was right, but you couldn't argue, like, when Europe got the Euro the Jews put the prices up. You didn't know any different.

"They gave me these little ideas. Things like how the holocaust did not happen. They confuse you.

"I remember when I first joined they wanted to stop non-white immigration and get Islamics out of Britain. They were trying to blame Islamics for everything and must be got rid of.

"The official line is different to what was said in people's houses.

"There was a BNP meeting I went to. Nick Griffin (leader of the BNP) had got five or six quotes out of the Koran and saying 'this is so bad, you cannot live with this.' But the Koran was written years ago, like the Bible.

"There was a five-a-side football tournament. Nick Griffin went along. They got these kids there by saying it was a football tournament.

"Griffin was there and got this phone call about a guy beaten up by Asians.

For little kids to see that and hear that, they are thinking 'oh my God.' "The BNP would discriminate against everybody except for white people. I signed up. If you are a young lad and you read the stuff, that seals it for you.

"I was told in school I had to recruit as many people as possible. "You get two types of BNP members. You get people joining purely on the official message.

"But a lot join on the unofficial message - I want to be a Nazi."

Since Griffin took over the BNP it has been attempting to present itself as respectable. Its election candidates wear suits and ties, rather than skinhead haircuts and boots. Richard said: "Trying to get the clean image as much as they possibly can is their biggest problem. But Griffin knows what to say and what other people should say.

"We never did anything really violent but I know there are people that would. I know they threaten people." The BNP holds an annual "Red White and Blue" festival, a coming together of the white, Aryan faithful. That was where his growing disillusionment burst through.

"I just looked at it and for the first time since I had joined I said 'oh my God is this serious? I just thought 'this is wrong.'

"I was growing up, thinking more for myself. It was a gradual thing over the course of six months.

"I had left school and got a job and was working with black people for the first time. One of my colleagues was an Asian girl. She was so lovely and we got on so well. That was what made me most ashamed, that was what made me decide to leave."