Broxtowe BNP councillor Sadie Graham appears to have been expelled from the party for setting up a "treasonous" blog, along with the party's Head of Administration, Kenny Smith. The blog, containing materials from anti-fascist organisations, called for the removal of Mark Collett, the party's Head of Publicity.
After a Stasi-like operation in which the BNPs 'Intelligence Department' (fronted by an ex-South African police official) recorded and spied on telephone calls of party members, stories are circulating on Nazi webforums that five BNP security entered Graham's house and ransacked it looking for further evidence. This is further bad news for the beleaguered fascist party who are already facing serious internal divisions and a revived militant anti-fascist movement.
Update: Sadie Grahams house raided by police | BNP threaten anti-fascist leafletters in Brinsley
Features: Anti-fascists successfully blockade BNP meeting venue | BNP wins seat in Broxtowe
Newswire: Sadie Graham Expelled from BNP! | 2nd Anniversarry of mums brutal murder by Kirkby Notts"freeSpeech"BNPcandidate | Nott's group go to BNP Conferance | Sadie Graham Shoots Straight| BNP threaten anti-fascist leafletters in Brinsley
Links: Lancaster UAF | Antifa (UK)
Sadie Graham
Initial reports on the BNP's website claimed that Graham and Smith had been expelled, but a subsequent post asserted instead that they had merely "been removed from their posts with immediate effect on the grounds of gross misconduct and now face disciplinary charges over alleged offences against the BNP Constitution and Code of Conduct." Whichever is correct, it is clear that Graham's speedy ascent through the party ranks, which had seen her occupy the positions of East Midlands Organiser, Group Development Officer and hold a seat on the party's Advisory Council, is very definitely over.
Since the BNP initially announced the expulsions, which they inexplicably chose to do on the front-page of their recently renovated website, many prominent party members have resigned in protest. Among this group are councillors, regional organisers, Advisory Council members, the leader of the Youth BNP and many others. Of particular local interest are the resignations of David and Nina Brown who, along with Sadie Graham, sit on Brinsley Parish Council (Nina was also the East Midlands Regional Secretary and Broxtowe Organiser) and Ashfield Organiser Michael Clarke.
This comes at the end of a difficult year for the BNP. Anti-fascist journal Searchlight has been claiming for sometime that the party is in crisis with growing dissent about Griffin's leadership reaching into the highest echelons. This analysis has been supported by a number of prominent "resignations" (which many suspected had been forced) including National Press Officer "Doctor Phil Edwards" (real name Stuart Russell), "cultural officer" John Bowden and West Midlands councillor Simon Smith. A leadership challenge by Chris Jackson (whose supporters Griffin dismissed as "a gaggle of Hollywood Nazis, congenital losers and thieves," or, more simply, "vermin") was unsuccessful, with Griffin receiving 91% of the vote, but only 43% of the membership bothered to express an opinion either way, indicating a widespread disinterest in both candidates. In the aftermath of the contest, Jackson's election agent Mike Easter was "disciplined" for late submission of the challenger's election expenses. A particularly hypocritical charge given the BNP's own tardiness in providing election expenses to the Electoral Commissionm.
Based on posts on the Stormfront nazi forum and fascist blogs, anti-fascists have been putting together a picture of the events that lead to Sadie's expulsion. It seems that officers in the BNP were recently issued with laptops by the party and were encouraged to use Skype to make phone calls to one another over the internet. One of the features of this system is that it can be used to record all calls and this seems to have been used by the party's security to retrospectively eavesdrop on their members. This is backed up by the fact that the BNP have been able to produce a handy transcript of the "treacherous" conversation.
It is then alleged that Martin Reynolds, the BNP’s chief security goon, and four others gained access to Graham’s home with the unknowing help of Nina Brown and subsequently ransacked the place looking for drives and disks and making off with her laptop. A similar attempt was supposedly made on Smith's home, but was thwarted. Presumably the recorded phonecalls were accessed from the stolen laptop. Certainly private emails which Press Officer Simon Darby has distributed on his blog were, in his words, "found on the BNP computer issued to the former BNP member Sadie Graham."
It would appear that the party routinely spies on its members. In the past it has been suggested that party officers using party email addresses are having their mail read by their bosses, as part of an ‘internal intelligence review’ requested by Nick Griffin. The 'BNP Intelligence Department' is run by Lance Stewart, a former high-ranking officer in the South African Police and suspected spook. They, together with the BNP's security, seem to have free reign to be able to spy on BNP members, possibly using trojan computer viruses installed on BNP laptops.
Many commentators (on both sides of have fence) have expressed particular interest in the fact the harsh treatment meted out to Graham and Smith followed attempts to discredit Mark Collet. Collet, who "starred" in the Channel 4 documentary "Young, Nazi & Proud," stood trial on race hate charges along with Nick Griffin and seems to be particularly unpopular within the party. It has been suggested that Collet has some information on Griffin which the party leader does not want released.
The fallout from this police state mentality seems to be looking pretty bad for the party. Local anti-fascist activists, are delighted. One campaigner involved in Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP told Indymedia, "It would have taken us years to do as much damage to the BNP in this region as Nick Griffin has achieved in one fell swoop." This enthusiasm is tempered by an awareness that Graham isn't going to go away. The important question for local anti-fascists now is 'What will Sadie do next?' With a body of support locally, a reputation as a reliable organiser and many prominent potential allies amongst those no longer in the BNP, whether by choice or otherwise, the possibility that this split will see the emergence of a new far-right party seems very real.
The conversation in question
13.12.2007 11:45
KENNY: Inaudible
SADIE: Ok I’ll have to have a think, um I’ve got stuff in e-mails but we can’t use any of them because it’s all um just e-mails to me and to do with stuff he’s said about people and that we can’t use any of that for this
KENNY: Not really, not unless it’s public domain. Do you think we should go into … inaudible
SADIE: One thing you’ve written is, Mark Collett is, or who ever has written this, Mark Collett makes an arse of himself, um, it sounds like, um not being funny, it sounds like something you would say.
KENNY: I would say?
SADIE: Makes an arse, not, no?
KENNY: Does it? No, I actually used that phrase because it’s phrase I don’t use.
SADIE: Ok, really
KENNY, SADIE: Laughter
SADIE: Shit, I read that and thought INAUDIBLE
KENNY: Inaudible
SADIE: Yeah that is weird
MATT: Inaudible… widely hated by everyone
SADIE: Yeah, um, yeah but then it has got to look like it potentially could be reds.
MATT: It has to look like they’re widely hated
SADIE: You can refer to Ian’s letter in it as that is public knowledge. You can refer to Ian’s letter talking about things Ian mentions in his letter. Like about him being taking money and all that with leaflets. Because well, that is potentially, is potentially libellous.
KENNY: We could reproduce copies of that leaflet thing that went out.
SADIE: Yeah you could say as quoted by Searchlight or something like that, as put in Searchlight, just a replication of what went in Searchlight. Basically, we need back copies of Searchlight, because whatever has been in Searchlight about Mark we could use but lots of our people haven’t even read Searchlight, so how the f**k can we get loads of back copies of Searchlight, that’s what I mean.
KENNY: Ask Laughs
SADIE: It’s true, yeah
KENNY: I asked for the back copy that reproduced the list of BNP branches and groups, do you remember from December last year?
Right, do you guys want access to this site to put stuff up yourselves?
MATT: Yeah Ideally
SADIE: Yeah but we have to be sensible about who has it and who puts what up.
MATT: But Kas…
KENNY: It’s only gonna be us, Ian really isn’t it?
MATT: Kas, at one point you said about linking things to red sites, the only thing is if that happens then they can easily say it’s a red conspiracy or another red attack.
KENNY: Right ok, to clarify that, I’ve used media from left wing sites.
MATT: Oh right
INAUDIBLE
SADIE: Yeah
KENNY: I had to use that because YouTube has only got 5 of the 6 clips, I had to link to Lancaster UAF to get the full clip of er… Young Nazi and Proud.
SADIE: Yep!
KENNY: Inaudible… we’ll have to take stories from left sites as well as other sites.
SADIE: OK, Basically we’ll all have to do a load of digging and loads and loads of searching and stuff. The only thing is we if we do any searching from our computers it’s traceable isn’t it? But then who the f**k is, nobody is going to take our computers and check our searches are they?
KENNY: No. Ok. Have you guys got Google? Can you guys Google names?
SADIE: Google names? I’ve got a Google, I’ve got, when I go on Internet Explorer I’ve got a Google bar to search with.
KENNY: If you go to Google,
SADIE: I’m in it now, yeah
KENNY: Go to the thing at the top that says sign in, can you see that?
SADIE: Yeah!
KENNY: Click sign in
SADIE: Done it!
KENNY: Create a new a account, a new Google account…inaudible… new account
SADIE: Yep.
KENNY: A name that’s not your own…inaudible…Mark Collett’s fan club or something. Laughs.
SADIE: Yeah, I mean yeah what, anything.
KENNY: Create an account what I’d do then, is I’ll go onto this site and I’ll (inaudible) I’ll be able to add you guys to people who are able to post on this site.
SADIE: You have to set up a current e-mail address basically; it says your e-mail address.
KENNY: Have you got, have you got, this again INAUDIBLE this is the thing I worried to Steve about, and he says nobody can see these profiles. They are completely secure, unless you break the law and people go to Google. So use a Hotmail account or whatever you have.
SADIE: I haven’t got a Hotmail account, but you’ve got one Matt, haven’t you? Can we use that one?
KENNY: Hotmail’s not good actually, Hotmail’s definitely not good
SADIE: I’ve got an NTL World one, BUT it’s Sadie Graham.
KENNY: That’s fine
SADIE: So I’ll just use Sadie Graham at NTL World dot com
KENNY: I’ve used my Civil Liberty one LAUGHTER
SADIE: Really?
KENNY: INAUDIBLE
SADIE: Alright, so Sadie dot Graham at NTL World dot com, ok then I just choose a password
KENNY: Yeah, just think of something yourself
SADIE: Yeah I’m just going to have write something down so I remember it, I’ll make it totally different, one I’ve never used before
KENNY: What’s your e-mail address? Sadie Graham…
SADIE: Sadie dot Graham at NTL World dot com. Do I say remember me on this computer?
KENNY: Um… it’s up to yourself, but I wouldn’t personally if I were you
SADIE: Ok, enable web history
MATT: INAUDIBLE
SADIE: No, ok. Location United Kingdom. Ok then I accept and create my account.
KENNY: Yep, ok then I’ve sent you an open invitation e-mail to Sadie dot Graham at NTL World dot com.
SADIE: Yep
KENNY: You log onto that you should be able to then post INAUDIBLE
…
SADIE: You know it says put my user name in, what is my user name
KENNY: Your user name is the one you see next to your INAUDIBLE
SADIE: Did I have one? I didn’t have one! I just put in an e-mail address
KENNY: Did you not create a user name?
SADIE: There wasn’t anything to create a user name. It says user name and in brackets it’s written e-mail. The user name must be my e-mail
INAUDIBLE
SADIE: … And then underneath it says to log in user name and in brackets it says e-mail next to it. So it’s my Google e-mail but I don’t know what that is now.
KENNY: Let me just see… INAUDIBLE then silence and whispers
SADIE: You don’t have a user name! You just put in an e-mail and a password! How odd.
KENNY: Ok, right, put that in there see what happens, if it comes up we’ll change it
SADIE: Ok, hold on.
KENNY: Ah, I’ll tell you why, I’ll tell you why, ‘cause you need to create…
SADIE: See I’m in Google now, I’m in Google and it’s come up at the top right hand corner Sadie dot Graham at NTL World dot com that’s my log in name.
KENNY: Yeah that’s the same as I’ve got for mine but nobody can see that I’ve got treasurer at Civil Liberty dot org dot UK. But what we need to do is get a blog name for you.
SADIE: Right.
KENNY: So, in that case…
SADIE: Go to my account… er… edit personal information, oh it’s where you type in, you give yourself a nickname, No…. my user name is Sadie dot Graham at NTL World dot com, that’s what, that’s what it’s come up as, that’s my user name
KENNY: Yep, no no, that’s fine that’s fine, er I’ll just INAUDIBLE See in the Google account
SADIE: Yeah
KENNY: Open my account
SADIE: Yep
KENNY: What do you see on the right hand side in my services
SADIE: Um it says er my services then goes to edit and then underneath try something new, then Google mail, adverts, alerts , groups, web history, igoogle and INAUDIBLE and then personal information and then edit.
KENNY: I’ve got blogger
SADIE: Well I don’t have that in my Google account
KENNY: you go to www dot blogger dot com
SADIE: Yep
KENNY: Ok, my account, create blog
SADIE: Sign into blog with Google account, e-mail, password. Then do you have a Google account, create an account now.
KENNY: Does it not got to our blog?
SADIE: It says sign into blogger with your Google account and then you put in your e-mail and your password.
KENNY: Ok try that
SADIE: So I put in Sadie Graham, ahhh yeah so now it’s come up with sign up for blogger. Once you complete this process you will be able to sign into blogger using your Google account, e-mail and password. Yeah e-mail address Sadie dot Graham blah blah blah and then it comes up with display name and a box that I have to fill in.
KENNY: Good good, give yourself one of them
SADIE: Um, what the f**k shall I be…
MATT: INAUDIBLE
SADIE: what are you? Are you just anything?
KENNY: I’m enough is enough
SADIE: Oh right OK. Um… fed up or something like that.
KENNY: Fed up sounds fine.
SADIE: Fed up, all one word, I won’t put a gap in it, I’ll be fed up, I accept terms of service continue… Ok, you are not a member of any blogs, create one now, start posting, create your blog now.
KENNY: Is there add to blog?
SADIE: Um…
KENNY: See that invite I gave you is there anywhere on that
SADIE: Um… lets have a look… yeah on that invite it says Enough is Enough has invited you to contribute to the blog join this blog and so accept this invitation by signing into your Google account below so I do that, shall I do that now?
KENNY: Yeh
SADIE: Sadie dot Graham at NTL World dot com, and then my password, ok accept invitation. Ok yeah, it’s now saying I can manage my blog which is enough is enough. Is this now available to view for loads of people.
KENNY: yes it is technically, but nobody can see it.
SADIE: right
KENNY: INAUDIBLE
SADIE: I’m in now
KENNY: for admin purposes?
SADIE: OK I’m properly in it now. I’m viewing the blog, I’m in it and it’s got my e-mail at the top right hand corner.
KENNY: Excellent, INAUDIBLE… Click on your fed up name and then go to view blog, see the blog there and right down on the bottom right contributors
SADIE: ooh hang on
KENNY: INAUDIBLE
SADIE: Contributors enough is enough and fed up
KENNY: See fed up, that’s all people can see that
SADIE: Fed up and enough is enough … yeah
KENNY: INAUDIBLE…. Quality
SADIE: OK.
Eavesdropper
More Splitting Fun!
13.12.2007 12:59
(WARNING: fash blog, but read, it's interesting...)
Banana Splits
If one green bottle were to accidentally fall...
13.12.2007 19:36
Durutti
Further items of interest about all this:
19.12.2007 17:34
Matthew Taylor and Hélène Mulholland
Tuesday December 18, 2007
&
from "Hansard (House of Commons Daily Debates) "
Jon Cruddas (Dagenham) (Lab)
18 Dec 2007 : Column 790
4.37 pm
Jon Cruddas (Dagenham) (Lab): I will try to follow that. In fact, I want to discuss the issue of financial irregularities, which the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) touched on, too, but in a slightly different way.
I want to use this debate to make a number of points regarding the apparent illegal activity and financial irregularities in the internal operations of the British National party. The BNP claims to be a mature political party—some within it argue that it is the fourth national political party—yet the allegations that have come to light over the past few days directly contradict such claims and need to be thoroughly investigated.
For that reason, I wrote last week to the police to request an investigation into claims of illegal spying in the BNP. Today, I have received a 20-page dossier entitled, “Financial Irregularities in the British National Party: An Investigation by Searchlight Information Services”, which I will in turn send to both the police and the Electoral Commission following my speech here today.
Today, the far right British National party is engulfed in a political crisis that threatens to tear it apart. On 9 December, the party leadership sacked two of its senior officers amid claims of gross misconduct after they were found to be behind a blog that criticised fellow BNP officials. As a consequence, more than 58 BNP organisers and regional officials have resigned their positions and eight councillors have declined the party whip and become independent nationalist councillors in a show of support for their two sacked colleagues.
Although, like everyone in this House, I welcome those divisions, I would like to highlight some particularly unsavoury aspects to that feud which are unbefitting to any legitimate political party. I believe that much of the behaviour of the BNP leadership is illegal. I am particularly concerned about the following allegations. The first is that the BNP has posted on its website a recording and transcript of a private conversation between the two people who were subsequently sacked. It is the belief of the people concerned that their house, phone or computer has been bugged. In two meetings over the past week—in the north-west last Wednesday and in Leicester on Saturday—BNP leader Nick Griffin is believed to have admitted to some device being used and insisted that he would not hesitate to use such devices and methods in future. The BNP has boasted that this information was gleaned by its intelligence department. This House might be interested to note that this intelligence department consists of former police officers from apartheid South Africa. Some of these men have been linked with the apartheid regime's intelligence services.
Secondly, on Saturday 8 December, members of the BNP's security division, under instructions from leader Nick Griffin, entered the house of Sadie Graham in the east midlands by deception. A second security team attempted to gain entry to the home of Kenny Smith in Scotland, but were unsuccessful.
18 Dec 2007 : Column 791
Thirdly, property belonging to Sadie Graham—including her personal computer, bought for her by her father—was removed without consent. This is nothing short of burglary.
Fourthly, the BNP leadership has subsequently been trawling through Sadie Graham's computer and, on Tuesday 11 December, Simon Darby, the deputy leader of the BNP, posted an e-mail found on her computer on his blog. The content of this e-mail was subsequently referred to in an article by Nick Griffin that was posted on the main BNP website. That implies that the BNP leader has been privy to a criminal act.
Fifthly, e-mails sent to Sadie Graham between Saturday 8 December and 10.15 am on Monday 10 December have also been opened and read by the BNP leadership. That, in turn, is a clear breach of the Data Protection Act.
Sixthly, Sadie Graham is a councillor on Broxtowe borough council and much of her council work, including correspondence from constituents, was on the computer. Not only is that again a breach of the Data Protection Act, it puts her constituents at risk and has prevented her from carrying out her duties as an elected councillor.
Briefly, I wish to turn to the issue of financial irregularities. The feud in the BNP is a clash of personalities and competence rather than politics and much of it relates to allegations of financial mismanagement by the BNP's treasury team. I have mentioned that I have a copy of a report prepared by Searchlight Information Services into the financial irregularities in the British National party. Today I wish to put the contents of the report into the public domain. It is this unpublished dossier that I will send to both the police and Electoral Commission. I would like to take a few minutes to outline some of the serious issues that the report raises. Time permits only a brief rehearsal of some of the many points included in the dossier.
First, the BNP's 2006 accounts have still not been submitted to the Electoral Commission, more than five months, so far, after the due date. The BNP's excuses for the delay do not stand up to scrutiny and the long delay suggests that irregularities have occurred.
Secondly, the BNP has blamed one of the expelled individuals for up to £17,000 that has not been accounted for. Whether or not that individual carries any blame in the matter is not the point; it is clear that substantial party funds are unaccounted for.
Thirdly, another former national officer resigned recently, laying various serious charges of incompetence against the BNP's treasurer, and especially against its deputy treasurer, who is responsible for the funds of local branches and groups.
Fourthly, the BNP failed to report a donation of £5,315 in the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 September 2007 in contravention of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000.
Fifthly, BNP financial records were shredded at the home of the party's former national treasurer in 2004.
Sixthly, the BNP has solicited donations from overseas to an organisation by the name of Civil Liberty, which Searchlight considers is merely a front organisation set
18 Dec 2007 : Column 792
up to circumvent the prohibition on donations to political parties from individuals who are not registered to vote in the UK.
Seventhly, before the prohibition of overseas donations introduced by the 2000 Act, the BNP raised money in the USA by a method that contravened US law.
Eighthly, there are allegations that Nick Griffin, the chairman of the BNP, has personally brought US donations into the UK in cash.
Ninthly, the BNP attempted to earn insurance commission by means of an insurance entity that was not authorised by the Financial Services Authority, and there were serious doubts whether the activity was exempt from the requirement for authorisation.
Tenthly, there is evidence that the BNP financed its insolvent position in 2006 by a failure to pay sums owed to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in respect of pay-as-you-earn and VAT.
Eleventhly, there is evidence in the document that the BNP is not accounting for income tax and national insurance contributions under PAYE in respect of workers by incorrectly treating workers as self-employed, which also deprives those workers of employment rights; the failure appears to be long standing.
Twelfthly, there are allegations that the BNP has paid workers in cash to avoid tax and national insurance contributions and to enable them to claim state benefits.
Thirteenthly, the BNP reassured its auditors that it would continue in existence because of the availability of funds in its so-called regional accounting unit, but it is doubtful that the BNP had any legal recourse to those funds.
Fourteenthly, there is no evidence that the BNP has accounted for corporation tax on profits on its own commercial activities.
Fifteenthly, the BNP omitted to prepare any accounts for the period 1 October 2001 to 31 December 2001.
Finally, the BNP claims to have spent at least £70,000 on printing equipment in 2005 alone, but no such expenditure is shown in the accounts.
In short, what is being uncovered in the internal workings of the BNP appears to be systematic illegality in data protection, bugging, money laundering, theft and the operation of the 2000 Act. That demands a thorough investigation. This is not the behaviour of a legitimate political party, and I very much hope that the police and the Electoral Commission will investigate the charges. The most shocking aspect is that it is being orchestrated by the leader of a political party. The BNP leadership, and Nick Griffin in particular, are showing us their true colours.
4.46 pm
Notts IMC
Evening Post: STOP THE BNP THREATS CLAIM
23.12.2007 01:28
Evening Post: STOP THE BNP THREATS CLAIM
09:00 - 22 December 2007
Police are investigating alleged threats and intimidation toward anti-BNP protesters.
The group from the Notts Stop the BNP were leafleting in Brinsley on Sunday following the expulsion of Broxtowe borough councillor Sadie Graham from the party.
One campaigner, who did not wish to be named, said: "We had been there for about an hour when a car pulled up and a guy got out. He was heavily agitated and said 'you've got ten minutes to get out of Brinsley.'
"It became obvious from the fellow in the car beside him they were making threats."
He said the men the sped off and as the campaigners decided to leave, another car pulled up and blocked them, before the driver made more threats.
Notts Police said the incident was being investigated as a possible "hate crime" toward people handing out leaflets.
Coun Graham was dropped from the BNP after being allegedly involved in the writing of an internet blog which the party claims had been aimed to "attack and smear fellow party officials".
Notts Police are investigating an alleged theft of a computer from the home of Sadie Graham.
It was allegedly taken from her house but a BNP spokesman said the computer was BNP property and officials were let in.
Notts IMC
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