Griffin: Not very nice at allIt's local elections time at present here in much of the UK. Apart from "critical" seats - where at least 2 parties are relatively evenly matched in terms of number of supporters - the parties seem less than forward in canvassing our votes. The British National Party however do seem a little more keen than the rest, sadly.

From a first glance at the BNP website (if you must), you would think they are lovely chaps and chappesses, with nothing other than the common worker's good in mind. The number of usages of such "trust us" phrases such as hard working, normal and just like you is phenomenal on some literature, with only the odd headline (such as "Labour plans to sell public land to Muslims exposed" and "Can you just sit there and watch as our country is being ripped apart by the forces of multiculturalism?") giving the average reader a suspicion that possibly these aren't the nicest or most inclusive of people; but hey, the Conservatives under Howard weren't much better (*). These guys even wear nice suits damnit!

But perhaps all is not quite so sweet. Their leader, Nick Griffin, is facing a retrial over two race hate charges, including one speech referring to Islam as a "wicked vicious faith" after a jury couldn't come to a verdict on its legality, and one of his party buddies is facing a retrial on four such charges. Griffin is no stranger to such charges, having already accrued a conviction in 1998 under the Public Order Act for incitement to racial hatred. This was almost a decade after he left his last big political post, working as part of the National Front leadership; an organisation that to this supposedly politically-correct day has such fanciful and offensive ideas as outlined by the following FAQ, answered in a way that could only be described as "succinct", from their site:

CAN A NATION EVER HAVE A POPULATION DRAWN FROM MORE THAN ONE RACE?
A. No.

And for what it's worth, yes, they do publicly state a big desire to send all non-whites back to "their countries" right now.

Nick swiftly added to his charge sheet a hasty holocaust denial, claiming that he has "reached the conclusion that the 'extermination' tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter witch-hysteria." You'd think he'd actually be a bit more of a fan of it in that case considering those three things are exactly what he peddles these days.

Then respectability set in and he went on to revolutionise the BNP, changing its image - if not its underlying ethos - to make it more electable. It seems quite some people fell for it, with BNP councillors already existing in some areas. However, it fell apart a little with the "revelations" brought by the Panorama documentary Under the skin of the BNP which less-than-amazingly revealed some of the membership's rather racist views.

Amongst those views that weren't specifically revealed then, purely because it only happened in the past couple of weeks, are those of so called Dr Phill Edwards, the BNP Press Officer bigwig. Phill Edwards is actually not his name (that being Stuart Russell) but, for some reason the Poorhouse just can't think of, he uses that pseudoname for his BNP work. You may have heard Russell's name recently in connection with his conviction for entirely making up the story that Dr Raj Chandran, a mayor in Gedling and also a GP had been struck off the medical register for demanding sex for drugs from one female patient.

Just last week, "Phill" was recorded stating, and has when challenged stood by, the assertion that "The black kids are going to grow up dysfunctional, low IQ, low achievers that drain our welfare benefits and the prison system and probably go and mug you.". Oh, but it's OK, apparently he's not racist in any way according to...himself. As far as the Poorhouse is aware, the BNP has, surprisingly, not got round to sacking him from their new-skool tolerant (sic) party just yet.

There are plenty more examples available, online and off, of the disgusting and offensive attitudes of the membership of this party, but the Poorhouse will not bore you with them here. Suffice to say; they may look like they have changed on the surface, but don't fall for the act. Stop the BNP.

Read more about the nefarious acts of the BNP at websites such as Stopthebnp.org.uk and Unite Against Facism.

(*) Although that isn't meant to be taken as any sort of recommendation by the Poorhouse. It's not a coincidence that this spoof looks kind of convincing. 2 wrongs do not make a right.