The BNP wants us to vote No

As if the systematic lies and deliberate misrepresentations of True Wales were not enough – and they weren't enough for Len Gibbs, who decided he needed to set up his own site to add a few more of his own – the BNP has today come out in favour of a No vote on 3 March.

Those of you with strong stomachs can read about it here:

     British National Party in Wales Calls for No Vote in Welsh Assembly Referendum

In it, we will see that our National Assembly is really an "EU regional parliament" that has been imposed on us as part of our "subservience to an unelected European state" ... and that the referendum is not about us getting primary lawmaking powers, but in fact "to give greater powers to the EU".

But what I find most fascinating is that the BNP wholeheartedly agree with True Wales on one thing. They claim they want people to vote No not because they are against devolution, but because they want to give Wales something better instead. Of course they do.

Now we know that the people of Wales don't have the abilities needed for full lawmaking powers, and that Welsh people who haven't moved out of Wales are not the most innovative and creative ... this must be true because True Wales have said so. But I'm not really convinced. It seems to me that True Wales and the BNP in Wales are showing an extraordinary ability to come up with innovative and creative lies.

A Party of Bigots

For me, the fact that the BNP is a party that bases its policy on race is quite sufficient in itself to condemn them.

But last night, at a local hustings at which candidates from all parties spoke, the BNP candidate gave some very definite policy statements—which he clearly stated were BNP policy rather than simply his own opinion—to a number of questions, which made me realize that the party is even more extreme than could be explained merely by their racism. He said:

•  Abortion is infanticide, it should banned

•  All current civil partnerships should be repealed

and, most bizarrely, that

•  Teaching gender equality can only confuse children about their gender identity

The person who said this was Richard Barnes, who is standing for the BNP in Merthyr. "Bigoted" is a word that has received rather a lot of media attention in the last couple of days, but I have no hesitation in saying—and saying it loudly—that the party this man stands for is a party of bigots.

No, you're still racists!

Nick Griffin is now claiming that, because the BNP has voted to change its membership rules, they can no longer be called a racist party:

     

     BNP votes to ditch whites-only membership rule

I have just two comments on that. First, that it seems to be an admission that the BNP could be called a racist party before this rule change. But second and rather more importantly, that what makes the BNP a racist party is not its membership, but its policies. Any party that seeks to deny some people in our society the same rights as others because of their racial background is racist.

So the BNP are still racists ... unless they change their policies as well as their membership rules.

David Jones and the darker side of politics

There was something about the title of David Jones' most recent blog post that sounded familiar. At first I wondered if "Voices of Colwyn Bay" was an old mariners' tale telling of the disembodied souls of those who had lost their lives a shipwreck on some stormy night a century or more ago. But it was a post about a meeting to express public concern for the future of Colwyn Bay pier ... an entirely good and worthy cause, and one which I hope succeeds.

But at the bottom of the post I noticed a familiar name: John Oddy.

Mr Oddy stood for election to Colwyn Bay Town Council in 2008 as a BNP candidate and, sadly, was returned unopposed. I crossed swords a few times with him on the WalesOnline forum and can assure anyone who cares to trust my judgement that he is a thoroughly nasty piece of work.

After a short while he, and two other BNP councillors who had come to office in the same way, made a show of leaving the BNP for what he would only describe as "personal reasons". I suspected at the time that this was just a cosmetic exercise designed to fool the public ... and it seems I have now been proved right, because he is openly supporting the BNP again, as we can read in this post on his blog.

As anyone who clicked the link can see, the title of John Oddy's blog is ... "Voices of Colwyn Bay".

Now of course I wouldn't want to suggest that the Tory MP for Clwyd West is in any way connected with the BNP. He is probably simply grateful for the publicity that John Oddy was able to give the campaign to save the pier. I'm sure that any little old lady would be equally grateful if a BNP supporter helped her across a busy road ... though I wonder if she would accept such help if she knew about who was offering it.

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I'm quite sure David Jones chose the title of his post simply as a way of saying "thank you" to John Oddy for the publicity he was able to provide, and linked to his blog just to give it a little more publicity in return. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. But it is ... how shall we put it ... just a little unfortunate that he chose to do so.

All in all this episode probably says more about how little David Jones knows about politics in his very own constituency ... and that is something rather more unfortunate.