UPDATE: Police called in to BNP dispute

Just recieved this from Searchlight

MP calls for police to be brought in to investigate BNP

Labour MP Jon Cruddas will today call on the police to investigate possible illegal acts by the British National Party leadership. It appears that leading officers in the BNP have been secretly recording phone conversations of some of its officials and monitoring their emails. On Saturday 8 December members of the BNP security team also gained access to the house of Sadie Graham, one of Nick Griffin’s critics, and removed personal belongings, including a computer. Sadie Graham is a borough councillor in Broxtowe and much of her council work was on the computer. The BNP leadership have subsequently gone through the computer reading emails and documents, including emails that has arrived since the computer was stolen.

BNP leader Nick Griffin has even boasted about reading these emails on the party website.

Cruddas’ call comes as the crisis that is tearing the BNP apart grows. On Sunday the BNP sacked two of its leading officers “on the grounds of gross misconduct.” Sadie Graham, the party’s group development officer, and Kenny Smith, the party’s head of administration, were sacked after they had begun to openly criticise the performance and behaviour of three other full-time party workers. Despite allegations of financial mismanagement, including £17,000 which appears to have gone missing from the BNP 2006 accounts (which have yet to be submitted to the Electoral Commission), Nick Griffin refused to investigate.

Instead, he set his ‘Intelligence Department’, run by former South African police officers, to look for evidence against his critics.

If Griffin thought that the sacking of Graham and Smith would end the rebellion he was deeply mistaken. Over 30 branch organisers, regional organisers and party officials have publicly backed the duo. Five BNP councillors have joined the rebellion.

“The BNP leadership is showing us its true colours,” says Jon Cruddas. “They appear to be monitoring phonecalls and emails of their members and removing computers from private households. This is not the behaviour of a normal political party and I would like to see the police investigate this.”

Cruddas is particularly concerned with the allegation that a computer with private council business and personal correspondence from voters is being scrutinised by the BNP leadership. “This is totally deplorable and must be stopped immediately. These fascistic bullyboy tactics should have no place in our political system.”

For more information on the crisis engulfing the BNP visit: www.stopthebnp.org.uk