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BNP leader "will not attend" garden party

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Published Date: 27 May 2009
Nick Griffin bowed out of attending a Buckingham Palace garden party today, saying he had "no wish to embarrass the Queen".
The right wing politician had been invited to the event by BNP colleague Richard Barnbrook who, as a London Assembly member, was nominated for two tickets by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

Mr Griffin said he would not now be attending the party after the controversial invitation led to the Mayor and senior members of the GLA accusing the BNP of exploiting the situation for publicity.

Mr Griffin said: "We believe it is still outrageous that a democratically elected member of the London Assembly can't invite who he likes as a guest to the party at the Palace.

"Nevertheless, because we have no wish to embarrass the Queen and allow the liberal left to do more damage to our institutions, I've withdrawn from the idea of going myself."

He said Mr Barnbrook would still be going and would be taking the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Mr Barnbrook said he would not reveal the name of the soldier's mother, but added that he had been working closely with her in east London.

Speaking outside the Houses of Parliament, Mr Griffin said: "While we expected some coverage, we never expected it to be quite as hysterical from the opposition as it was."

He said he did not want to give the "intellectual elite" the opportunity "to use us and the British National Party to further their ends, particularly by potentially embarrassing the Queen and the institution of the monarchy".

"Our institutions are in enough trouble as they are at present," he said.

Mr Griffin said: "We believe it is still outrageous that a democratically elected member of the London Assembly can't invite who he likes as a guest to the party at the Palace.

"Nevertheless, because we have no wish to embarrass the Queen and allow the liberal left to do more damage to our institutions, I've withdrawn from the idea of going myself."

He said Mr Barnbrook would still be going and would be taking the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Mr Barnbrook said he would not reveal the name of the soldier's mother, but added that he had been working closely with her in east London.

Speaking outside the Houses of Parliament, Mr Griffin said: "While we expected some coverage, we never expected it to be quite as hysterical from the opposition as it was."

He said he did not want to give the "intellectual elite" the opportunity "to use us and the British National Party to further their ends, particularly by potentially embarrassing the Queen and the institution of the monarchy".

"Our institutions are in enough trouble as they are at present," he said.

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  • Last Updated: 27 May 2009 3:35 PM
  • Source: scotsman.com
  • Location: Scotland
  • Related Topics: Far Right in the UK
 
1

A Clamper,

Edinburgh 27/05/2009 15:48:13
"no wish to embarrass the Queen"
No wish to be refused entry, more like. Nazi scumbag.
2

fife runner,

27/05/2009 17:13:34
#1 your tone does nothing for the debate. you accuse BNP of being extreme yet you are the same.

BNP is a legal organisation which I do not agree with but we live in a democracy and so they are entitled to be heard the same as anyone else.

He would not have been refused entry but he might have caused a stir as the usual rent a mob would have turned up to chant " Nazi scumbag"!!!
3

cathym,

27/05/2009 17:19:57
lol 2 they are a legitimate party and have a right to speak just as we allow any old anti british muslim march through our streets , thats after trying to bomb into submission. now all the parties who have caused this mass migration into britain, a mega recession, are now trying to blame the bnp for it
4

Allan(handofgod137),

27/05/2009 17:58:34
How sad, why do we persist in pandering to the leftists with their mob mentality?
5

animmo,

27/05/2009 18:20:54
Speak for yourself #3. Some of us enjoy living in a multicultural society. Pity some people are so selfish to presume they have more of a right to live here
6

Observer,,

Glasgow 27/05/2009 19:16:00
Wow Boris Johnson is the ''liberal left'' you learn something new every day.


7

Observer,,

Glasgow 27/05/2009 19:16:37
4 ''leftists'' like Boris Johnson ?
8

Dougie - Edinburgh,

27/05/2009 21:49:23
5 animmo
Perhaps you've not noticed that the most multicultural societies around the world are those with the most ethnic conflict eg. Bosnia, Lebanon, Iraq and much of Africa. Whereas culturally homogenous societies such as Japan don't have to worry about race riots, religious terrorism, elections which are no more than ethnic head counts, racial quotas or the native culture being swept away.

It's you and those of the past two generations who are being selfish in your self righteous squandering of our social cohesion and our children's future.
9

krusty the klown,

27/05/2009 22:10:40
#8 - how long has the UK been multicultural?
10

Fitba Krazy,

27/05/2009 22:31:03
Multiculturalism would perhaps be okay without the sectarian baggage that seems to follow it around.

Sadly, many do not have the mental capacity to see it and yet indigenous people are generally usurped as the powers that be, as they say, pander to the sectarian agenda that, in Scotland anyway, excludes those who are not up to their ears in it. All denied of course.
11

Hanz,

logtastica 27/05/2009 23:44:07
I am disturbed and worried to see the editoral policy of the Scotsman hit a new low. Already this week we have witnessed their free advertising policy for the BNP with their news-stand banners. This article appears to be a verbatim reprint of a BNP press release.

To quote Boorish Johnson "I am glad that the BNP leader has recognised that his presence at Buckingham Palace would have been a political stunt, which could have embarrassed Her Majesty." Get a grip Mr McLellan and start showing some of the moral fibre you accuse today's po$liticians of lacking.
12

Barney Thomson,

Earth 27/05/2009 23:44:22
Why does everyone seem inebriated tonight. Is it because I have had some Italian aperitif with Chinese dim sum, French and Australian wine with my Bengali meal, followed by Polish vodka and Scottish whisky?
We are all multiculturalists!

#1 I have heard Mr Griffin speak. He is a right wing scumbag.
13

Dougie - Edinburgh,

28/05/2009 00:00:26
9 krusty the klown

How long's a piece of string? Already, ninety years ago, despite the numbers of immigrants being just tens of thousands, there were race riots in Cardiff, Liverpool, Newport and London but at least, back then, immigrants were expected to conform to British laws and assimilate. It's in the past decade that there's really been a flood of immigration. There are now schools in England that are 100% Muslim, that is to say, there are large suburban areas where the only white people remaining are retired and too poor to move. Some of the immigrant groups average up to five births per woman compared to the native population's 1.6. The ethnic English are still a majority in London but they're no longer a majority of the babies being born. In Lebanon and Kosovo, that's exactly the kind of demographic displacement which led to societal breakdown and genocide. All this without any serious debate about immigration policy and without any challenge by a mainstream politician since Enoch Powell was hounded out of politics. Don't think Scotland will escape, Edinburgh now is in the same position as London was in the 1960s.

14

Dougie - Edinburgh,

28/05/2009 00:07:49
13 Barney Thomson

The Japanese enjoy foreign imports such as fashion trends and exotic food but in a hundred years time, Japan will still be Japanese. Whereas much of Western Europe including cities like Birmingham and London will be war zones in a few decades time.

I have never heard Nick Griffin speak but judging from the BNP website, the party is left wing: socialistic, anti-free trade, anti-free markets.

 

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