NEWS: Barclays Bank Closes British National Party Accounts

Barclays bank is to close accounts of the British National Party. This comes after the documentry that was aired on British Television last Night. The bank said they were planning to close the accounts and the documentary that aired on BBC helped finalize their decision.




The far-right political party held five accounts with Britain's third-largest bank, some of which were not held in their name.

Related News Links:
Reuters


[edit on 16-7-2004 by Banshee]

[edit on 7-17-2004 by Valhall]

GOOD FORM! They don't need that sort of client nor do they need the bad press having that client would bring them as this develops...

It astounds me that people, in this day and age, actually beleive they can gain political power spewing such diatribe...

m...

Updated. Barclays issused a statement saying the accounts have now been closed. Barclays stress that last night documentry did help to make up their minds. Still breaking news....

*update*

More details will probably come up the 6 'o clock news over here in the UK. BBC and Sky only have little details at the moment. Detailed report will come during the news.

Outstanding!

Thanks, Infinite, for cheering up my day. The time has long since passed when the BNP and it's far-right allies could masquerade as legitimate political parties.

Let's call rascism by it's name, shall we?

Infinite, the link you posted isn't working for some reason, it says the page does not exist.

Here is another link to the story. Contains more details

Barclays may make exceptions to the rule if a customer could damage the bank's reputation or cause loss of other business, Barclays said.

"Who do these people think they are?" a BNP spokesman said when asked by Reuters to comment. "We are getting bigger and bigger. We will be watching them.

"When banked with South Africa they dropped that pretty quickly, the cowards."

Barclays shut its South African business in 1986 after UK students boycotted the bank, denying it potentially affluent customers.

The company has recently worked to protect its image and has put Vice Chairman Chris Lendrum in charge of corporate responsibility and reputational risk.

www.reuters.co.uk.../uk/topNews§ion=news

It doesn't stop the fact though that legally the BNP is allowed to stand candidates if they wish and at the last local elections they got the biggest rise in support as yet ever seen.

The people who vote for them know full well what they represent and what they want.

we've got to remember that this a minor blow to the BNP, the only way to really stop them is to make people realise what they are: thugs, racists, yobs, nazis... the list goes on

the BNP drags down the identity of patriotic Britain, reclaim Britain from the racist far right don't give in to their stone age ideals

They can field as many candidates as they like. That's what the political system is for, but they will always fail miserably at the polls in all but the smallest local elections. They'll never win a Parliamentary seat.

They only ever win elections based on individual wards. A Ward might only contain a few thousand people, their canditates win on margins on 10s or 100s. In the recent burnley local elections, they didn't even come first place in any of the wards contested!!


For people who claim to represent "the silent majority", that's a pretty poor showing.

Burnley, in Lancashire, UK is considered a BNP "stronghold". It's town council is elected in Wards of which there are fifteen. Depending on size, most Wards have 3 councillors to represent them, these being the 3 that gain the most votes. A total of 41 (I think) councillors for the whole town. The total population of Burnley is 90,000.

The BNP fielded cantidates on 12 of these wards, yet they only won 2 seats, neither with a majority vote, and despite utterly split votes on the other parties due to mutiple canditates. The results below give an idea of the numbers involved.

These are the results from the two wards they gained a seat in. (those in bold won seats)

WARD : CLIVIGER WITH WORSTHORNE
D Heginbotham (Con)*...1032
D Edwards (BNP)...898
K Robinson (Ind)*...817
T Walker (Con)...801
A Stewart (Con)...711
C Burns (Lab)...694
P Walsh (Lab)*...693
M Walsh (Lab)...678
N Musker (Ind)...666
Turnout 63.4%

WARD : ROSEGROVE WITH LOWERHOUSE
S Caddy (Lab)...841
M Disley (Ind)...751
C Hughes (BNP)...751
S Reynolds (Lab)...729
A Wilkinson (Ind)...723
S Wolski (Lab)...721
S Holgate (Ind)...706
Turnout 49.3%

Two seats out of 41 in their "heartland" of Burnley. Not even the "natives" support them!!


[edit on 16-7-2004 by muppet]

But still, they have manage to get votes, the most votes for a far right party in the UK. Each year they are gaining more support, i fear that the next general election, the BNP will get seats in the house

Well.. personally I think a parliamentary seat is a long way off. but even if they did manage it, an BNP MP would be utterly mauled in the House, even though it comprises the most wet-lettuce collection MP's we've had for blinkin' years!!

We have to be watchful of far right extremism, of course, but their greater influence is through the media, not the political process. That means we fight them(or rather swat them) through the media. just like I'm doing now.



[edit on 16-7-2004 by muppet]

The BNP has now become a major player on the European far right scene. As i said in a thread months ago, we may see another rise of Nazism in Europe again.

I can see the BNP getting major support during the next election, if they get a seat in the House, all hell will break loose. Also, did you know that Nick Griffen plans to make a speech in court, if he goes to court that is, about how the country is being stripped of freedom of speech?? this brings back memories of when Hitler went to court.

one of the reasons Hitler came to power in germany was that people in pre-WW2 Germany were fed up with what appeared to be a weak government (weimar) who didn't listen to it's people, unless our government begins to take stronger more aggressive actions towards problems such as crime the far right will slowly gain power, we need to act now or we will be facing a more powerful foe in the future

Help save Britain from the BNP, remember what our country stands for: hope, tolerance, respect

anyone who watched that covert-documentary about the BNP will see how evil they are

Right now, the BNP are in Beer Hall Coupe territory, and nothing more.

Hitler was a far more charismatic leader, and better speaker, with much larger support at that time. He was also far more organized.

Also, back then the german people were under the harsh Reparations regime under Versailles. Germany had just been the principle loser in the 1929 crash, exports dried up and all loans, by which it was rebuilding, had been cut off. There had already been a collapse of the government, banks closed, inflation had skyrocketed, and people were starving. Hitler was already the leader of the second largest party in the parliament.

He went to court as a defender of free speech, and ended betraying and incriminating those he had gone to defend.

Also, the german industrial elite knew he had a gift for raising latent patriotism in the people, and may be able to suppress the unions, the communists etc. For them, he was a good thing, and they backed him to the hilt.

You are right to be concerned, but not overly, yet...

Originally posted by UK Wizard
Help save Britain from the BNP, remember what our country stands for: hope, tolerance, respect

but aslong as people have fear, the BNP will continue to exploit it. People need to understand that there is no threat from other cultures, muslims are not evil people who want to steal your daughter,etc.

Originally posted by StrangeLands
Outstanding!

Thanks, Infinite, for cheering up my day. The time has long since passed when the BNP and it's far-right allies could masquerade as legitimate political parties.

Let's call rascism by it's name, shall we?

Here, here

Originally posted by UK Wizard
the BNP drags down the identity of patriotic Britain, reclaim Britain from the racist far right don't give in to their stone age ideals

You're absolutely correct, Wizard. As I've said in the past, it's your type of politics - by which I mean patriotic, healthily nationalistic and informed - which is most under threat from the BNP cancer. While I know we differ on many issues, I sincerely hope you can reclaim the nationalist ground from these ignorant morons. Just as any vote against Labour is a vote for justice, any vote against the BNP is a vote for Britain!

Of course, I'm concerned about those BNP members who are still undercover - including, I'm afraid to say, large numbers of UKIP members....

As an update, I note with amusement that Nick Griffin - Rascist-Bastard-In-Chief - is now threatening "legal action" over the decision.

I know you and i dont see eye to eye Strange lands i agree that the BNP is a threat, they have connections across the globe and i fear that they will continue to gain support.

They are small at the moment but so was the nazi party when they blodgeoned there way onto the scene.

It's good to know that political differences can be put aside when we're faced with something so evil and dangerous - and believe me, I don't use those words lightly.

However, I think the BNP are already on the way out. There are no consistent, reliable figures which show they are gaining popular support, and this recent debacle has truly left them exposed. It's difficult to see how even thick-skinned fascists can claw their way back from this one!

They will, of course, always have a certain level of support, particularly in deprived areas where "balming the immigrant" is the easy solution; but I truly believe that these revelations - as unsurprising as they may be - have marked the beginning of the end for the BNP.

If I were right-wing in my philosophies, I'd be watching my back. When the BNP crashes, there are going to be a lot of disgruntled rascists and bigots around looking for a new political flag of convenience...