Loki
05-21-2009, 08:13 PM
Boris heads bid to stop BNP leader Nick Griffin 'hijacking' Queen's summer garden party (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1185030/Boris-heads-bid-stop-BNP-leader-Nick-Griffin-hijacking-Queens-summer-garden-party.html)
By Rebecca English
Last updated at 1:50 PM on 21st May 2009
The BNP must be barred from the Queen's summer garden party, Boris Johnson said today.
The Mayor said he wanted the London Assembly to find a way to prevent BNP member Richard Barnbrook using an invitation he received as an Assembly member to bring along party leader Nick Griffin, who has a conviction for inciting racial hatred.
Mr Johnson has written to Assembly chair Darren Johnson saying that Mr Griffin's attendance threatens "a happy event" and demanding the invitation, which is issued to all Assembly members, be cancelled if Mr Barnbrook does not change his choice of guest.
The Mayor writes: "We cannot tolerate any such abuse of the invitation or any potential embarrassment to Her Majesty."
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/21/article-1185030-0505D3B4000005DC-25_468x286.jpg
BNP leader Nick Griffin (right) - who was once convicted for inciting racial hatred - may accompany member Richard Barnbrook to the annual Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by the Queen
The Assembly chairman has supported the Mayor's stance, but conceded that Mr Barnbrook is entitled to attend the garden party on July 21 as an elected City Hall official.
Darren Johnson said: "If there's anything that we can do to stop the BNP hijacking this event, then we will do. Mr Barnbrook has a right to attend, but we do not want this to become a political event and we will do anything we can to stop what is proposed."
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/21/article-1185030-04FFBF57000005DC-374_233x423.jpg
Boris Johnson: Trying to stop the BNP 'hijacking' Queen's party
The revelation sent royal aides into a tail-spin and threatened to hand the far-right group an unrivalled propaganda coup.
It comes at a time when the party is hoping to make a decisive electoral breakthrough by winning its first-ever seat in the European Parliament on June 4.
Mainstream parties fear the BNP will tap into the mood of public anger over MPs' expenses and also pick up council seats, which are contested the same day.
Mr Griffin would be on the Palace lawn as the guest of Richard Barnbrook, BNP member of the London Assembly.
The assembly is given a quota of tickets each year and Mr Barnbrook plans to claim one.
MPs and anti-racism campaigners reacted with anger. Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: 'It is astonishing that somebody with a criminal conviction for race crimes could be allowed to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
'Surely it is possible for someone to have a quiet word with Richard Barnbrook. There are plenty of other people he could bring.
'He should not be allowed to make political capital of our Royal Family during an election period.'
The anti-fascist group Searchlight said: 'Nick Griffin is a convicted criminal. We would have thought that on security grounds alone he would be denied access.'
Mr Griffin's conviction came in April 1998, 18 months before he was elected as BNP leader.
The 49-year- old Cambridge law graduate was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence for inciting racial hatred by distributing material denying the Holocaust.
The BNP could not disguise its delight last night. A spokesman said: 'Richard Barnbrook has got an official invite in his capacity as an elected member of the London Assembly and he is allowed to bring a guest, which will be Nick Griffin.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/20/article-0-01201248000004B0-139_468x380.jpg
'For him to snub an invite from the Queen would be absurd.
'It is something people are going to have to get used as we become part of the establishment, especially if Nick is elected an MEP next month. This is the kind of thing we are going to be doing on a regular basis.
'As a party we are great supporters of the monarchy and Richard is looking forward to meeting the Queen.
'Nick wants to meet the royals as well. I would have thought he and Prince Philip would have a lot to say to each other. Prince Philip strikes me as a man who has an admirable sense of humour.'
The situation presents Palace officials with a major dilemma.
If Mr Griffin is allowed to attend, his party will claim the move demonstrates its new-found position in mainstream politics.
If he is barred, the BNP will be able to accuse 'the Establishment' of discriminating against a legitimate political group.
Mr Cruddas said: 'The Queen and Prince Philip have been remarkable public servants, which is why I find it so surprising that the Palace are allowing them to be manipulated by the BNP in this way.'
Buckingham Palace initially refused to comment, but as the row grew, a spokesman stressed that the Queen was not personally involved in extending invitations, which are sent out by the Lord Chamberlain's office.
Palace aides also said no invitations had yet been sent. It is understood that officials are 'scrutinising' the intended guest list and if Scotland Yard believes a nominee poses a threat to security, the name can be removed.
A spokesman for the London Assembly confirmed that 12 double tickets were given to elected members each year.
He added: 'It is our duty as officers not to distinguish between members on the basis of their political persuasion. Priority is given to those who have not attended a garden party at the Palace before.'
Approximately 8,000 members of the public from all walks of life attend each of the three annual garden parties alongside the Queen, Prince Philip and senior members of the Royal Family. According to the Buckingham Palace website they are all people 'who have contributed a large amount to their various organisations or society'.
The parties start at 4pm when the Queen and Prince Philip enter the garden, to the sound of a military band playing the national anthem, and walk slowly through to meet and greet their guests.
The Greater London Authority is one of more than 1,000 organisations given ticket allocations.
The Palace stressed last night that the Queen 'does not scrutinise and is not consulted on the list of accompanying guest names'. It said officials rely entirely on the nominating organisations.
Although Mr Griffin has worked hard to present himself as a modern, respectable politician, he has been accused repeatedly of being a hardline fascist.
In 2004 an undercover investigation by the BBC's Panorama led to him and a fellow party member being charged with inciting racial hatred over a speech in which the BNP leader described Islam as a 'wicked, vicious faith'.
The pair were cleared two years later after defending their actions as free speech.
Under Mr Griffin's guidance, the BNP has attracted far more mainstream media coverage and he claims to have transformed its violent skinhead image.
The BNP now denies it is racist and has changed its immigration policy from 'total' to 'voluntary' resettlement of immigrants back to their country of origin. It still calls for 'an immediate halt to all immigration'.
Last year the Mail revealed that two servants at Buckingham Palace had been 'outed' as alleged members of the BNP after the group's confidential membership list was leaked on the internet.
In 2001, Mr Griffin's father Edgar was expelled from the Tory party after it was found he was 'assisting the British National Party' by taking BNP-related calls at home on behalf of his wife Jean.
Until the discovery, he was a senior member of Iain Duncan Smith's campaign team in the Tory leadership contest. Mr Griffin's mother was a BNP Parliamentary candidate in 1997 and 2001.
By Rebecca English
Last updated at 1:50 PM on 21st May 2009
The BNP must be barred from the Queen's summer garden party, Boris Johnson said today.
The Mayor said he wanted the London Assembly to find a way to prevent BNP member Richard Barnbrook using an invitation he received as an Assembly member to bring along party leader Nick Griffin, who has a conviction for inciting racial hatred.
Mr Johnson has written to Assembly chair Darren Johnson saying that Mr Griffin's attendance threatens "a happy event" and demanding the invitation, which is issued to all Assembly members, be cancelled if Mr Barnbrook does not change his choice of guest.
The Mayor writes: "We cannot tolerate any such abuse of the invitation or any potential embarrassment to Her Majesty."
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/21/article-1185030-0505D3B4000005DC-25_468x286.jpg
BNP leader Nick Griffin (right) - who was once convicted for inciting racial hatred - may accompany member Richard Barnbrook to the annual Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by the Queen
The Assembly chairman has supported the Mayor's stance, but conceded that Mr Barnbrook is entitled to attend the garden party on July 21 as an elected City Hall official.
Darren Johnson said: "If there's anything that we can do to stop the BNP hijacking this event, then we will do. Mr Barnbrook has a right to attend, but we do not want this to become a political event and we will do anything we can to stop what is proposed."
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/21/article-1185030-04FFBF57000005DC-374_233x423.jpg
Boris Johnson: Trying to stop the BNP 'hijacking' Queen's party
The revelation sent royal aides into a tail-spin and threatened to hand the far-right group an unrivalled propaganda coup.
It comes at a time when the party is hoping to make a decisive electoral breakthrough by winning its first-ever seat in the European Parliament on June 4.
Mainstream parties fear the BNP will tap into the mood of public anger over MPs' expenses and also pick up council seats, which are contested the same day.
Mr Griffin would be on the Palace lawn as the guest of Richard Barnbrook, BNP member of the London Assembly.
The assembly is given a quota of tickets each year and Mr Barnbrook plans to claim one.
MPs and anti-racism campaigners reacted with anger. Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: 'It is astonishing that somebody with a criminal conviction for race crimes could be allowed to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
'Surely it is possible for someone to have a quiet word with Richard Barnbrook. There are plenty of other people he could bring.
'He should not be allowed to make political capital of our Royal Family during an election period.'
The anti-fascist group Searchlight said: 'Nick Griffin is a convicted criminal. We would have thought that on security grounds alone he would be denied access.'
Mr Griffin's conviction came in April 1998, 18 months before he was elected as BNP leader.
The 49-year- old Cambridge law graduate was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence for inciting racial hatred by distributing material denying the Holocaust.
The BNP could not disguise its delight last night. A spokesman said: 'Richard Barnbrook has got an official invite in his capacity as an elected member of the London Assembly and he is allowed to bring a guest, which will be Nick Griffin.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/20/article-0-01201248000004B0-139_468x380.jpg
'For him to snub an invite from the Queen would be absurd.
'It is something people are going to have to get used as we become part of the establishment, especially if Nick is elected an MEP next month. This is the kind of thing we are going to be doing on a regular basis.
'As a party we are great supporters of the monarchy and Richard is looking forward to meeting the Queen.
'Nick wants to meet the royals as well. I would have thought he and Prince Philip would have a lot to say to each other. Prince Philip strikes me as a man who has an admirable sense of humour.'
The situation presents Palace officials with a major dilemma.
If Mr Griffin is allowed to attend, his party will claim the move demonstrates its new-found position in mainstream politics.
If he is barred, the BNP will be able to accuse 'the Establishment' of discriminating against a legitimate political group.
Mr Cruddas said: 'The Queen and Prince Philip have been remarkable public servants, which is why I find it so surprising that the Palace are allowing them to be manipulated by the BNP in this way.'
Buckingham Palace initially refused to comment, but as the row grew, a spokesman stressed that the Queen was not personally involved in extending invitations, which are sent out by the Lord Chamberlain's office.
Palace aides also said no invitations had yet been sent. It is understood that officials are 'scrutinising' the intended guest list and if Scotland Yard believes a nominee poses a threat to security, the name can be removed.
A spokesman for the London Assembly confirmed that 12 double tickets were given to elected members each year.
He added: 'It is our duty as officers not to distinguish between members on the basis of their political persuasion. Priority is given to those who have not attended a garden party at the Palace before.'
Approximately 8,000 members of the public from all walks of life attend each of the three annual garden parties alongside the Queen, Prince Philip and senior members of the Royal Family. According to the Buckingham Palace website they are all people 'who have contributed a large amount to their various organisations or society'.
The parties start at 4pm when the Queen and Prince Philip enter the garden, to the sound of a military band playing the national anthem, and walk slowly through to meet and greet their guests.
The Greater London Authority is one of more than 1,000 organisations given ticket allocations.
The Palace stressed last night that the Queen 'does not scrutinise and is not consulted on the list of accompanying guest names'. It said officials rely entirely on the nominating organisations.
Although Mr Griffin has worked hard to present himself as a modern, respectable politician, he has been accused repeatedly of being a hardline fascist.
In 2004 an undercover investigation by the BBC's Panorama led to him and a fellow party member being charged with inciting racial hatred over a speech in which the BNP leader described Islam as a 'wicked, vicious faith'.
The pair were cleared two years later after defending their actions as free speech.
Under Mr Griffin's guidance, the BNP has attracted far more mainstream media coverage and he claims to have transformed its violent skinhead image.
The BNP now denies it is racist and has changed its immigration policy from 'total' to 'voluntary' resettlement of immigrants back to their country of origin. It still calls for 'an immediate halt to all immigration'.
Last year the Mail revealed that two servants at Buckingham Palace had been 'outed' as alleged members of the BNP after the group's confidential membership list was leaked on the internet.
In 2001, Mr Griffin's father Edgar was expelled from the Tory party after it was found he was 'assisting the British National Party' by taking BNP-related calls at home on behalf of his wife Jean.
Until the discovery, he was a senior member of Iain Duncan Smith's campaign team in the Tory leadership contest. Mr Griffin's mother was a BNP Parliamentary candidate in 1997 and 2001.