11 Comments below   |  

1. sunny hundal
   

   Blog post:: Goodbye Lee John Barnes LLB (Hons.) http://bit.ly/983htx

   
   
2. David O'Keefe
   

   RT @sunny_hundal: Blog post:: Goodbye Lee John Barnes LLB (Hons.) http://bit.ly/983htx

   
   
3. David O'Keefe
   

   RT: @sunny_hundal: Blog post:: Goodbye Lee John Barnes LLB (Hons.) http://bit.ly/983htx Everyones No1 comedy fascist

   
   
4. Fr Paul Butler
   

   RT @sunny_hundal: Blog post:: Goodbye Lee John Barnes LLB (Hons.) http://bit.ly/983htx

   
   
5. Fr Paul Butler
   

   Comic summation, my Lord. Lol. RT @sunny_hundal: Blog post:: Goodbye Lee John Barnes LLB (Hons.) http://bit.ly/983htx

   
   

1. KB Player — on 10th August, 2010 at 10:30 pm  

   I don’t know if this is purely good news. The crazy loon will have more time on his hands to hang around other people’s blogs.

2. MaidMarian — on 10th August, 2010 at 10:57 pm  

   ‘BNP watchers will have a duller time after this.’

   Or, better, people will stop turning the BNP into something that they are not.

3. Shamit — on 10th August, 2010 at 11:01 pm  

   KB – I think we might expect some entertainment in the blogosphere. I do hope he shows up here – it would be fun.

4. Jai — on 11th August, 2010 at 9:49 am  

   Interesting development.

   ******************************

   Some extracts from LJB’s resignation letter, via the HP article Rumbold linked to above:

   Over the last few years since the arrival of Jim Dowson into the party, Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson have repeatedly chosen to break the most obvious of laws including such debacles as ;

   1) The Marmite Case

   2) The unlawful use of stock images from a photoshop company during the European Elections

   3) The EHRC court cases

   4) The unlawful sacking of Michaele Mackenzie

   5) The illegal suspension of Peter Mullins and many others

   All of these were done under the orders of both Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson.

   Regardless of how much income the party has had over the last few years, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been squandered on avoidable court cases.

   [...]

   What was particularly galling for me was the Michaela Mackenzie case.

   I informed Nick Griffin on the day he sacked her that what he was doing was unlawful.

   Not only did he ignore my advice, he later went to an Employment Tribunal and called me a ‘crank’ as a way to ‘explain’ why my advice to him was ignored.

   The actions of Nick Griffin in this case alone has cost the party over twenty five thousand pounds, and as of Friday last week the money owed to Michaele Mackenzie has still not been paid.

   This means the party will now be dragged back into court and probably bankrupted as a result.

   As far as I am aware the party is now technically insolvent.

   [...]

   As far as I am aware donations to the party have flowed to a trickle as well as party renewals and new inquiries.

   [...]

   In relation to the illegal suspension of Peter Mullins and others, I spent months trying to get Nick to see sense on this issue.

   It was only after months of arguments that Nick Griffin was forced to relent, drop their suspensions and re-admit them.

   During this time I was threatened by Jim Dowson with violence for putting the parties legal interests first as he was the person pushing Nick Griffin to expel Peter Mullins and others.

   I am not the only BNP member or BNP officer to have been threatened with violence by Jim Dowson.

   It appears that when Jim Dowson doesn’t get what he wants he likes to threaten people with his connections to loyalist killers and terrorists in Northern Ireland in order to intimidate people into doing his bidding.

   My complaints to Nick Griffin about Jim Dowsons threats of violence directed at me and other party members have been ignored.

   All I can say is that Peter Mullins is a decent, honourable man whilst Jim Dowson is a convicted criminal, with links to Loyalist terrorism and terrorists with a string of failed companies to his name who bought his ’reverend’ title off of the internet.

   [...]

   The decision yesterday to unlawfully suspend dozens of activists simply for them standing against Nick Griffin in the leadership contest is the action of utterly irresponsible incompetents.

   Nick Griffin knew before the leadership challenge even began that he could not be removed as leader of the party.

   The BNP constitution was re-written specifically to ensure that no-one can ever remove Nick Griffin from his role as chairman.

   [...]

   I cannot remain as the Legal Officer of a party that acts unlawfully towards its own members, that rewards years of party loyalty with unlawful suspensions and expulsions, that covers up serious allegations of sexual abuse by senior officers, that expels long standing members who ask for financial transparency within the party and that refuses to act to protect its own officers when they are threatened with violence by other senior officers.

   Such a political party cannot be trusted with political power in our society.

   [...]

   I hereby quit my role as BNP Legal Adviser with immediate effect.

   L. J. Barnes LLB (Hons)

   It would be interesting to see what further information Mr Barnes is willing to divulge.

5. Jai — on 11th August, 2010 at 9:55 am  

   More details about the contents of LJB’s resignation letter, via Hope Not Hate (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1694/Griffin-accused-of-fraud-by-former-BNP-legal-officer ):

   Quotes:

   Barnes, who has a degree in law but is not a practising solicitor or barrister, has joined a growing list of BNP members who oppose the takeover of the party by Dowson, who is not even a member. “Jim Dowson now controls the BNP membership database, the BNP donor database, the BNP treasury department, the BNP subscriptions operation, the BNP media & communications operation and the BNP website,” writes Barnes in his long letter of resignation, which is free of his usual inane and extremist ranting. “This is completely unacceptable and legally questionable.”

   Pointing out that Griffin does not have the power to move party assets into the hands of a non-member, he declares: “If party assets have been moved out of the party and into companies owned by Jim Dowson by Nick Griffin then this is potentially defined as ‘Fraud by abuse of position’ and is defined by Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006. This is such a case where a person occupies a position where they are expected to safeguard the financial interests of another person such as BNP members, and abuses that position; this includes cases where the abuse consisted of an omission rather than an overt act.

   “In such cases of potential fraud, it requires that for an offence to have occurred, the person must have acted dishonestly, and that they had to have acted with the intent of making a gain for themselves or anyone else, or inflicting a loss (or a risk of loss) on another. The fact that such issues may have potentially arisen means the party is at serious risk of investigation and prosecution,” says Barnes.

   Barnes is also incensed at the party’s failure to investigate allegations by Shelley Rose, a young activist, that Dowson sexually assaulted her when they were away on party business and Dowson allegedly failed to book a separate hotel room for her. Barnes says he called on Griffin to initiate a “full and transparent investigation”, but Griffin ignored him.

   “The BNP cannot ever be seen as a party that protects perverts or a party that refuses to address allegations of such a serious nature from a female member,” asserts Barnes.

   “If Jim Dowson was found guilty of bringing the party into disrepute, Gross Misconduct and sexual assault,” continues Barnes, “then he should have been dismissed and sacked from all party offices he holds.

   “Instead what has happened is that Shelley Rose has been suspended, no investigation has been initiated and no sanction applied against Jim Dowson.”

   …..Showing his displeasure at being sidelined by Griffin, he complains that: “Legal issues that were once dealt with internally within the party have been ‘outsourced’ from the party to individuals paid by Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin, resulting in the parties internal legal affairs no longer being scrutinised or run by the BNP Legal Unit,” which he headed.

   …..As the BNP constitution was rewritten specifically to ensure that no one can ever remove Griffin as party leader, explains Barnes, Griffin is “tactically inept” in suspending Butler’s supporters as they “can now launch new legal actions against the party.

   “The law is clear. BNP members have a constitutionally protected right to stand for party leadership. To suspend them for doing so is unlawful. The way they have been suspended is also unlawful.

   “I have no doubt that they will now unite to form a class action against the party thereby incurring more legal costs and damages against an already virtually bankrupt party whose debts far outweigh its income,” declares Barnes.

   …..“If I stay on within such a party then it will appear as though I am supporting and condoning such actions,” concludes Barnes, no doubt mindful of the legal consequences of remaining the party’s legal officer.

   …..According to Barnes, donations have dried up and the party is “technically insolvent”. However Griffin and Dowson will not suffer. “If the party is made bankrupt then the BNP membership as a whole will be directly financially liable for its outstanding debts as an unincorporated association and not Nick Griffin or Jim Dowson.

   “This is because Nick Griffin has no assets and Jim Dowsons financial assets are probably hidden away in some Spanish or Swiss bank account outside the UK.”

   Whether or not Butler gets enough nominations to continue with his leadership challenge, it seems that the BNP is unlikely to recover from the effects of the serious financial mismanagement of the party and the revelations that have emerged over the past few weeks.

6. KB Player — on 11th August, 2010 at 8:14 pm  

   Cripes, Jai, those pieces you quote show Barnes as sane and lucid and even employable. This is a disturbing development.

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