# British National Party BNP membership list leaked! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334 "2008-11-18T19:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/61 "2008-11-20T08:51:26Z")
> [@villa](#): > > **casdave** - I think you mean Combat 18. He could have meant Column 88 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/62 "2008-11-20T11:46:35Z")
> [@villa](#): > > From reading Ray Hill’s book, there were always clashes between British far right groups and those from Europe during their get togethers when the British dickheads discovered their European brothers’ definition of nationalism included support for the IRA. IIRC its something that affected the decision on where to send money or guns, some Belgians weren’t sure whether to send guns to the IRA or UVF, plumping for the latter because of perceived affiliations with groups in the Middle East. > [@Sitnam](#): > > 39 out of 10,000 names doesn’t seem like much Not really, but I’m surprised there isn’t more uptake of seemingly pro-British events such as Guy Fawkes night in Northern Ireland. I mean, you get to burn en effigy of a pro-Catholic guy who tried to take out Parliament, isn’t that as good as it gets? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/63 "2008-11-21T13:27:00Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Obviously that only applies to party membership, but it don’t think it’s unfair to extrapolate from that to see how the BNP would approach governing the nation (which is their aim, after all). The terminology is pretty clear about the status of “non-indigenous Brits”, and I don’t think it’s an unreasonable assumption that under a BNP government black, asian, jewish Britons would not be afforded the same citizen’s rights as whites. I was unaware that their charter was quite so…_specific_…in terms of who could be a member. Allowing them to air their odious views freely is one thing; allowing active racial discrimination is quite another. I shall set the Distaste-O-Meter up another few notches. As for the Royals being Greek: I assume you’re referring to Prince Philip who pretty much just passed through Greece (in dynastic terms) on his way from Denmark. He’s one of the Danish-German House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, so he presumably falls into the Anglo-Saxon-Norse racial group. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/64 "2008-11-21T14:48:25Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Similar story and timeline in Britain. I think secret ballots were introduced in the 1880’s sometime. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/65 "2008-11-21T15:20:25Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Not really, but I’m surprised there isn’t more uptake of seemingly pro-British events such as Guy Fawkes night in Northern Ireland. I mean, you get to burn en effigy of a pro-Catholic guy who tried to take out Parliament, isn’t that as good as it gets? I was under the impression that the 5th was still a bit of a deal amongst certain members of the community in Norn Iron. I thought there was a divide between the 31st of October and November 5th. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/66 "2008-11-21T15:24:07Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > I think secret ballots were introduced in the 1880’s sometime. In civics class, we were told that the secret ballot system was also called the “Australian ballot.” Is anyone else familiar with that term? ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/67 "2008-11-21T15:29:42Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > I think secret ballots were introduced in the 1880’s sometime. A bit of Googling reveals that it was introduced in the UK by Gladstone’s government in 1872. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/68 "2008-11-21T17:45:22Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > BNP, and their closely related groups, such as Stromfront ,Combat 88 etc are cowards, they commit acts if intimidation, violence under the cloak of anonymity. Exactly what acts of intimidation, violence has the BNP committed? > [@](#): > > We are not talking of some opressed minority here, in fact we are talking about the opressors themselves, oppressors who are frightened by being examined too closely. How exactly is the BNP oppressing anyone? I’m not claiming that the BNP is not engaging in acts of violence, intimidation, or opression, but I would like to know the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/69 "2008-11-21T20:26:59Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > …(unless you’re a civil servant or in a similar job which prohibits membership in any political party). Civil servants in the UK are not permitted to be members of a political party? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/70 "2008-11-21T20:37:15Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Civil servants in the UK are not permitted to be members of a political party? Not quite, although you must remember that membership in a political party in the UK is not the same as registering with a party in the US. > [@Civil Service Code](#): > > Impartiality: > > 1. You must: > > carry out your responsibilities in a way that is fair, just and equitable and reflects the Civil Service commitment to equality and diversity. > > 1. You must not: > > act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests > Political Impartiality: > > 1. You must: > > serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of your ability in a way which maintains political impartiality and is in line with the requirements > of this Code, no matter what your own political beliefs are; > > act in a way which deserves and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring that you will be able to establish the same relationship with those whom you may be required to serve in some future Government; and comply with any restrictions that have been laid down on your political activities. > > 1. You must not: > > act in a way that is determined by party political considerations, or use official resources for party political purposes; or allow your personal political views to determine any advice you give or your actions. It’s difficult to reconcile membership in the BNP, or other far-right organisations, with compliance with the Civil Service Code. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/71 "2008-11-21T20:48:17Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Not quite, although you must remember that membership in a political party in the UK is not the same as registering with a party in the US. I didn’t know this. How so? Does “membership” imply some sort of actively participatory role? > [@Szlater](#): > > It’s difficult to reconcile membership in the BNP, or other far-right organisations, with compliance with the Civil Service Code. This seems like a bit of a politically loaded statement. Why wouldn’t far-rightists be able to separate political beliefs from job responsibilities just like anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/72 "2008-11-21T20:55:21Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I didn’t know this. How so? Does “membership” imply some sort of actively participatory role? Members get to vote on party leaders and select/deselect local candidates for office, canvassing, overseeing polling stations and vote counts. Everyone I’ve known who has been a member of a political party (Lab, LibDem, Green or Tory) has been pretty active within the party. > [@](#): > > This seems like a bit of a politically loaded statement. Why wouldn’t far-rightists be able to separate political beliefs from job responsibilities just like anyone else? If you hate some class of people enough that you’ve actually paid membership fees to an organisation dedicated to stripping those people of rights (which the BNP, Combat 18 etc most certainly are), how can you possibly act impartially towards them? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/73 "2008-11-21T21:06:19Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I didn’t know this. How so? Does “membership” imply some sort of actively participatory role? It’s like being a member of an actual organization, like a labor union, or fraternal organization, or civil rights organization. You pay dues, you get to vote for leaders and representatives, you gain the rights and privileges of membership. You can even be expelled for advocating positions that contradict the party’s platform. Political parties in most western democracies are actual membership organizations, nothing like political parties in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/74 "2008-11-21T21:15:22Z")
Interesting. I notice that some names in the BNP list have an “activist” notation - I wonder what’s required for that? Are these poll-workers, pub-brawlers, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/75 "2008-11-21T21:47:49Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Members get to vote on party leaders and select/deselect local candidates for office, canvassing, overseeing polling stations and vote counts. Everyone I’ve known who has been a member of a political party (Lab, LibDem, Green or Tory) has been pretty active within the party. Thanks; that’s interesting. I learned something today. > [@Szlater](#): > > If you hate some class of people enough that you’ve actually paid membership fees to an organisation dedicated to stripping those people of rights (which the BNP, Combat 18 etc most certainly are), how can you possibly act impartially towards them? Given what party membership means in the UK, maybe there’s something to this. The US has had some unpleasant history of rooting out purported Communists from government offices, so maybe that’s what makes me a bit skittish. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/76 "2008-11-21T22:24:15Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I didn’t know this. How so? Does “membership” imply some sort of actively participatory role It’s not a common thing for an individual in the UK to actually join a political party. There isn’t really an equivalent of your (assuming in you’re in the US) registered Democrat, Republican or Independent for purposes of primaries and whatnot. It’s safe to assume that an individual who pays money to the BNP is aware of their rather fascistic nature. Anyway, here’s a broken link to a BNP affiliate site: [http://www.redwatch.org/REMOVEindexx.html](http://www.redwatch.org/REMOVEindexx.html) and here’s another: [http://www.bloodandhonourworldwide.co.uk/REMOVEhome1.html](http://www.bloodandhonourworldwide.co.uk/REMOVEhome1.html) and here’s a link to some of the activities of some of their, err, officials: > **[BBC News | Programmes | Under the skin of the BNP](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/membership/organisers/criminal.stm)** I’m not going to give even a broken link to the Combat18 site. Think Stormfront, but with less-professional tattoos, bigger beer bellies and more convictions for racially-aggravated assault. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/77 "2008-11-21T23:48:01Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > In civics class, we were told that the secret ballot system was also called the “Australian ballot.” Is anyone else familiar with that term? I don’t think the term has ever been commonly used in the UK of late. Speaking as a Brit with what I’d consider an above-average, but not expert, knowledge of our 19th century political history - and who has even been known to hang out with actual proper professional parliamentary historians - I’d never come across the specific term until reading the same _New Yorker_ article of a few weeks back that **WF Tomba** mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/78 "2008-11-22T00:39:51Z")
> [@Struan](#): > > It’s safe to assume that an individual who pays money to the BNP is aware of their rather fascistic nature. I don’t think that’s a safe assumption at all. There’s also the naive and the easily-influenced - if nothing else, I did spot one under-18 listed on the BNP list, identified as such. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/79 "2008-11-22T13:44:42Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > It’s like being a member of an actual organization, like a labor union, or fraternal organization, or civil rights organization. You pay dues, you get to vote for leaders and representatives, you gain the rights and privileges of membership. You can even be expelled for advocating positions that contradict the party’s platform. Political parties in most western democracies are actual membership organizations, nothing like political parties in the United States. So what are political parties like in the US? If they don’t have members, who were all those people at the US party conventions earlier this year? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334/80 "2008-11-22T14:53:29Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > So what are political parties like in the US? If they don’t have members, who were all those people at the US party conventions earlier this year? The conventions are controlled by the Republican National Committee or Democratic National Committee, which are slightly more “organizationy” than the parties themselves. But you have to be elected or appointed to the national committee. You can’t just sign up and pay your dues. Saying “I’m a Democrat” and “I’m a member of the D.N.C.” are two different things. The delegations from each state are chosen in a formal process by the state party organizations. People who show up at conventions usually hold some kind of office at the local or state level – county party committee or something – or they know someone at a higher level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-national-party-bnp-membership-list-leaked/473334.md?page=5)