Opportunism knocks for Griffin (maybe)
Published on Saturday, 11 February 2012 04:27 Written by Ketlan Ossowski
I was surprised, though goodness knows why, to see Nick Griffin embracing the Celtic Cross (or Odin's Cross) flag a few days ago. He's spent years trying to tell us all that he isn't a nazi or a racist, then he goes and drapes himself over two lads displaying what has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as 'one of the most popular symbols for neo-Nazis and white supremacists'.
I shouldn't have been surprised at all, of course. Griffin has always been an opportunist, seriously believing the adage that 'there is no such thing as bad publicity', despite endless evidence to the contrary.
One thing that is known about Griffin is that, good or bad, he never does anything unless it's to his own advantage. Never mind the BNP - Griffin's main interest is, and always has been, himself.
One wonders what advantage he thinks can be gained by sucking up to the more overt far-right. Is he hoping to pull in a few new members to his ailing party? Is it a reminder to hardcore nazis that he still exists and that he is still willing (rarely) to come out and show himself as a nazi? Is it just a cynical vote-catching ploy in preparation for the next Euro-elections?
One very curious thing I've noticed about the far-right over the past few years has been its apparently incurable optimism. It's blindingly obvious that the far-right will get nowhere in British politics - the public might give it a try from time to time, but ultimately it has no taste for extremism - but the far-right continues to convince itself that the British public back it and believes what it believes. Quite how the far-right manages this belief in face of constantly crap election results and ever-dwindling membership numbers is beyond me.
I've already written about the numerous attempts to make money via the formation of businesses that were hoped to be sustainable through gullible BNP members. Despite repeated (and inevitable) failures, Griffin carried on with more and more outlandish ideas, spending money like it was coming out of somebody else's pocket to set them up. As of course, it was - the average BNP member donated and lost every single penny.
But it now seems that Griffin's opportunism extends into other areas.
Claudia Dalgleish, former partner of the party's London organiser, Steve Squire, has posted a whole load of revelations over on Eddy Butler's blog, some of which tell how Griffin used her as one of his internet attack dogs. Along with others, Dalgleish was ordered to target certain people, as evidenced by the following section of a text message:
"As with attacks on Cheryl Dunn, it´s counter productive to have a go at people who are either out of it or not fully committed to other side. Indeed, it´s bad even to draw attention to hostile small fish since it makes it look at (sic) though Brons has lots of backers. Please press anyone involved to concentrate on key and legitimate targets only: brons, Kemp, Butler. Tilbrook, Beverley, Collett, Moffat, golding, Dowson, McLied. That´s quite a long list of vermin.”
As usual, when anyone disagrees with Griffin, they automatically become 'vermin'. It's only a matter of time before he announces that they all work for Searchlight, MI5 or a Sunday newspaper.
If Dalgleish is to be beieved, Griffin has allowed his normal impulse to snatch at anything that looks likely to enrich him in some way, a bit further. I have to be careful here, just in case he decides to try his hand at a libel case. On his prior performances, he wouldn't win but I don't want to tempt fate.
On 29.9.2011, Griffin allegedly sent a number of text messages to Dalgleish. It's not really necessary for me to comment on them because the situation's pretty clear.
'Did you get list. Do you know the French side of the tunnel? And be aware that it’s very hot over here so you don’t need to wear very much.'
'That’s a given. As is checking that your legs feel as silky as they look.'
'There goes the dominatrix side again. No need to insist, though on this occasion I will do as ordered. And only stop if told to.'
'What train are you booked on? And what are you going to wear?'
Should we be surprised at this? Not in my opinion. Griffin has always surrounded himself with sleazy scum - the 'Grannyporn' Kitchens, swinger and shit expert Martin Reynolds and the extremely dodgy Mark 'Nazi Boy' Collett, to name just a handful. Hang around with scum for long enough and something's bound to rub off on you, if you'll forgive the image.
Griffin is certainly an opportunist, but if these messages are indeed from him, he's a sleazy opportunist who seems to have no sense of morality at all. Pretty much what we expected, really.