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Nick Griffin
Chairman of the British National Party
In office September, 1999 – present
Preceded by	John Tyndall
Born	1959 Barnet, England
Political party	British National Party
Spouse	Jackie Griffin
Residence	Powys, Wales, United Kingdom

Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin (born 1959) is a British politician. Since 1999 he has been the Chairman of the British National Party (BNP). Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Nick_griffin. ... The British National Party (BNP) is a white nationalist political party in the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see September (disambiguation). ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... John Hutchyns Tyndall (born 14 July 1934;died 19 July 2005) was a far-right British nationalist politician best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and for founding the British National Party in the 1980s. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a town in the London Borough of Barnet. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The British National Party (BNP) is a white nationalist political party in the United Kingdom. ... Powys is a local government principal area and a preserved county in Wales. ... This article is about the country. ... The British National Party (BNP) is a white nationalist political party in the United Kingdom. ...

Background

Nick Griffin was born in Barnet and grew up in Halesworth in rural Suffolk, England. Initially educated at two Suffolk private schools, St Felix School (in Southwold) and Woodbridge School, Griffin studied history and then law at Downing College, Cambridge. Griffin boxed while at Cambridge and became a boxing blue. He graduated with a third class degree in History with Law (Tripos I History 2 years/ Tripos II Law 1 year). Since leaving university, Griffin has worked in agricultural engineering, property renovation and forestry. In recent years he has been a full-time political writer and organiser of the British National Party, of which he is chairman. Since 1990, Nick Griffin has a glass left eye following a serious accident when a shotgun cartridge buried among burning rubbish exploded ^[1]. High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a town in the London Borough of Barnet. ... Statistics Population: 4,637 (2001 Census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM388773 Administration District: Waveney Shire county: Suffolk Region: East Anglia Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Suffolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East of England Post office... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Statistics Population: 1,458 (2001 Census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM510763 Administration District: Waveney Shire county: Suffolk Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Suffolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: {{{Ambulance}}} Post office and... Woodbridge School is a public school (i. ... Full name Downing College Motto Quaerere Verum Seek the truth Named after Sir George Downing Previous names - Established 1800 Sister College(s) Lincoln College Master Prof. ... A University Sporting Blue is an award earned by sportsmen and sportswomen at Cambridge, Oxford, and some other universities for competing at the highest level of university sport. ... The British National Party (BNP) is a white nationalist political party in the United Kingdom. ...

Griffin's mother, Jean (nee Thomas), was the BNP candidate against Iain Duncan Smith at the 2001 Election, and his father, Edgar, was a member of the Conservative Party and a former councillor. In August 2001, Edgar Griffin was expelled from the Conservative Party. At the time, he had been vice-president of Iain Duncan Smith's party leadership election campaign in Wales. Rt. ... Tony Blair William Hague Charles Kennedy The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... Edgar Vincent Griffin is a British Conservative politician. ... The Conservative Party, officially though less commonly known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the country. ...

Career in politics

National Front and International Third Position

Nick Griffin became involved with the far right at the age of 15 when his father, Edgar Griffin, took him to meetings of the National Front (NF). By 1978, he was a local secretary for the NF. The British National Front (most commonly called the National Front) is a British far right political party whose major political activities were during the 1970s and 1980s. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ...

In 1980, he became a member of the NF governing body, the National Directorate, when he also set up the NF Student Organisation. In 1980, Griffin launched Nationalism Today with the aid of Joe Pearce, editor of the NF youth paper Bulldog and twice imprisoned for incitement to racial hatred.^[2][3] Nationalism Today became the springboard for the Third Positionist ideas that the NF later adopted^{[citation needed]}. Writing in Nationalism Today in 1985, Griffin praised the black separatist Louis Farrakhan, saying, "white nationalists everywhere wish [Farrakhan] well, for we share a common struggle for the same ends: racial separation and racial freedom".^{[citation needed]} International Third Position (ITP) was a group formed by Nick Griffin and Derek Holland and as a continuation of the Political Soldier movement that originated in the right-wing British National Front in the early 1980s. ... Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933), is the acting head of the Nation of Islam (NOI) as the National Representative of Elijah Muhammad. ...

Griffin left the NF in 1989 in a split with Patrick Harrington. Harrington went on to form the Third Way. Meanwhile, Griffin joined with Derek Holland to form the International Third Position (ITP), which developed from the Political Soldier movement that had formed within the NF. Given the secretive nature of the ITP, it is hard to establish exactly when Griffin left, although he was still part of its leadership in mid-1993.^[4] Patrick Pat Harrington (born 1964) is one of four members of the National Executive of the Third Way (UK) and a former leader of the National Front. ... Third Way General Election poster displayed by Party supporters in their windows National Liberal Party - The Third Way poster The Third Way is a British political party that was formed on 17 March 1990. ... Derek Holland is a figure on the European far-right. ... International Third Position (ITP) was a United Kingdom group formed by the Italian Roberto Fiore and as a continuation of the Political Soldier movement that originated in the Third Positionist British National Front in the early 1980s. ... Political Soldier was a political group within Britains National Front, centred on young radicals Nick Griffin, Patrick Harrington and Derek Holland, that began to emerge in the late 1970s with new destinations in mind for the movement. ...

British National Party

While still a leader of the ITP, Griffin became involved with another far-right nationalist group, the British National Party (BNP). By 1993 he was speaking at BNP meetings and writing pseudonymously for BNP publications.^[5]. In 1995, he officially joined the party. The British National Party (BNP) is a white nationalist political party in the United Kingdom. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ...

For a time Griffin edited Spearhead, a publication owned by then party leader John Tyndall. Between 1995 and 1997, he was editor of The Rune, an anti-semitic weekly ^[6]. In 1998, he was prosecuted in connection with the magazine (see below). Spearhead is a British far right-wing magazine edited by John Tyndall. ... John Hutchyns Tyndall (born 14 July 1934;died 19 July 2005) was a far-right British nationalist politician best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and for founding the British National Party in the 1980s. ...

In September 1999, Griffin was elected as head of the BNP. He embarked on a campaign to make the party "electable" by shedding its perceived racist, extremist image. These changes included an emphasis on the need to dismantle multiculturalism, which the BNP claim has a destructive influence on both immigrant and British culture. This realignment was designed to position the BNP alongside successful European far-right groups, such as the French Front National. The campaign would also involve moves against Tyndall, who was expelled from the party for a time in 2002 along with his closest allies, Richard Edmonds and John Morse. The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of both cultural and ethnic diversity within the demographics of a particular social space. ... Front National can mean: Front National, a right-wing French political party. ... Richard Edmonds is a veteran on the British far right and was a long-term supporter of John Tyndall. ... John Morse was a leading figure in the British National Party under John Tyndall, serving alongside Richard Edmonds as Tyndalls closest ally in the party. ...

Under the BNP's constitution, Griffin is solely responsible for the party's legal and financial liabilities, and has the final say in all decisions affecting the party. While he routinely consults with various colleagues on matters which affect them directly, he is not bound to do so. Some areas of policy have been delegated to other BNP leaders, but Griffin has retained the right to make the most important decisions^[7].

1998 public order conviction

In 1998, Griffin, along with Paul Ballard, was convicted of violating section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to incitement to racial hatred for his editorship of issue 12 of The Rune, published in 1996. The Public Order Act 1986 creates offences commonly used by United Kingdom police to deal with public disorder and violence: Section 1: Riot Section 2: Violent Disorder Section 3: Affray Section 4: Fear or Provocation of Violence Section 4a: Intentional Harassment, Alarm or Distress Section 5: Harassment, Alarm or Distress... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial...

The complaint regarding the magazine was made by Alex Carlile QC, who was the Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire at the time. He had asked the police to obtain for him a copy of the magazine, which they did. After reading it, the MP called the police again and complained about its content, whereupon the police raided Griffin's home and charged him. He was convicted and received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was fined £2,300. Griffin claims that the law under which he was convicted "is an unjust law and he therefore has no obligation to follow it". Alexander Charles Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew (born 12 February 1948) is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. ... For information about The Times satire Queens Counsel, see Queens Counsel (comic strip). ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ...

2005 prosecution and 2006 retrial

On 14 December 2004, Nick Griffin was arrested on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred, relating to a BBC documentary broadcast in July 2004, in which he was recorded at Morley Town Hall (in a constituency which later went on to elect a BNP councillor in 2006) as saying that Islam was a "...wicked and vicious faith". He was the 12th person to be arrested following the documentary and the second most prominent after BNP founder John Tyndall, who had been arrested two days earlier. Griffin was released on police bail the same day but, the following April, was charged with four offences of using words or behaviour intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... Morleys Coat of Arms Morley is a town in the county of Yorkshire (since 1974, West Yorkshire), England, in the Metropolitan Borough of Leeds and is situated five miles south-west of Leeds City Centre. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Hutchyns Tyndall (born 14 July 1934;died 19 July 2005) was a far-right British nationalist politician best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and for founding the British National Party in the 1980s. ... Hate speech is a controversial term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. ...

On 6 February 2006, a jury at Leeds Crown Court returned not guilty verdicts on two of the charges and was unable to reach a verdict on the other two. The Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would seek a re-trial.^[8][9] is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. ...

Nick Griffin and Mark Collett leave Leeds Crown Court on November 10, 2006 after being found not guilty of charges of incitement to racial hatred at their retrial.

In early November 2006, the retrial of Griffin and co-defendant Mark Collett took place and once again both men were found not guilty on all counts, which means that of all the people arrested in connection with the BBC documentary none had been convicted of any offence relating to it. Somewhat controversially, Government ministers have since called for a review of existing laws. Image File history File links BNP_Race_Hate_Trial. ... Image File history File links BNP_Race_Hate_Trial. ... is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mark Collett outside the Leeds Crown Court following his acquital (November 10, 2006) Mark Adrian Collett (born 1980) is a former chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party (BNP), and is currently the Director of Publicity of the Party. ...

After the trial, Griffin celebrated outside the court with over two hundred supporters and champagne in red, white and blue bottles donated by Jean-Marie Le Pen. "What has just happened shows Tony Blair and the government toadies at the BBC that they can take our taxes but they cannot take our hearts, they cannot take our tongues and they cannot take our freedom," he told his supporters.^[10][11] This article is about Champagne, the alcoholic beverage. ... Jean-Marie Le Pen (born June 20, 1928, La Trinité-sur-Mer, France) is a French far-right nationalist politician, founder and president of the Front National (National Front) party. ...

Sunday Times journalist Rod Liddle wrote an article 'Alas, I must defend the BNP' supporting Griffin's right to free speech.^[12] The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... Rod Liddle (born 1960) is a controversial British journalist best known for his term as editor of BBC Radio 4s Today programme. ...

Oxford Union debate

In November 2007, Oxford Union president Luke Tryl invited Griffin to speak at a forum on the limits of free speech at the Union, along with other speakers including David Irving. This provoked controversy within the University as the student body was badly divided over the issue. Many supported Griffin's right to free speech, with Junior Common Rooms passing motions in support of the invitations and a vote at the Oxford Union itself being carried by a majority of 2 to 1. Others, including the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU), Unite Against Fascism and the Oxford Jewish Society, staged protests and argued that Griffin and Irving should be denied a platform which they could use to provide legitimacy for their views. The decision to allow him to speak caused such controversy that many members of the Oxford Union resigned their memberships, including several MPs. That evening, hundreds of demonstrators congregated throughout central Oxford, surrounding the Oxford Union, and blocking people from entering the building. The debate was delayed by more than 3 and a half hours, and when Nick Griffin arrived (he attempted to enter through a side door to avoid being seen), he was pelted with eggs. The Union was unable to carry out a proper debate in the usual chamber, and was forced to hold a side debate in a smaller room, as anti-BNP activitists were present on the floor. Nick Griffin would later blame "The hound-dogs of the Labour government" for persuading people to protest against him. The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a private debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford. ... Luke Tryl is the President of the Oxford Union. ... For other persons of the same name, see David Irving (footballer) and David Irving (politician). ... The Oxford University Student Union is the official student union of the University of Oxford, representing the interests of its members to the university and the outside world. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Recent election campaigns

In June 2001, Griffin ran as a BNP candidate in the constituency of Oldham West & Royton and received 6,552 votes (16%), beating the Liberal Democrats to third place and running a close race for second place with the Conservatives. After the result, Griffin was accused of exploiting racial tensions in Oldham that resulted in the Oldham Riots just before the vote^{[citation needed]}. Oldham West and Royton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, is a liberal political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party; the two parties had already been in an alliance for seven years prior to this, since not long... The Conservative Party, officially though less commonly known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... For the larger local government district, see Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. ... A video-still taken from the peak of the riots, showing a rioter throwing a petrol bomb towards lines of police. ...

In May 2003, Griffin stood for election again in Oldham for a seat on the local council representing the Chadderton North ward, winning 993 votes (28%). He was not elected. In June 2004, Griffin topped the BNP list for the European Parliament for the North West England Constituency. The party received 134,958 votes (6%). No one from the BNP was elected. Elections to the European Parliament were held from June 10, 2004 to June 13, 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. ... -1...

Nick Griffin stood in the 2005 General Election in the Keighley constituency, West Yorkshire, where he polled 4,240 votes, 9.16% of those cast. The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005. ... Keighley is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Griffin contested the 2007 Welsh National Assembly Elections in the South Wales West region. The 2007 National Assembly election was the third general election to the National Assembly for Wales and took place on Thursday 3 May, the same day as local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election. ... South Wales West is an electoral region of the National Assembly for Wales, consisting of seven constituencies. ...

In October 2007, the BNP announced that Griffin had been selected as Parliamentary candidate for Thurrock in Essex. Thurrock is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... For other meanings of Essex, see Essex (disambiguation). ...

Parliamentary elections contested

Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Taylor died on 18 June 1981. ... Croydon North West was formerly a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The British National Front (most commonly called the National Front) is a British far right political party whose major political activities were during the 1970s and 1980s. ... The UK general election, 1983 was held on June 9, 1983 and gave the Conservatives and Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945. ... The Member of Parliament for West Bromwich, West, the Rt. ... West Bromwich West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The British National Party (BNP) is a white nationalist political party in the United Kingdom. ... Tony Blair William Hague Charles Kennedy The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... Oldham West and Royton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005. ... Keighley is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Criticisms of Griffin

Griffin has had many detractors. Some criticisms of him include meeting with David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan and visiting Libya at Muammar al-Gaddafi's expense. As Chairman, he is strongly associated with the BNP and has been drawn into many of the controversies surrounding it. David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, a candidate in presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (Arabic:   ) (born c. ...

Anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial

In issue 12 of the BNP publication The Rune (see 1998 public order conviction) he called the Holocaust "the Holohoax" and criticized the Holocaust denier David Irving for admitting in an interview that up to four million Jews might have died in the Holocaust. Griffin wrote: "True Revisionists will not be fooled by this new twist to the sorry tale of the Hoax of the Twentieth Century."^[13][14][15] Griffin was eventually prosecuted for his articles in The Rune (see below). Nicholas John Nick Griffin (born 1959) is a British politician. ... “Shoah” redirects here. ... For other persons of the same name, see David Irving (footballer) and David Irving (politician). ... Languages Historical Jewish languages Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, others Liturgical languages: Hebrew and Aramaic Predominant spoken languages: The vernacular language of the home nation in the Diaspora, significantly including English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian Religions Judaism Related ethnic groups Arabs and other Semitic groups For the Jewish religion, see Judaism. ...

In 1997 he told an undercover journalist that he had updated Richard Verrall's Holocaust denial book Did Six Million Really Die?. He also described his former MP, Alex Carlile, QC, who had reported The Rune to the police, as "this bloody Jew... whose only claim is that his grandparents died in the Holocaust."^[16] Richard Verrall (born 1948) is a National Front member and edited its magazine Spearhead from 1976 to 1980. ... Did Six Million Really Die? by Richard Harwood (a. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Alexander Charles Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew (born 12 February 1948) is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. ... For information about The Times satire Queens Counsel, see Queens Counsel (comic strip). ...

In his defence during his 1998 prosecution, Griffin said: "I am well aware that the orthodox opinion is that six million Jews were gassed and cremated and turned into lampshades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the world is flat ... I have reached the conclusion that the 'extermination' tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter witch-hysteria."^[17] Cremation is the practice of disposing of a corpse by burning. ... Two lamps with lampshades. ...

Current stance

His more recent public stance in this area is illustrated by the section "It's all a Zionist scam" in his 2005 article "Dealing with Peak Oil Criticisms".^{[18][dead link]} Griffin went on record in 2005 stating "This party has finally cast off the leg iron of anti-Semitism and not a moment too soon." The BNP currently has a Jewish councillor, Patricia Richardson, and has stated that it has Jewish members^[19] although the party adheres to a strict non-interventionist stance and opposes a foreign policy that supports Israel. A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short, (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... Patricia Richardson is the British National Party’s first Jewish candidate. ...

On 6 March 2008, he was interviewed by Kirsty Wark on BBC Two's Newsnight. He blamed Muslim immigrants for the country's hard drugs problems.^[20]

References

Patrick Pat Harrington (born 1964) is one of four members of the National Executive of the Third Way (UK) and a former leader of the National Front. ... Patrick Pat Harrington (born 1964) is one of four members of the National Executive of the Third Way (UK) and a former leader of the National Front. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ...

External links

• C4 News Article About Clearance on Charge of Racial Hatred - includes link to TV Report and Studio discussion.

Official sites

• BNP Website
• Nick Griffin's official blog