I was, of course, completely right - BNP civil war

Well, by competely right, at least mostly right. I had suggested, previously, that BNP leader Nick griffin would be rolled by Andrew Brons - who had already humiliated his 'leader' by bagging the top spot on the party's Euro elections list - and who is old school National front (1).

Time will tell. Meanwhile, Mark Collett, the BNP publicity director, has had his membership of the party suspended following suggestions that he was plotting against the Dear Leader:

The party confirmed that the BNP publicity director Mark Collett, who had been lined up to stand against David Blunkett in Sheffield, had been "suspended pending a disciplinary tribunal", after a leaked memo accused him of plotting a "palace coup".

And, as the party was gripped by claims that insiders were trying to "sabotage" its election preparations, it emerged that two more officials had left head office.

Emma Colgate, a staff manager, has "stepped down from her position to concentrate fully on fighting the Thurrock parliamentary seat for the party". Eddy Butler, the party's head of elections, is also understood to have stepped down, and his name has been removed from the list of national BNP contacts.

The BNP has also told activists it had called in police after an internal leak inquiry uncovered "very serious allegations potentially affecting the personal safety" of Mr Griffin and his colleague James Dowson. (2)

This follows a comment in the Indie the day before, about cracks in the BNP's facade of unity at the local council level, where it actually has managed to make some progress and win some significant representation:

With nine local councillors the BNP, led by Alby Walker, had become the third-biggest force on the council. Until January – when Mr Walker and his wife, also a councillor, dramatically quit the BNP and he announced his intention to stand against Simon Darby as an independent for the Parliamentary seat. Since then Mr Walker has claimed to be the victim of a BNP smear campaign. He has denounced the party for holocaust denial and accused its leader Nick Griffin of surrounding himself with "sycophants". The party, he said, was beset with "drunks, misfits and oddballs hanging around the fringes". He added: "I came in from the wrong direction for people to accept me. I hope they can forgive me. I have quite a lot of support." (3)

This is probably the true face of the BNP - that is to say, the National Front - manifesting itself. For all that Griffin's moves on the whites 'indigenous' only membership policy is just a bit of window dressing to make his ugly little band of racists look less troglodytic, it is obviously too much for some.

Griffin will probably survive in the short term - and I wouldn't be surprised to see Collett come cringing back into the party, for it isn't like the BNP has a very large or deep pool of talent to draw upon - but I suspect this is the beginning of the end for Griffin, and the BNP's flirtation with mainstream respectability. Some people just aren't comfortable playing nicely by the rules, and would be happier shoving crap through Muslims's letterboxes.

While Collet may have made the first moves, I suspect Brons will be the one who profits from it in the longer term. Once he's ousted Griffin - and Collett has been brought to heel with the promise of the succession, shades of Blair and Brown - Brons will be able to 'reunite' the BNP and the National Front.

Not that anyone with any intelligence was ever able to discern an iota of real difference between them.

1 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/06/sympathy-for-little-nicky.html
2 - "BNP official ousted after claims of coup bid against Griffin," by Brian Brady and Jane Merrick. Published in The Independent, 4th of April, 2010. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bnp-official-ousted-after-claims-of-coup-bid-against-griffin-1935427.html)
3 - " Hunt's selection sets up battle with former belly dancer for Stoke seat," by Jonathan Brown. Published in The Independent, 3rd of April, 2010. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hunts-selection-sets-up-battle-with-former-belly-dancer-for-stoke-seat-1934720.html)