Eddie Morrison has pulled off a coup in the NF but why? Is to split the BNP vote, wreck the NF, for money, ego or more nefarious reasons?
Fuhrer Eddy Morrison Takes Over NF by ‘Malatesta’
Crapulous Nazi Eddie Morison has achieved coup in the NF. Leader Tom Holmes has resigned according to both Lee Barnes’ blog and the VNNuk website. VNN also posted a screenshot showing that Morrison took over NF web domain May 2009. This is the first evidence of when he started to oust Holmes and his supporters and take over the NF himself. He organised a meeting back in September to which Holmes and his colleagues were not invited. Despite only being a probationary member Morrison and his clique deselected Holmes’s underling Bernard Franklin though retained Holmes as leader. For what it is worth, this is unconstitutional. Holmes, realising that now he is up against forces far greater than himself, has resigned.
The NF
It seems incredible that Holmes even allowed Morrison to join the NF (for the third time) but it also shows how he underestimated Morrison’s intentions. Morrison’s far right track record is available on the web and repeatedly demonstrates that he has joined or set-up many far right organisations that have either dissolved, fragmented or sacked him. Tom Holmes’ technophobia has contributed to his undoing. Holmes’ NF was very homespun indeed and his communiqués to the membership tended to be typewritten, photocopied and posted, which is both time consuming and hardly cost effective compared to a group email. Holmes’s antipathy to technology has meant that he is unaware of the many debates, fallouts and bickering that make the Nazi web forums so entertaining. When Morrison et al initiated their coup Holmes sent out a plea via a web savvy colleague telling NF members not to send cheques to anyone other than him. Eddie Morrison has tried this on before. When he quit the BPP, the mini-Nazi party had to move quick sharp and transfer all the cash into a new account lest Eddie donated it to the White Lightening cider company. Now, on the official NF website run by ‘Nice Guy Eddie’ cheques need to be sent to either Solihull or Leeds PO boxes. Eddie lives in Leeds. Holmes may well soldier on with the Real NF whilst Morrison lords it over the new version. However, given Holmes’ age and technophobia this is likely to fizzle out soon. Morrison understands the value of the web only too well.
The BNP
The BNP have been hit by several setbacks and embarrassments lately. Following Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time many felt that the BNP could tap into a groundswell of disillusionment amongst the electorate but after the fumes had dispersed, things have not been going to well. For a start Griffin and his cabal spend most of their time in Brussels, with Griffin speaking out against climate change in Copenhagen recently. Many posters on various far right forums see Griffin as an opportunist and a career politician (like Moseley before him, vacillating and publicity seeking).
The BNP has been under legal pressure to accept non-white members and many former supporters feel that Griffin has crumbled and accepted the decision too easily. With sleight of hand and some subtle calendar play he has also ensured that the membership will not change the decision when it votes on it in January. There is also the continuous appeals for money which many resent. The recent court case has set the BNP back considerably as well as initiating a rain forests worth of appeals to a heavily put upon support base. There are also questions over where that money goes exactly. The BNP raised £26, 550 for their ‘truth truck’ but it turns out that Griffin was actually renting it from BNP fixer James Dowson. So what happened to the rest of the money? After QT, Griffin announced that they had received calls from ‘thousands’ of potential members but due to the suspension of the membership list and the impending court case they have been unable to capitalise on it: these potential cash cows have yet to be subject to Griffin’s increasingly regular begging letters. There is also the late submission of the 2008 accounts which cost them £1,100 in fines and do not exactly show a financially reliable or soluble party. Members are justified in asking why there are these financial irregularities and to call for proper accounts, receipts and explanations.
Politically, recent results show that the BNP are not benefitting from the Question Time exposure as they first thought. They lost 3 local by elections, lost a Town Councillor on Debden Council in Essex and at Eastwood and Whitebushes the BNP came bottom with 41 votes, even less than UKIP’s 125 (We speak, UKIP). There have been ructions in Liverpool BNP and accusations of state interference there. And to add to this, Nick Griffin usurped the custard suited Richard Barnbrook by contesting the Barking general election, seemingly without consultation of anyone but his little clique. That Barnbrook was chagrined is understandable if also amusing. Barnbrook has had the humiliation doubled recently by having to apologises at the London Assembly, albeit 3 months late, for lying about some made-up murders. Over the last few days the BNP have lost the Chris Jackson reform clique who defected to the NF and also their Rossendale organiser. In Stoke, the BNP council group leader has stepped down “over its future leadership and political direction.” This does not create confidence in what is fast becoming a wary electorate in the run up to the election. Any or all of these factors have greatly angered many BNP members and potential supporters who may either drop out or consider the NF as a viable White’s Only party.
The NF & BNP
There has also been gossip buzzing around the various forums that the NF were going to stand in the same wards as the BNP. If this were true then it would obviously split the small nationalist vote and help neither of them. The BNP and NF have potential and real constituents in the same places and they can ill afford to squabble over them. However, these are rumours. On the NF website, Morrison is disparaging about the effectiveness of electioneering (he failed to turn up to a count when he stood for election himself) and favours street actions, something akin to the EDL strategy (and there are links between the 2). Morrison has been knocking around long enough to know the NF have not got a chance against the BNP and standing NF candidates will dilute the vote and cost them their deposits. For Eddie, elections are a waste of time and of money that could be used for more liquid adventures.
On his blog, Lee Barnes reckons Morrison has cleared the way in the NF for Chris Jackson to take over following his defection from the BNP. We shall see if Morrison wants to give up the reins and if Jackson continues the non-electioneering route. If he favours elections then he will split the vote, something which the BNP see as treachery. Barnes also describes Morrison as “a man motivated mainly by spite against the BNP and hatred for past fall outs with BNP officials.” The BNP see the defectors to the NF as traitors and vote splitters whilst the NF see the BNP as beyond redemption over their admittance of non-whites move.
Money, Ego, State Or All 3?
So why has Morrison taken the NF over? There are several reasons not least the possibility of defectors joining and signing up for the (much cheaper) membership fees and all the other bits and pieces – runic badges, Tyndall karaoke videos – to swell the NF coffers. On VNNuk there is an unsubstantiated rumour that someone left a large legacy to the NF:
“I have heard this too and it came from someone in the NF about four months ago… Just about the time the NF got its first sudden influx of new members.”
And later on the same thread:
“EM … sees it as a source of funds, much as he has always seen any and every party he has split/destroyed. One thing is now indisputable - the EM NF have an agenda and that is to undermine the BNP.”
There is the added attraction of the Fuhrer mentality. Morrison is at the head of a party that has a long history and chequered reputation. He has a handful of sycophants around him that apparently cannot see how much of a danger he is. Given the beliefs that they espouse, this means that the Nazis tend to stick together in their own little drinking cliques, normal folks giving them a wide berth.
There has never been shortage of people accusing Morrison of being ‘state’, a splitter and of having passed on information to political opponents. There is a strong possibility of sabotaging the BNP’s election results by standing NF candidates and it could clearly be part of a larger agenda to wreck the BNP at the ballot box (that is, when they are not wrecking it for themselves). However,’ state asset’ accusations are frequently levelled at rivals on the right, along with ‘red’ and ‘nonce, so how seriously these are can only be proven in the long term. Will the NF split the BNP vote? Will the NF be wrecked like Morrison’s other ventures? Or both?
We can leave the last word to a VNNuk poster who says of defectors to the NF: “If they thought Griffin was bad let's hope they don't ask to see the NF's income/expenditure!!”
Malatesta
Crapulous Nazi Eddie Morison has achieved coup in the NF. Leader Tom Holmes has resigned according to both Lee Barnes’ blog and the VNNuk website. VNN also posted a screenshot showing that Morrison took over NF web domain May 2009. This is the first evidence of when he started to oust Holmes and his supporters and take over the NF himself. He organised a meeting back in September to which Holmes and his colleagues were not invited. Despite only being a probationary member Morrison and his clique deselected Holmes’s underling Bernard Franklin though retained Holmes as leader. For what it is worth, this is unconstitutional. Holmes, realising that now he is up against forces far greater than himself, has resigned.
The NF
It seems incredible that Holmes even allowed Morrison to join the NF (for the third time) but it also shows how he underestimated Morrison’s intentions. Morrison’s far right track record is available on the web and repeatedly demonstrates that he has joined or set-up many far right organisations that have either dissolved, fragmented or sacked him. Tom Holmes’ technophobia has contributed to his undoing. Holmes’ NF was very homespun indeed and his communiqués to the membership tended to be typewritten, photocopied and posted, which is both time consuming and hardly cost effective compared to a group email. Holmes’s antipathy to technology has meant that he is unaware of the many debates, fallouts and bickering that make the Nazi web forums so entertaining. When Morrison et al initiated their coup Holmes sent out a plea via a web savvy colleague telling NF members not to send cheques to anyone other than him. Eddie Morrison has tried this on before. When he quit the BPP, the mini-Nazi party had to move quick sharp and transfer all the cash into a new account lest Eddie donated it to the White Lightening cider company. Now, on the official NF website run by ‘Nice Guy Eddie’ cheques need to be sent to either Solihull or Leeds PO boxes. Eddie lives in Leeds. Holmes may well soldier on with the Real NF whilst Morrison lords it over the new version. However, given Holmes’ age and technophobia this is likely to fizzle out soon. Morrison understands the value of the web only too well.
The BNP
The BNP have been hit by several setbacks and embarrassments lately. Following Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time many felt that the BNP could tap into a groundswell of disillusionment amongst the electorate but after the fumes had dispersed, things have not been going to well. For a start Griffin and his cabal spend most of their time in Brussels, with Griffin speaking out against climate change in Copenhagen recently. Many posters on various far right forums see Griffin as an opportunist and a career politician (like Moseley before him, vacillating and publicity seeking).
The BNP has been under legal pressure to accept non-white members and many former supporters feel that Griffin has crumbled and accepted the decision too easily. With sleight of hand and some subtle calendar play he has also ensured that the membership will not change the decision when it votes on it in January. There is also the continuous appeals for money which many resent. The recent court case has set the BNP back considerably as well as initiating a rain forests worth of appeals to a heavily put upon support base. There are also questions over where that money goes exactly. The BNP raised £26, 550 for their ‘truth truck’ but it turns out that Griffin was actually renting it from BNP fixer James Dowson. So what happened to the rest of the money? After QT, Griffin announced that they had received calls from ‘thousands’ of potential members but due to the suspension of the membership list and the impending court case they have been unable to capitalise on it: these potential cash cows have yet to be subject to Griffin’s increasingly regular begging letters. There is also the late submission of the 2008 accounts which cost them £1,100 in fines and do not exactly show a financially reliable or soluble party. Members are justified in asking why there are these financial irregularities and to call for proper accounts, receipts and explanations.
Politically, recent results show that the BNP are not benefitting from the Question Time exposure as they first thought. They lost 3 local by elections, lost a Town Councillor on Debden Council in Essex and at Eastwood and Whitebushes the BNP came bottom with 41 votes, even less than UKIP’s 125 (We speak, UKIP). There have been ructions in Liverpool BNP and accusations of state interference there. And to add to this, Nick Griffin usurped the custard suited Richard Barnbrook by contesting the Barking general election, seemingly without consultation of anyone but his little clique. That Barnbrook was chagrined is understandable if also amusing. Barnbrook has had the humiliation doubled recently by having to apologises at the London Assembly, albeit 3 months late, for lying about some made-up murders. Over the last few days the BNP have lost the Chris Jackson reform clique who defected to the NF and also their Rossendale organiser. In Stoke, the BNP council group leader has stepped down “over its future leadership and political direction.” This does not create confidence in what is fast becoming a wary electorate in the run up to the election. Any or all of these factors have greatly angered many BNP members and potential supporters who may either drop out or consider the NF as a viable White’s Only party.
The NF & BNP
There has also been gossip buzzing around the various forums that the NF were going to stand in the same wards as the BNP. If this were true then it would obviously split the small nationalist vote and help neither of them. The BNP and NF have potential and real constituents in the same places and they can ill afford to squabble over them. However, these are rumours. On the NF website, Morrison is disparaging about the effectiveness of electioneering (he failed to turn up to a count when he stood for election himself) and favours street actions, something akin to the EDL strategy (and there are links between the 2). Morrison has been knocking around long enough to know the NF have not got a chance against the BNP and standing NF candidates will dilute the vote and cost them their deposits. For Eddie, elections are a waste of time and of money that could be used for more liquid adventures.
On his blog, Lee Barnes reckons Morrison has cleared the way in the NF for Chris Jackson to take over following his defection from the BNP. We shall see if Morrison wants to give up the reins and if Jackson continues the non-electioneering route. If he favours elections then he will split the vote, something which the BNP see as treachery. Barnes also describes Morrison as “a man motivated mainly by spite against the BNP and hatred for past fall outs with BNP officials.” The BNP see the defectors to the NF as traitors and vote splitters whilst the NF see the BNP as beyond redemption over their admittance of non-whites move.
Money, Ego, State Or All 3?
So why has Morrison taken the NF over? There are several reasons not least the possibility of defectors joining and signing up for the (much cheaper) membership fees and all the other bits and pieces – runic badges, Tyndall karaoke videos – to swell the NF coffers. On VNNuk there is an unsubstantiated rumour that someone left a large legacy to the NF:
“I have heard this too and it came from someone in the NF about four months ago… Just about the time the NF got its first sudden influx of new members.”
And later on the same thread:
“EM … sees it as a source of funds, much as he has always seen any and every party he has split/destroyed. One thing is now indisputable - the EM NF have an agenda and that is to undermine the BNP.”
There is the added attraction of the Fuhrer mentality. Morrison is at the head of a party that has a long history and chequered reputation. He has a handful of sycophants around him that apparently cannot see how much of a danger he is. Given the beliefs that they espouse, this means that the Nazis tend to stick together in their own little drinking cliques, normal folks giving them a wide berth.
There has never been shortage of people accusing Morrison of being ‘state’, a splitter and of having passed on information to political opponents. There is a strong possibility of sabotaging the BNP’s election results by standing NF candidates and it could clearly be part of a larger agenda to wreck the BNP at the ballot box (that is, when they are not wrecking it for themselves). However,’ state asset’ accusations are frequently levelled at rivals on the right, along with ‘red’ and ‘nonce, so how seriously these are can only be proven in the long term. Will the NF split the BNP vote? Will the NF be wrecked like Morrison’s other ventures? Or both?
We can leave the last word to a VNNuk poster who says of defectors to the NF: “If they thought Griffin was bad let's hope they don't ask to see the NF's income/expenditure!!”
Malatesta
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