Oddballs who bankroll BNP

Sunday Mirror | Sunday, 25 October 2009 | Click here for original article

The BNP is funded by an eccentric band of supporters.

Sheila Butler, the 83-year-old great-niece of First World War hero General Kitchener, has boosted its coffers by £11,072 over the past two years.

She said: "I don't believe in mass immigration and would send them all back.

Nick Griffin is a patriot and has come in our hour of need like Churchill."

Fruit farmer Adam Champneys, 71, has given more than £15,000 this year alone. His wife Jan claimed Griffin's Question Time mauling was a "witchhunt". She said: "I think the whole thing was dreadful."

The party's most generous donor is secretive landowner Charles Wentworth.

In his mid-40s, he has donated more than £38,000 to Griffin's campaigns, although his last recorded contribution was two years ago. Wentworth lives in a Victorian manor in Suffolk, where he also owns the village green and hall. When contacted yesterday he said: "I didn't watch Question Time. I have no other comment to make."