BNP accused of muscling in on campaign for wounded soldier

The Times by Fiona Hamilton | Monday, 15 February 2010 | Click here for original article

The British National Party was last night accused of plumbing new depths after it hijacked an online campaign to celebrate an amputee soldier’s birthday. Military officials described the political stunt as shameful and condemned the far-Right party for exploiting the predicament of wounded soldiers.

In its latest attempt to use the military for political gain, the BNP usurped an internet campaign to gather birthday greetings for Fusilier Thomas James, who was badly wounded last year in Afghanistan.

The Times has learnt that the military support group behind the campaign was approached by a BNP official who offered to send out an e-mail appeal to tens of thousands of people. However he is said not to have disclosed his political affiliation.

The e-mail was then sent from a BNP address to party supporters. It asked for the birthday cards to be sent to BNP headquarters, raising fears that they would be used for a political stunt. Nick Griffin, the party’s leader, highlighted the campaign on his Facebook page. Military officials accused the BNP of a lack of transparency and said a vulnerable soldier was being unfairly linked with the party.

A senior military source told The Times: “Where a political party uses sleight of hand to gain an advantage like that, it is completely out of order. It makes us very uncomfortable.”

In October a group of former generals gave warning that the BNP was exploiting the Armed Forces by highlighting its donations to military charities and repeatedly using imagery of soldiers.

Major-General Patrick Cordingley, one of the group and the commander of the Desert Rats in the Gulf War, said last night that the BNP was “stooping very low indeed”. He told The Times: “I am irritated by the way they are using members of the Armed Forces and not being transparent in their aims.

“One would be very concerned that this young man would now be associated with the BNP when I am quite certain that is far from his mind.”

Sir Richard Dannatt, the former head of the Army, said: “It is entirely shameful that wounded soldiers are used for political purposes.”

The online effort for Fusilier James was started by the “British Armed Forces... The best in the World... Support Group”, the organisation behind a recent campaign that stopped Muslim hardliners marching through Wootton Bassett.

Joanna Cleary, its founder, said that it was a “nice and genuine” attempt to surprise Fusilier James, who lost an arm and an eye during a bombing in Helmand province last August, on his 21st birthday last Friday.

Ms Cleary was approached by Simon Bennett, the BNP’s webmaster, who offered to use a mailing list to spread the word. She said she had “no idea” he was a member of the BNP and did not agree for the party to be affiliated with the campaign.

“I am absolutely furious that something genuine has been made political. Soldiers do the job that most of us wouldn’t do. Any political party that uses them to forward their agenda should be ashamed,” she said. Fusilier James could not be contacted for comment.

James Bethell, from Nothing British, an organisation that campaigns against the BNP, said that the party was taking advantage of the public affection for war heroes.

The BNP has repeatedly said that it will use veteran and military issues during the general election campaign, and has a strategy of cloaking itself in the military. It named its campaign for the European elections, in which it won two seats and nearly a million votes, the “Battle for Britain”. Its campaign logo was the Spitfire and it regularly evokes the “spirit of the Blitz” on its website. The party has also highlighted on its website individual donations by its members to organisations including the Royal British Legion and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

The Times reported last year how charities were concerned that individual donations were being used for political gain, placing them in an awkward position because it was impossible to track the origin of payments. Mr Griffin repeatedly wears a poppy badge despite objections by the Royal British Legion.