BNP Holocaust denier sacked

| Thursday, 8 June 2006 Source: Searchlight

A BNP council election candidate has been sacked as an assistant warden at a Plymouth University hall of residence because of the racist contents of his weblog.

Liam Birch, who is standing in a by-election in Southway ward on 22 June, came to the attention of the Monitoring Group Rural Racism Project in Plymouth after his nomination was announced. At first the university refused to act, saying: "The BNP is a legitimate political party and the student in question is entitled to exercise his political preferences". However the university promised to "closely monitor this situation".

The Monitoring Group approached Searchlight, which provided it with evidence of Birch's offensive racism and extreme antisemitism. We found a series of statements Birch had posted on a student forum denying that the Nazis exterminated millions of Jews in gas chambers, using arguments from the discredited nazi Leuchter Report. He also denied that Nazi guards enjoyed watching people suffer and blamed the Second World War on "worldwide Judea".

The Monitoring group made prompt and efficient use of this information to persuade the university's Vice Chancellor, Professor Roland Levinsky, to sack Birch.

In a statement issued today, the university said, "Mr Liam Birch has now been relieved of his responsibilities as an Assistant Warden at the university, following an investigation into the contents of his personal web-blog. The university in no way condones the actions of this student and is clear that the blog is highly offensive and contrary to our equality and diversity ethos. Mr Birch met with university staff yesterday and has agreed to remove the offensive material."

Birch, who is studying for a BSc in sociology, has been seen selling the BNP's monthly newspaper, The Voice of Freedom, on campus. He is on good terms with the BNP leader Nick Griffin, with whom he no doubt discusses the finer points of Holocaust denial.