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FeaturesYou are in: London > News > London Elections 2008 > Features > BNP candidate: Can you define racism for me? ![]() BNP candidate Richard Barnbrook BNP candidate: Can you define racism for me?Interviewing the BNP is like waiting in the queue for a rollercoaster; You know it's safe but there's still a frisson of excitement. The BNP is trying to rebrand itself but, for many, they remain firmly on the far-right of the political spectrum. The intrigue is heightened by the shambolic process undertaken to arrange an interview with the BNP's mayoral candidate, Richard Barnbrook. On the first occasion, Mr Barnbrook forgets about the interview altogether, leaving your reporter stranded in a Westminster pub. When the interview is re-arranged, there are two midnight phone calls the night before and the location is changed once and then changed again. Should we talk about the weather?Eventually, on a crisp morning in Victoria Tower Gardens by the Houses of Parliament, the elusive Mr Barnbrook, 46, strides purposefully into view. However, before the interview can begin we need to wait for several awkward minutes because a cameraman from BNP TV is coming along to film the proceedings. Inevitably, the stilted small talk turns to the weather. Once the interview finally gets underway, the reality is far worse than all the cloak and daggers stuff would suggest. The British National Party's candidate for Mayor of London, it transpires, is perfectly pleasant. From left to rightWhatever your stereotypical image of a BNP politician would be, Richard Barnbrook, is not it. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Art, he has lectured and taught in Asia, Europe and the United States. Indeed, if he is so far removed from the BNP archetype, it could be something to do with the fact that he wasn't always a man of the right. "During the 80s I was a card carrying member of the Labour Party in Lewisham, the borough I was born in," he said. "In 1986 Kinnock's Labour Party was doing nothing about law and order getting out of control in Lewisham and about the influx of immigration into the borough. They were doing nothing proactive against Thatcher's regime. So I simply cut my card up." "It wasn't until 1999 that I joined the BNP. I was walking around this fair city and seeing an element of disaffection and disassociation of the local people in London. I felt that this is wrong and something had to happen." Image is everythingMr Barnbrook says he had no concerns about joining the BNP, despite the negative press attention that the party inevitably attracts. When pushed about various BNP members who have had serious convictions, this is what he has to say: "OK, there have been a few football misdemeanours in the past, but if you put it in perspective and look at our party's mishaps against the three major parties that pales into insignificance." Panorama: Under the SkinIn 2001, a BBC Panorama investigation looked at the BNP leadership and some of their rank-and-file members. It found that criminality was rife within the Party and often went much further than the football hooliganism that Mr Barnbrook alludes to. According to Panorama, six of the BNP's 15-man advisory council, which oversees the Party's policies and priorities, had criminal records – some of them for violent crimes. For example:
Rebranding the partyMr Barnbrook vehemently denies that the BNP is now a racist or extremist party. "I would really like someone to define what it means to be racist." What does it mean to you? "If someone says one creed or culture is better than another then that is a racial issue. We have never made those statements at all. We say that each nation and each culture has its own identity living within the environment that it best fits." When Mr Barnbrook was the BNP's regional organiser for London a few years ago, he says that he shut down two branches in West London because they were 'making quite repulsive comments.' The party now has a policy of 'two knocks [racist comments] and you're out.' ![]() Mr Barnbrook & Rodin's The Burghers of Calais "I think we've changed our image around - if it needed to be done - particularly in the last four or five years under Nick Griffin," says Mr Barnbrook. "Now those little concerns are nothing." On its website, the BNP maintains that it is acting in the interests of white Britons and that this is not any different from groups who offer support or represent ethnic minority groups, such as the Muslim Council of Britain or the Black Londoners Forum. On face value, this seems a reasonable comparison but it is slightly disingenuous: The BNP exists to occupy political office and is not a special interest or support group. British cultureA lot of people say that the diversity of London's population is one of its greatest strengths and what makes this city so unique. What does Mr Barnbrook love about the capital? "It is the enrichment of the different people from all over Great Britain into London to make this capital city what it is. What's important for me is the majority and it's the people from within Britain coming to London to work and going back to their identity." How would you define British culture or identity? "Let's go back to basics. The values are that a handshake is an Englishman's word. It bonds you to a commitment and is not something that can be turned around. English culture is a history of 1000 years of Western Europe that has a common ground and common religion." Trying to pin down Britain's cultural values has taxed many great minds in recent years. And, for sure, Britain has an awful lot to be proud of. From the Magna Carta to the British genius for codifying the laws of sports that are now played all over the world, this small island has consistently punched above its weight. Great BritonsPerhaps, the real fabric of British values can be found in the legacies of the greatest Britons. Isaac Newton can lay claim to discovering modern science, Charles Dickens popularised the novel (not to mention modern notions of Christmas), The Beatles created pop music and Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. The list could go on and on.
Shouldn't we be proud that the achievements of these great Britons now belong to the whole world? Furthermore, couldn't a similar argument be made for London itself? "I'm not open to the whole globe trotting..." replies Mr Barnbrook. "People can visit this beautiful city; see the history and heritage and then go back home." ImmigrationAlthough the Mayor of London doesn't have any real power on immigration matters, Mr Barnbrook is running because of what he perceives as the unequal treatment given to minority groups and what he calls the 'majority.' "Under Livingstone's programme the minority groups are getting much more than the majority. He is appeasing the minority at the expense of the majority. I think that is tits up and back to front. I think if you please the majority, then the minority will find a place in a more harmonic society." "Crime, regardless of what the figures say, is going up and it is the new people coming in. These new waves of people in the last 10 years are pulling it apart and Livingstone is going to pander more and more to these small minority groups." Has London not been enriched by other cultures? "No, I think it creates a poor diversity. That aspect of diversity has been turned upside down because more is being given to a few. It doesn't help the natural flow of diversity here. So the enrichment of a foreign embodiment isn't great." How can a BNP Mayor be a Mayor for all Londoners? "Well, politics is politics. You can put your views forward; however, when it comes down to individuals needing assistance, anybody and everybody should be able to help them. That is the great thing about Britons: Their encompassment, their benevolence to actually assist people." The economic case for immigrationThe TUC, who represent the employees, and the CBI, who represent the employers, make for unlikely bedfellows. But in the last 12 months they have both issued reports making the economic argument for immigration. The CBI concluded that migrants are playing a vital part in overcoming one of the biggest barriers to business expansion by making up for the shortage of skilled workers in London. Separately, the TUC study 'The economics of migration' found that migrant workers paid more in taxes than the value of the public services they received in return. "That is an absolute and total lie," counters Mr Barnbrook. "It's a total and absolute fallacy. The more people that come into the country, the more jobs we have got to create to support that infrastructure." A message to Londoners"Walk around the city, look around at what's going on but make your own decision," says Mr Barnbrook. "Consider, is this the city you really want to live in?" It is, unashamedly, the politics of fear. At the last Mayoral election they were desperately close to winning a seat on the London Assembly. Since then they have had 12 councillors elected in Barking and Dagenham - Mr Barnbrook is the leader of the BNP group on the council – making them the largest opposition party. Whether you are a supporter or a detractor of the BNP, fear may be the one thing you have in common after May's election.
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