It’s always a joy to see the antifascists getting a dose of indigestion.

In this case the target of their ire was Wigan’s Labour council because it had invited BNP leader Nick Griffin to town.

The boss of the ‘far-right’ party, accompanied by six minders, was among guests who turned up at St James’s Church, Orrell, last Sunday morning for new Mayor Coun Mike Winstanley’s traditional civic service.

The British National Party has been routinely lambasted by politicians of varying hues in the Wigan council chamber to the point of passing motions condemning its electoral campaigns and successes.

But invitations were sent out from the town hall to all North West MPs and MEPs – and Mr Griffin numbers himself among the latter since the last Euro elections.

The authority would not be drawn today as to whether his inclusion was deliberate or an oversight.

But pressure group Wigan Against Racism today said the BNP boss should have been snubbed – and in not doing so, the local authority was helping to “normalise” his politics.

The organisation’s spokeswoman, Fran McCaul, said: “What on earth is going on? This is highly distasteful.

“Wigan Council makes pronouncements about being anti-racist and then goes and completely contradicts itself.

“You can’t treat Nick Griffin like anyone else. His party is not like any other party. Saying he is automatically on the guest list is a weak response.

“There are exceptions to every rule and there should be a discussion about who gets invited.

“Nick Griffin being welcomed to events like this undermines the anti-racist movement and helps to normalise his type of politics.”

But Wigan Council’s executive director of business support services, David Smith, said: “We would like to reiterate the council’s pledge on anti-racism.

“The council is committed to respect for all ethnic groups and will encourage others to do the same.

“We are totally committed to an anti-racist future and we will support all those who suffer racism by doing everything in our power to tackle it

“We can confirm that our invitation list for the mayor’s Civic Sunday includes local constituency MPs and all North West MEPs.

“It was on this basis alone that Mr Griffin received an invitation.”

Charles Mather, Wigan and Leigh BNP group organiser, said: “I am not surprised Mr Griffin accepted the invitation as he is a hands-on MEP and takes his duties to his constituency seriously and would always endeavour to attend constituency functions if possible in spite of his busy schedule.

“I compliment Wigan Metro on this sudden concern for the democratic process in contrast to their previous use of council premises to attack our progress.

“Mr Griffin – as an elected MEP with over 7,000 votes in our area – has every right to receive and accept invitations to events such as this.

“We have a right to have our views represented and for our MEP to be invited to functions in our area.

“I take issue with the unelected Wigan Against Racism group’s definition of us as racist when our only aim is to protect and preserve the community and culture our forefathers worked and died to bequeath us.”

Mr Griffin also received support from a member of the St James’s congregation.

Local man Shaun Campbell was there with his young family when he saw Mr Griffin sitting near the front.

He said: “At first I thought it was someone who looked like him, but after mass we saw Mr Griffin’s bodyguards standing at the gates with the road blocked off by the police.

“Then I knew it had to be him so I waited for him to leave. Being a member of the BNP, I was chuffed to see him here in our village. He’s the last person I would have expected to see here.

“I had a little chat with him and he is a really nice bloke, had plenty of time to speak to us and even stopped for a picture. He and his bodyguards even took an interest in my baby son.”

Conservative Coun Winstanley, who did not draw up the guest list and who says he is trying to remain politically neutral during his year in office, declined to comment.

A piece of good news for a change.

Also it’s interesting to note that Wigan Today reported the news in a balanced way, quite unusual for a local paper that is usually hateful toward us, (I see they still use the somewhat unflattering photos though) and more interesting still is that they mentioned the positive opinion the local man had when he talked to Nick Griffin.

Just a question: Have any other MPs in the area made a good impression on local people, and have they spent any time talking with them in the way our Chairman did?

GIUSEPPE DE SANTIS

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I take a vicarious pleasure in seeing traitors like Jon Cruddas running scared.

The Dagenham & Rainham South MP it would seem is extremely concerned that cuts in funding for new schools will mean that fewer are going to be built in Barking & Dagenham.

In an interview with the Barking & Dagenham Post, (BD Post) the Labour MP complained that austerity measures are going to affect children and their families, and the borough can ill afford it because in the last seven years the birth rate has increased by 50%, and more immigrant families and their children are moving to the borough.

Mr Cruddas as always was hesitant to admit that he and his party had created the problem in the first place.

It’s a known fact that when the BNP had 12 councillors elected in 2006 the Labour Party pulled out all the stops to increase the number of immigrants in the borough to dilute BNP support.

This swamping of the borough and huge increase in population (demographic change) has placed public services under enormous strain resulting in local families finding it increasingly difficult to get their children into a school near their homes.

So long as the population increases (and don’t forget that most immigrant families tend to have more children than indigenous ones) there will always be a shortage of places, no matter how many schools are built.

However unfair this budget, the truth is that without demographic change there would be no shortage of school places. Idiot Cruddass and his scummy labour party created this problem. The blame lies solely at their door.

But what really worries Jon Cruddas (and he admitted it to the BD post) is that without those schools, young (enriching) families will have no incentive in moving to Barking & Dagenham.

This means that the white British may still be the majority in four years time, when local elections are to be held, and if the ‘natives’ awake then the BNP may well regain the seats it lost on May the 6th.

Not only will Labour have fewer enriching voters, some having departed again for sunnier climes, but it might lose the support of the huge number of council workers that Labour have also betrayed.

They feared a BNP controlled council would sack many of them, and so they mobilised the electorate to vote Labour, but as the council is almost bankrupt they will probably be fired anyway.

A distant prospect but it is to be hoped that Cruddas and his assorted cronies have serious nightmares.

GIUSEPPE DE SANTIS

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