Bennett, Commission, and Hypocrisy
This is from a pro-BNP source saying that it
was all about money. It does admit to the rather charmless existence of Jim
Dowson.
Tensions between BNP webmaster Simon
Bennett and the BNP leadership exploded into open hostility yesterday
when Bennett - a Nick Griffin loyalist! - briefly pulled the plug on
the BNP website before restoring it in response (according to one of
his friends) to a flood of calls and emails from BNP members.
Below follows the full text of
Bennett's statement as it appeared briefly on his own website. Our
copy is the rendering which appears on the Vote No To The BNP website.
----------------------------
Marmite-Gate: The Truth behind the
Spin.
This will do doubt come as a shock to many of those that read this,
particularly those who really don’t want to hear it. However, I have a
duty to the members and my conscience, but most of all – to my wife
and children to tell the truth behind the spin. The timing of this is
also a tragic shame, but I had no say in this matter, its planning,
execution or its timing, as you will soon see. So please don’t fall
for the old “He must be a red, planted to mess up the election”
chestnut. If anyone sabotaged this election, it was Jim Dowson.
Judge that for yourselves by reading on…
This whole thing was a very deliberate copyright infringement designed
to create publicity and a fund raising opportunity. What’s worse, is
that I believe I was deliberately put in the frame and left to carry
the responsibility whilst those that were responsible went to ground
for four days leaving me to stew in my own fear and uncertainty.
The publicity Nick and Jim were (and still are) hoping for means
nothing. What IS important is the NETT BENEFIT of that publicity, and
I can show that the nett benefit was next to nothing. The website
traffic hardly increased at all, the online donations and membership
applications remained almost non-existent and the real broadcast
bought no more traffic to the website than the 2009 EU broadcast. In
actual fact, the most successful publicity the party has had in my
time was without question – Question Time.
Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin will have you believe that this stunt and
the repercussions were all finely tuned, worked out and that
everything was all under control. The truth is that they had no idea
of the severity of the situation. I was served the injunction as a
named defendant and the case against me for copyright infringement
appeared cut and dry. If I failed to comply with the injunction I
could have faced prison. Even if I complied with the injunction I was
facing a massive fine and all the legal costs and associated court
fees.
The only legal representation provided to me was from the party’s
legal advisor on the day she realised things had gone wrong, and she
was in a state of panic advising me only to deny everything.
Unilever’s own lawyers make reference to how panicky and stressed she
was. The case against Nick was “as a representative of the party” and
Nick often brags that he has no assets in his own name to be sued for.
Also, the BNP is an ‘Unincorporated Association, so to my knowledge,
those facing the financial costs were myself directly and / or the
party members.
Furthermore, in the judge’s transcript it is stated that the case
against me personally is solid as the broadcast was posted under my
name.
Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson deliberately set out to pick this fight
with Unilever – not me. I advised strongly against it. Nick proceeded
to goad Unilever into action when Unilever wanted a quick settlement
and seemed happy with an undertaking not to do it again. That wasn’t
enough for Nick, he wanted a public fight and a media circus (one that
I was never given a choice in). I did not want to run the gauntlet of
TV cameras and publicity for the sake of my children and wife, but I
was never consulted or asked. It was the “Nick Griffin Show” –
fighting the evil capitalist empire single handed in order to save the
nation on our behalf, and he was not passing up the opportunity of
more publicity and victimhood status. He picked this fight, not me,
and certainly not Unilever.
The problem is that you will pay for it now, as could I, if not with
my liberty, freedom or possible bankruptcy, but now certainly with my
position as your webmaster. What a result this fight has achieved! A
bloody disaster. But then it had disaster written all over it from the
outset, but the £120,000 p.a. ‘Industry Expert’ knew better.
By now, Unilever’s lawyers had their teeth in and they were not going
to let go. The excuse Jim Dowson gave for this whole sorry affair was
that “a third party joker” had uploaded the video, yet this was
clearly contradicted by Nick and Jim Dowson in the evidence Unilever’s
lawyers had obtained for themselves via conversations from Nick and
Jim.
Essentially, I was up the proverbial creek and expected by our
Chairman and Jim “The Industry Expert” Dowson to go to court and lie
through my teeth in order to bail them out of a ridiculous hole they
had dug themselves into. I had warned them not to proceed, but both
were insistent that this is a brilliant publicity stunt deliberately
designed to create publicity (and ultimately generate funds) as was
proven by the immediate fund raising appeal sent out that day. They
were under the impression that it would be a breeze and that
Unilever’s lawyers would issue an injunction and writ for copyright
infringement and then immediately back off once Nick threatened to eat
a jar of Marmite on live TV. How pathetic and desperate. Perhaps if
the whole thing was done legally and executed by real experts and not
Laurel and Hardy, it may have worked to our political advantage.
After a weekend of worrying myself sick, with my wife in bits and to
use Nick’s own words – Unilever’s lawyers crawling all over ME like a
rash, I took the only sensible and legal option available. To tell the
truth. I was not prepared to spend five years in prison for perjury
just to protect the financial interests of fools. To be honest, the
truth is long overdue anyway as there are a shocking amount of highly
questionable shenanigans going on at BNP HQ including threats of
violence against good people such as myself and the loss of jobs /
contracts /positions if we don’t ‘Play ball’.
In short, with one of the idiots responsible for this expensive little
caper laying low and sunning himself in Spain with the £120,000+ per
year he is paid from your donations to pull stunts like this, and with
the others laying low, I decided to protect myself and family and not
carry the can for their sheer greed and incompetence or rely on their
incompetent advice or inabilities, so I told Unilever’s lawyers the
truth. Lying to the Royal High Courts of Justice was never an option
for me.
Jim Dowson constantly makes references to his Loyalist ‘connections’
and ‘Irish murder gangs’ in the hope of intimidating people and just
about everyone bar me is terrified of him and lives in fear of losing
their income if they cross him or do not ‘put up and shut up’ or turn
a blind eye and deaf ear.
Unfortunately for him, I can earn more money outside of the party
which renders that particular threat null and void. The physical
threats of violence also back-fired on him as I refused to be
intimidated, as did the bribes of ‘a slice of the pie’. Jim Dowson now
controls just about every aspect of the party structure (including the
recently acquired print services) and also the party’s finances with
one exception. You’ve guessed it – the website!
Jim has been at loggerheads with me for over a year and has tried
every trick in the book to gain control of the website so he can bolt
it onto his spam-machine without any idea of how websites work. I have
always been against it as I feel it should be first and foremost a
political tool, not a money making machine.
He has tried undermining it with his call centre staff informing
callers not to donate or join online as the website was insecure and
that their £100,000 telephone system was the only secure way to join
or donate. He tried bribery and Nick also tried to convince me that
I’d be better protected legally from copyright infringements if the
website was made into a limited company. When presented with the
financial implications and costs and also the lack of protection it
actually offered and further presented with the idea of not infringing
copyrights in the first place, he backed down.
So, here we are today…
A deliberate copyright infringement mysteriously posted IN MY NAME!
Wow, isn’t that a coincidence? On Tuesday this week (27th) I had Nick
on my case again insisting that in order to properly ‘protect me’ in
future he and Jim will set the website up as a limited company after
the election and I should remain just a little anonymous monkey in the
background doing all the monkey work whilst they take the very noble
burden of risk (and potential profit of course). Naturally, after this
scare I’m bound to agree, surely?
Just imagine it… All your web donations and membership fees not just
now being carved up in commission between Paul Golding, Jim Dowson,
Jenny Griffin and possibly several others, all of whom do virtually or
absolutely nothing to generate the funds, but now you may well have to
pay legal fees, chartered accountancy fees, salaries and possibly
vehicle costs, travel, stationery and no-end of other ‘legitimate’
Ltd. Company’s business expenditure!
Here’s a better idea. Stop acting like amateurs and stop blatantly
breaking the law for financial gain with no political advancement.
That way I could continue to develop the website at the minimal fee I
charge, and apart from every man and his dog taking a ’slice of the
pie’, the rest at least goes directly to its intended destination.
Furthermore, the website can be developed freely by a decent, honest
and experienced web developer and not under the control and
dictatorship of a catering-salesman with as much experience in web
development as I have in rocket science!
You’re the members and this is YOUR party, YOUR website and I worked
for YOU, not Nick, not Jim, not Gerry Gable, not MI5, CI5, MFI or
anyone else . Let the smear stories commence. This will probably all
be blamed on me being a red, a mole, a spy, a state asset, or
work-overload, lack of vitamins, health, state of mind, paranoia, poor
diet or just plain old mental instability. Please, let me assure you
all that I am none of the above or suffering from any of the above
quoted inflictions. If I was it must be highly contagious, as this
party has lost so many good people for the above afflictions. Funny
that isn’t it? It’s always everyone else being a mole that’s the
problem- never Nick’s own incompetence!
Jim Dowson has a history of copyright infringement and is not by any
means an “industry expert” in any field whatsoever that I can find, as
can be seen by googling his name or the Pro Life League or Precious
Life UK. His only industry experience is as a ‘catering salesman’.
Many other marketing and fund-raising business ventures he has been
involved in have ended up dissolved without ever filing accounts. With
a history like that, it doesn’t bode well for the future of the party
really. Many of his wild claims of success can be proven as bare faced
lies. He has a severe habit of exaggerating figures and then
contradicting himself later on. His incompetence is almost as
astounding as his arrogance. This I’m afraid to say, is the man in
whom our Chairman has invested the future of our party and hopes for
our country.
I tried to raise my concerns about Jim Dowson, his past and his
continual bad practices and mistakes with the Chairman over a year
ago. Myself, Peter Mullins and Mike Howson were subjected to what was
a court style hearing in which we were told in no uncertain terms to
mind our own business and if anyone picks a fight with Jim they pick a
fight with him (Nick Griffin). Unfortunately, the fight was already
well under way. Mike Howson, it should be pointed out, has stated
since that his “guts turned to water” that day. He has been Jim
Dowson’s poodle ever since and with the exception of myself, just
about anyone who has ever dared to cross swords with Jim have been
removed from their positions, sacked or expelled. We cannot afford to
lose any more good quality people only to be replaced by buffoons,
morons, yes-men or those too afraid to stand up for what is right and
proper.
Both Nick and Jim (and a few other gullible fools) will continuously
point to the massive success and growth of the party over the “Dowson
Era”, but you need to look a little closer and analyse this claim or
even break it down completely. Firstly, to make such a claim is a
complete smack in the face for all the decent and honest activists and
members that have worked their fingers to the bone and walked the
streets until their feet were blistered. It also suggests that my work
over the last two and half years, and our army of blogger’s efforts
have provided little or no gain.
The simple fact is this; In the current political climate, and with
mainstream parties in disarray over immigration, the expenses scandal,
global warming scams, economic disaster and a new influx of members
from a new and fresh professional website with no-end of social
networking you could rightly expect natural rapid growth. The growth
to which Jim refers has very little, if anything to do with anything
he has implemented whatsoever. All Jim has done is arrive in the right
place at the right time and spot an opportunity to fleece money from
good people by preying on their hopes and fears. Let’s be honest here,
a trained monkey could write a more professional fund raising appeal
than the current “1980 Readers Digest” style begging letter we
currently all have to cringe over and suffer.
Then we need to question where the money raised is being spent or
invested. The vast majority of the “Admin Infrastructure” to which Jim
claims to have expertly set-up is nothing more than a basic
requirement to any business or organisation and one of which almost
anyone with half a brain or business experience would recognise and
implement easily, cost effectively and securely. The current way in
which this infrastructure is organised relies on and is driven by
financial gain, greed and a competitive commission based environment.
Just the sort of environment I would expect from any sales-based
organisation. This party is now being driven by money – not politics
or ideology. This is fundamentally wrong and will prove to be our
failure. Of course we need funds to survive, but when our motivations,
aspirations and hopes are driven by or dictated by finances, then we
are on a collision course with failure.
In the “Real World” of business, turnover means nothing, what matters
is profit. Profit stems growth, product development, training and
staff development. Ten million pounds of turnover is worthless if our
expenditure is eleven million, as are all the offices Jim cares to
open in order to impress the sheeple. Jim constantly crows about how
much money we turn over, yet fails to address the profit margin, where
that profit (which does not exist) is spent, and where it is invested.
We are told and expected to believe that all the party finances are
funnelled through Jim’s shady business as no-one will deal with the
party. This is a nonsense and nothing more than a smokescreen designed
to stop inquisitive people questioning or looking deeper into the
whole set-up.
If Nick thinks he has secured any party assets or property that has
been purchased and held in the name of Jim Dowson’s Adlorries Ltd by
appointing his daughter as a director, then I am sorry to point out
that he may just have had the wool well and truly pulled over his
eyes. Jenny is a director indeed, but has no share capital whatsoever
and therefore has no claim to the company’s assets, finances or
profits.
This party needs a clean-up if it is EVER to be taken seriously as a
political force. I’ve started the ball rolling, it is now in the hands
of the good, honest members that have the courage to face up to the
facts and reality of what we are faced with. It is also up to the
senior members and Advisory Council to stand up and be counted.
Failure to face these issues now – and head on, will result in
colossal and terminal failure. It is also in the hands of Nick Griffin
to do the right thing and allow this party to develop on a solid base
built on integrity, skill and transparency.
I think I can assume the Chairman will no longer be requiring my
services, so all that is left for me to say is that it has been an
absolute honour and a pleasure working with and for the decent and
honest members, but an absolute chore, no, nightmare, working with
Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson.
Coming Soon on www.SimonBennett.co.uk/Twitter & Facebook:
Jim Dowson and the £10,000 party laptops – you paid for – (£3,499 RRP)
– that were also available for free with a mobile phone dongle!
The website donation thermometer appeal for the £22k Truth Truck (book
value £8k) that actually raised over £80k.
The website DDoS attack that become ‘The World’s Biggest Cyber Attack
known to the Universe’ and which needed more industry experts than
NASA to resolve. Funded to the tune of £ thousands by the members.
Actual cost: £750 to a 19 year old genius that lives at home with his
parents!
Jim Dowson’s fixation with and history of infringing copyrights and
breaking the data protections act.
The Jim Dowson £21,000 ’state of the art’ database system paid for by
you. Also available from PC World for £156 inc VAT. Superior and FREE
database systems were offered by me but were rejected for no logical
reasons.
The phone bugging, spyware software, key loggers and paranoia that
infects the leadership.
and lots, LOTS more…
Everything I claim in this post can be supported by evidence. I leave
you with these tasters to bring you up to speed with Jim “The Industry
Expert” Dowson;
From www.123people.co.uk
An Observer investigation today
raises serious concerns about the operations of the LifeLeague, the
militant anti-abortion group that has hijacked Britain’s pro-life
debate.
The concerns come as it emerges that a rival pro-life organisation is
considering legal action against the group’s founder, James Dowson,
for alleged breach of copyright.
Dowson, 43, is the public face of the league. He regularly appears on
television to pronounce abortion a sin. With his hard-hitting
campaigns and highly provocative tactics, such as publishing the home
addresses of abortion clinic staff, he ensures the league is often in
the headlines. This weekend its members are out in strength, joining
other pro-life organisations at demonstrations to mark the 40th
anniversary of the Abortion Act.
Little is known about Dowson. It is reported that he lives in Scotland
and is a Protestant minister. Neither, it transpires, is strictly
true. Dowson has never been ordained as a minister. And although he
claims to live in Glasgow, he spends most of his time in Northern
Ireland where land registry records show he owns a buy-to-let property
in Comber, a small town in County Down. Dowson, his wife, Anne, and
their son, James, 20, who bought a title and calls himself the Laird
of Glencairn, actually live at another address in County Down, a
four-bedroom semi in Ballygowan. Dowson also has a house in
Cumbernauld, Glasgow, where he owns a mission hall.
The LifeLeague’s website pledges to spend donations ‘wisely’ but
tracing where the money goes is difficult. Documents at Companies
House show Dowson originally set up the league as a private company
but it remains dormant and has never filed meaningful accounts.
Instead it is run as a society, which means it only has to share its
accounts with its members. ‘We do not publish our accounts as that
would play into the hands of the pro-abortionists,’ Dowson said.
Nor is it clear where the league is based. Its offices are usually
listed at a service address in Piccadilly, London. But the reality is
Dowson operates out of an office in east Belfast where he is also
involved in a support network for victims of the Troubles.
It has been alleged that Dowson, who has a tattoo bearing the words
‘Abronhill Protestant Boys Flute Band’, produced music cassettes
during the 1990s promoting the loyalist cause. ‘I was in a flute
band,’ said Dowson, a former member of the hardline Protestant group,
the Loyal Orange Lodge of Scotland. ‘But then so were thousands of
other people. My enemies have stretched this to suggest I supported
the paramilitaries. It’s utter nonsense.’
Dowson has addressed a far-right conference in London and last year he
invited Nick Griffin, head of the British National Party, to Belfast.
‘We invited all the parties to Belfast to explain their position on
abortion,’ he said. Dowson denies he is a far-right sympathiser. ‘I
refuse nobody,’ he said. ‘I am a Christian Socialist. I find the whole
of the right-wing utterly ridiculous.’
Despite the league’s claims that it is a large-scale organisation with
thousands of members, most of its work is carried out by Dowson, his
sister-in-law, Marion, and his wife.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, another pro-life
group, is considering legal action against Dowson for allegedly using
some of its literature in league campaigns. ‘There is a dispute
between us relating to intellectual property and it is in the hands of
the lawyers,’ said John Smeaton, SPUC’s director. The Christian
Institute also has concerns the LifeLeague has used its literature.
Dowson denies the claims.
Daily Telegraph April 2nd 2006:
James Dowson does not concern
himself with moral qualms. The consequences of his inflammatory
comments, he believes, are not something with which he should be
unduly bothered.
His stance, he says, is unequivocal: “I don’t suggest – or ever
condone – violence. I advocate nothing that is out with the law. I
most certainly do not urge people to send abusive letters or emails to
these people.” (But he’s pretty prolific with the abusive emails
himself).
The events of the past week, in which Mr Dowson and his UK Life League
have been criticised in the media, have buoyed his belief that the end
justifies the means. “We have got column inches, our enemies are
running scared,” he says.
Mr Dowson sees it all as a triumph. He makes no bones about it: the
name of the game is publicity. Yes, he happily acknowledges, as a
Glasgow Protestant he once belonged to the Orange Order and, yes, he
has two convictions (now spent) for breach of the peace.
In the next few weeks, he also hopes to have a fleet of lorries on the
road across the country, which he will use to picket abortion clinics.
(One of which he “sold” to the BNP.)
Final Message to Nick:
Do not send your ‘heavies’ or ageing goon-squad to my door (as is
standard practice) as I possess no party property or assets, and you
know it. If you do, they will be broadcast live on video to several
high profile websites. I will post the SQL dump of your website to
you, as I am legally obliged to do. I will also release the domain to
the TAG of your choice whenever you provide it to me. That is the end
of my legal obligation to you as I have always made clear.
----------------------------------
On the BDF forum, Bennett later made this interesting post:
Evidence from the server company
alerting me to the illegal downloading of the entire [BNP] site:
I noticed this though which is rather odd:
> May 4 16:25:20 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/alby-walker-nick-griffin-300x186.jpg
downloaded (17677
> bytes, 1281.57KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:22 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/alby-walker-nick-griffin.jpg
downloaded (34945 bytes, 4
> 3638.63KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:24 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/aleqm5gb8vbh5cpl1xg4axqhh0zs4aftbw.jpg
downloaded (1585
> 6 bytes, 966.32KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:26 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/aleqm5gb8vbh5cpl1xg4axqhh0zs4aftbw.thumbnail.jpg
downloa
> ded (3679 bytes, 314.96KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:27 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/ali-north-wales-150x150.jpg
downloaded (6758 bytes, 355
> .62KB/sec)
It appears someone logged in as 'arthur' is downloading a copy of the
whole site from a UK IP address; I hope that's okay?
On the BDF forum, Bennett later made this interesting post:
Evidence from the server company
alerting me to the illegal downloading of the entire [BNP] site:
I noticed this though which is rather odd:
> May 4 16:25:20 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/alby-walker-nick-griffin-300x186.jpg
downloaded (17677
> bytes, 1281.57KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:22 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/alby-walker-nick-griffin.jpg
downloaded (34945 bytes, 4
> 3638.63KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:24 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/aleqm5gb8vbh5cpl1xg4axqhh0zs4aftbw.jpg
downloaded (1585
> 6 bytes, 966.32KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:26 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/aleqm5gb8vbh5cpl1xg4axqhh0zs4aftbw.thumbnail.jpg
downloa
> ded (3679 bytes, 314.96KB/sec)
> May 4 16:25:27 ace1 pure-ftpd: (arthur@bnp.org.uk@78.144.166.95)
[NOTICE] /home/bnpmain/public_html//wp-content/uploads/ali-north-wales-150x150.jpg
downloaded (6758 bytes, 355
> .62KB/sec)
It appears someone logged in as 'arthur' is downloading a copy of the
whole site from a UK IP address; I hope that's okay?
