UK NEWS

DISGUST AT BNP LEADER'S BID TO HIJACK TRIBUTE TO TROOPS

BNP leader Nick Grffin, centre, visiting Wootton Bassett

Wednesday November 11,2009

By Daily Express Reporter

BNP leader Nick Griffin caused fury last night by trying to hijack the repatriation ceremony for the six soldiers.

The far-right MEP paraded with cronies along the funeral route, claiming he was in Wootton Bassett to “pay his respects”.

Flanked by a group of burly minders, the controversial 50-year-old Cambridge law graduate was simply courting publicity, according to critics. Last month Griffin scored a propaganda coup by appearing on BBC1’s Question Time.

But his appearance opposite the grieving families yesterday caused anger locally and nationally.

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Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, Yorkshire, said: “It is unacceptable for any politician or any party leader to try to make political capital out of something as tragic as our soldiers coming back to Wootton Bassett.”

He added: “Most people will see it is as a publicity stunt, and a pretty tasteless one at that.” Fellow Tory MP and former Army officer Patrick Mercer said: “The repatriation of our dead should stand well above mere party politics or political grandstanding.”

Author and Daily Express columnist Frederick Forsyth said: “The overwhelming view of this country is that the attentions of Mr Griffin and his crew are no tribute to our brave soldiers, and are actually the source of some disgust to most of us. Quite a proportion of those who have died in both Iraq and Afghanistan were either Asian or black.”

Griffin appeared to wipe away tears as the hearses passed by.

Tony Coombes, 72, of Gillingham, Dorset, secretary of Devonshire and Dorset British Legion, said: “Repatriations aren’t about politics. We’re here because some terribly brave young men went out there and we have come to share their loss with their families. I think that Nick Griffin detracts from that.”

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William Davis-Sellick, 75, of Shaftesbury, who served with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, said: “He’s doing this for his own ends and I don’t want him to come back.”

Griffin was ushered away by police as a crowd gathered round him after the cortege passed.

Earlier he said: “I’m here in a private, not a political capacity, to pay my respects,” and added: “I don’t think me being here will detract from the day.”