Brexit Edinburgh includes the BNP

13487928_10208990965507894_1091243841_nGrassroots Out, a group campaigning for a Leave vote faces a police probe after Evie Love, a local food and land campaigner was intimidated and told by one of their activists he “doesn’t give a f**k” about the murder of MP Jo Cox.

The story was covered by the Sunday Herald this morning (‘Brexit campaigner faces police probe over Jo Cox slur claims’) but fresh allegations have emerged today that the activist involved is indeed BNP member and regional organiser, Kenny MacDonald.

Seemingly oblivious local campaigner Ken Bell writes:

“The reaction on the street was fantastic. A few Federasts came up to us and said that campaigning was supposed to be suspended, but we told ’em quite simply that the suspension was lifted as of today. So they became shouty and we just laughed and eventually they took their hooks, and life went on as normal.” More here.

13480428_10208990966347915_2136832103_nAlso present was Alan Melville, a long time UKIP candidate in Leith.

A spokesman for Grassroots Out said: “The street stall in Edinburgh is not an event we have organised or sanctioned. If there is any truth in the allegations, it is reprehensible behaviour and we would not want to be associated with that.”

We suspect there will be more backtracking as the story develops.

The convergence between UKIP and the far-right has long been noted, with UKIP last year having to deny allegations of an electoral pact with Britain First.

Bella has several questions to put to the group.

It will be interesting to see how the Leave campaign and UKIP respond to the revelation they are campaigning with fascists. Is this a deliberate strategy, or something they were unaware of? How senior are fascists in the Edinburgh team? Were the senior organisers aware of Kenny MacDonald’s involvement? and political background Is he the only BNP member campaigning with them or are their other fascists involved? Is leaving the EU the only part of the BNP political agenda they share – or there other areas of common ground?

Comments (14)

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  1. Ken Bell says:

    Thank you for linking to my blog. With your permission I will give another link to today’s posting, which I hope you will find informative and maybe even entertaining.

    I have no answers to your questions, and the name Kenny Macdonald means nothing to me. I was at the Waterloo Place stall when your woman seems to have arrived at the Leith stall, seemingly to create the provocation, and I have no idea who she is, either.

    I took photos of both stalls for my blog, but arrived as the Leith one was was about to pack up. Two men in the pub then told me about a woman who had given them some mouth, before stepping back and giving them the old two-fingered salute. The bald-headed man in the photo that she took then responded in kind, and his mate took his camera out having seen the woman do the same. She saw this and turned tail before scampering off, something which we all found very entertaining.

    I suppose I should have known that this was a set-up. I don’t blame her for that, and I accept that there is nothing personal, and it is all just politics.

    The old warhorses from both sides are already starting to make contact with a view to a bevvying session when this is all over, just as we did two years ago. I think we have earned the right after all these campaigns – and I worked my heart out for Yes in the IndyRef – to a few pints of heavy as we look back on victory and defeat.

    http://www.kenbell.info/2016/06/edinburgh-brexiteers-mount-their-final.html

    1. Yes Edinburgh North and Leith says:

      Ignorance is bliss Ken. The two people who were in the corner of the pub yesterday, you don’t know their names ? Despite you having met with, drank with and campaigned with them before ? Check out your photo from the Canny Mans http://www.kenbell.info/2016/05/edinburghs-streets-fill-with-brexit.html Four UKIP/former UKIP and two BNP activists in the ten sat around that table, and no-one ever discusses or is aware of the others political backgrounds ? Fancy that.

    2. Kevin Williamson says:

      Glad you found a woman getting intimidated by fat baldy rightwing scrotums entertaining. That’s about the measure of some of those campaigning for Brexit.

  2. Ken Bell says:

    Yes, fancy that. Alas for your conspiracy theory, this group consisted of a mixture of people who drifted in and out at will. As you have been through my blog then you will see that from all the other photos.

    The night in the Canny Man’s was a night that the group spent leafleting, door to door. As I cannot walk very well, being semi-crippled, I turned up at the pub to take photos and drink beer, and I did not feel the need to ask people questions about who they were. My self-appointed role was as a provider of publicity for people who has spent two hours pounding the streets.

    On the subject of street pounding, does anybody know where Federast crews were during the last month? I have not seen a single team out, anywhere, until today – and that was only to have their photo taken.

    People might think that you were ashamed to campaign in the interests of the globalised capitalism which you plan to vote for on Thursday.

  3. James_Mac says:

    Is the problem not that British nationalism has been ignored (particularly in Scotland) for decades?

    Labour deny British nationalism exists, and the Tories actively seek Orange Order votes. Maybe that’s the problem. That British nationalists feel empowered by the system to give them carte blanche to do what they want. With twitter, it is even more obvious. Prominent journalists will even retweet bigots and racists.

  4. Alan G Melville says:

    Allow me to make it absolutely clear that neither I nor any other UKIP member involved in the Grassroots Out street stalls in Lothians were at any time aware that BNP activists had got involved. No comments were made by any person to indicate either membership or support of the BNP in my hearing, or to anyone else to the best of my knowledge.

    However, allow me to thank you for your superior knowledge of the far-right.
    I point out that UKIP are the only party in the UK which does not tolerate ex-BNP or ex-NF activists attempting to join and ntaturally we will not be campaigning alongside them now that this has been brought to our attention.

    1. Great to hear. Is that UKIP’s official response?

      1. Alan G Melville says:

        Yes.

    2. Chris R says:

      ” the only party in the UK which does not tolerate ex-BNP or ex-NF activists attempting to join”

      Its the only party that needs to make such a ruling. The party I belong to is based on teloerance and co-operation; those principals keep BNP sympathisers away.

  5. Liam Alba says:

    Very illustrative that someone saying “I don’t give a fuck that she’s dead” about Jo Cox didn’t provide a clue to UKIP members that they maybe had a fascist alongside them. Nothing else that he said give a clue? LIke his vile racism? Or were those sort of views difficult to distinguish from your own? Given your own party’s vile racist poster I guess so.

  6. Toz says:

    How Ironic that the BNP are ” helping ” residents in Leith to get their bathrooms updated by citing EU directives……..

  7. Pogliaghi says:

    It would make for journalistic practice a bit better than your average red top (or a left wing version of the same) to have sought out some comment from the subjects of the article surely? It’s far too late now to make any difference, of course, but the meme that lumping the entire “Leave” lot into the racist basket has been “alienating the working class” has been gaining a lot of popularity – some, probably deserved. Clever lefties will go easy on the gross generalisations and smears by association in future.

    1. Ken Bell says:

      Yes, fair point, but this is a trendy fake-left site, which appeals to a diminishing segment of the irritatingly trendy element in the country. Given the appeal for funds, it looks as if the site won’t even exist much longer, so why worry? Bella cannot cause any trouble, and it hasn’t.

      I have replied to the allegations already, but I did not get involved in the ensuing debate here because unlike the Federasts, I knew that this battle will be won and lost by the votes of real people who do not live their lives online. Just today, voting day, a small crew was out at the Foot of Leith Walk, handing out the final leaflets and speaking to the people who have not yet voted.

      Lemme tell you a story – the bloke next door but one from me was moaning that he had to go into hospital and would miss the vote. However, I saw him at the polling place today, hobbling on his crutches, and it seems the operation was cancelled at the last minute. He has cancer of the bladder, by the way, but that did not stop him from getting out to vote Leave. That’s the level of commitment that we can count on. The Federasts can’t even get out street stalls, that’s how useless they are.

      We may lose the vote today, but we have already won a great victory. We can face ourselves in the mirror and say that we did not vote to keep globalised capitalism alive. If you are a Federast, then that is exactly what you did.

      1. I’m sorry to disappoint you Ken but we’ll be around for a very long time.

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