David Cameron’s attempts to detoxify the Tories took another step backwards this week when one his leading MEPs not only stood by his remarks about “climate hysteria” and the “Great Carbon Myth” but launched a full on defence of his friend Michal Kaminski, attacking former Tory MEP Edward McMillan Scott for speaking out against the extremist.

In language reminiscent of Nick Griffin’s pathetic attack on Jack Straw on Question Time last year, Helmer wrote:

“Michal Tomasz Kaminski? Anti-Semitic? … Linked to far-right organisations? No. Kaminski is proud to recall that during the Second World War, his two grandfathers were fighting the Nazis.

“At the same time, in England, Edward McMillan Scott’s grandparents were interned as a potential security risk. They were prominent members of the British Union of Fascists.”

For the record, here are the facts about Kaminski, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists group of which David Cameron’s MEPs are members:

• From 1989-1991 Kaminski was a member of the neo-fascist organisation National Revival of Poland (NOP). This movement is anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic. NOP’s manifesto states that “Jews will be removed from Poland, and their possessions will be confiscated” – a statement taken directly from Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The official greeting is the Nazi salute. NOP is part of Roberto Fiore’s European National Front. The NOP poster states “Fascism?!? We’re worse!!!”

Kaminski claims that he was in NOP ‘as a schoolboy’ before the fall of communism in 1989, but an NOP spokesman told the Daily Telegraph he was in it from 17 – 20 years of age, his formative political years: “He was in the party from about 1989 to 1991″ said Marek Wojciechowski . McMillan-Scott has confirmed this statement.

• In 1993 Kaminski was the spokesman of the right-wing Catholic Electoral Committee “Fatherland”. He handed out pamphlets at Warsaw’s main train station denouncing immigrants from the east bringing “typhus, malaria and other diseases” to Poland.

• In 1999 Kaminski travelled to London with other Polish right-wingers to visit General Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator who was being detained in the British capital. “This was the most important meeting of my whole life,” he told the BBC at the time.

• In 2000 Kaminski gave a TV interview in which he refers to homosexuals as “pedaly”, literally pedals which is the near equivalent of “faggots” but also implies paedophilia. When the interviewer said it was an offensive term he repeats it: ‘What should I say – they are pedaly’

• In July 2000, Kaminski caused a scandal after his public declaration of support for the infamous pre-war slogan “Poland for Poles,” which was traditionally directed against Jews and invokes memories of the anti-Semitic violence of the 1920’s and 1930’s in Poland. “I want us to have the courage to say, ‘We want Poland for the Poles’”.

• In 2001 Kaminski organised opposition to a national apology by then Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski for the infamous Jedwabne massacre in 1941 in which several hundred Polish Jews were herded by their neighbours into a barn and burnt to death. Footage of a television news bulletin from 5 March 2001 shows Kaminski, then Jedwabne’s MP, reacting to news about the apology: “I think that Mr President can apologise but for other things. He should withhold apologies for Jedwabne.” Kaminski then gave an interview to the right-wing journal Nasza Polska in which he said:

“Maybe it is an attempt to quieten the consciences of those Jews who did terrible harm to Poland during the Soviet occupation?”

• Also in 2001 Kaminski created a new political formation known as the Right Alliance, which merged with the Kaczyński brothers’ Law and Justice Party (PiS). Before the 2009 European Elections, the PiS absorbed two ultra-extreme groups, the Self-Defence League and the League of Polish Families, one of whose MPs, Ryszard Bender has said “Auschwitz was not a death camp, it was a labour camp,” [nearly one million Jews perished at Auschwitz]

• In 2009 Kaminski denies wearing the Chrobry Sword, the symbol of the NOP and originally the emblem of the pre-war extreme right wing National Democracy. In 2000 Kaminski said:

“I’m not ashamed of National Democracy. It’s my tradition. In my lapel I wear the Chrobry Sword … I feel myself a Pole and a Catholic, and I’m proud of that.”

There is more on Kaminski and Tory extremism in Europe here, here and here and on Left Foot Forward here.

UKIP was plunged into turmoil this week following the expulsion of West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire, thrown out after refusing to sit alongside “extremist” Lega Nord and other far-Right MEPs in the European parliament, and the conviction of Chorley PPC Nick Hogan – jailed for six months for repeatedly flouting the smoking ban.

Ms Sinclaire was forced out because of her opposition to UKIP’s allies in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group. She said the “intolerance of racial, religious and sexual minorities” of some of the delegations was “incompatible with my personal and political principles”, adding:

“I care deeply about the rise of intolerance across Europe, and the rise in the number of hate crimes.”

As Left Foot Forward reported in January, Ms Sinclaire had previously cited “anti-Semitism, violence and the espousal of a single European policy on immigration” amongst UKIP’s EFD partners as reasons for her resignation from the group.

The decision to expel her comes in the wake of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s astonishing outburst against the new president of the European council Herman Van Rompuy, for which he was fined yesterday.

Hogan, meanwhile, was convicted last week after repeatedly failing to pay fines imposed for continuous breaches of the smoking ban at pubs he owned in Bolton. He will now no longer be able to stand in the election.

The returning officer for Chorley borough council told Left Foot Forward:

“He won’t be able to stand with the current conviction he has at the moment.”

On Friday the English Defence League, a single issue pressure group which describes itself as a “Counter Jihad movement based in England”, will “defend free speech” by demonstrating in favour of the visit of the far right Dutch MP Geert Wilders. Demonstrations by British Muslims against Wilders are also expected.

The EDL argue that:

Geert Wilders has been harassed, threatened, litigated against and terrorised because of his views …

Agree or disagree with Geert Wilders the fact remains that he is a democratically elected member of a fine democracy and should be welcome on these or any other shores …

The Radical Islamists will be there. The EDL will be there.

The EDL leadership are not entirely consistent on free speech however, asking their demonstrators to refrain from “sticking fingers up” at journalists and singing some of their favourite obscene and inflammatory “songs”.

Wilders will be visiting Parliament on Friday, having accepted an invitation from from Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the leader of the UK Independence Party and Baroness Cox, a crossbench peer, to show his film ‘Fitna’ in the Palace of Westminster. The sixteen-minute film juxtaposes acts of terrorism with lines from the Koran.

Wilders’ anti-immigration Freedom Party has been doing well in the Dutch opinion polls and hopes to make significant gains in the coming national elections after the recent collapse of the Dutch government over troop commitments to Afghanistan. He recently faced trial in Holland for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.

The Conservatives have reiterated their abhorrence at the BNP, telling Left Foot Forward that they “do not do deals” with the “racist and reprehensible” BNP – yet have failed to clear up claims that local Tories in Essex have done a deal with the BNP – even installing a BNP councillor on Thurrock council’s most powerful committee.

The allegations are made on the “Tory stories” blog, and are backed up by local newspaper reports, “Echo News” reporting that the Conservatives were “clinging on to office with the vote of the BNP”.

The Tories were foced into relying on the support of the BNP after one of their councillors, Terry Hipsey, defected to Labour in protest at a Tory/BNP pact, alleging the party were:

“Not standing in wards to let the BNP win, Labour lose and so (the Tories) retaining control of the council.”

That was in March last year; more recently, Cllr Hipsey has claimed:

“Eric Pickles sent an email round when we first got into power warning us that any cooperation with BNP would result in expulsion from the Conservative Party. When I heard about the proposed pact I reported the issue to the South Basildon and East Thurrock Conservative Association Chairperson.

“She passed my concerns up to Conservative Central Office via email and followed it up with a phone call. I never heard anything back from Central Office.”

Following up on these claims, Left Foot Forward put the following questions to the Conservative party:

• What did Conservative Central Office do on learning of an alleged electoral pact between Thurrock Conservatives and the BNP? Was an investigation carried out and, if not, why?

• Were the problems in Thurrock Conservative Group brought to the attention of the Conservative Leader’s office and, if so, what action was taken?

• Why did Conservative Party Chairman, Eric Pickles MP, feel the need to issue an instruction to local Conservative Party associations not to co-operate with the BNP? and

• Has any Conservative Party member been expelled from the party for co-operating with the BNP since January 2008?

We received no specific responses to our questions, just a broad denunciation of the idea of cooperating with the BNP:

“We do not do deals with the BNP who are a racist and reprehensible party.”

Yesterday, Left Foot Forward reported another set of allegations concerning Essex Tories and racism. Leaflets were distributed in Romford showing David Cameron’s image and saying the floodgates had been opened to mass immigration.

The leaflets are believed to have been produced by Conservatice council candidate Osman Dervish, reportedly a member of Romford Tory MP Andrew Rosindell’s staff. Rosindell’s office, however, have distanced themselves from him and his claims, telling Left Foot Forward:

“Osman Dervish is not a paid member of Andrew Rosindell M.P.’s staff in either Parliament or the constituency.

“Osman Dervish is a Conservative Party member, local volunteer and a Council candidate in Romford. Furthers questions regarding this matter must now be referred to the relevant person, Osman Dervish.”

Mr Dervish, who apparently remains both a Tory member and candidate, was unavailable for comment.

Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell’s protestations that he did not “write or approve” a leaflet delivered in his name in his Romford constituency look increasingly weak. He was out campaigning on the day the leaflet was delivered and has form on immigration.

The Observer yesterday outlined that:

“David Cameron’s Tories were accused last night of dog-whistle politics after the Conservative leader appeared on the front of flyers saying the floodgates had been opened to mass immigration. Critics say the flyers are alarmist and misleading because they imply limits could be imposed on entrants from EU countries such as Poland…

“Rosindell said last night: “I did not write or approve this councillors’ flyer. Immigration is an important issue but, as David Cameron has made clear, we must be careful with both the facts and the language we use. This flyer falls short on both counts, and I shall be pointing that out to the councillors.” However, the material stated that it was “promoted” by the MP.”

But these denials look increasingly thin as it emerged that the MP was out campaigning in the Mawneys ward in Havering on the day the leaflet was delivered. Local Labour party chair Dan Young – who lives in Mawneys ward – received a copy of the leaflet on February 13th. Rosindell’s facebook status was updated at 6.35pm that day:

Political Scrapbook have also revealed that Rosindell “has form on race politics”:

“In a blogpost noting the striking similarities between aspects of Rosindell’s website and far-right campaign materials, Scrapbook wrote last December: ”The MP for Romford has tabled a mere 102 questions on asylum and immigration and was a member of an organisation which advocated the voluntary repatriation of ethnic minorities until he was forced to resign by Iain Duncan Smith.””

Left Foot Forward has submitted the following questions to Mr Rosindell’s office but been told that he is not available for interview:

1. At what point did you become aware of the existence of the leaflet?

2. Had you seen the leaflet (or a draft version) before the distribution on February 13th?

3. Although you are quoted as saying you “did not write or approve this councillors’ flyer”, did you have any role in the distribution of the leaflet on Feb 13th?

4. Do you know why the leaflet was only distributed in one ward of the constituency?

UPDATE 17.09

On Labour List, James Maker writes:

“Two weeks ago I was appalled to receive the material through my own front door. My first reaction was “I’ve never seen BNP material in my ward before – they must be targeting new areas”. However, on closer inspection, it came to my attention that this was in fact the local Tories…

“is it a coincidence that on the very week that this leaflet was making its way into homes across the consistency, that during PMQs on February 10th 2010, Rosindell rose to ask the Prime Minister “will the government consider introducing a cap on immigration?”"

Employers’ groups have joined the tide of condemnation against David Cameron’s alliance with European extremists. Today’s Financial Times reports that employers have voiced growing fears Britian’s influence in Europe will be limited.

Cameron’s withdrawal from the European People’s Party, to join a group led by Michal Kaminski – who has long been dogged by allegations of racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism – has “reduced the Tories’ immediate ability to affect events”, says the report, adding:

“The party is now forced to lobby from within the confines of its new – and much smaller – home, the European Conservatives and Reformists group…

“For critics, a telling moment came late last year when a dozen legislative reports for a new financial services reform package were to be assigned. The ECR vied for at least two of the reports, which are of grave concern to the City, but received none.”

Earlier this month, Left Foot Forward reported further evidence of the Conservative party’s waning influence in Europe, when it was announced mainstream centre-right European leaders, like Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, had pledged their support to Gordon Brown.

Cameron, however, continues to defend Kaminski, telling Left Foot Forward in January that the accusations against Kaminski are “absolutely not true”, insisting he would never “join up with parties that were racist, homophobic or extremist in any way”.

BNP leader Nick Griffin is to appear at an “academic conference” in Belgium next week shoulder-to-shoulder with holocaust denier Bruno Gollnisch of the Front National, Frank Vanhecke of the far-right Flemish seperatists Vlaams Belang and the Austrian Freedom Party’s Andreas Molzer.

Speaking in October 2004, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Gollnisch had said:

“I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to speak their minds.”

The news comes just days after Griffin said the public “can no longer call us racist” in the wake of the BNP’s decision to admit non-white members, and is another example of the reality behind the BNP’s new façade.

On Sunday, BNP thugs assaulted a Times journalist from a press conference, ejecting him from the venue. This is how the journalist, Dominic Kennedy, describes the attack:

“One man grabbed my nose and tried to remove it from my face. I was seized and shoved out of the door towards a parked car. I threw my hands out to steady myself. A BNP thug snarled: “Don’t touch people’s cars mate.” Obviously, I offered no resistance.”

Far from condemning the attack, Griffin, in a message to BNP members, said the attack proved his party hadn’t gone “soft”.

On the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, the Prime Minister said in a statement that Mandela remains an example that gives people the hope to “struggle anew” for “justice and freedom for all”.

David Cameron, however, was under pressure to apologise for a visit he made to apartheid South Africa from former anti-apartheid campaigners Richard Caborn MP and ex-TUC general secretary Norman Willis.

It emerged in a biography last year that he visited the country as the guest of anti-sanctions lobbyists in 1989, when Mr Mandela was still in jail. According to PA:

“Your trip, paid for by lobbyists against sanctions, was a long time ago,” [Caborn and Willis] wrote. “But it was then, and is now, a question of values and judgment.”

Since the details of this trip became public, you have refused to comment on it, refused to explain why you had to keep it quiet and refused to apologise for your actions.

“We hope that on the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release, you will set the record straight and do what is right.”

Last year, Peter Hain told the Independent on Sunday that Cameron’s trip was a “sanctions-busting jolly“.

A new low, even for the Mail. As Sunny at Liberal Conspiracy says:

“Fucking disgusting, even by usual Daily Mail standards”

H/T: Liberal Conspiracy

Rod Liddle’s facebook friends include a British National Party supporter, Barry Rogers, whose profile picture is a BNP general election banner.

Last night Rod Liddle joined the facebook group , “If Rod Liddle becomes editor of The Independent, I will not buy it again” and posted two messages:

Proud to be your latest member. Can I just point out that your letter to Mr Lebedev is defamatory, in quite a big way? I think I ought to warn you about that.
Also, Craig – learn to spell, you idiot.
And Samantha – I did not go far enough on cats.

Actually, looking at some of the posts here, there is an awful lot which is defamatory, not least “climate change denier” (I’m not) and “racist” (I’m not.) I may be appalling, unfit the breathe the same air as the rest of you, but I’m not those things.
Just thought I ought to point that out.

Sunny Hundal outlines on Liberal Conspiracy why none of the claims are defamatory and says:

“In his columns he styles himself as a defender of free speech, but when it concerns himself Rod Liddle is happy with making legal threats to shut down debate on his past writings.”

The facebook group has now exceeded its £500 target for an advert in the Independent and is looking to raise £1,000.

Hat-tip: Mohamed Ansar

The controversy over David Cameron’s alliance with Michal Kaminski re-ignited today following an interview in which the Tory leader once again defended the Polish extremist and centre-Right European leaders pledged their support to Gordon Brown.

In an interview with Johann Hari in the Independent, Cameron deployed his usual tactics of denial, evasiveness and anger when questioned about Kaminski, as he’s done every time he’s been confronted with the evidence of Kaminski and his party’s extremism.

Just like his response to Left Foot Forward when asked the same question last month, it appears political expediency trumps conviction, that pacifying the Eurosceptics in his party by signing up to Kaminski’s vision of Europe is all that matters – even at the expense of his own self-styled “liberal, nice, new Tory” credentials.

As Hari points out, the evidence shows that his claim that Kaminski is “not a homophobe” is “wrong – and shockingly so”. Cameron told Left Foot Forward that he “wouldn’t join up with parties that were racist, homophobic or extremist in any way”; he tells Hari that he’s “not allied with parties that have views on homophobia or racism that I think are unacceptable” and on and on…

Hari concludes:

“There are flickers of apparently real pro-gay feeling, but they are soon followed by excuse-making for some of the most anti-gay politicians in Europe. Which is the real Cameron? On this issue, I suspect even he doesn’t know.”

There was further evidence of Cameron’s isolation in Europe this morning with news that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor – both former allies of the Conservatives – will visit Gordon Brown for high-profile talks before the election, seen as “tacit support” of his re-election campaign.

The Prime Minister will also be given a central role at a special committee to discuss the economy in Brussels next Thursday, and the Spanish Premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero – who has already given public backing to Brown – will visit London for the Progressive Governance Conference later this month, which Left Foot Forward will report from.

Johann Hari’s interview with David Cameron exposed the Conservative leader misremembering his own votes against gay rights. But LGBT Labour have outlined that it is not the first time that he has forgotten which way he voted.

In the Independent, Hari writes:

“I start to go over his record beyond Section 28 – and slap into a brick wall. In 2002 he voted against allowing gay couples to adopt. Yet when I ask him why, he flatly denies it. He says: “No… we were three-line-whipped on that vote and I abstained on it.” I point him to Hansard, which records his vote against gay marriage in cold, black ink. He says “my memory” is that he abstained, and that he now thinks “the ideal adoption is finding a mum and a dad, but there will be occasions when gay couples make very good adoptive parents. So I support gay adoption.”

But LGBT Labour point out a similar exchange with Sky’s Adam Boulton in November 2005:

David Cameron: I abstained on a three line whip which was …

Adam Boulton: You voted against it twice.

David Cameron: I abstained on the three line whip, Adam. I haven’t been through Hansard.

(Sky News, 24/11/05)

Cameron also used the interview to say:

“I’m not allied with parties that have views on homophobia or racism that I think are unacceptable.”

As this blog outlined last month, Cameron’s Polish partners are planning a clampdown on gay websites, with one leading MP claiming they would “monitor homosexual websites because we are dealing with the promotion of the so called ‘positive paedophilia’.” Hari details other developments:

“A few days before we met, the MPs of this “not homophobic” Law and Justice Party demanded a crackdown on what they called “positive paedophilia by some homosexual circles.” Their senior MP, Stanislaw Pieta, said: “I’m not saying every gay is a paedophile, but in Britain 43 per cent of paedophiles are gay and they only make up 1 per cent of the population.” Their leader, Lech Kaczynski, says “the human race would disappear if homosexuality was freely promoted.” There are hundreds of such statements from the party, all on video.”

The Pink Paper picks up on Cameron’s view that no new gay rights are needed. The Liberal Democrats recently set out a series of proposals to enhance gay rights.

Last Saturday hundreds of Muslim civic and community leaders joined together during a public meeting in Birmingham to discuss the growing spate of unchallenged hatred and bigotry flourishing against British Muslims in our country. It took place on the same day that more than 1,500 supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) rioted in Stoke-On-Trent against the so called “Islamification of Europe”.

No less than six police officers were hurt and five police vehicles damaged as groups broke through police cordons, yet the story was hardly anywhere to be seen in our mainstream media. One wonders what the public, police and political reaction would have been if it was the other way round, if it was Muslims rioting and on a rampage.

There are growing levels of unchallenged attacks on British Muslims in many forms, with the fury continuing to mount. There have been cases of Mosques being vandalised, Muslim students being stabbed on university campuses and general anti-Muslim bigotry spiralling out of control without any rebuff.

Last week in Leeds, a bus driver was arrested after he allegedly called a female passenger a Muslim terrorist and asked her if she had put a bomb on his bus.

In Manchester, bereaved relatives have been forced to erect CCTV cameras at a cemetery after a series of attacks on Muslim graves, while on Boxing Day last year, a mosque in the West Midlands was burned to the ground by arsonists for the second time; these are just some examples of the overt attacks taking place against Muslims.

All over Europe, the far-right have come to realise that in today’s world, attacks on immigrants, blacks or Jews are no longer acceptable if they are to capture a mainstream following. Rather, it is much easier to target Muslims. The BNP’s Nick Griffin, who described Islam as a “wicked and vicious faith”, is already on the record as saying:

“Bang on about Islam … because to the ordinary public out there it’s the thing they can understand. It’s the thing the newspaper editors sell newspapers with.”

At a time when some of our journalists often embark on a battle between who can write the darker tale about Islam or Muslim life, the media coupled with a lack of political will and direction have created a situation where attacks on Muslims, overt and covert, have sadly become acceptable.

In July 2008 Peter Oborne illustrated how anti-Muslim sentiments had achieved a level of respectability in Britain that no other form of prejudice enjoyed. He wrote:

“While overt racism and anti-Semitism were unacceptable in modern society: the systematic demonization of Muslims has simply become an important part of the central narrative of the British Political class; it is so entrenched, so much part of normal discussion, that almost nobody notices.”

Findings from a recent survey conducted by the British Social Attitudes Survey show that the public are far more opposed to Islam than to any other faith. Such views flourish because little is made or shown of the other side. In a recent survey conducted by the Open Institute Society, British Muslims were found to be the most patriotic in Europe.

Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Muslim charities based in the UK immediately pledged to raise more than two million pounds in emergency relief while Muslim students raised more than £300,000 through ‘Charity Week’ at universities across the country for orphans around the world. But you will of course never hear stories of this sort. Because they bluntly do not fit the mainstream stereotype of a Muslim.

The overwhelming feelings at the public meeting called by the Muslim Council of Britain was one of frustration and anger that anti-Muslim sentiments and attacks were not being adequately addressed by both the police and our political class. Enough is enough; we must act.

The usual suspects will of course accuse us of playing the ‘victim’ card, but British Muslims call not for special treatment, but equal treatment. Just like any other community, we call for a concerted effort to challenge extremism of any form which concentrates itself against minorities in a bid to create divisions to the detriment of our society and our country.

Bigotry, hatred and attacks against British Muslims are nothing new. But its unchallenged growth in our country can no longer be ignored. The half-hearted response by the government to this growing phenomenon has been far from adequate to date. The phase for window dressing is over. Now is the time to act.

What is urgently needed is clear leadership from both our police and the government in policy directions in dealing with Islamophobia in all its forms.

In 2005, in response to growing levels of anti-Semitism, a Parliamentary Committee was established to combat the threat. Likewise, at a time when British Muslims are now the new target for hatred and attacks, it is high time a dedicated committee is now set up to investigate Islamophobia in our country.

At a time when we join hands together in remembering the evils of the Nazi Holocaust, it would be most fitting to leave Carly Whyborn of the HMD Trust with the final say who, on Holocaust Memorial Day, referring to the treatment of minorities in Britain, said:

“We can pause to look at how we treat those around us. We can all make the choice to challenge exclusion when we see it happening – we can choose to stop using language that dehumanises others and we can stop our friends and family from dehumanising and excluding others.”

Our guest writer is Kawsar Zaman, law student at the LSE

BNP leader Nick Griffin will join Ku Klux Klan members, neo-Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-immigration extremists and eugenicists at the white supremacist American Renaissance conference in Virginia next month.

The convicted racist will appear alongside Dan Roodt, author of “Afrikaner Survival Under Black Rule”, David A. Yeagley, author of “What’s Up With Dark Men?”, lawyer to white supremacist groups Sam G Dickson, segregationist Jared Taylor – who believes Martin Luther King “left a legacy of division and resentment” – Raymond Wolters, a ’scientist’ who wishes to conduct experiments into race and IQ, and racist filmmaker Craig Bodeker.

American Resistance, a newsletter published by Taylor, promotes pseudoscientific research which argues that non-whites are genetically and morally inferior; their conference seeks to bring together various right-wing racist people and ideas. Infoshop News adds that:

“The Anti-Defamation League writes that AmRen, “promotes their views by attacking racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, which they call ‘one of the most divisive forces on the planet’ and therefore ‘dangerous’” and that, “many of North America’s leading intellectual racists have written for American Renaissance or have addressed the biennial American Renaissance conferences”.”

A campiagn has been launched to put pressure on the hotel hosting the event to cancel or face a boycott. Yesterday Left Foot Forward reported Griffin’s attempt to use the Haiti earthquake for political gain.

Ignoring criticism at the end of last week, Nick Griffin has hijacked the devastation in Haiti to push his political agenda.

In a speech to the European Parliament earlier today, the British National Party leader said:

“The death toll in Haiti is shocking, but this winter more than 50,000 pensioners in Britain alone will die premature deaths because of the cold and the cost of heating. Across Europe the death toll will run into hundreds of thousands”

In an apparently compassionate move, Nick Griffin challenged MEPs to give up their attendance allowance but hardly paused for breath before making points about taxation and the economy:

“All here are well paid – and can afford to give. I will give my attendance allowance for today, if every other British M.E.P. will do the same. But our constituents cannot afford your generosity with their taxes.

“Globalism has destroyed our industries, the banks have ruined our economies, EU red-tape is strangling our entrepreneurs and the carbon tax scam is plunging millions into deadly fuel poverty.”

Griffin made other points about “global cooling” and “EU cold taxes.”

On Friday, the BBC reported that Griffin had made similar remarks on Twitter and Facebook which were criticised by Labour MEP Glenis Willmott. Last Thursday, Left Foot Forward outlined how Richard Barnbrook had sought to make political capital out of the murder of Sukhwinder Singh.

David Cameron defended his European allies once again last night, claiming some of the charges levelled against them are “absolutely not true” and insisting he “wouldn’t join up” with parties that were racist or homophobic.

The allegations of extremism about the Tories’ European partners are well known, and have been covered extensively by Left Foot Forward. UK Gay News, however, have unearthed new evidence of homophobia against Michal Kaminski’s Polish Law and Justice party.

They are planning a clampdown on gay websites, with one leading MP claiming they would “monitor homosexual websites because we are dealing with the promotion of the so called ‘positive paedophilia’.” Speaking at Metro’s Cameron Direct question-and-answer session yesterday the Tory leader said:

“Some of the stories that have been written about them are absolutely not true. It made perfect sense for us to leave the grouping we were in. I have a very high regard for Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel for example, but we disagreed about the future of Europe.

“I wouldn’t join up with parties that were racist, homophobic or extremist in any way.”

Mr Cameron also defended his plans for marriage tax breaks and said he wouldn’t be afraid of standing up to President Obama.

BNP London Assembly Member Richard Barnbrook has sought to make political capital out of the murder of Sukhwinder Singh, stabbed to death by robbers in Barking last Friday.

Barnbrook, writing on his Daily Telegraph blog, almost appears sincere, yet the real motive for his apparent “personal message” soon becomes clear, in the comments and on the BNP’s “London Patriot” website, where BNP member and 2004 Assembly candidate Carlos Cortiglia – who also has a Telegraph blog – writes:

“The suspects? The usual suspects are most most probably out of work and living on benefits and with all the time in the world to go around ‘culturally enriching the United Kingdom’.”

The next post on the the website is titled “Immigration: What is it Good For? Absolutely Nothing”. In May 2008, the Telegraph published a post (since pulled) titled “Blame the Immigrants” in which Barnbrook wrote:

“I have had enough of political correctness. I have had enough of people being afraid to actually say what they really want to say. Yes….It is the immigrants.“

UKIP’s European allies are under the spotlight following West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire’s resignation from the European Freedom and Democracy Group (EFD) in protest at the “variety of extremist views” in the EFD and reports this afternoon that a Danish MEP has been questioned by police over “serious racial offences”.

Ms Sinclaire cited “anti-Semitism, violence and the espousal of a single European policy on immigration” amongst UKIP’s EFD partners as reasons for her resignation, adding that former UKIP leader Nigel Farage told her he wished UKIP “had only 12 not 13 MEPs”.

The UKIP-watch “Junius” blog backs up Ms Sinclaire’s allegations of extremism. It says:

“A Danish member of the EFD, UKIP’s group in the European parliament, has previously received a prison sentence for ‘racial offences’. He was later forced to resign his job after being caught ‘Heiling Hitler’ in a Copenhagen bar.”

“She stood for us as a candidate without declaring the fact that she’d been declared bankrupt in 2005 and the NEC of the party take a pretty dim view about that.

“We’ve tried to do what we can, we do full criminal record checks on people, we’re doing what we can to get good people.”

In November, Left Foot Forward reported the conviction of former UKIP MEP Tom Wise for fraud, and reported the European Anti-Fraud office’s past investigations into UKIP and the current probe into Ms Sinclaire’s fellow West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass.

Rod Liddle’s description of “Somali Muslim savages” and the implication that British Muslims and the Left are uncritical of practices such as beheading, stoning and mutilation – and seek to silence such criticism – have been brushed aside by leading mainstream Muslims.

Maajid Nawaz, Director of the Quilliam Foundation, told Left Foot Forward:

“If it’s offensive, it’s offensive, and it should be criticised and we’ll criticise it – and we’ll get criticised for that. But the people criticising us are themselves the extremists.

“Where Rod Liddle gets into trouble is when putting this together with everything else.”

Liddle, who’s in the running to be the next editor of the Independent – which Left Foot Forward reported yesterday – had written in the Spectator on November 19:

“Time for a quick update on what the Muslim savages are up to. Here’s a story from today’s Daily Mail, with a cut-out-keep picture, of Somali Muslim savages stoning to a twenty year old woman for the crime of adultery.“

He concluded his article with a sarcastic sideswipe at Somalis:

“Incidentally, many Somalis have come to Britain as immigrants recently, where they are widely admired for their strong work ethic, respect for the law and keen, piercing, intelligence.”

And on Saturday, in a column on the now-abandoned Islam4Uk march through Wootton Bassett, he wrote:

“F*** off back to where you’re from, then, you Muslims.”

• Join the Facebook group to stop Liddle becoming the Indy editor.