The list

Last month, a list  containing the details of over 10,000 BNP members was leaked onto the internet. Having tracked down the list on google, a quick search revealed that one BNP member lives on my street & even supplied his name & contact details. By dropping my neighbours’s “dirty little secret” in my lap, the list granted me real power over this man: the power to judge & even terrorise without fear of reprisal.

The media focused on the scandalous fact that several teachers & police were included on the membership list incidentally reinforcing the general perception of the BNP as an “immoral” organisation (which I happen to agree with but that’s beside the point). Furthermore, a few days later, with the BNP story still fresh on everybody’s minds, Shane Meadow’s This is England aired on terrestrial TV. The film, which is a masterpiece in its own right, has been perceived as a shocking & powerful indictment of racism & the National Front.

The leaking of the list & the (coincidental?) timing of the film airing amount to a terrible PR week for the BNP. If you were trying to destroy the credibility of the BNP, could you devise a better way of going about it? Which brings me to the real interest of the story i.e.: who leaked the list? Was it merely a disgruntled former party member or was a secret player involved? After all, it’s long been suspected that Combat 18 was an operation to ambush neo-nazis. Is this a subtler type of operation?