Solidarity - The Saga Continues

It has just been announced that the regulatory body responsible for Trade Unions - the Certification Office for Trade Unions - has appointed an Inspector to investigate the numerous allegations of financial irregularities within the Solidarity Trade Union.

This document, sent in by an FC supporter, reproduces the article on the Cert Office webpage and also discusses the background of the Solidarity takeover by Harrington/Griffin:


APPOINTMENT OF INSPECTORS BY CERTIFICATION OFFICE TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES


It has just been announced that the regulatory body responsible for Trade Unions - the Certification Office for Trade Unions - has appointed an Inspector to investigate the numerous allegations of financial irregularities within the Solidarity Trade Union.

The Union was founded as an independent Trade Union and the goals of its founders, Clive Potter and Lee Barnes, was to create a mass nationalist Trade Union that could take on the mass TUC internationalist trade unions.

Unfortunately, the project was dogged by the disruptive behaviour of its General Secretary/Treasurer, Patrick Harrington (appointed by Clive Potter and Lee Barnes) who refused to work as a team member and failed to submit to the principles and goals of the Union. Mr Harrington tried to treat the "Union as a personal pet-project and also as a political object, emphasising 'McCarthyism' and the recruitment of ethnic minorities in line with the liberal-Left agenda of the co-operative socialism of Harrington's own Third Way/National Liberal Party agenda. The founders realised the potential of a mass independent nationalist trade union that could combine a cheap subscription with industrial protection and standing up for the British workers against employers, the Government, the Trans-national Corporations and the left-wing TUC unions. Mass recruitment and mass involvement with British workers was the goal, an industrial goal, instead of a mere BNP-protection society as desired by the BNP leadership. Workers were not interested in 'McCarthyism' or political agendas, only in protection and the advancement of their industrial lives.

Pat Harrington's refusal to work as a team member led to his suspension from the Union last May whilst he was investigated by the Union's National Executive Committee.

However, in a bizarre twist of events Patrick Harrington schemed with a former colleague from the National Front - an organisation that they both helped to destroy - and launched a coup d'etat against Solidarity's National Executive Committee, the Union's authority that had been ratified at the first AGM in February 2007.

Nick Griffin of the BNP decided to support his former NF colleague, Patrick Harrington, for reasons not fully understood but possibly connected with financial reasons stemming from the financial opportunities given from a trade union's subscription-paying membership, or political, Griffin seeing a short-term advantage in joining forces with the tiny Third Way grouplet which has liberal pretensions. A BNP-front trade union which is run by a liberal and who leads a liberalist party could well serve as a platform in which to help Griffin create a more Zionist and liberal BNP in which to persuade BNP members to accept ethnic minority members into its ranks.

Whilst the accounts of the Union for 2006/7 had to be filed with the Certification Office by June, Griffin placed extraordinary pressure on both Tim Hawke (the then Vice-President) and Clive Potter (President) by threatening them, calling them "sociopaths" and claiming that their reputations would be destroyed within the BNP. Meanwhile, the lack of full receipts and financial documentation from Patrick Harrington meant that the accounts could not be signed off. When some receipts had been received it was decided that rather than jeopardise the Union the Executive look after the long-term interests of the project and submit the financial information to the Certification office to comply with the law.

As soon as this was done Griffin and Harrington acted. In an act of pure Stalinist theatre Griffin and Harrington launched a co-ordinated attack on the legitimate authority of Solidarity. Clive Potter was expelled from the BNP, despite years of active service as a candidate and activist (even though the Union was an independent body with its own constitution, subscriptions and ruling body), as a result of his commitment to the long-term strategy of Solidarity and a belief in integrity and the Union's constitution.

This was followed by the hijacking of the Union, with Steve Blake being forced to change the domain to Patrick Harrington whilst the designer and host of the website, Lambertius Nieuwof ("Bep"), a former South African terrorist, went along with Griffin's orders.

Meanwhile, Patrick Harrington froze the Union's accounts preventing the Executive from communicating with its members or taking action against the coup organisers, or even from running the Union for the benefit of its members. The Union had become the personal plaything for political purposes for a group of power-greedy individuals, Nick Griffin and Patrick Harrington. Harrington, however, retained the Union's Paypal account thus keeping its funds from the Executive who were constitutionally entitled access to those funds.

A campaign of black propaganda and smears issued from Patrick Harrington and Nick Griffin as they sought to legitimise their hostile takeover of the Union. On the BNP website itself news items appeared that smeared the Executive and claimed that the Union had been the 'target' of a 'Marxist plot' and that action was needed by the BNP/Third Way to prevent the plot. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Decent and hard-working nationalist activists had been smeared and abused by the likes of Nick Griffin in a foul campaign that made the Stalinist purges and the Nazi terror trials of dissidents of the 1930s look tame. Reputations were consigned to the rubbish bin of the BNP and the membership of the BNP were treated to a display of historical revisionism and propaganda to ensure that they all accepted the party line that Potter/Hawke had been involved in some imaginary 'left-wing plot' against the BNP to somehow destabilise the Union, despite the fact that Clive Potter had created the Union in the first place and built it up, and that Tim Hawke had spent hundreds of pounds of his own money in helping to build it up. This was a truly disgusting way to treat patriots and those who sought to make sacrifices for the common good of both other nationalists and the British worker.

Patrick Harrington and his fellow conspirators ensured that the party-line was propagated through half-truths and smears on such internet forums and blogs as diverse as the neo-Nazi Stormfront forum (where Harrington himself goes under the name of "Double Think") and the far-Left UAF blogs. Meanwhile, the Solidarity website that had been hijacked from the legitimate Executive issued its own propaganda against Potter and Hawke and sold the line that Patrick Harrington had somehow saved the Union from a 'Marxist plot'. In an attempt to discredit the Executive Harrington claimed that they had failed in their plot and that the Union was now in 'safe hands' since Nick Griffin was in control of the situation and was in agreement with the way that the Union was now being run. Since the majority of Solidarity's members were at that time BNP members (with a few Third Way members) having the backing of the party leader was tantamount to securing the compliance of Solidarity's membership.

Despite the lies and the smears, some Solidarity members refused to tow the party line and were independently-minded and possessed enough personal integrity to realise that there had been a coup d'etat by Harrington/Griffin and that Griffin was simply treading in the same factionalising and conspiratorial footsteps that he had trodden since his days in the National Front. They also realised that the BNP activists who had been running the Union possessed enough credibility and respect not to be acting as 'Reds', and that Griffin had played this tactic on previous occasions (and in fact has recently used it against the BNP's own internal rebels in December 2007). Some members could see with their own eyes that Patrick Harrington had specific allegations placed against him and that the Executive were duty bound to act according to the Union's constitution and to suspend him pending internal investigations. The fact that Harrington neither co-operated with the investigation and did not appeal, nor complain to the Certification Office at the time, was testament enough to his poor conduct and lack of professional integrity as a Union official. As a result of his totally unacceptable behaviour in attacking the Union's Executive, smearing its officials, hijacking its website and conspiring against the Union and its officials and bringing it totally into disrepute the Executive had no option but to expel Patrick Harrington as a member of the Union.

But by then (July 2007) the damage had been done and the Executive had no access to its own funds to continue assisting its members or to communicate with them. It recreated its website using the original template (www.solidarityunion.org) and published the results of its investigations into the conduct of Patrick Harrington.

A call for an 'Extraordinary General Meeting' was launched by the bogus General Secretary, an instrument actually unrecognised in the Union's own constitution and which was in itself totally unconstitutional as the new Acting General Secretary, William McLinden, did not call for any such event. The bogus General Secretary, Patrick Harrington, despite having been expelled from the Union initiated a call to the membership using membership data that he had no right to use. The actual mechanics of the call for an 'EGM' were utterly bogus and disreputable, having no independent scrutineer and all of the unnumbered and unstamped 'notifications' being returned to Harrington's personal home address.

The result of this bogus call was never disputed as it produced the result that Harrington/Griffin wanted. The 'EGM' was held in an Essex location where a prominent Third Way official was based and even the Chairman of the BNP, Nick Griffin, himself attended, presumably to ensure that BNP members of the Union would vote the right way. Clearly, the National Executive Committee of Solidarity could not recognise such an aberrant event and refused to attend this farce. BNP and Third Way members were 'elected' on to a new and bogus 'Committee' and the seal had been set for the BNP/Third Way takeover of the independent trade union, Solidarity.

The official Executive responded by issuing complaints and collecting documentary evidence against the unconstitutional Solidarity Executive and began submitting these to the Certification Office. Meanwhile, the Executive could not access its own constitutional funds held with the HSBC Bank, which had been frozen by Harrington just after he had been suspended. However, despite the HSBC account being frozen and the official Executive having placed an inhibitor against Harrington on the account, Patrick Harrington managed to persuade the Bank to allow him to remove £2600 from the account. To date HSBC have failed to provide an explanation for this act of negligence and, despite HSBC having replaced the monies removed from the account (and then refreezing the account because of the dispute) the Executive apparently intend to pursue this matter further.

In November the bogus Solidarity Executive staged elections for its Executive which was now intended to be larger and with all of its members to be either BNP or Third Way appointed, an action apparently contrary to the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations Act that governs trade unions since election candidates should not have to members of a political party.

The Executive elections were held in November and overseen by a firm of accountants, Silver & Co, oddly enough the same accountants who are responsible for accounting the BNP finances.

Today the unconstitutional Executive of Solidarity, who hijacked the Union from its constitutional Executive in a coup d'etat when they refused to submit to the decrees and bullying of Nick Griffin, continues to run the Union and issue aggrandised statements of purpose. They have erased the history of Solidarity and how it was founded by Clive Potter and Lee Barnes, and how it was built up from nothing with very little funding from any source. It was built up through the generosity of its members who answered the call for a genuine independent nationalist trade union. Many mistakes were undoubtedly made by its Executive but also many invaluable lessons were learnt and much experience was built up.

One of the biggest lessons gained the hard way was about trust, honesty, integrity and comradeship - all values that are - or should be - from the nationalist lexicon. Patrick Harrington was given a prominent role in the embryonic union on account of his experience in defending himself from hostile trade unions, as was Clive Potter. That trust and responsibility was sorely abused when Mr Harrington refused to work as a team player and then refused to accept the disciplinary protocol that lies at the heart of every organisation. He responded to a disciplinary measure by turning on those who gave him his position in the first place and conspiring with an outside agency to set himself up as the leader of that very Union. Trust and respect went out of the window. Factionalism and conspiracy came in through the back door.

The conspiratorial efforts of Patrick Harrington would never have materialised had it not been for the involvement of BNP Chairman, Nick Griffin. His action in this regard made it possible for Harrington to seize control of the Union. His role in this affair was totally repugnant. Conspiring with a non-BNP individual (Harrington) against his own members (Potter and Hawke) was absolutely disreputable and a mark of utter disloyalty. Through this act of treachery Griffin brought the BNP into disrepute, not alone in the fact that his hijacking of an independent entity as Solidarity was contrary to the principles of the BNP and of nationalism in general. It was a black day for the BNP and for British nationalism when the leader of the BNP sought to take over an independent trade union for his own personal advantage and then discredit his own members by resorting to attempted blackmail and smear because they defended their own integrity against the dictatorial whims of Nick Griffin.

Now that the Certification Office has appointed an Inspector to investigate allegations of financial irregularities this may actually lead to some evidence being uncovered to confirm the original allegations that were made.

Furthermore, the Certification Office is considering a number of complaints against the Union for alleged breaches of both its own constitution and of statute, alleged breaches that began with the hijacking of Solidarity in July 2007 by Patrick Harrington and Nick Griffin.

What has been apparent in the Solidarity Affair is the pathetic and revolting spectacle of the BNP smear machine, led and run by Nick Griffin himself, launching attacks on brave and committed patriots, even on its very own members because they refused to submit to the will of its Chairman over the constitution and integrity of an independent trade union. The attacks by Nick Griffin on Potter and Hawke were an attack on all BNP members and all nationalists. It was an attack against intelligence, political strategy, common sense, integrity, honesty, moral values and the law. It was the application of the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest – or in this case the survival of the most powerful. The only individuals who support Griffin and Harrington in their Darwinian dog eat dog world are the existential ill-informed armchair members who have done nothing for the party except give their cash to a cash-hungry leadership. And those moral-free individuals who are either earning money from the party or Union, or have sold their souls for an illusory title that Griffin knows will keep them loyal as a badge of ownership which the owner will occasionally kick to keep them on-side.

We have a pair of political groups (BNP and Third Way) whose leadership lies to its membership and to everyone else. The dupes, the party vassals and the unthinking within their respective memberships accept and believe the lies and the illusions that parody the world views of Stalin and Hitler, that if they tell big enough lies for long enough people will believe them.

But that world of illusion is beginning to fall apart, as much as the illusory world of liberalism and multiculturalism is falling part. It is not just the public who are beginning to wake up, but also the membership of the BNP, those who joined to oppose those very illusions that confront them in their everyday lives. They have had enough of leadership lies and dictatorship and bent constitutions. They want a return to the rule of law, to integrity and to openness. They are demanding a return to the British sense of fair play and justice. They are no longer content to accept without question the use of their party as a personal plaything and a family possession. Above all, they want truth and a sense of mission so that the maximum set of effort can be applied to the biggest threat now acting against this nation.

All actions have repercussions. The immoral actions of Patrick Harrington and of Nick Griffin may have consequences that reverberate beyond the Certification Office and ensure that the un-nationalist conduct of these two leaders of British nationalism will be counted.

Let all nationalists take heed of these experiences and consider wisely just what values and principles nationalists should hold. How nationalists should conduct themselves both in public and in private life. How nationalists should ensure that they have the best and most moral leaders representing them.





www.certoffice.org


27 May 2008
APPOINTMENT OF INSPECTOR - SOLIDARITY
On 22 May 2008 the Certification Officer appointed Gerard Walker, Assistant Certification Officer, as an Inspector to investigate the financial affairs of the trade union Solidarity. The appointment was made under Section 37B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The Inspector's terms of reference are to investigate the financial affairs of the trade union Solidarity between 1 November 2005 and 24 November 2007; as regards;

a. the production of receipts for expenditure,

b. the operation of the Solidarity Paypal account,

c. withdrawals from the Solidarity HSBC current account on 20 and 25 September 2007 and a transfer to the Solidarity HSBC current account from the Solidarity HSBC Money Manager Account on 20 September 2007,

d. cheques cashed from the Solidarity HSBC current account between 18 January 2007 and 4 June 2007,

e. payments made to Mr Patrick Harrington from the Solidarity HSBC current account between 1 February 2007 and 1 May 2007,

f. the freezing of the Solidarity HSBC Current Account and Business Money Manager Account in 2007,

g. the opening of a Bank of Scotland account in the name of Solidarity in 2007,

h. the appointment of Accentuate PR Company by Solidarity in 2007,

i. the appointment of the auditors of Solidarity's accounts for the years ending 31 December 2006 and 31 December 2007 and

j. any other matter, with the consent of the Certification Officer, indicating a financial irregularity within the description set out in section 37B(2) of the 1992 Act that may come to light during the investigation of (a) to (i) above.

The terms of reference exclude the Inspector from reaching any conclusion on the legal issues arising out of the unresolved dispute within Solidarity about the application of its rules to its governance, the resolution of which requires either internal agreement or judicial determination.