Dishonest BNP spins article by George Carey and deliberately misquotes him
Cross-post from Edmund Standing:-
The BNP likes to present itself as a party that tells the truth, unlike mainstream political parties that rely on lies, misrepresentation and spin, but have yet again demonstrated that this is far from the case.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, recently wrote an article for the Times on immigration and the rise of the BNP. Carey was immediately denounced by the BNP Legal Director as an ‘idiot’ working for ‘Zionists’, but the BNP’s official statement on the article has wisely avoided following Barnes’s line (as it usually does). The BNP website’s take on Carey’s article (‘Lord Carey predicts BNP victory in Dagenham’) puts a typically dishonest spin on what he actually said. From the BNP’s commentary, you’d think Carey was on the verge of joining the party and it appears that he has endorsed them.
BNP website:
Writing in The Times this morning Lord Carey warns:
“The fact is that a rise in the UK population by ten million in two decades will put our nation’s resources under considerable strain, stretching almost to breaking point the enormous reserves of tolerance and generosity of the British people. Failure to take that action could be seriously damaging to the future harmony of our society.”
He also acknowledges that the million people who voted for the British National Party at the European Elections had genuine concerns about both overpopulation and the ability of this nation to integrate new communities whose values are sometimes very different, even antithetical, to our own.
What Carey said:
The fact is that a rise in the UK population by ten million in two decades will put our nation’s resources under considerable strain, stretching almost to breaking point the enormous reserves of tolerance and generosity of the British people.
The declaration by no means spells out a halt to immigration. In fact we welcome the contribution of both economic migrants and asylum seekers to our lively cosmopolitan culture. But we urge a return to the levels of the early 1990s, about 40,000, compared with 163,000 in 2008. Failure to take that action could be seriously damaging to the future harmony of our society.
Last year nearly a million votes were cast for the British National Party. We cannot ignore the fact that such far-right groups exploit genuine concerns about both overpopulation and the ability of this nation to integrate new communities whose values are sometimes very different, even antithetical, to our own.
BNP website:
He then went even further, and predicted that the British National Party could win the parliamentary seat of Dagenham at the General Election.
He told the readers of Britain’s premier newspaper:
“In Dagenham, where I was brought up, the white working-class electorate, alienated by far-reaching social change and largely ignored by the mainstream parties, could vote for a BNP Member of Parliament.”
He said that people were supporting the BNP because it was the only political party echoing the sense of unfairness that many people felt about immigrants, economic migrants and bogus asylum seekers coming to Britain and availing themselves of our social services and our jobs.
What Carey said:
In Dagenham, where I was brought up, there is a very real danger that a white working-class electorate, alienated by far-reaching social change and largely ignored by the mainstream parties, could vote for a BNP Member of Parliament. This would be a tragedy in our long history of parliamentary democracy. Yet we play into the hands of the far Right if we do not seriously address the concerns that have led to some otherwise decent people supporting modern-day fascism.
For some reason, the BNP’s statement fails to offer a link to Carey’s article. I wonder why that is?
Lest there be any doubt about Carey’s view of the BNP, here’s what he told the News of the World in October 2009:
To hear the phrase “Christian Britain” coming from the mouth of Nick Griffin made me shudder. It was the most chilling moment of Question Time, perhaps better described as the Nick Griffin Show.
And what a pity that none of the other panelists challenged Griffin’s deceitful attempt to align his despicable policies with Christianity. This squalid racist must not be allowed to hijack one of the world’s great religions.
All of us who believe in tolerance and decency must stand shoulder-to-shoulder in rejection of Griffin’s notion that “Christianity” has any place in his bigotry. I tend to agree that the BBC was mistaken to give the BNP such prominence. To use Margaret Thatcher’s phrase, it was the “oxygen of publicity” that propelled the insignificant and undeserving party into the Big Time. The BBC’s Director General errs in arguing that in a democracy all views should be heard. The views of the BNP are not simply false, they are dangerous, indeed irredeemably evil.
Nevertheless, ‘Any Questions’ DID expose Nick Griffin’s views to public scrutiny. What we saw on our screens was a 21st Century pipsqueak heir to Hitler and Mosley. If the public believed beforehand that support for the BNP was a protest vote against remote or out of touch politicians, they were proved wrong. The BNP leader was unveiled as a sly, shifty figure who would hide unpalatable truths, and cynically spin regardless of the truth, for the sake of votes and funds.
Quite so.
Tags: Christianity, Politics
January 9th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I may not agree with some of the extreme views attributed to the BNP, but, then, this equally applies to the – so far! = major parties who faithfully promised us a referendom, but then knowing full well that it could very well go contrary to their parties wishes, refused to keep to their word. What an appalling contradiction to democracy!
Each party has its virtues but – regrettably it would appear – its very many vices as well. Then let us be fair and see to it that the frying pan never calls the kettle black! The Question Time on TV which had Nick Griffin as one of its guests was – in my mind – a downright insult and most Unchristian! I am reminded of that saying: ‘I may not agree with what you have to say but I will defend to the hilt your right to express it’.
Under this present regime – under the cloak of political correctness and equality for minority groups, etc. – freedom of expression as well as action is being most deviously taken from us. What a Christian nation fought for is being stolen from before our very eyes!
Indeed, I well remember those open air witnesses in our major cities: those Speakers Corners! What a tonic they were! You’d have the Protestant Truth Society, The Catholic Truth Society, The Free Thinkers and The Communists, openly opposing one another; plus the Salvation Army playing at the same time a little further away. Indeed, such unholy rivalry an humorous banter was a tonic to behold. What a contrast to today, when you dare not openly criticize the views or life style of some minority group lest they call the police and have you brought before the courts!
As one whose previous pastorates or parishes included Bradford, Huddersfield abd Doncaster, I can appreciate why so many of the residents there have not only eagerly supported the UKIP, but also – quite a few of them! – the BNP. And what ever faults and ‘over the top’ statements the latter party may have been accused of saying, two things are certainly – in my mind! very much in their favour:
(1) on their websites and correspondence they are the only UK poplitical party to recognise, under the list of titles, that which includes place for a clergyman.
(2) Yes, and as one who has battled down past decades for care and protection of animals – my website being: http://www.animalpadre.org – I find they are the only party to openly oppose the ritual slaughter of fully conscious animals. A practice allowed to increase – along with immigration – within, what we dare to still call both a Christian as well as an animal caring nation.
Let us never forget that the supreme analogy of our Faith – given to us by our founder Himself – is in terms of a good shepherd prepared to seek out a mere member of an ‘assumed’ much lesser species who’d got in to difficulties. Yes, a wilful, wayward sheep no doubt lost, wounded and bleeding.
Let us seek to emulate our Master and in deeds which speak louder than words: ‘preach the gospel to every creature’
January 9th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
I was pretty apalled to read the comments of the Rev Thompson – the BNP are not jst another political party reneging on election promises; they are committed to creating an aparthied state within the UK with any non-white children being deprived of an education. They intend to remove the race relations act, with does not just correct political correctness gone mad but stops thugs from from BNP and EDL spitting at and racially abusing non-white people in the street, stops them being able to openly encourage violence and hatred against anyone who looks even vaguely different. Allowing people to live in fear, and supporting a party that openly enourages this hatred and division (see their 2005 maifesto) is a very un-Christian attitude.
Please also don’t continue to spread the lie that Muslim and Jewish ritual slaughter is any more cruel than the way we ‘Christians’ raise and farm animals. If anything, our methods are much more cruel. Animals are raised in cramped, filthy conditions; they do not have enough room to stand or turn around. By the time they are taken to slaughter they often have sores on their skin, the have been attacked by other animals because of the conditions or they are in need of medical assistance which will never come. They are transported to slaughterhouses in open trucks, in extremes of heat or cold with no water, food or protection. In Muslim and Jewish faiths the animals must be in good condition to be eaten so have normally been looked after much better. This type of prejuiced opinon continues to spread the divisions between different faiths and backgrounds, and the only reason the BNP have included any refernce to animal cruelty is to demonize the other faiths. If you notice in their manifesto, this is the only reference to animal cruelty.
Christian countries & people are far from perfect, and the same applies to all faiths. Positive press for the BNP, especially from a clergy member, gives them an air of respectability they do not deserve.
Incidentally – I completely agree that Griffin had every right to express his odious opinons in the same way as any other political party leader. And every member of the audience on QT had the right to voice their disgust that he was being given such a public platform to do so. These rights of free speech work both ways. Griffin was unable to handle the challenges he faced as an experienced politician would have; he knew that before he went on the show, and he knew how controversial it would be. Neither he nor the BNP need to be protected from the big, bad British public. Although I guess as the Rev Thompson is defending the BNP he is aware they intend to make it illegal to critisize the reigning government if they get into power? So this type of article would not be allowed under their rule.
January 9th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
As one who has fostered and, indeed, adopted non white children, I am certainly not the kind of ogre that my critic assumes me to be; I only ask for tolerance and a willingness to see both sides without going off in a tangent; because, so often, when emotions enter then impartial reasoning goes out of the window. And as for the appaling animal cruelty that goes on in the UK, she has only to look up my site to learn more.
May my Critic be truly blest in a wonderful way!
January 10th, 2010 at 8:58 am
‘Rev. Pastor’ James Thompson – of which denomination and which church?
January 10th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Labels mean nothing to me. To be ‘born of the Spirit and washed in His blood’ and ‘walk daily and humbly with one’s God’ is what counts. However, I have been a bonafide Cleric in Baptist, Congregational, Church Of England – both high and low! – and Scottish Episcopal churches. I’ll be 80 next month, and have been grieved and deeply saddened down the decades that the various denominations I’ve ministered in have left the whole cause for God’s animal creation out of their prayers, preaching and – apart from ‘All things Bright & Beautiful! – their praise.
A very small part of my humble efforts to get a niche for the crying needs of animal welfare in to the churches has been via the initiation of animal blessing services. I look for a broader and more inclusive presentation of the gospel. I seek to elucidate this also via my website.
It deeply saddens me that while so many Christians clap hands and encircle each other in holy circles, that they remain oblivious about the appalling animal suffering we ‘Christians’ inflict or condone, so as to acquire cheap – intensively reared – produce. We are told to have dominion over other forms of life, but it surely needs to be equated with a faithful stewarship as members of the ‘guardian species’? The strong are on earth to protect the weak; and not here to exploit them.
Our dominion needs to be a true reflection of Christ’s caring dominion over us!
It is my contention that the churches refusal to support the animal activist movement today is a mere reflection of its refusal to denounce and oppose slavery of humans in the past. It is very easy for us to turn a blind eye and say ‘just preach Jesus!’ We should be actively involved in being a mouthpiece for the dumb creation. They have no voice but ours to speak up for them.
Indeed, there was more room given by God for the animals, within the ark than for humans, and God repeated five times that His covenant was equally for them as well as for us. Yet that branch of Christendom which claims to be the exclusive ‘ark of salvation ‘even denies animals a soul!
History and human nature hardly change, and it was so in Wesley and Whitfield’s day. While the former fearlessly denounced slavery, the latter – with a few texts of ‘assumed’ equal inspiration to back him! – actually later owned one or two. Indeed, one of the saddest things about dear William Wilberforce’s life was that some of his bitterest opponents came from the House of Bishops who had vested interests in the vile practice.
Similarly, here in Wales where I’m called to minister in the Anglican churches as well as various Non Conformist chapels; the bishops of the former are hardly likely to sing my praises when I oppose intensive factory farming or even blood ‘sports’! The role of a prophet is a lonely one! However, my Blessed Saviour called me out to be one; and – by His grace = I will not let Him down.
Indeed, but for the grace of Our Lord, we could have been born as a beetle under a stone or a laboratory animal. We are exceedingly privileged to have been born as humans – who alone can either bless or blight the world for all other species. What a privilege? Yes indeed: but what a tremendous responsibility. “To whom most has been given, from them most will be required” are the words of The Master.
My website = should it be helpful to you – is http://www.animalpadre.org I thank you for your enquiry but want you to know that I am not available from later today until Saturday! Of far less importance, my title appended, which you appear to question, could well be: Rev(olutionary) Pastor. You see, like Job, I’m not happy in giving flattering titles to man. ‘Reverend’ unabreviated I obviously question. Yes, and more so being referred to as Father, as was a previous tradition! Pastor is a caring term of scriptural foundation, carried over from my blest Free Church days, which I still endeavour to live up to as best as I can.
May you have a Happy and wonderful 2010!
January 10th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
‘I have been a bonafide Cleric in Baptist, Congregational, Church Of England – both high and low! – and Scottish Episcopal churches … Similarly, here in Wales where I’m called to minister in the Anglican churches as well as various Non Conformist chapels’.
Frankly, an unlikely CV – you’ll be telling us you’re going to become the Pope next!
‘that branch of Christendom which claims to be the exclusive ‘ark of salvation ‘even denies animals a soul!’
Jesus died for your Christmas turkey did he?
‘The role of a prophet is a lonely one! However, my Blessed Saviour called me out to be one; and – by His grace = I will not let Him down’.
You already have – by defending a racist political party led by a Holocaust denying, anti-Semitic neo-Nazi.
Why do you keep spamming your website on here, by the way? It’s totally off-topic. The topic at hand is the BNP’s deliberate misrepresentation of George Carey’s views.
Anything to say on that?
January 10th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
‘From out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh!’ I feel so very, very sorry for you.
However, I wish you well