Bohemia Village Voice

John Martin.

John Martin visited the offices of the Village Voice with his agent, Nicholas Prince, the leader of the local BNP group. The Voice first asked John about his background.
John: I come from an Old Town fishing family, though I grew up in Hollington. I’ve always worked and for the last five years I’ve been running the Imperial pub in Queen’s Road.
Voice:  What doorstep reaction have you had ?
John: We haven’t canvassed yet. We’ve had good feedback through the pub. People’s minds aren’t made up.
Nick: We want to win to hold the balance of power. We’d then decide each issue on its merits, rather than doing a deal with one party.
John: We’re campaigning on local issues, like the pier and the money wasted on the CPZ [Controlled Parking Zone] consultation. We support the community, and by ‘community’ I mean everyone.
Voice: Is the BNP racist ?
John: I’ve been a member of the BNP for a year, and if I thought it was a racist party I wouldn’t be sitting here now. I’m not a racist and I don’t want to be labelled as one.
Voice:  How can you explain the presence on the BNP website of an article on racial differences? What’s that doing on the website of a political party?
John: I don’t look at the website, and I don’t agree with what is there.
Nick: I know the article you mean, and I think it’s well worded.
Voice:  A British person is surely anyone who holds a British passport, yet the party’s mission statement seeks to define British people ethnically. Who are British people as far as you’re concerned?
Nick: A true British person would be white.
Voice: So who is eligible to join the BNP?
Nick: Anybody of Western European origin can join automatically. Other groups can join on merit. I’d need to talk to them first, see why that person came here. If I was happy that they were British for the right reasons, they could join.
Voice: Isn’t that discrimination? 
Nick: If you let everyone into the party, we’d be like everyone else.