By Tom Moseley »
A BRITISH National Party activist drives around with the word “Nazi” written on the back of his car, it has been revealed.
Robin Evans, the BNP’s Blackburn organiser, said he had not tried to remove the word as he did not find it offensive.
The former councillor for Mill Hill in Blackburn, who now lives in Darwen, said he did not know who had stuck the letters on his metallic green Volkswagen Golf, but thought it was “quite funny”, adding: “It doesn’t bother me”
Blackburn MP Jack Straw said the sticker “exposed the true colours of the BNP”.
Party leader Nick Griffin, who was recently elected as a Euro MP for the North West, advised Mr Evans to remove the term.
When asked about it by the Lancashire Telegraph Mr Evans, who stood for the BNP at this month’s Darwen Town Council elections, said: “You know what people are like. Everyone calls me a Nazi.
“Someone put it on there 12 months ago. It was in silver letters. What you see there is the wreckage. I haven’t a clue who tried to take it off but I couldn’t be bothered.
“To be honest I thought it was quite funny. It’s better than them putting my windows through or smashing bottles on my head which I’ve had before.
“The car is on its last legs. I would rather be driving around in a big Porsche. But my car and whatever it looks like does its job and I am OK with it.”
Asked whether he found the term ‘Nazi’ offensive, Mr Evans added: “Everyone is individual. My personal interpretation, not the BNP’s, is that it means a nationalist, which is where the word has come from. If someone’s in the street screaming ‘Nazi, Nazi’, that is offensive. It is not offensive against other people.”
Mr Straw, the Justice Secretary, said: “It’s very offensive, especially to people who are Jewish, but also to virtually everyone else in society.
“This exposes the BNP’s true colours.”
Coun Tony Melia, the leader of the For Darwen Party leader and deputy council leader, said: “If someone put that on my car I would have it taken down instantly. It is absolutely tasteless.”
Mr Griffin said: “I would advise him to take it off. It was obviously put there by some crank. He may be putting a brave face on it.”
Asked whether he found the term offensive, he added: “I don’t know if it’s offensive per se, you see all sorts of swastikas on news stands and history books.
“But used against us it is highly offensive, because we believe in British values like free speech.”
Source: www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk, 17th June 2009