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Griffin defeats contempt legal bid

Date: 17/12/2010 15:46:07

Search: BNP contempt court

BNP leader Nick Griffin has fought off a bid to have him declared guilty of contempt of court.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission accused him of failing to comply with a Central London County Court judgment ordering the removal of potentially racist clauses from his party's constitution.

Robin Allen QC, appearing for the watchdog, said the BNP was "playing with" the Commission and its officials instead of obeying the judgment.

But on Friday Lord Justice Moore-Bick and Mr Justice Ramsey, sitting at the High Court in London, refused to to take action against Mr Griffin, BNP deputy Simon Darby and party officer Tanya Lumby.

The Commission was seeking fines against them for contempt, or possibly the sequestration of party assets.

The application stemmed from the county court's ruling that the BNP constitution breached discrimination laws because of a clause banning non-white members.

The constitution underwent revision, but last March Judge Paul Collins ruled at the county court that the new version was indirectly discriminatory against those of mixed-race, because it required party applicants to oppose "any form of integration or assimilation of ... the indigenous British".

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Another section required new members to submit to a two-hour vetting visit at their home by BNP officials, which Judge Collins ruled could be seen as "intimidatory".

The county judge ordered both sections to be removed from the constitution.

The Commission took the BNP to the High Court accusing it of being in contempt by failing to comply with that order. On Friday, as BNP supporters demonstrated outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Lord Justice Moore-Bick said he had reached "the clear conclusion" that the Commission's legal action could not succeed.

2012 © Press Association

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