Far-right party to change constitution to allow black and Asian members in order to comply with equality laws.
The British National partytoday voted to scrap its whites-only membership *policy in a move dismissed by anti-racist campaigners as "cosmetic".
At an extraordinary general meeting held in Essex, members of the far-right party voted in favour of changes to its constitution that would theoretically allow black and Asian people to join.
Following the result, the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, said he expected a "trickle, rather than a flood" of applications. "Anyone can be a member of this party. We are happy to accept anyone as a member providing they agree with us that this country should remain fundamentally British," Griffin told Sky News.
BNP spokesman Simon Darby said that of the "300 to 400 people" who attended the meeting, just five voted against the motion.
The new constitution, which is not yet publicly available, will be sent to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for final approval. The BNP will give the EHRC seven days to respond, said Darby.
The meeting was hastily arranged after the Central London county court last month told the BNP to amend its constitution to comply with race relations laws or face legal action by the EHRC. After the hearing on 28 January, the BNP rushed out letters to its 14,000 members in order to allow for the 14 days needed to alert them to the proposed changes.
But there remained queries over whether the amended version would go far enough to appease lawyers from the EHRC.
Anti-racism campaigners have said the constitutional change would make no difference to the BNP's racist ideology. Weyman Bennett, national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said: "I think that regardless of the vote, the changes are cosmetic and have only happened because the courts forced them to stop racist practices."
Asked whether the BNP was no longer racist, Darby said: "Let's put it like this: if, as a result of this, a court rules that we are now a bona fide party, that's a great stamp of approval. If anyone says we are racist, we can say 'no we're not, it's been proved in court'."
As for whether the BNP would genuinely welcome members of "all colours and creeds", Darby said: "I'm not prepared to even say that until we have the court ruling. I'm not going to stray into the realms of that sort of terminology."
Earlier Griffin said ethnic minority members would be accepted if they agreed with the party's aims.
He told the BBC: "They'll be accepted, they'll be welcomed, providing they're there to do the things that we want to do, and providing they accept and agree with our principles, which is that multiculturalism, we believe, has been a failure. It was imposed on the British people without any consent, by the political elite. It's still going on, it's madness and it's time to shut the doors."
BNP votes to scrap whites-only policy | Politics | guardian.co.uk
The British National partytoday voted to scrap its whites-only membership *policy in a move dismissed by anti-racist campaigners as "cosmetic".
At an extraordinary general meeting held in Essex, members of the far-right party voted in favour of changes to its constitution that would theoretically allow black and Asian people to join.
Following the result, the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, said he expected a "trickle, rather than a flood" of applications. "Anyone can be a member of this party. We are happy to accept anyone as a member providing they agree with us that this country should remain fundamentally British," Griffin told Sky News.
BNP spokesman Simon Darby said that of the "300 to 400 people" who attended the meeting, just five voted against the motion.
The new constitution, which is not yet publicly available, will be sent to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for final approval. The BNP will give the EHRC seven days to respond, said Darby.
The meeting was hastily arranged after the Central London county court last month told the BNP to amend its constitution to comply with race relations laws or face legal action by the EHRC. After the hearing on 28 January, the BNP rushed out letters to its 14,000 members in order to allow for the 14 days needed to alert them to the proposed changes.
But there remained queries over whether the amended version would go far enough to appease lawyers from the EHRC.
Anti-racism campaigners have said the constitutional change would make no difference to the BNP's racist ideology. Weyman Bennett, national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said: "I think that regardless of the vote, the changes are cosmetic and have only happened because the courts forced them to stop racist practices."
Asked whether the BNP was no longer racist, Darby said: "Let's put it like this: if, as a result of this, a court rules that we are now a bona fide party, that's a great stamp of approval. If anyone says we are racist, we can say 'no we're not, it's been proved in court'."
As for whether the BNP would genuinely welcome members of "all colours and creeds", Darby said: "I'm not prepared to even say that until we have the court ruling. I'm not going to stray into the realms of that sort of terminology."
Earlier Griffin said ethnic minority members would be accepted if they agreed with the party's aims.
He told the BBC: "They'll be accepted, they'll be welcomed, providing they're there to do the things that we want to do, and providing they accept and agree with our principles, which is that multiculturalism, we believe, has been a failure. It was imposed on the British people without any consent, by the political elite. It's still going on, it's madness and it's time to shut the doors."
BNP votes to scrap whites-only policy | Politics | guardian.co.uk
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