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BNP begins complaint campaign aimed at MEN's advertisers

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

May 28, 2009 | 3 min read

The BNP is encouraging its supporters to pressurise the Manchester Evening News' advertisers following the paper's editorial stance urging readers not to vote for the party in next week's European elections.

The MEN has been running the ‘BNP-The Truth’ campaign this week, which the newspaper’s editor, Paul Horrocks, said was to inform the public of the "extremist" policies held by the party.

Horrocks told The Drum: “We took the decision to expose more details on their policies and, when we tried to speak to the deputy leader, Simon Darby, to confirm the BNP’s manifesto in 2005, when it wanted all non-white Britons to leave the country, he essentially said ‘Yes’ but refused to talk about the issue any further.

"When you think about that, to try and suggest that in multi-cultural Britain we in effect ‘repatriate’ society, it’s just an outrage and we felt it right to bring details like that to our readers' attention.”

As a result of the MEN’s campaign, the BNP has asked its supporters to complain to MEN advertisers in order to persuade the paper to cease its editorial campaign.

In an email to supporters, the BNP said: "They [the MEN] are terrified that British patriots will be elected on June 4th. It is time we started fighting back against these media rats in the only way possible: by complaining to their advertisers!

"If enough people do this, the companies in question will moan and groan to the Manchester Evening News' business directors, forcing a behavioural change vis-à-vis the editorial team and journalists. We are calling on all genuine British Nationalists to heed this call and complain to one of the companies."

The email then listed a number of regular advertisers in the MEN.

A spokesperson for the BNP said: “The MEN has told a pack of lies. This is a publication that looks to try and pass itself off as a trusted purveyor of news and current affairs which has decided to launch a campaign against the BNP."

Horrocks said that the paper would continue with its campaign nevertheless. The European Parliamentary Elections are held on 4 June.

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