Zoë Jay Morris presents an in-depth interview with Jim White, a British National Party (BNP) activist working for the party’s bookshop in Welling, south east London. The article offers the reader an effective and exploratory profile of home grown extremism and Morris is able to implement White as an allegorical figure of the far-right. She effectively avoids any assumptions of the political movement that he exists within but, instead, places focus firmly on the subject profiled who rapidly digs his own political grave for her.
For me, the representation of White as the enemy within (“I would forgive myself for taking a second look at his short hair and nondescript features, to check he wasn’t the dad of one of my friends”) is used to great effect and it could be argued that to see fascism or racism as some kind of foreign entity or object- rather than insidiously embedded into our suburban landscapes would be unhelpful and inaccurate.
I find the last phrase of the article to be most chilling:
“All that is visible from the busy road in a suburban part of Welling is the tiny peep hole, behind which lies a small group of people intent on the government of the country. But on this quiet Tuesday afternoon, nobody seems to be taking much notice.”
One could read this as a 1990s damnation and humiliation attempt towards the BNP’s dwindling presence and a prediction of its ultimate demise. After all, the BNP was whittled down to 500 members by 2015 and its Welling HQ was shut down in 1995.
But the 2025 interpretation could resonate differently, that neofascist elements of the party have been absorbed into the mainstream consciousness of discussion, most evident on the platform formerly known as Twitter. Unfortunately, 2025’s Jim White could even be a legitimate participant of festering, popularised public debate, regardless of his dehumanising, racist and ultra-authoritarian viewpoints.
Although Jim White faded away without a trace (I checked) and his precious bookshop is no more, his proclaimed enemies didn’t do too well either. Youth Action Against Racism in Europe or YRE have a website which was last updated over half a decade ago and the Anti-Nazi League, which later became merged into Unite Against Fascism had a similar disintegration alongside a chequered history of infighting.
Better times will always be ahead of us but without positive and courageous action and great reporting like Zoë’s, we’re in for an arduous road ahead of us- always take notice!
Bloody Racists by Zoë Jay Morris
Zoë Jay Morris investigates the BNP book shop to find out what the racists are actually saying.
First impressions of Jim White would probably depend on where you met him. Walking down the street, I would forgive myself for taking a second look at his short hair and nondescript features, to check he wasn’t the dad of one of my friends.
When I first saw him, he was sitting in the back of the British National Party (BNP) book shop in Welling, sorting through a wad of cheques from generous donators. It’s not until he starts ranting about how Britain should only be for the British, that you are hit by the anger of his expression, and can easily imagine him ten years younger complete with skin head and bother boots.
From the outside, the book shop looks like anything but. From the inside, the lack of any natural light, caused by the front being boarded up, gives the place a sinister, mysterious feel. There is in fact a wall full of books for sale and numerous copies of BNP newspapers and magazines, but the absence of any customers and the middle aged couple in the back room drumming up volunteers gives a distinct notion of being let in on some secret conspiracy. Jim assures me that it is not a Nazi bunker and insists that they get about 20 customers a day.
Jim has been with the BNP practically since its foundation out of the ashes of the National Front in 1982, and is now a full time volunteer and Party Officer. His introduction to the party seems dangerously simple: just from drinking in certain pubs in Glasgow and being invited along to meetings.
But surely there must be some prerequisite that would explain why a man would become actively involved with a party with such extreme policies? Jim claims always to have been a patriot, always to have been proud to be British: “Up in my part of Western Scotland, we’re very proud of our connections with the Union Jack. We helped make this country what it was.”
“An awful lot of people died in the Second World War to prevent this country from being invaded. Yet, in 1948, the Government opened up the flood gates to allow invasion of a far more dangerous kind. At least the Germans were of the same racial background as ourselves. The ethnics coming into the country now have absolutely no connection with us from the past.”
The BNP cause has now become a way of life for Jim. He is committed 24 hours a day and has lost two jobs, one as a Customs Officer and one as a security guard at Harrods, due to “dirty campaigning by the opposition.”
So what exactly is he trying to achieve? Perhaps not surprisingly, Jim states that his objectives are those of the BNP as outlined in their manifesto. They believe that Britain should only be for the white indigenous population and would want to implement a system of government both responsible and accountable solely to the interests of the ‘British’ people. They want to take Britain out of Europe and rebuild its military strength to defend the nation.
But the main aim, Jim finally admits, is to solve the country’s immigration problem. He is quick to state that he doesn’t blame the ethnic minorities themselves, but the politicians who brought them here.
“They promised these people a land of milk and honey where they’d never go short. Once they get here, they find themselves thrown into substandard housing in tower blocks riddled with drugs, gang war fare, filth and squalor.’ Jim believes that it is the interest of all ethnic minorities, even those who have been born in this country, to return ‘home’. “They should want to go back to their own countries, they should want to build up their countries. It’s not in their interests to have British culture forced down their throats and it’s certainly not in our interests to have alien cultures forced down our throats.”
Jim points to the fact that the rule of immigration has always been ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’. But claims that the current “multi-racial nightmare” in this country does not reflect that.
“We would also like to remind people that just because a dog is born in a stable, doesn’t make it a horse! These people are not British, they do not belong here, they should not be mixing with our own race, making our own race impure. They will be going back to where their parents came from.”
Jim talks as if the fact that we will one day have a Nationalist government is a given. Such a government would use the fact that we provide aid to the Third World as a political bargaining tool. “A BNP government would say to these countries ‘We’ll continue aid to help your country, so long as you take your people back. Don’t take your people back- no more money”.
The obvious question is how would a BNP government ensure that ethnic minorities returned to their country of origin? The answer offered is typically simplistic; that under a Nationalist government ethnic minorities would be stripped of British citizenship and thus as illegal immigrants would be deported.
Jim often talks of the opposition, referring to organisations such as the Anti- Nazi League and Youth Against Racism in Europe, so what does he think of the opposition? “I regard them as everything that is corrupt and rotten with our country. They are pathetic little creeps who require rehabilitation and indeed will be rehabilitated under a Nationalist government and made to toe the party line. They are not political, they are mainly students, some of them are out of work with a chip on their shoulder and nothing better to do with their time than to go out and cause trouble.”
Of all the outrageous views that Jim has expressed, this idea of rehabilitation is the most frightening. But as with everything else it all seems simple and clear cut to him. “We want to instil in people a pride for their country and we will have rehabilitation centres to deal with this.”
“But I think that you’ll find that when it comes to the stage that a Nationalist government is about to be elected, they’ll see the writing on the wall, they’ll soon change their tune. I don’t believe one single member of any of these groups actually believes in the multiracial nightmare.”
Jim is calm, he gently swings on his office chair and smokes his cigarette, but the contradictions and the simplicity inherent in his arguments suggest that behind that calm exterior smoulders a mad man. He tells me: “We are misunderstood and treated unfairly. We are not fascists, we’re not stopping people from doing what they want to do.”
This misunderstanding is blamed on media misrepresentation. “The media are rotten to the core. They do understand us, that’s why they treat us the way they do and give us an image of thuggery and violence. But we quote the Roman phrase ‘let them hate us, let them do their damnedest to us, so long as they fear us.”
The BNP has seen a rise in membership and interest since the election of Derek Beacon to Tower Hamlets council, in September. They claim to have sent out over 1,500 information packs over a three week period after setting up a single phone line.
Jim is enthusiastic; “We’ve fought our hardest battle, achieved our first ambition. It’s going to be much easier from now on.” He expects the BNP to be in a position of serious opposition to present government within a couple of years.
As the interview draws to a close, the middle aged woman comes in to check a phone number and Jim assures me that there is a great deal of support from the women in the party. But they are discouraged from taking part in activities because of “violence from the opposition.”
Armed with an information pack, I am released from the ‘book shop’. The door is firmly bolted behind me and I hear the metal barricade being slotted back into place. All that is visible from the busy road in a suburban part of Welling is the tiny peep hole, behind which lies a small group of people intent on the government of the country. But on this quiet Tuesday afternoon, nobody seems to be taking much notice.