TOWN FOLK MUSICIAN RECORDS CD FOR BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY A DONCASTER folk singer has become the voice of BNP leader Nick Griffin on the far right group's new CD. Lee Haggan, a former BNP local election candidate, has recorded nine songs for the BNP - most of them written by Griffin himself.
And fears have been raised that the CD could find its way into Doncaster schools after Griffin said on a TV documentary: "It's a great way of getting our message to children because they will listen to songs again and again and pick the words up straight away, where as maybe one in 100 would bother to listen to a speech."
And party activist Steven Cartwright claimed on the documentary: "We have a lot of people in schools who are happy to go along and put the CDs in locker areas and such, where they are sold very, very cheaply" Haggan said: "I'm the BNP organiser for Doncaster and we've never targeted schools and probably never would. I wouldn't personally target schools. I will say one thing in our defence - the kids are brainwashed with that much rubbish in schools nowadays anyway."
Bentley-based Haggan, a party member for three years, was instrumental in producing the BNP's first CD for its new record label, Great White. The label, whose logo is a shark, is part of a BNP merchandising campaign which the party hopes will raise £100,000 in the next year. The 11-song CD, entitled Time To Make A Stand, is billed as "a collection of patriotic British folk songs performed by a group of popular patriotic musicians".
But the lyrics, mainly written by Griffin, are awash with polemic. One song, The Menace, features lyrics about "a shower of foreign traitors who want to take our land".
Now folk singer Billy Bragg has waded into the row after learning that the CD features a rewritten version of Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land.
Mr Bragg, who is closely associated with the Woody Guthrie foundation, said: "I am going to contact the foundation in New York City immediately. I think they will be very, very angry about this and I think they may well start legal action to get this CD stopped."
The CD has also been criticised by Coun Glyn Jones, Doncaster Council's cabinet member for human rights and equalities. He said: "We are not aware of any promotion or sale of this CD in our schools. It is the responsibility of individual schools to decide an on appropriate action for any incidents related to this CD and to ensure that they do not allow support for any political party on school premises."
The Free Press tried to speak to Nick Griffin on the matter but he was unavailable. However party spokesman Dr Phil Edwards said: "It's family friendly. I manage to keep my hatred under control and funnel it through music. All it does is tell the truth. If you're going to be hamstrung by laws to stop us speaking out then we might as well pack it in." When asked if the BNP were targeting schools with the CD he said: "I should hope so, yes."