Shameful interference

First, let me say - lest I be accused of being one of the "ranters" - that in my younger days I was a member of the Young Communist League and was actively involved in opposing the old National Front. Later I was a trade union shop steward for 12 years.

Mr Chaytor's assertion that the BNP is a neo-Nazi party is no more than name-calling; the name Nazi is actually an acronym for the German National Socialist Party and, as the BNP is neither German nor Socialist, his claim is ludicrous.

He goes on to accuse the BNP of failing to submit accurate accounts to the Electoral Commission and then shoots himself in the foot by stating that no British bank will provide it with financial services. Perhaps he can explain how any organisation, whose funds have been frozen and its accounts closed, can possibly be expected to provide accurate and up-to-date financial statements.

Then, in what is a blatant piece of hypocrisy and double standards, he criticises the BNP for not allowing black or Asian people to be members, while actively supporting the equally racist Black Police Officers Association, which discriminates against white officers joining.

The most sinister aspect of his letter, however, is his thinly-veiled attempt to influence the content of the Letters page. The editor of the Bury Times has always been scrupulously fair to both sides of the argument; for every "pro-BNP" letter printed, an "anti-BNP" letter has also been printed. Hopefully, this impartiality will continue and the editor will treat this shameful interference with the contempt it deserves.

As an ex-Labour Party supporter, it saddens me to have to say that this New Labour government that David Chaytor so willingly serves, is the most repressive this country has ever had, and therefore we would do well to remember the old political maxim: The only difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is time.

J. RENNIKER,

Radcliffe.