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National Front target Blackburn
From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Wednesday 29th Jan 2003.
THE right-wing National Front is targeting Blackburn -- claiming people are deserting the BNP because it 'has gone soft'.
And the man behind the new group -- Mark Cotterill -- today said he counted a former Ku Klux Klan leader among his close friends, having spent five years raising money for the BNP in America.
Today the leaders of the two main parties on Blackburn with Darwen Council said the move reflected badly on the town, but was not unexpected.
Meanwhile the BNP said it did not think it would lose any supporters as a result.
Mr Cotterill has named Ewood and Higher Croft as the two wards the National Front plans to field candidates in during the 2004 full council elections in Blackburn -- the next ones to be held.
More than 2,000 leaflets were distributed in the two wards over the weekend. Both wards are also targets for the BNP.
And Mr Cotterill, who lives in the Queen's Park area of Blackburn, is now scouring Accrington and Burnley for other 'winable' seats.
He said: "There is growing support for our party because a lot of BNP members are dropping off because they are going soft to attract voters.
"Those are the two wards we want to target and we are looking for similar wards in Burnley and Accrington."
Mr Cotterill, a 42-year-old father-of-two, who describes himself as being between jobs, moved back to Britain from the USA in November.
In America, he ran the 'Friends of the BNP', which raised money to support the party's activities in this country.
He moved to America in 1995 and campaigned in favour of far-right politics when he lived in Blackburn before.
While in America, he became close friends with David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, the anti-black organisation set up in the 1800s.
The leaflets he distributes say that the single European currency should be scrapped, and that corporal punishment should be re-introduced.
A spokesman for the Leicestershire-based organisation said: "We can confirm Mr Cotterill is the area organiser for the National Front in Blackburn and East Lancashire where a new branch is being set up."
Council leader Bill Taylor said: "I am not surprised by this. It figures that as soon as one far-right party gets in, another might try."
Conservative leader Colin Rigby said: "It is bad news for the town. It creates the wrong impression."
Simon Bennett, regional organiser of the BNP, said: "We know of Mr CotterilI but are surprised of his decision to leave us. I don't think we will lose any supporters.
"We have broadened our appeal in recent years and have changed some policies, but most parties do that anyway. The BNP hasn't gone soft, it's just matured.
"It may split the vote, I don't know. I'd hope not but it is something we have to be alert to."
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