Tell us BNP, who are these "critics"?

A typically ignorant piece of race-baiting published on the BNP's website in August 2008 is in the news today. The News of the World has dusted off the piece, about the sale of replica Victoria Cross medals and comments about recent recipient of the honour, Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC, and reported it in an article as part of a campaign to remind voters what the BNP is really like. In all honesty it is a clumsy article by the News of the World beause Jamie Lyons opens his article by saying:

BRITISH National Party cowards have launched an outrageous attack on a decorated Iraq war hero - claiming he only got the Victoria Cross because he is BLACK.

The fact is they did not say that explicitly. It is blindingly obvious that the BNP's subtext was this is what they believe, but they deliberately avoided using those actual words. By doing so they would hold a plausible deniability card - which they have played today as expected thanks to Lyons' sloppy generalisation.

However, in its attempt to devalue the bravery of L Cpl Beharry VC, the BNP repeatedly cites "critics" who have supposedly said Beharry of "that all he did was drive away very fast from a combat zone"; pointed out that "the VC was normally only awarded for gallant acts of bravery such as the Defence of Rorke’s Drift, head on enemy attacks such as in the trenches of World War I and so on - and that driving a vehicle through an ambush hardly compares to any of these deeds" ** see footnote below and suggested "that the only reason that Beharry was singled out for a VC was because of a made-up “positive discrimination” directive by the PC-mad government" - in other words only won the VC because he is black. So given all this, the questions the BNP should answer are:

• who are these "critics" cited in the BNP piece?
• where are the links to these assertions so we can verify them?
• what evidence is there that Beharry only won the VC due to positive discrimination?

Apart from the usual BNP sockpuppets who will leave comments trying to i) deflect attention from this by attempting to change the discussion to something entirely unrelated such as immigration and what 'British' means in their view and ii) do anything but answer the questions in the hope people forget the point being made, rest assured we will hear nothing.

I have no doubt that these "critics" are either BNP supporters furthering their racism in the usual anonymous fashion of the coward, or more likely, that these "critics" do not exist and were created specifically to enable the BNP to slur L Cpl Beharry VC (while retaining their deniability card) for no other reason than the fact he is not white British and was quoted in an article criticising the BNP trying to make money by selling cheap replica medals.

If I was serving in uniform and given a choice between having a BNP keyboard warrior alongside me in my section, or a courageous, determined and reliable squaddie like Johnson Beharry, I would want Beharry every time. The man chose to serve the Crown, he put his life on the line, he saved the lives of his brothers-in-arms and he is, without any doubt, a true hero.

** For the record: The BNP is keen to repeat on its website that all Johnson Beharry was recognised for was "driving a vehicle through an ambush". The ignorant morons are clearly incapable of reading, or just simply determined to hide the truth as part of a determined attempt to undermine him for not being white British. Beharry's citation makes clear:

Despite this harrowing weight of incoming fire Beharry continued to push through the extended ambush, still leading his platoon until he broke clear. He then visually identified another Warrior from his company and followed it through the streets of Al Amarah to the outside of the Cimic House outpost, which was receiving small arms fire from the surrounding area. Once he had brought his vehicle to a halt outside, without thought for his own personal safety, he climbed onto the turret of the still-burning vehicle and, seemingly oblivious to the incoming enemy small arms fire, manhandled his wounded platoon commander out of the turret, off the vehicle and to the safety of a nearby Warrior. He then returned once again to his vehicle and again mounted the exposed turret to lift out the vehicle's gunner and move him to a position of safety. Exposing himself yet again to enemy fire he returned to the rear of the burning vehicle to lead the disorientated and shocked dismounts and casualties to safety. Remounting his burning vehicle for a third time, he drove it through a complex chicane and into the security of the defended perimeter of the outpost, thus denying it to the enemy. Only at this stage did Beharry pull the fire extinguisher handles, immobilising the engine of the vehicle, dismounted and then moved himself into the relative safety of the back of another Warrior. Once inside Beharry collapsed from the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of his efforts and was subsequently himself evacuated.

Tony Sharp