Fareham councillor shares Britain First posts on FB

An Independent councillor representing Fareham West ward on Fareham Borough Council has shared Facebook posts from the far-right group Britain First, Portsmouth News reports.

Nick Gregory shared two of Britain First’s posts from its Facebook page, one calling for the reintroduction of the national service and the other condemning radicalised Britons who join ISIL.

Simon Magorian from the pressure group Unite Against Fascism criticised Gregory’s decision to share the views expressed by the far right anti Muslim group on social media saying “Cllr Gregory should apologise to all the people he has offended. He should be very careful as he is in an elected position and he should not be sharing the views of people that want to destroy our country’s democratic ways.”

Mr Magorian called Britain First members “dangerous hypocrites” and accused the group of using platforms like Facebook to cajole people into endorsing their policies, through the ‘liking’ and sharing of posts on emotive issues.

He said: “It is a big problem. They will quite often post something saying “share if you agree”. This is how they get the likes. They will post things saying “our boys” or about the Royal family just to pull people in.”

Portsmouth News reports that Cllr Gregory admitted initially sharing the two posts, but said he later deleted them when he realised Britain First were behind them.

“I agreed with the sentiment that’s why I shared them. I then deleted them because I saw they were from Britain First which is basically a fascist organisation,” said Gregory.

The Fareham Borough councillor said he would be not be endorsing any posts from the far-right party again, adding: “there must be others that have shared their posts and then realised.”

“I will be checking more carefully in future as I do not back their politics. Their Facebook is a clever way of drawing people in to sharing their organisation.”

However, Portsmouth News notes that Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, stated that the group were currently planning a campaign in Fareham and that she had allegedly invited Cllr Gregory to the event.

She called the criticism of Britain First a “political witch-hunt.”

Ms Fransen said: “We think it is appalling and indicative of all that is currently wrong with Britain that Cllr Gregory has been criticised for sharing posts.”

“Britain First is a registered political party, we believe in putting British people first in their own country,” she added.

Britain First’s operations often focus on the intimidation and harassment of Muslim communities in Britain. Last month the party staged a protest in Luton because the town had been “turned into an Islamic ghetto” according to Fransen.

The anti-Muslim group have ‘invaded’ mosques across the country, forcing their way in in order to intimidate mosque personnel and worshippers.

In late June this year the party launched an “anti-halal operation” in Dartford, where Britain First leader, Paul Golding, claimed in a promotional video that the money made from selling halal meat is “funnelled out to jihadi groups, terrorist groups and maybe even ISIS.” Golding and Fransen were reported for allegedly threatening restaurant owners on film.

Despite the party displaying clear intolerance and hatred towards British Muslims, several people in elected positions have shown support for Britain First.

In October last year a photo emerged of three UKIP campaigners, including former UKIP council candidate for Enfield, David Schofield, posing with Jayda Fransen in Britain First T-shirts in Rochester.

A month later a UKIP party member, Malcolm Jackson, had his membership revoked after he attended a ‘mega-mosque’ demonstration in Rochester organised by Britain First.

That same month the Conservative candidate in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, Alastair Redman, shared a link from Britain First’s Facebook page.

According to the Electoral Commission’s data Britain First is the best funded of smaller political parties in the UK.