BNP sexism is unnatural

'Rape is simply sex'. That is the appalling view of the BNP London election candidate Nick Eriksen. Writing on his own blog, under the name John Bull, Eriksen claims 'men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime'. He goes on to say: 'Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors'. Eriksen is not only number two on the BNP's London-wide list, and so stands a chance of getting elected to the London Assembly, but is also the party's London organiser. This means he is in charge of the whole London BNP campaign. Eriksen is a recent recruit to the BNP but has been a controversial political figure for some time. As a former Conservative councillor in Southwark, his views were so extreme and divisive that his surgeries were regularly picketed. He went on to be a founding activist with Right Now, a magazine aimed at the far right of the Conservative Party. Its first editor was Ralph Harrison, a close collaborator of one of Britain's most important postwar racist and antisemitic activists, the Dowager Lady Jane Birdwood. Harrison was followed in 1995 by Derek Turner, a former activist in the Social Action Initiative, a small fascist group active in the Irish Republic.

In some early issues Eriksen wrote openly under his own name but he later submerged his identity in the deeply odious John Bull column, in which he raged against multiculturalism, women's equality and political correctness. Eriksen also voiced his obnoxious views on his John Bull blog, which he started in April 2005 just before the general election. In August of that year he turned his attention to the date-rape drug Rohypnol. 'It turns out that these stupid tarts are simply getting blind drunk, taking 'recreational' drugs themselves, and then having sex', spouted Eriksen. 'Next day they wake up with an almighty hangover and a deep feeling of shame and regret. So what do they do then? Why, cry rape of course, and try to get a poor innocent man sent to prison in order to save their "reputation"-as if they had one!' Under the heading 'Assault with a friendly weapon', he continued in similar vein.'Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched'.

Eriksen obviously hates women. In another article the following day he wrote: 'Men are more intelligent than women-it's a fact. Let's be proud of it, let's celebrate it, let's take advantage of it, and let's not tolerate women who seek to deny it'. But his violent misogyny does not stop there. Eriksen believes that figures that show women are the victim in nearly four-fifths of domestic violence incidents are a lie and that men are the real victims. In an article in November 2005 entitled 'Give her a slap', Eriksen attacked campaigns that try to heighten awareness of the domestic violence and abuse as an attempt 'to vilify men'. Eriksen believes that 'Very few men have any inkling of the hatred and contempt which most women have for them' and that 'Feminist talk about "equality" is just a pretext-their real agenda is to try to gain superiority over men'. Concluding this particularly odious piece of twaddle, Eriksen endorsed physical violence against women. Commenting upon a very public fracas in which Rebekah Wade, editor of The Sun, was arrested following a fight with her husband, the actor Ross Kemp, in 2005, Eriksen advanced his own solution. 'Come on Ross', urged Eriksen, 'let's see if you're as tough as your on-screen persona-give your wife a good slap!'

With statements such as these it is not surprising that his blog profile states that he takes a '"right-wing", nationalist, patriotic, traditional viewpoint, pro-moting men's rights and the national interest of the British people. Opposed to all forms of political correctness'. In Eriksen's mind, when not being raped or beaten women have one role in life. 'Let's be honest', he wrote on 16 September 2005, 'for a woman to consider a job or career more important than having children is, quite literally, unnatural. Of course having children usually leads to women's careers being disrupted, but so what? … Instead of complaining that nature prevents women from having successful careers women should embrace the career nature has ascribed to them - motherhood'. In this view he fits neatly in the BNP. The far-right party has long argued that women should not work but stay at home and bring up children.