Searchlight, October 2002
by: Searchlight staff

In the very week that the world stood still to remember the deaths of thousands of civilians in the extremist bombings of a year ago, dozens of hard-core nazis were stepping off planes and boats to attend the ninth Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig planned for Morecambe on the northeast coast, Gerry Gable reports.
Donaldson, the singer for the nazi band Skrewdriver [sic], died in a road accident in Derbyshire in 1993. The annual gig is regularly the largest nazi event of the year. Planning for this year's event had started many months ago and the organisers were expecting over one thousand violent followers of Blood and Honour to flock to the Carlton Inn on 14 September to listen to a line-up of seven international nazi bands.

But Searchlight was on their case. Twenty-four hours before the gig was due to start, the management of the venue cancelled the booking under pressure from Searchlight, the police and the media.

The day that the nazis had proclaimed in advance would be a victory turned into a drunken brawl between British National Party factions. A second fight broke out between Poles and Germans over who had stolen a wallet from one of the visiting nazis. The fracas continued on various nazis websites for days after the physical confrontation.

The organisers of the event, the British section of Blood and Honour, which organises the nazi music scene internationally, had kept details of the arrangements for 14 September close to their chests and had spread false trails in Liverpool, Leeds and the Midlands.

In fact Benny Bullman, the Nottinghamshire-based lead singer of the nazi group Whitelaw, had booked the venue under the guise of a punk festival as early as last February.

Searchlight intelligence officers, who had been investigating for several months, were delighted when they found not only the intended venue of the gig but also one of the major safehouses being used to hide visiting American and Hungarian nazis in the run-up to the event. Around a dozen of them dossed at the home of Steve Swinfen, a long-time nazi activist, at York Way in Rounds, Northamptonshire.

Searchlight's international network proved an enormous asset. Our American contacts were able to produce photographs, background information and even Texas police rap sheets on some of the key players in the nazis bands at only 24 hours' notice.

Once we had confirmed the venue we passed the information to the police at senior level in London, Northamptonshire and Lancashire. In the past the police have preferred to allow these gigs to go ahead in an attempt to contain the nazis and minimise public disorder. This time, after discussions with the Home Office, they decided to shut it down. This would however still allow a great deal of intelligence gathering.

Searchlight has helped bring several cases involving hate material to the attention of the authorities and some have led to convictions in the British courts. This has given us an authoritative reputation with the Home Office and the police, who acknowledge the accuracy of our information and analysis of the nazi music scene.

The Home Office, under fire for the recent illegal deportation of a family of Afghan asylum-seekers, had clearly understood how it would look to the British public and the international community if hundreds of nazis, many with criminal convictions, were allowed to enter the country without hindrance.

The airports and ports were alerted several days before the event to look out for visiting nazis. Some Americans had slipped the net coming in a week early and they were followed by a group of Hungarians. A few Australians put in an appearance as well as a contingent from Northern Ireland. The Germans had been threatening to bring over at least 200 street fighting nazis from their Blood and Honour scene and others were expected from around the world.

Three American bands had been invited, Youngland, the Bully Boys and Stone Hammer. British bands expected to play included English Rose, Eye of Odin and Brutal Attack.

The organisers were also looking forward to a performance from the SS-uniformed, drum banging Midguard, the southeast London band run by Micky Lane, an activist in the extreme nazi British Movement. He recently organised a nazi gig in Crayford, Kent with the help of the increasing number of biker gang members with whom he and his British Movement comrades are associating.

As well as the police and immigration service, Customs and Excise are also keeping a keen eye on the business dealings of these bands. Searchlight has called not only for prosecution of Blood and Honour because of the hate content of their material, but also for action against them over their failure to pay VAT and income tax.

On top of the £15 entry fee for this gig, Blood and Honour would have earned thousands of pounds from the sale of CDs, videos, t-shirts, belt buckles, badges, books, magazines and, like at most of their gigs, drugs such as Ecstasy and cocaine. Total business transacted on the Blood and Honour scene internationally amounts to around £1 million a year.

The major players in Blood and Honour hold membership of groups including the BNP, National Front, British Movement and the elite nazi group the League of St George. In addition to Bullman, Lane and Swinfen they include Simon Dutton, organiser of Blood and Honour in west London, and Billy Bartlett, leader of the band Celtic Warrior, who organises Blood and Honour in Wales and has previously safehoused German nazis. Steve "Jonesy" Jones from Leicestershire, who sings with English Rose, is a regular face at events. Keith Thompson, now a senior citizen as well as a senior nazi, was expected to turn up with a stall of nazi goodies for sale on behalf of the League of St George's Steven Books.

The day of the gig turned out chaotic for the nazis with stories of dawn raids and uncertainty about their final destination. Like the dogs they are, they returned to their own vomit and during the day used the Coronation Club in Heanor, near Derby, as a staging post. This notoriously racist town is close to the spot where Donaldson died. Some of the club's bar staff are committed nazis.

The gig itself eventually took place in Churchill's club in Accrington, Lancashire several hours later than scheduled. Only just over 200 nazis managed to get there after many got fed up driving from redirection point to redirection point or thought the whole thing had been called off.

Gary "Gaz" Smith from Sussex rushed up and down the stairs at the last-minute venue trying to sort out sound systems. He would probably have been better off sticking to running the new BNP branch he has just launched in Haywards Heath, Sussex.

After being dragged around the country just ahead of the police, the eight American musicians from Youngland and Stone Hammer eventually got to play late in the night. To add insult to injury, the income generated from the depleted audience turned out not to be enough to reimburse their air fares from the USA. In the early hours they were subjected to more hours on the road when they were whisked back south to stay with Simon Dutton in London.

This successful operation against the nazis provides an ideal opportunity for the authorities to use the intelligence gathered last month to sweep these thugs out of business and, as Searchlight has been demanding for many years, finally to Shut Down the Peddlers of Hate.

Copyright © 2002, Searchlight