South Wales Evening Post - 20 November 2008
More than 120 BNP members are living in South West Wales, the Post can reveal.
The details came to light after the personal information of more than 12,000 people belonging to the far-right political party were published on the internet.
Local people claimed to have been affiliated with the British National Party include a secondary school teacher and a former serviceman.
Angry BNP leaders have attacked the leak, calling it an invasion of their members' privacy.
However, a number of critics branded the nationalist collective hypocritical, while Welsh politicians expressed disappointment over the number of the party's supporters.
Swansea Council leader Chris Holley said: "One member of the BNP is one member too many.
"That party does not represent the views of the majority of the people in Swansea and Wales."
The personal information came to light yesterday morning.
It features 12,801 members' names, along with personal information — such as addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and details about their professions.
The list was removed from the original blog where it was published, but remains available on other websites.
It shows that 62 BNP members live in Swansea, 30 in Neath Port Talbot and 30 in Carmarthenshire.
The Post is not allowed to reveal the identities of those people, or say where we found the list of names.
The British National Party is now threatening legal action over the leaked information.
Leader Nick Griffin added: "It was entirely wrongly used without authority by a very small group of previous party members who were expelled late last year, and who then passed it on. To who, we simply don't know.
"All we can say is that if we find out who it was and they are one of those covered by the High Court injunction, then they are going to prison."
However, the BNP, which has been branded as "thuggish" by its critics for its alleged links to violent groups, was mocked for its "double standards".
The National Union of Journalists General secretary Jeremy Dear said: "For years, we have been demanding Government action to close down websites such as Redwatch, which seek to intimidate the media by publishing the photos, names and addresses of journalists who expose the criminal activities or racist views of BNP members and other far-right groups.
"Despite innocent people being physically assaulted and threatened after having their details published on these sites, we have never heard a single condemnation of this gross breach of privacy or unlawful harassment and intimidation from Nick Griffin or the BNP.
"Yet, today, they seek to invoke the very Human Rights Act they want to abolish to protect the identity of their members."
Swansea Council leader Chris Holley acknowledged that whoever published the list should be prosecuted.
"Everybody has the right to privacy," he added.
"Even if they are part of an organisation that is, in my view, morally abhorrent.
"I do not believe that there is any place in politics for groups like the BNP, and other politicians of this world will have to prove that.
"Creating a climate of hate and fear is not the way forward for things in the UK."
