Fury at BNP use of Churchill image

Published on Tuesday 26 May 2009 20:28

THE family of Sir Winston Churchill have described as "offensive and disgusting" the BNP's use of his image in a party election broadcast.

Pictures of Britain's wartime leader feature alongside Second World War footage in the British National Party's broadcast. In it BNP chairman Nick Griffin adopts part of Churchill's "blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech to promote his own manifesto.

Nicholas Soames, Churchill's grandson and the Conservative MP for Mid-Sussex, said he had tried to get the Electoral Commission to ban the BNP's use of his grandfather's image.

Mr Soames said: "My views are that they (the BNP] have behaved in a disgusting manner. They should not take my grandfather's name in vain.

"He (Churchill] would have been appalled by their views and the way they claim to represent the wartime generation. It's nonsense. Were it possible to take action, we would. We find it offensive and disgusting."

Deputy chairman of the BNP, Simon Darby, defended the broadcast, and said: "There is a substantial amount of Churchillian rhetoric in the broadcast. It is very relevant to what is happening today."