BNP 'members list' is posted online
A document apparently listing thousands of British National Party members has been posted on the internet.
They include former senior members of the military, doctors and professors, according to the spreadsheet posted on the the WikiLeaks website.
The document gives names, addresses, home and mobile telephone numbers of apparent party members.
A BNP spokesman said he could not confirm that the list was genuine, and accused the "whole establishment" of trying to "derail" the party. He refused to confirm names featured on the roll, saying membership was a "private matter".
He said the timing of it, days before BNP leader Nick Griffin appears on Question Time, was suspicious. He added: "The whole media is out to derail the BNP. It is very difficult to hold on to these things nowadays, with the electronic media."
The list was published as former military heavyweights warned that the Armed Forces are in danger of being hijacked by far right groups. The Times newspaper reported that former Army generals had written a letter warning that political extremists had no right to share the Armed Forces' proud reputation.
The letter, signed by former heads of the Army, General Sir Mike Jackson and General Sir Richard Richard Dannatt, amongst others, said far right groups were "fundamentally at odds" with the values of the British military, following the British National Party's tactic of using images of Winston Churchill and wartime insignia during recent European election campaigns.
The letter reads: "We call on all those who seek to hijack the good name of Britain's military for their own advantage to cease and desist. The values of these extremists - many of whom are essentially racist - are fundamentally at odds with the values of the modern British military, such as tolerance and fairness."
General Jackson specifically attacked the BNP for using the Army's image. He told the Times: "The BNP is claiming that it has a better relationship with the Armed Forces than other political parties. How dare they use the image of the Army, in particular, to promote their policies? These people are beyond the pale."
