A sacked ex-advisor whose untrue allegations have been used by the controlled media to spread lies about the British National Party was never a member, had no official role and had no insight into the party’s financial affairs, Nick Griffin MEP has said.

Responding to a Sky News report which quoted former legal advisor Lee Barnes who alleged that the party was bankrupt, Mr Griffin said that the allegations were a “legal nonsense.

“The BNP is an unincorporated association and outside of certain specific statutes, such as the race laws, it has no legal personality and effectively cannot be bankrupted,” Mr Griffin said.

“Mr Barnes was furthermore never even a member of this party, had no official role and most certainly never had any insight into party finances.

“In short, the allegations have been made up out of Mr Barnses’s bitterness at having been replaced by a more competent legal advisor and for his sacking after he started promoting the violence prone and obviously state-front EDL.”

Mr Griffin confirmed that the BNP had debts, but, he said, in comparison to the other parties, they were minor. “The Labour Party is £20 million in the red, and the BNP’s debts are relatively minor in comparison,” he said.

“We have never hidden the fact that the party is in debt, as the open public appeal to which the Sky News report referred, confirms. However, we can see that Sky News did not report in the same fashion on the Labour Party’s considerably larger debt, but then again, they did not have a sacked and bitter ex-advisor whose blog is now promoted by the far left, to quote,” he said.

Mr Griffin also denied another false allegation being spread by Mr Barnes, namely that BNP members were individually liable for the party’s debts.

“This is a complete lie and it is shocking that a so-called nationalist has resorted to such underhand stories,” he said.

“In reality, the only person in this party liable for any debts is me personally, and no-one else. In any event, we have a payment schedule already arranged and members can be assured that there is no truth to any of these rumour-mongering scare stories.

“This is not the first time that the media has falsely reported that the BNP has on its last legs. They have done this repeatedly over many years and we are used to it by now. As Mark Twain said, reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated.

“The BNP has just fought one of the largest back-to-back set of elections in British nationalist history, and our enemies are aware of our growing power and influence.

“As a result, they will use any tactics at all to try and stop our growth. They will fail, even if they manage to dupe a handful of saps along the way,” Mr Griffin said.