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BNP leader gets 'friendly' reception as he joins soldiers' mourners
Terry Kirby10.11.09
BNP leader Nick Griffin was present in Wootton Bassett today to see the bodies of six soldiers pass through the town after their repatriation from Afghanistan to British soil.
Mr Griffin stood on the high street where hearses carrying the soldiers' Union Flag-draped coffins were due to arrive.
Wearing a black coat, adorned with a poppy, the controversial MEP stood with a minder opposite family and friends of the fallen soldiers.
Mr Griffin said: "I wanted to come here today because this is the second worst toll to be coming through and because tomorrow is Remembrance Day. So it's fitting that as many people as possible come here today."
He added: "It's an absolutely tremendous and very moving display."
Mr Griffin said he had a "friendly" reaction from the public to his presence.
"It's been very low key, I've been talking to many people and it's been very friendly," he said.
When asked for his view on the conflict in Afghanistan after the loss of the five soldiers killed by a rogue Afghan police officer, Mr Griffin said: "This is not the time or the place for political statements - it's for remembrance. I have strong views on Afghanistan but I'm not prepared to discuss them here."
Hundreds of people lined the streets as the coffins passed through the Wiltshire town.
The soldiers were shot at a checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand on Tuesday in an attack claimed by the Taliban. A sixth coffin in today's procession was that of Serjeant Phillip Scott, who was killed by an improvised explosive device in Helmand on Thursday.
As with previous processions in the town, the crowd remained silent and the church bell tolled as the hearses passed along the High Street.
The transport plane carrying the coffins from Afghanistan landed at nearby RAF Lyneham and were removed one by one — firstly Warrant Officer Darren Chant, 40, followed by Sgt Matthew Telford, 37, and Guardsman Jimmy Major, 18, from the Grenadier Guards, then Sjt Scott, 30, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, Corporal Steven Boote, 22, and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith, 24, from the Royal Military Police.
The coffins were taken to the chapel at the base where the soldiers' families were waiting. After the Wootton Bassett procession the coffins were taken to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.
Regimental Sergeant Major Chant, from Walthamstow, was the top non-commissioned officer in the 1st Battalion the Grenadier Guards. On the day he died he was due to be told he had been awarded a commission as an officer.
He left his pregnant widow, Nausheen Chant, and three children from a previous marriage, Connor, 16, Adam, 10, and Victoria, eight.
Their mother, Connie Chant, 41, said today the Government should resist calls for the troops to be withdrawn: “I don't want him or any others to have died in vain. They should be allowed to finish the job.”
Sgt Telford, from Grimsby, leaves a widow, Kerry, 33, and two sons, Harry, four, and Callum, nine. Guardsman Major, 18, also from Grimsby, would have turned 19 on Thursday. Cpl Webster-Smith, from Northamptonshire, was on his second Afghan tour.
Cpl Boote, from Liverpool, was a Territorial Army soldier who had volunteered for Afghanistan. Sjt Scott, from Malton, North Yorkshire, leaves a widow, Ellen, and children Ellie, three, and Michael, one.
Reader views (7)
Thank you Mr Griffin for your condolences. At Least you had the decency to show up and pay your respects. If only the vast majority of our so called politicians would take a leaf from your book.
- Edward, Bangor uk
Peter flanagan, Derby
Absolutely spot on.
- James Hennessy, Manchester England
I'm not really sure what all the fuss over the misspelling of a single soldier's name is. Another story being blown way out of proportion. Perhaps the mother thought her son should be considered more than cannon-fodder? Very naive.
Her son willingly joined the army, no one forced him and unfortunately death (as a soldier) is an occupational hazard. Military bereavement letters are handled by administrators and sometimes admin. errors happen. End of story.
- Peter Flannigan, Derby
Shame Gordon Brown can`t be bothered to turn up . He should be forced to attend Wooton Bassett for these weekly funeral processions of young men who he`s sending to their deaths. He may then have a different view on pulling our troops out.
- Matt, Islington
How I cry for the fallen, for young lives taken in their prime, given in the service of their country, they go after many others who have also given their lives in that God forsaken part of the world. A place that is the largest drug distributor in the world, did they die so that more poppy's can be harvested to satisfy those that are addicted. Can anyone define "win"? How will we know when we have "won"? To ignore history is to repeat it, and have we done that! Iraq and now Afghanistan. Who anointed us to protect these people from themselves?
How I cry for the fallen.
- Keith, Usa, Naples Florida
Who cares where Nick G goes as long he isn't constantly given the oxygen of publicity.
- Steve, London
What a sad clown Griffin is, using the deaths of our brave young soldiers to get some cheap publicity.
- James Hennessy, Manchester England
