The Britain Forward Lie: “Why, after the party spent £70,000 of members’ hard-earned cash on Mark Collett's printing press, are there so many complaints that he is nearly always behind with printing leaflets etc? Why does he have to pay a local print shop at commercial rates to do print jobs that he has taken on for the party?
The point of buying our own equipment was to make our printing cheaper and ensure that our literature production cannot be stopped through third parties like UAF and Searchlies putting pressure on commercial printers as has happened in the past. Why has Nick Griffin not intervened to safeguard our investment?”
The Truth: Back in early 2005, the party decided to buy 4 very high quality digital duplicators, the best at the time, three folding machines and a large professional power guillotine.
The idea was to produce all the general election material for non-target wards on these machines. The leaflets would be A4, with the inside being black and white and the outside being red and blue. Head Office would pay for the machines, the paper, the ink and for the rental of an office unit. HQ was also to pay the wages of those operating the machines who would work in shifts of 8-12 hours to keep the presses running virtually 24 hours a day.
The branches would then buy the leaflets off HQ by the thousand at an agreed rate which would be cheaper than they could get at a proper litho printer.
With this, HQ recouped recouped nearly all of the £70,000 and the printers, folders and guillotine then belonged to the party and be fully paid off.
After the elections, the machines were then refurbished for free as they were still under their warranty.
Effectively then, the BNP have 4 top quality machines, 3 folders and a guillotine in fully working order, all paid off, as well as providing cheap leaflets for the branches.
When the elections were over, the machines were then given out to the regions to help with regional and local work, and they were not kept for HQ jobs. It was an effective plan which allowed the BNP to produce cheap leaflets and invest in assets at the same time.
The printers in question are now no longer in use by Mark Collett or HQ but are now happily serving the most active regions to which they were gifted by HQ.
So, Mark Collett does not “have a £70,000 printing press” as Britain Forward so blatantly lies.
In fact, Mark does not own or operate a single printer.
Now, the question must be asked: How stupid and out of touch is Britain Forward? Obviously, very much so.
To buy and set up a litho printing press with print finishing equipment you would probably be looking at the best part of a million pounds. So the idea that the party picked up a 'printing press' for £70,000 is quite absurd.
As to the real printing jobs. The BNP does use friendly local printers who print for the party at VERY good rates.
As far as Britain Forward’s “anonymous” complaints of lateness in the delivery of leaflets: although the vast majority of print jobs run completely according to schedule, a small minority do not. It is the nature of the printing business.
Sometimes the delay is due to failure of the groups requesting the leaflet to deliver photographs or content for the leaflet, other times it is due to the fact that the printers have printing schedules which cannot be interefered with for commercial commitment reasons, and other times it is because printing using the 4 colour process and finishing is not like printing on your home inkjet -- It involves a much longer and more complex process.
This year the HQ produced 835,000 (for 193 candidates) full colour glossy election addresses for the branches, and 1.4 million leaflets for the Welsh Assembly elections. We would love for Britain Forward to name his sources and tell us all which candidates had their leaflets late?
The point of buying our own equipment was to make our printing cheaper and ensure that our literature production cannot be stopped through third parties like UAF and Searchlies putting pressure on commercial printers as has happened in the past. Why has Nick Griffin not intervened to safeguard our investment?”
The Truth: Back in early 2005, the party decided to buy 4 very high quality digital duplicators, the best at the time, three folding machines and a large professional power guillotine.
The idea was to produce all the general election material for non-target wards on these machines. The leaflets would be A4, with the inside being black and white and the outside being red and blue. Head Office would pay for the machines, the paper, the ink and for the rental of an office unit. HQ was also to pay the wages of those operating the machines who would work in shifts of 8-12 hours to keep the presses running virtually 24 hours a day.
The branches would then buy the leaflets off HQ by the thousand at an agreed rate which would be cheaper than they could get at a proper litho printer.
With this, HQ recouped recouped nearly all of the £70,000 and the printers, folders and guillotine then belonged to the party and be fully paid off.
After the elections, the machines were then refurbished for free as they were still under their warranty.
Effectively then, the BNP have 4 top quality machines, 3 folders and a guillotine in fully working order, all paid off, as well as providing cheap leaflets for the branches.
When the elections were over, the machines were then given out to the regions to help with regional and local work, and they were not kept for HQ jobs. It was an effective plan which allowed the BNP to produce cheap leaflets and invest in assets at the same time.
The printers in question are now no longer in use by Mark Collett or HQ but are now happily serving the most active regions to which they were gifted by HQ.
So, Mark Collett does not “have a £70,000 printing press” as Britain Forward so blatantly lies.
In fact, Mark does not own or operate a single printer.
Now, the question must be asked: How stupid and out of touch is Britain Forward? Obviously, very much so.
To buy and set up a litho printing press with print finishing equipment you would probably be looking at the best part of a million pounds. So the idea that the party picked up a 'printing press' for £70,000 is quite absurd.
As to the real printing jobs. The BNP does use friendly local printers who print for the party at VERY good rates.
As far as Britain Forward’s “anonymous” complaints of lateness in the delivery of leaflets: although the vast majority of print jobs run completely according to schedule, a small minority do not. It is the nature of the printing business.
Sometimes the delay is due to failure of the groups requesting the leaflet to deliver photographs or content for the leaflet, other times it is due to the fact that the printers have printing schedules which cannot be interefered with for commercial commitment reasons, and other times it is because printing using the 4 colour process and finishing is not like printing on your home inkjet -- It involves a much longer and more complex process.
This year the HQ produced 835,000 (for 193 candidates) full colour glossy election addresses for the branches, and 1.4 million leaflets for the Welsh Assembly elections. We would love for Britain Forward to name his sources and tell us all which candidates had their leaflets late?
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