REVELATIONS that the far-right British National Party has set up in Christchurch sent ripples of shock across Dorset last week.

The BNP has spent years struggling to change its popular image as a band of racist thugs to a smart, suit-wearing alternative for people disillusioned with mainstream politics.

But it continues to be dogged by controversy and only last week it emerged HSBC has become the second bank to freeze the BNP's accounts - believed to be in response to an undercover BBC documentary where members were secretly filmed confessing to race-hate crime.

Alarmingly, the party's attempts to re-brand itself and find an air of respectability is helping attract a new, younger generation of nationalists impressed with its claims to have radical solutions to complex social problems.

Leader of Christchurch's BNP cell Emma Yarwood is an intelligent 23-year-old who has lived in Christchurch all her life, went to The Grange School, studied animal care at college and is taking a correspondence course in journalism.

Now, as organiser of the new group, she is responsible for spreading the BNP's gospel of cultural apartheid across her picturesque hometown's quiet suburbs.

But Miss Yarwood said she is not afraid to put her head above the parapet and stand up for her beliefs, even at the risk of sparking scorn and ridicule from those who accuse the BNP of promoting racism, bigotry and prejudice.

"People know me and they know what I'm like," she said. "Everyone should have the right to stand up for what they believe.

"The only reason they give us hassle is because we have got winning policies. They're afraid because of the support we're getting."

Miss Yarwood said her parents were not interested in politics, but she became hooked when she realised 'politics controls everything.'

She decided that she wanted to get involved so she searched the internet for information about the main political parties, but was uninspired until she hit the BNP's website and days later she applied for membership.

The BNP, known for its hard line on immigration and asylum seekers, has targeted Christchurch with leaflet drops and political propaganda.

It is the second town in Dorset where it has set up a group and it claims to have attracted more than 100 members and supporters already.

And Miss Yarwood claims that the party's uncompromising ideas, which include publicly birching yobs and people who commit anti-social crimes, are appealing to a growing number of residents.

"We've seen what's happened in Bournemouth and Boscombe and we don't want to get swallowed up in that," she said.

"At the moment a person who breaks the law has got more rights than the victim. But people are starting to wise up."

Miss Yarwood said she joined the BNP because she believes it is the only party capable of protecting Christchurch's unique heritage and has vowed to fight to preserve the town's British culture at the expense of multiculturalism.

She added that she believes British people have become the victims of politically correct racism at the expense of minority groups.

Miss Yarwood said creating a BNP group in the area meant the party could now take a more active role in local issues, including protecting the town's environment from over-development.

But shocked local councillors in the borough remain unconvinced and united to join in urging residents to stay clear of the BNP and their extremist views.

They said they were surprised and disappointed that the party has attracted enough support in the town to set up a group.

Christchurch borough councillor Christine Payne, a Liberal Democrat, reiterated her party leader Charles Kennedy's words when she said: "We must continue to find ways of relating with those who have become disillusioned and are tempted to vote for extremists like the BNP."

First published: October 27