Change has come to the British National Party

In what will probably qualify as the year’s least exciting civil rights victory, the far-right British National Party has agreed to admit nonwhite members nearly three decades after its founding:  A government-backed rights body took it to court, claiming the party’s constitution is discriminatory. At a court hearing, a lawyer for the party said leader ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
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LEEDS, UNITED KINGDOM - FEBRUARY 02: Nick Griffin (C), leader of the British National Party, poses for a BNP video outside leeds Crown Court during a break in proceedings that later cleared Griffin of race hate charges on February 2, 2006, Leeds, England. The jury was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on charges Griffin and fellow BNP member Mark Collet faced. The charges arose after the pair were filmed by an undercover BBC journalist for a documentary on the BNP. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

In what will probably qualify as the year's least exciting civil rights victory, the far-right British National Party has agreed to admit nonwhite members nearly three decades after its founding: 

In what will probably qualify as the year’s least exciting civil rights victory, the far-right British National Party has agreed to admit nonwhite members nearly three decades after its founding: 

A government-backed rights body took it to court, claiming the party’s constitution is discriminatory.

At a court hearing, a lawyer for the party said leader Nick Griffin would ask members next month to change the constitution so it did not discriminate on the grounds of race or religion.

In an order issued at the Central London County Court, the BNP agreed to use “all reasonable endeavors” to revise its constitution to comply with the Equality Bill, which bans discrimination on the grounds of race, gender or religious belief.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which brought the case, said it would be watching to see whether the BNP complied.

Somehow I don’t think minorities are going to be beating down the door to join.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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