'There's No Black Mozart'
Sky News, Thursday April 27, 2006

With just a week to go until the local elections, Sky News has obtained a recording that once again raises questions about racism within the British National Party.

According to a senior member of the BNP, black children of single parents grow up to be dysfunctional, under-achievers who drain the benefits system and are likely to mug you.

The BNP has been insisting that it has changed, with leader Nick Griffin insisting there is no place in the party for racists.

While Phill Edwards denies he is a racist, his views are proving controversial.

In a recording of a private conversation with a student, he said of black people: "It's not a question of whether we like or dislike them, it's a question of whether they as a racial group are of any danger, shall we say, to the peace, stability and indigenous culture of Britain and we think that they are."

He also told the student: "When you go to work and you pay taxes, imagine paying all that tax to give money to single parents in London who have got three or four black kids.

"The black kids are going to grow up dysfunctional, low IQ, low achievers that drain our welfare benefits and the prison system and probably go and mug you."

When confronted, Dr Edwards stood by his views.

He told Sky News: "If I thought that was going to be recorded and broadcast to the world I would have used not such intemperate language, but let's be honest the facts are there."

A scientist, Dr Edwards believes his views are supported by genetics.

He said: "People in black or sub-Saharan Africa have not been under the same pressures of selection that we have in this part of the world that has made on average our people slightly more intelligent.

"That can be seen quite clearly if you look at say the history of black Africa.

"There have been no great civilisations that have formed in sub-Saharan Africa, no great science. To put it crudely, there's no black Mozart, there's no black Dickens."

The BNP has strong support in some areas ahead of next week's poll.

However, Sky News also discovered that many of the claims in its campaign literature are dubious.

A leaflet in Hampshire states: 'Fact: Western couples average 1.8 children, muslim couples average 7.4 children' and adds: 'Fact: 1.5 million new homes are required for immigrants;.

The BNP could not say where the first fact came from, while in the second the truth is heavily distorted.

All the revelations pose the question of whether the party really has changed.