British National Party maintained that the BNP's hostility toward cultural and ethnic diversity in the country was at odds with mainstream Christianity's emphasis on inclusiveness, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue. Winston Churchill's family has criticised the BNP's use of his image and quotations, labelling it "offensive and disgusting". The singer Vera Lynn condemned the party for selling her CD on its website. In 2009, the Royal British Legion asked Griffin—at first privately and then publicly—to not wear their poppy symbol. The British police, Fire Brigades Union, and Church of England, prohibited its members from joining the BNP. In 2002, Martin Narey, banned BNP membership
History of the British National Party at Dagenham in June 1994, a first ever for the BNP. In the aftermath of Beackon's electoral victory and losing his seat the following year, the British National Party clashed with paramilitary organisation, Combat 18, which had evolved in 1991 from a 'security force' made up of nationalists drawn from football casual firms was created to defend far-right activists, allegedly in response to a hammer attack at Kensington Central Library. The force firebombed the headquarters of the communist newspaper, the "Morning Star", and by 1993 had transformed into the Neo-Nazi paramilitary organisation Combat 18. That same year, the BNP proscribed