BNP AGREE TO LET NON-WHITES JOIN; Extremists cave in after legal threat.

Byline: Kevin Schofield

THE British National Party yesterday agreed to accept non-white members.

The move, in the face of a legal challenge, came hours after Gordon Brown urged voters to reject "racist" and "anti-democratic" parties.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission had launched a legal challenge against the party in August.

They said the BNP's constitution, which said only white people could join the party, was illegal.

But before the case came to court, the far-right party admitted defeat. Richard Barnbrook, BNP's rep on the London assembly, said party members would vote in favour of the planned changes.

He said: "The first reason being that trying to fight this court case would bankrupt the party and we have more important issues to deal with, including elections."

Chris Roberts, the party's eastern regional spokesman, said: "I cannot speculate as to who will join our party when our constitution changes. I just believe its another obstacle thrown into our way by the Lib-Lab-Con elite.

"Now we are taking votes from them, they are trying to put us out of business."

Equality campaigners last night claimed the BNP climbdown was a major victory against racism.

Warned John Wadham, of the EHRC, said: "Political parties are obliged to respect the law and not discriminate against people.

"We will be monitoring the BNP's compliance with this court order on membership and its other legal obligations, including to constituents."

But Shami Chakrabarti, of human rights group Liberty, warned that the BNP had not changed.

He said: "A shiny new constitution does not a democratic party make."

Earlier at a Downing Street reception to mark Black History Month, the Prime Minister said there was no place in modern politics for racist parties.

He said: "Over the next few months, however people vote, they must be persuaded not to vote for racist and anti-democratic parties like the BNP."

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ACTION: Gordon Brown