Radio host exposed in BNP leak is axed

A RADIO station today axed a DJ whose name appeared on a leaked BNP membership list.

TalkSport presenter Rod Lucas, a veteran broadcaster who has also been on Radio 1, was among 10,000 people named when the secret list was published on the internet.

The station yesterday ousted another presenter, Jon Gaunt, for branding a councillor a "Nazi".

Hundreds of Londoners were exposed as members of the far-Right party, including teachers, soldiers, advertising men and even a songwriter.

Others were police officers and prison staff, whose contracts forbid them from joining the BNP, and servicemen including a member of the Intelligence Corps.

Sony Award winner Lucas was brought in to cover overnight shows earlier this year and was hailed by station bosses for his "unique style of radio".

On his website he boasts of pioneering the "zoo-style" of radio with Steve Wright while a BBC producer in the Eighties.

His firm — Lucas Media Group — claims it represents more than 250 DJs and artists, running £350-a-day training courses at his home in Staplehurst, Kent.

The BNP membership list, which is one year old, said Lucas would not be renewing his membership.
A TalkSport spokesman said: "We won't be using him again. We had no knowledge of his association with the BNP."

Lucas, whose mobile phone rang unanswered this afternoon, was the most high profile name on the leaked list, which includes three London teachers.

Many of those listed have notes attached describing their professional skills that could be useful to the BNP. The party appears to value media skills — including a woman television producer in central London and a Chiswick man who is noted to own an advertising company.

The list also names people at upmarket addresses in Chelsea and Westminster.

BNP leader Nick Griffin demanded a police investigation into the leak, which he blamed on "a disgraceful act of treachery" by disaffected ex-party officials. The party says it had an injunction banning publication of the list. BNP spokesman Simon Darby said of the person behind the leak: "I wouldn't want to have done that. I wouldn't be sleeping very well." But Mr Griffin claimed he was merely talking about the threat of prosecution.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in