Adam Walker Appointed as BNP Staff Manager
Adam Walker has been appointed as Staff Manager for the British National Party's centrally paid staff and for the staff of MEPs Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, it has been announced.
The popular County Durham activist hit the headlines recently when his three year battle for the right to freedom of conscience and political action led to the General Teaching Council accepting the right of teachers to be in the British National Party. Mr. Walker has a wide range of life experience which should serve him well in this demanding and crucial role.
He served in the 15th/19th King's Royal Hussars (part of the Royal Armoured Corps), including service as a UN Peacekeeper, has extensive experience of training and motivating young sportsmen and -women through his Martial Arts Academy, and worked as a very successful teacher in both Japan and the UK for a total of thirteen years. Since 2006 he has been the Organiser of the Co. Durham Branch of the BNP.
He is President of the independent nationalist trade union Solidarity. He has been involved to varying degrees in many of the more than one hundred and fifty cases that Solidarity has now fought on behalf of its growing membership.
This experience has given him a very good knowledge of the policies and procedures of a large number of public bodies and companies to draw on in his new role.
Mr. Walker is already working on creating an administrative back-up team, including experts in employment legislation. He will also be studying for formal management qualifications to top up his and his team's widespread practical experience in the field.
"I am very excited about the role, although I know it won't be easy,” Mr Walker told BNP News following his formal appointment by Nick Griffin after several weeks of discussions and initial planning.
"While my job is to get the most out of all our staff on behalf of our members and donors and indeed the taxpayer (in the case of EU staff), I don't anticipate any problems because we've got a great team and everyone's job fits into an overall big picture.
“Having looked at job descriptions and started getting to know key personnel better, I do foresee some reallocation of duties so as to allow people to play to their strengths. Before any changes are made I will be listening to all views carefully,” he said.
"But I won't be rushing in like a bull in a china shop. My first priorities are to visit all our offices and depots so as to see our workers performing their normal routine jobs. I need to find out what we can do to help make them as efficient and happy in their work as possible.
"I'm here to get value for members' money as well as to ensure that in Europe staff have a focus on high levels of service to the constituents of Mr Brons and Mr Griffin.
“Having personally experienced all sorts of management styles, I believe that the best way to get that is to have happy, secure and productive staff who know what is expected of them, who can rely on regular and fair appraisals to help them identify and meet targets or establish where further resources and training are necessary.
“It's vital that all staff have clear policies and procedures and feel part of a highly motivated team where they are confident that everyone pulls their weight,” Mr Walker continued.
“We are already making progress on planning and getting created an interactive staff website. These are routine and familiar nowadays in huge numbers of occupations and industries, and I am looking forward to filling in this gap in the BNP's organisation.
“With everything from online calendars to forward planners, from archives to project management tools, it will be a hugely important tool for staff communication, support and management."
Sounds good, doesn't it? Obviously such a major and complicated project won't simply materialise fully built and debugged in the first few weeks, but we can be happy that we have a fresh new team who know what is needed and how to get there.
We wish Mr. Walker all the very best of luck in his new role, and look forward to bringing you updates in the near future.
