British Constitution Group

{{pseudolaw}}
The '''British Constitution Group''' or '''BCG''' is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[tax protester]] group that advocates so-called ''Lawful Rebellion'' under section 61 of ''[[Magna Carta]]'', and other [[freeman on the land]]-associated [[pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] [[woo]]. They also believe that statute law is contractual and that it can be declined, as well as the pseudolegal [[strawman theory]]. The group occasionally arranges conferences with speakers espousing their form of [[woo]]. They are also one of the main peddlers of conspiracy theories surrounding the organisation [[Common Purpose UK]].

The group was founded by its current chairman Roger Hayes, a former parliamentary candidate of the [[Referendum Party]] and subsequently former (expelled) member of [[UKIP]]. From some time in 2015 until the site's suspension in 2017, it changed its name (or appeared to operate as) the '''British Campaign Group''',<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170327180852/www.thebcgroup.org.uk/ The BC Group (archive.org)]</ref> still led by Hayes.

==Roger Hayes council tax saga==
Most of the group's activities focused on its founder's legal case following his refusal to pay council tax. The BCG claim that council tax is illegal as there is not the option to decline it. Ironically, he claims he would pay council tax if he had the option not to.{{fact}}

Following various court appearances, the BCG organised an event in Birkenhead with around 300 people. Hayes and several supporters attempted (and failed) to perform a so-called "civil arrest" on the judge in the case, Michael Peake, in Hayes's bankruptcy hearing. When the judge didn't present his oath, Hayes claimed he was placing the judge under arrest, while supporters moved towards the judge before being intercepted &mdash; and really arrested &mdash; by police. The case was then adjourned and the court was subsequently invaded by members of the BCG claiming that they were there not as a protest, but under the genuine delusion that they had a lawful right to seize the court and form their own.

The BCG had appointed 12 of their members prior to the hearing as 'jurors' and claim that, had they succeeded in arresting the judge, they would have formed their own extra-judicial "Grand Jury" and indicted the judge. (The idea that one could gather a posse and start one's own ''common law court'' to dish out justice is so misguided as to not even need explaining.) Given that several participants had brought their own ropes and nooses, as seen in various YouTube videos of the day, who knows what might have happened.

Police subsequently made six arrests. Two were later released without charge, the rest were bound over to keep the peace except one who, in keeping with freeman on the land woo, refused to identify himself and declined the opportunity to have himself bound over. Known as detainee B, or Councillor Mike Whitby North West Regional Organiser of the [[BNP]] as it later transpired, he was sentenced to 14 days in jail as a result.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160311234101/http://bnp.org.uk/news/drama-liverpool-court-pro-common-law-protesters-arrestedd BNP Website - Drama in Liverpool Court Pro-Common Law protesters arrested (archive.org)]</ref>

Roger Hayes and the BCG subsequently attempted to have an arrest warrant issued for the Chief Constable of Merseyside Constabulary. Hayes claimed that the police acted unlawfully in preventing them from arresting the judge and for not assisting them in their arrest. Hayes alleged the police committed a common law crime of 'rescue' by aiding the judges escape the previous day. The magistrates refused to grant the warrant, rightfully claiming that it was intended for self publicity and did not come from "clean hands."<ref>Tax rebel leader demands magistrates serve warrant to arrest Merseyside Chief Constable [http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8896123.Tax_rebel_leader_demands_magistrates_serve_warrant_to_arrest_Merseyside_Chief_Constable/ Wirral Globe - Tax rebel leader demands magistrates serve warrant to arrest Merseyside Chief Constable]</ref>

Hayes was later declared bankrupt at a subsequent hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, 22nd March 2011. Hayes had requested an adjournment due to him having a previous engagement (Ironically, he was giving a £10 a head dinner and presentation on how to avoid council tax.) This was refused as it was the fourth hearing of its type and he was found bankrupt in his absence with the court's costs added to his debts.<ref>[http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8924047.Bankrupt__Wirral_businessman_who_refused_to_pay/ Wirral Globe - Bankrupt: Wirral businessman who refused to pay council tax ]</ref>

In October 2011 Hayes' discharge from bankruptcy was suspended indefinitely for failure to co-operate with the official receiver. For some reason Hayes has been portraying this as a victory which suggests he either genuinely doesn't understand the difference between a suspension of discharge and a suspension of bankruptcy, he knows a defeat in court would destroy his credibility with his fellow cranks or he's just plain delusional.<ref>[http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/IIRCaseIndivDetail.asp?CaseId=700097339&IndivNo=100912242&Court=BIRK&OfficeID=600000067&CaseType=B Insolvency Register] </ref>

In July 2012 Hayes ignored <strike>an invitation</strike> a summons to appear at Wirral Magistrates Court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.<ref>[http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/wirral-news/local-wirral-news/2012/07/04/wirral-council-tax-rebel-roger-hayes-sent-to-prison-80491-31313588/ Wirral News - Wirral council tax ‘rebel’ Roger Hayes sent to prison]</ref> He was subsequently jailed for 21 days for wilfully refusing to pay his outstanding council tax debts of £1,477; naturally his fellow kooks portrayed this as a politically motivated conspiracy and an abuse of power comparable only to Nazi Germany.

Please refer to YouTube videos of Roger Hayes and associated websites for more information on the British Constitution Group, if you want repetitive facepalm injury.

==The Lawful Bank==

The Lawful Bank (also sometimes known as The Alternative Money System) is neither lawful nor a bank, it is rather a hare-brained 
scam
 scheme first proposed in 2011 as a joint enterprise of The British Constitution group and their [[kook]] cousins the World Freeman Society. Roger 
has been promoting it heavily to the faithful ever since. Nobody else seems to have taken a blind bit of notice.
 appears to have abandoned the whole idea of late after several years of promotion failed to garner any significant interest.

===Aims - what is it?===

The 'Lawful Bank' aims to replace a system of fractional reserve banking that (largely... sort of.. sometimes) works with a system of fractional reserve banking which won't and is based on a business model so utterly shonky just thinking about it makes your brain fall down the back of your neck. Basically it hinges on a few cock-eyed but regularly changing ideas each as ridiculous as the last. Some of the more ludicrous principles include...

* A Rogerdollar exchange rate against the pound sterling of both 10:1 and 1:1 simultaneously.
* An exchange rate for the Rogerdollar of 10:1 against itself.
* An ability to convert an arbitrarily small sum in Rogerdollars into an arbitrarily large sum in Rogerdollars by repeatedly depositing the 'money', withdrawing it and depositing it again.
* A charming belief that the Rogerdollar would be accepted anywhere in the known universe.

Or as an alternative to the above.

* A bank which doesn't accept its own currency.

===='Retired' money====
Roger Hayes has stated that any ''real'' money deposited with the bank will be 'retired' but has remained somewhat tight-lipped about what exactly 'retired' means. Suggestions have ranged from being invested in land or gold (a notoriously dodgy investment), to being hidden under the mattress to a one way ticket to South America.

A 15th March 2014 email to The Lawful Bank 'members' stated... "Please note that once launched the first £100 or equivalent currency will be non- refundable , that money will be used to pay staff to ensure your payments are converted as quick as possible". Given the fact The Lawful Bank failed to take off after three years promising to stick a free zero on the end of your bank-balance the chances of it ever taking off with a promise to take your first £100 and keep it seem even more vanishingly remote than before.

====Comparisons to established banks====

* Infrastructure? No.

* ATMs? No.

* Direct debits and standing orders? No.

* Cheque clearing? No.

* BACS? No.

* Credit cards? No.

* Debit cards? No.

* Regulation? No.

* Outside auditors? No. 

* Protection against fraud? No.

* Data security? No.

* Banknotes? No.

* Promoted by a bankrupt, council-tax-dodging free-loader and jailbird? Yes.

===Flat rate motor insurance for ''only'' £180?===

No... Seriously.
 
===Progress===

On 17th August 2013 a post at the sporadically updated Lawful Bank facebook page claimed the bank had  'gone live' and that they needed to raise £500,000 in 60 days to “release us all from the chains of debt slavery and corruption”. Subsequent posts suggest the 60 day target was missed by mere £499,998,93p

On 15th March 2014 the admin at The Lawful Bank sent out a barely literate email to members again claiming that they were ready to move on to 'another stage' and they needed donations to purchase servers, software and so on. Obviously having learned their lesson from the previous failed attempt to scam real money out of suckers they have set their target at a more reasonable "around £1000 all told for everything".

===The Lawful Bank Forum===

At the time of writing The Lawful Bank Forum consists of 29 threads and 71 posts from 11 active users putting this serious threat to the world's 
Jews
 corrupt financial system a mere 47,909 threads and 971,447 posts behind the Muppets Forum[http://www.muppetcentral.com/forum/ ]

===What The Financial Conduct Authority have to say===

"We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation. Find out why to be especially wary of dealing with this unauthorised firm and how to protect yourself from scammers."<ref>[http://www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings/lawful-bank Lawful Bank] (Financial Conduct Authority, 28/02/2012; last modified 05/12/2013)</ref>

===Rogerisms===
{{cquote|There are certain aspects of how our monetary system will work that we cannot reveal.}}

{{cquote|We've got a very clever way in which to access ATM machines but we ain’t telling anybody how we do that.}}

{{cquote|The only thing missing is the people to use it.}}

{{cquote|It's not hard to run a bank.}}


==Other associations==
===UKColumn===

Hayes is closely linked with the now discredited alternative media organisation The UKColumn. The UKColum is control and presented by intelligence operative Brian Gerrish (also known has Agent Gibberish). The UKColum broadcasts from Gerrish's spare room exclusively through YouTube. It has be reported that UKColum pays Hayes £500 per month, to retain his services. The UKColumn now has it's own studio.

==YouTube Protests - Accusations of "censorship"==
In September and October 2011, a story circulated on social networking sites that YouTube was censoring protest videos from YouTube to keep them out of the public eye, a frightening notion to some given the amount of significant international protests during 2011.

The story got as far as sane sources like Current TV.<ref>http://current.com/community/93466154_government-orders-you-tube-to-censor-protest-videos.htm</ref> In this case, however, they got it from conspiracy site [[The Intel Hub]]<ref>http://theintelhub.com/2011/05/20/government-orders-you-tube-to-censor-protest-videos/</ref> who got it from a May 2011 story on [[Alex Jones]]' [[Infowars]].<ref>http://www.infowars.com/government-orders-you-tube-to-censor-protest-videos/</ref> The actual videos in question turned out to be the British Constitution Group's videos of themselves invading a courtroom to assault a judge. As it happens, filming inside a courtroom is highly illegal in England and Wales.

==See also==
*[[Freeman on the land]]
*[[Social contract]]
*[[Civil disobedience]]
*[[Passive resistance]]
*[[Tax protester]]

==External links==
* [http://www.thebcgroup.org.uk/ THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION GROUP] As of August 2015 has reverted to "Under development".
* [http://www.raymondstclair.com/ Raymond St Clair Freeman on the land] As of August 2015 apparently defunct.
* [http://www.lawfulbank.com/ The Lawful Bank]

===Additional sources===
Some of these have been taken down, per above.

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv80IMBuPiI&feature=player_embedded Youtube video of the attempted arrest of a judge]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f42kH9dVfI Footage of the days events from Roger Hayes, including the subsequent attempt to get an arrest warrant for the chief constable]
*[http://www.ukcolumn.org/articles/arrest-and-rescue-judge-peake UK Column article - "The Arrest and Rescue of "Judge" Peake]
*[http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8896123.Tax_rebel_leader_demands_magistrates_serve_warrant_to_arrest_Merseyside_Chief_Constable/ Tax rebel leader demands magistrates serve warrant to arrest Merseyside Chief Constable]
*[http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8894423.UPDATED__Protestors_storm_court_and__arrest__judge_in_chaotic_scenes/ Protesters storm court and arrest judge in chaotic scenes]
*[http://www.metro.co.uk/news/857455-judge-arrested-as-british-constitution-group-storms-court Judge arrested as British constitution group storms court]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMDhhRpdQb4 Youtube video 'Birkenhead Court BCG Arrest Judge, Court Reclamation 1 of 2 Raw Footage']
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTr-y4r2gfs Youtube video 'Birkenhead Court BCG Arrest Judge, Court Reclamation 2 of 2 Raw Footage']
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8JL4oDRx54 Youtube video 'Lawful rebellion in action in Birkenhead 7th March']
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXzMscoIqHc Youtube video 'Police wont arrest corrupt Freemason judge so attack the public at Birkenhead court']
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PUJJ4qRVIY&list=PLdFLaoHRAUFKURHl_S0LjVLN_KMZ8tW_U&index=1 Youtube video 'Hayes connection to Counter Intelligence Officers (Gerrish&McKenzie)' ]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Pseudolaw]]
[[Category:Tax protesters]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]

Categories: Pseudolaw, Tax protesters, Right-wing activists