The BNP has admitted that it was instrumental in the fuel protests which brought Britain to a standstill in September and has revealed that it is behind a website which aims to rally support behind the fuel protestors.

Following condemnation of the website from Labour MP Shaun Woodward and home secretary, Jack Straw, epxNews can reveal that it is registered to Simon Darby, the British National Party's "head of internet technology", at the BNP's Ilford PO box address.

Speaking exclusively to epxNews, the BNP's chairman, Nick Griffin, said the party did not initially admit to running the site in order to "distance" fuel protesters from the attacks from "Millbank spin machine". "We didn't want to give Millbank a stick to beat the protesters," he said.

However, he claims that the BNP was deeply involved in the fuel protests. "Many of our members who are hauliers, farmers and particularly taxi drivers were involved in the first round of the protests," he said.

The site, which has a defunct link to the BNP's website, boasts in its mission statement: "www.fuel-protest.com is the online voice of a grass-roots campaign by patriotic fuel protesters. Our aim is to provide ideas, publicity material and co-ordination to allow the huge number of people who are opposed to the arrogant and destructive stealth-tax policies of the Blair regime to play an active role in the fuel protest campaign."

The site was described by Jack Straw, who has seen a "print-out", as "revolting and straightforwardly racist".

On immigration and asylum seekers the website says: "No one has voted to turn Britain into a majority non-white country by 2060. But now we're told that this is what we're going to get. The only wonder is why it's taken the backbone of Britain so long to stand up and say 'Sod it. We'll fight' but that's what's happened at last."

BNP chairman Nick Griffin said: "This is what the vast majority of the grass-roots protesters think."

Mark Francis of the People's Fuel Lobby condemned BNP claims. "The protests were not organised. They happened in an ad hoc way. People from the BNP may have gone along - we couldn't have stopped them from taking part."

He warned any attempts to hijack future protests would not be tolerated. "Anybody taking part in acts of violence will be reported to the police. Our lobby does not support or encourage violence. Such people will be frowned upon and condemned."

Shaun Woodward, following the epolitix.com investigation into the source of the website, said "This is a matter of very serious concern. Legitimate attempts to debate the price of fuel have been hijacked by a political party whose aim is to bring the democratically elected government down. People becoming involved in dispute should be very much aware of the way in which extremist parties will abuse legitimate areas of protest with the express purpose of causing damage to the government, regardless of who else is hurt."