BNP's British builders are American

"British jobs for British workers," the BNP's advert demands. The problem is that the builders pictured in the photo are hardly home-grown: they hail from Oregon, on the far side of the United States.

The far-right party yesterday found itself derided after admitting that the beefy models posing in the picture were sourced from a photo agency in Portland, Oregon.

A BNP spokesman said the models had been paid on the understanding that "their image could be used in any legal manner". He added: "You can't get real supporters to do this, as there are strict rules regarding the depiction of people in genuine professions... [like] the police as well as the clergy."

Related articles

• More UK Politics news
• Search the news archive for more stories

Religious leaders for their part have urged their flocks to turn out in large numbers to vote in the local and European elections on 4 June – and to cast their votes against the BNP .

Churches are urging a high turnout in their parish newsletters. "Please tell congregations ... that it is very important that everyone should turn out to vote to keep the BNP out," says one such message, from a parish church in Battersea, south-west London.

The South London Inter Faith Group has launched a grassroots campaign encouraging those who attend "temples, mosques, synagogues and churches" to visit the polling booths.

"The UK is not used to the proportional representation system, and with the recent expense scandal in Westminster it's very easy for people to lose heart," said Alan Gadd, the convenor of the South London Group.

It has provided leaflets for its members highlighting the BNP's "contradicting values" and reminding voters that any seat won by the party in the upcoming elections would bring it "£250,000 of European funding".

The move comes amid a growing standoff between the Church and the BNP, after the party used the image of Jesus Christ on one of its adverts, asking "What would Jesus do?" with the words "Vote BNP".

The BNP's campaign was launched barely a month after the Church of England voted overwhelmingly to ban clergy from belonging to the party; some BNP discourse has claimed the Church is "drifting away from Christianity".

The Jewish Board of Deputies has distributed over 1,000 "kits" with posters, leaflets and balloons encouraging people to vote for a mainstream party in the upcoming election. The Board identifies the three areas most at risk of sending a BNP member to Brussels as those with the biggest Jewish populations: the North West, where party leader Nick Griffin will be standing; London; and the South East.

Leaders of the Church of England, the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Salvation Army and the United Reform Church meanwhile have warned in a joint statement that voter apathy "allows the unacceptable to creep under the wire".