BNP - Where did it all go wrong?

There are many people who will not be surprised (and probably relieved) that the BNP had a disastrous result in the recent General Election, where they failed to obtain a single MP and lost many Council seats.

With such a large number of people seriously concerned about immigration levels, and the main political parties offering very little to combat this problem, it was reasonable to expect that the BNP might pick up a few seats from protest voters. However, the electorate not only voted for a hung parliament, but rejected what they saw as the extreme views presented by the BNP.

To have a policy that encourages people of foreign origins (who were born in this country) to leave the UK is not only offensive, but impractical. Had such a plan been put into practice, it would have solved the unemployment problem, but also created millions of vacancies with no one to fill them!

The BNP could have suggested an immigration policy that insisted on only allowing new immigrants into the country that had required skills or sufficient funds to support themselves (without claiming government benefits). But they chose to make colour and race more of an issue. Some of their other policies (not related to immigration) may have been more reasonable, but certainly needed a lot more thought.

Perhaps one of the other reasons for their failure in attracting support was Nick Griffin, who wanted to run the party like a one man show, rather than a team (did anyone see other members of the party involved in their election bid?). Whilst many of the BNP supporters are not racists and were genuinely interested in doing what was best for Britain, there were still a number remaining with more extreme views.

The British public has shown their lack of confidence in the main parties, hence the hung parliament, and clearly would welcome a new party that reflects their political views more accurately. Obviously, this is not going to be the BNP, at least not in their current form, and we must hope that a new contender will appear in the near future that will offer realistic and acceptable alternatives.

There is talk that Nick Griffin will be asked to step down as leader of the BNP, but I doubt if this will make any difference to their future hopes of success. The BNP would have to dramatically change their image (and policies) to attract any serious interest, but it may be impossible to escape the reputation of their past to achieve this.

Nick Griffin has said that the BNP is now a "big small party", but if it can't win a seat at a time like this, it won't remain a party of any kind much longer.

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