BNP and Labour candidates to fight it out in Dalton town council by-election

Two parties are going head to head in a town council by-election

Labour and the British National Party are to fight for a seat on Dalton Town Council. Dan Martin, for Labour, and Mike Ashburner (pictured left, in the sexy T-shirt), Furness and South Lakeland BNP organiser, were the only two nominations received by last Friday’s closing date. The by-election is set to take place on December 10. The vacancy arose when former Dalton mayor Dermot O’Connor left the town to be nearer his family in Wigan.

Dalton town councillor Bill Bleasdale – who represents the Tories on the borough and county councils – says the town council is usually apolitical. He said: “Normally someone is co-opted straight onto the town council but ten voters can declare a by-election. Anybody from any political party can stand in a democracy. It is disappointing that there aren’t any more candidates showing an interest. The public has got disillusioned with politics nationally which is why the BNP got representation on the European Parliament. They are a protest party.”

Mr Martin, who lives in Dalton and teaches at George Hastwell School on Walney, urged voters to send a message to the BNP that “their nasty brand of politics is not welcome in this town.”

The Ulverston-born 33-year-old, whose father was a Liberal Democrat councillor in Cartmel, said: “Like everyone here, I am very proud of Dalton – and I want to fight for a fair deal for the residents here. Dalton needs a hardworking town councillor who lives here and cares about the issues that matter to families. I think the last thing we need is someone coming here and trying to use our town council to stir up trouble.

“The British National Party care nothing about the concerns of people here – they just want to whip up tension and division. Huge damage would be done to our community if we elected a member of a party that judges people because of what they are and not who they are. I believe that I can represent your interests, and send a message that says Dalton is still a welcoming town.”

Mr Ashburner, from Barrow, who admitted he has no links with Dalton, said it was the BNP’s policy to go for any vacancies that come up. He denied the party was out to cause trouble. Mr Ashburner said: “My main aims are to tackle anti-social behaviour and clean up the streets. I noticed walking around just how much rubbish there was. My other main problem I aim to tackle is the Islamification of Dalton. There are proposals to build a mosque in the area and they are currently looking for plots. I am going to make sure there is not a mosque built in Dalton.”

Cumbria County Council spokesman Gareth Cosslett said the council knows of no current plans to build a new place of worship in Dalton. He said : “Nothing is being built locally. The only thing that happens every Friday afternoon is one room in the Multicultural Centre in Barrow is used by Muslims as a prayer room. The rest of the week it’s used to teach English and a variety of other things. The whole point of the centre is to connect people and help them with social issues.

“The county council isn’t aware of anyone wanting to build a mosque in Dalton or anywhere nearby – but we’re not the planning authority. Our view would be that if they did, they would have as much right to build it as anyone would to build a church.”

North-West Evening Mail

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Iliacus. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

There were four byelections due to be held on September 4th. One was unopposed (Conservative), and one in deepest West Sussex seems to have vanished (perhaps they're still counting !!).

Two results are to hand; and both featured BNP candidates. The first was in a Melton Mowbray ward of Melton District Council in East Leicestershire, an urban - and relatively deprived - area in a broadly affluent and rural part of Britain. It was a ward with some history of BNP activity, their having taken a share of around 28-29% of the vote in May 2007 (precise figures are difficult in multi-member elections). And of course the East Midlands has probably been the BNP's most effective region electorally in recent times, even after the purging of Graham and her Decembrist allies.

My initial reaction to the result was one of shock - Labour 314, BNP 236, Conservative 177. That is too, too close for comfort. However, the figures repay closer attention. The percentages were 43.2%, 32.5% and 24.3%. If Labour can poll 43.2%, even in their present state of national unpopularity, then they will take some beating. For the BNP to overtake that figure the Conservative share would need to fall to 13.5% or lower. Equally, if just 30 BNP voters switched to the Tories then the BNP would fall to third place!

Sources close to the far-right suggest that Labour ran an effective polling day organisation. Good! Now, if the Conservatives could be persuaded to up their game in the ward as well the BNP could find themselves increasingly marginalised.

Oh, and the change in share of the vote from May 2007 is also significant, if difficult to calculate (!) because of the multiple candidacies that time round. Basically the Labour share dropped by around 4.5%, BNP up 4%, Conservatives up around 0.5%. Given what has happened to Labour over the past 18 months, and that this was one of the key BNP byelection prospects this year, the far-right must be disappointed that their advance was so limited.

To summarise - a worrying and depressing result, BUT even so with results like this it's becoming hard to see where the next BNP byelection gain is going to appear!

The other byelection was in Barrow, and again offered an opportunity for the BNP. A ward with a strong Independent tradition (36% in May) and no Lib Dem candidate. What happened? The Conservatives held the seat with an increased majority and 50% of the vote; the Labour share dipped a little (--2.5%), the Peoples Party came third, and the BNP came last with 15.1%. Not the derisory vote we prefer to see, but a long, long, long way from any prospect of power or influence.

A Quiet Month is August

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Iliacus. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

August is traditionally a quiet month for local authority by-elections.  Councillors, activists, election officials and the public tend to like to have a break, and so by-elections are - if at all possible - deferred to a more suitable time.

So there were only six by-elections to principal area authorities (PAA) in August 2008, and here's my round-up of what happened and the significance of the BNP's showing.

Well, their ability to field candidates was up on recent times at 50%; but at three out of six that's hardly significant! On the first Thursday of the month (the 7th) they failed to field candidates in Richmondshire (Yorkshire) and (perhaps more significantly and surprisingly) in Nottingham, but were represented in the slightly odd Maldon North by-election in Essex.

This was a seat previously won by the curiously-named Independent Maldon Democratic Alliance, who did not field a candidate on this occasion. Only one of the major parties stood (the Conservatives), and they were joined by the Greens, BNP and two Independents. With no Labour, Lib Dem or UKIP candidates the BNP might have expected to do rather better than the fourth-placed 12.9% they achieved, finishing behind one of the Independents and with only around half the vote of the Green candidate!

The only by-election on 14th August was in Cilfynydd, deep in the South Wales Valleys. Six candidates, no BNP - a Labour gain from Lib Dem (!). Labour having to regain a seat like this is surprising enough, but even more astonishing was that the Greens, polling just 14 votes, still avoided last place, which went to the Conservatives with 12 (1.6%)!

On the 21st there was a town council election in Wiltshire but no PAA by-elections.

And so to the two by-elections of the 28th August. In Shrewsbury the BNP had a tilt at the Pimhill ward with one Helen Foulkes. [Sources tell me that three of the four recent BNP candidates in the Shrewsbury area have been drawn from the one family, Ms Foulkes included. If true it suggests a narrow membership base.] The BNP website covered this by-election quite extensively, partly because of the candidacy of one Ioan Jones as an Independent despite said Mr Jones having previously stood in the Labour cause. "Are Labour so scared that they are flying under false colours?" asked the BNP. Who cares: Mr Jones ended up with 16 votes, the Conservatives just held off the Lib Dems (341 v 331), and the BNP got just 59 votes (7.9%).

The Rotherham Council by-election has already been mentioned on this site, so I shall try to avoid covering familiar ground. It is worth remembering that this by-election was called by the BNP (i.e. they forced a by-election in the holiday period for whatever reason). Presumably they thought they had a reasonable chance. There is little point calling an election if you are not a significant player. The outcome, however, must have been a bitter disappointment - third place, 19.2% of the vote. Too many votes, and too high a percentage (from our perspective) but well below what they must have been anticipating.

So, a summary for the month. Six by-elections, only one seat changing hands (Lib Dem to Labour). Candidates by party : Conservative 6, Lib Dem 4, Labour 3, BNP 3, Green 2, UKIP 2, Plaid Cymru 1, Independents 5.

BNP - no wins, no second places. Crude average share of the vote 13.3%.

September will be a different matter - 20 by-elections to contest (18 England, 1 Scotland, 1 Wales). On the 4th alone there are two significant BNP interventions, in Melton Mowbray (E Midlands) and Barrow (N West), and a chance to assess how the land lies, and how best to see off the low-life of the racist right.

BNP to contest Barrow-in-Furness Ormsgill ward

The British National Party has re-launched a bid to get into Barrow town hall – despite its drubbing at the last local elections. The far right political group will field the same candidate, Mike Ashburner, who stood for a Central ward seat on the council last May.

Mr Ashburner, of Sidney Street, came last out of four Central ward candidates, with 100 out of around 1,000 votes. This time he will contest Ormsgill, the ward represented by Peoples Party leader Jim Hamezeian.

Mr Ashburner told the Evening Mail his party has a good deal of support there and reckons he has a “realistic” chance of getting elected.

The BNP opposes mixed race relationships and believes all immigration into Britain should be stopped. But Mr Ashburner insists neither he, nor his party, is racist. He said: “We stand up for local people, the British people. We stand for democracy, for freedom of speech and against political correctness.”

The BNP’s “second front” in Barrow brought scorn from other local political parties, with deputy Labour group leader, Councillor Dave Pidduck, saying: “The residents of Central ward last year clearly showed the BNP that there’s no place for them in Barrow. They have nothing whatsoever to offer the people of this borough. There’s no way they could address the problems the borough faces in terms of creating jobs, improving the environment and getting investment into the town. To vote for them is just a waste of a vote.”

Cllr Hamezeian said: “It’s quite obvious to everyone that the BNP is a racist party. They try to cause hatred within the community and everyone knows what the BNP stands for. I would have thought Ashburner would have learned his lesson from the election in Central. He got the lowest percentage of them all and he didn’t get anywhere.”

Council leader and Conservative chief, Councillor Bill Joughin, said: “My own view is that whilst I deplore their policies, I recognise in a democratic country they’re entitled to stand. I’ve no doubt the electorate of Barrow and Ormsgill will show them that there’s no room for their brand of politics in Barrow. From a practical point of view, I don’t think there’s a big enough minority in Barrow to support even the election of one councillor.”

Independent leader, Councillor Eric Wood, said: “They’re not exactly my cup of tea but I think it’s up to the individual whether they want to vote for them or not.”

And Liberal Democrat spokesman Barry Rabone said: “Liberal Democrats believe in the right of the individual to freedom of expression. We trust though that the voters of Barrow and Dalton will strongly reject the BNP message in the forthcoming May elections, as they have done so in previous elections.”

Paul Jenkins, spokesman for Barrow and South Cumbria Unite Against Fascism, said: “We need everyone to use their vote to vote against the BNP, because they offer no solutions for ordinary people.”

An anti-racism family event is planned for Ormsgill community centre on April 13.

North West Evening Mail

Abusive phone call slams councillor’s anti-BNP stance

A councillor was the victim of an abusive phone call which slammed her for criticising the British National Party. Mary Irwin, Labour councillor for Central ward, was sworn at in the anonymous phone call. Councillor Irwin said: “He used a lot of bad language. He called me an f***ing commie bitch and ended up by saying ‘you have been having a go at the BNP for a lot of years’.”

When Cllr Irwin tried to trace the call, she found it had been made from a call box in Leicestershire. Cllr Irwin, of Eamont Close, said she felt shaken after the call, but is determined not to be intimidated. She said: “I’m not going to let it get to me. I won’t be going ex-directory. As a councillor people need to be able to get in touch with me.”

In the past Cllr Irwin has spoken out against the British National Party, and she told the Evening Mail last year: “They’re a racist party. I am totally against racism of any kind.”

BNP election candidate for Barrow, Mike Ashburner, denied that the call had anything to do with his party. He said: “That’s absolutely nothing to do with the BNP. That’s probably one of our opponents trying to cause trouble. We don’t do that and we stamp down on that sort of thing.”

Cllr Irwin has informed the police of the call, but has been told there is little they can do as it was from a call box and outside the area.

Sergeant Keith Healey, of Barrow police, said: “It is an offence to make a malicious or abusive phone call. It is difficult in these cases where it is a one-off event, but if the caller can be identified then positive action would be taken.”

North-West Evening Mail

[Oddly enough, we had a call too - probably from the same callbox in Hinckley (01455 209206) at 1646 on July 24th. Probably the same moron.]

Nazis hammered in Barrow

(Many thanks to Kerry at Barrow for the pic)

Despite putting in a lot of work, Nazi BNP candidate Mike Ashburner came 4th out of 4 with only 100 votes for Barrow Central Ward. The results were:

Labour 400 odd
People's Party 265
Conservative 205
Nazi BNP 100

Whereas the turn-out elsewhere in Barrow appears to have been low, the turn-out in Central Ward was up, so the campaign to urge people to get out and use their votes against the Fascists has obviously worked. While there should never be any complacency about any amount of fascist votes, it should be recognised that this is a bad result for the BNP.

We also had a lively and angry protest against the Nazis both when the fascists came in and out of the Town Hall for the Count.

Around 20 anti-fascists turned out with placards, lively chanting etc to show the BNP that they are not welcome and to expose them for the nazis that they are. These protests clearly rattled the fascists - whose usual attempts at bravado quickly slipped.

Candidates and other people attending the Count inside also wore Unite Against Fascism stickers which further unsettled the fascists and showed them that anti-fascists are the majority.

An absolutely brilliant victory in Barrow. A HUGE thank you to everyone who's helped in this campaign - it more than paid off. Well done!

Families refute BNP "help" claims

FAMILIES fighting to save their central Barrow homes are refuting the British National Party’s claim to have helped them out.

The far right organisation said it was the only party to support North Central residents in their battle against Barrow Borough Council’s home demolition plan.

It wants to win its first seat on the council on May 3.

But residents in Arthur Street — one of the streets threatened by the council’s clearance proposal — say they have had no help from the BNP.

Jason Bentley, 49, said: “I don’t recall them helping us out at all.

“The only person that has stood by us is Jim (Hamezeian, Peoples Party councillor).

“He has helped us out quite a lot, has Jim, speaking up for us at meetings and everything.”

Mr Bentley says he has no time for the BNP.

“They’re a bunch of racists,” he said. “Anything I get from them goes straight in the bin.”

Daisy Potter also said she had no help from the BNP. And Ann Hillman, 47, said: “They haven’t helped at all. I haven’t even seen any BNP.” Mrs Hillman said Cllr Hamezeian had helped them the most.

“He has steered us in the right direction,” she said. I don’t think we’d have known what to do if we hadn’t had his help.”

Cllr Hamezeian’s wife, Rosemarie Hamezeian, 54, is standing for the Peoples Party. Mrs Hamezeian said that, to her knowledge, from knocking on doors, the BNP had done nothing for the people of Central.

She said: “The Peoples Party has been working for the people of Central for a long time now on various issues but certainly on the regeneration of their homes.

“If elected, I’ll do everything I can to make sure their houses are not pulled down.”
But BNP candidate Mike Ashburner says the BNP does not regard the Peoples Party as a proper political party.

“They’re merely a mob of Marxist misfits,” he said.

And, Mr Ashburner maintains, neither he nor the party are racist.

Labour election agent Dave Pidduck said: “The Labour party has always been prepared to work with and listen to the residents and the residents’ associations.

“Unfortunately, opportunities to do that are being restricted by other groups who are working for their own ends.”

Cllr Pidduck described Labour’s Central ward candidate, Ann Thomson, as an excellent candidate and councillor who works hard to represent her residents.

Ollie Flitcroft, election campaign manager for the Tories, described their Central ward candidate Lucy Pearson, 22, as a bright young girl with lots of skills.

And on the homes issue, Cllr Flitcroft said: “The Conservative administration took time and effort to go and speak directly to the residents, to listen to their concerns, to what they had to say. And after long periods of discussion, the Conservative administration backed the residents in their wishes and I’m pleased to say we’re fully square behind them in what they want.”

North-west Evening Mail

Lancaster's fascist BNP fails to impress

Click on image for full size
A pdf file of the poster (28k) can be downloaded from here.

For all Chris Hill's waffling on his rubbishy blog about target 'Gold and Silver' wards, Lancaster's contingent of the British National Party could only muster up a single candidate, despite the local party claiming to have fast-growing support in the city. And who is that candidate? Yep, Chris Hill himself. And where is he standing? Yep, Skerton West ward again - obviously ignoring the fact that his proportion of the vote dropped from 16% on the first occasion he gave us the joy of his company to 11% once voters realised he had nothing to offer except the usual BNP lies and bullshit.

So far, Hill has only been seen on his own while canvassing. No sign of his chum, Bradford BNP councillor, Paul Cromie, under almost constant investigation by the Standards Board for a handful of apparent misdeamours, or ex-Combat 18 thug with a bunch of convictions, Calderdale's Adrian Marsden. In fact, we could say that Hill was remarkably isolated - no-one has even bothered to come over from Blackpool to help him out.

Hill's election agent is not unknown to us though. It's Chris Hill.

This curious isolation grows even more curious when you consider that just up the road in Blackpool, Roy Goodwin, the BNP's North-West regional organiser, claims to run the most successful branch in the country, with regular attendance, he has stated, of up to three hundred people. Yet not one of those three hundred has come over to give Chris Hill a helping hand.

There are two reasons for this. One is that Goodwin, the subject of numerous complaints from his local membership for his bullying and aggressive behaviour, was lying about the numbers. A few weeks ago, he stated to the Blackpool Gazette that the branch saw 'fifty to seventy' attendees - a far cry from three hundred - which might also explain why Blackpool BNP are only standing in seven seats rather than going for a full slate. Too many, of course, but not quite the success story Goodwin would have us believe. Information that we have indicates that the true number is around twenty to twenty-five, which ties in pretty well to the seven candidates. Barrow, which we believe also comes under Roy Goodwin, is an even more disastrous branch (though nowhere near as bad as Lancaster). For weeks, Mike Ashburner, the local BNP mouthpiece has been droning on about how fast the party is growing in the town and how successful they are on the doorstep. How many candidates are standing for the party in Barrow? One. Who is it? Guess. Oh alright, Mike Ashburner.

The BNP always lies about its attendance for some reason. When we have a meeting, we count the people there and that's the number that appears in the records. Anyone involved with the BNP seems to have a problem with counting. According to Chris Hill, there were two hundred and fifty attendees at the BNP 'national' conference in Blackpool and just thirty-five protestors. According to the BBC, us and numerous commentators, there were fifty to sixty at the conference and two hundred of us, give or take half a dozen. An extremely large mistake for engineer Hill to make.

The other reason Blackpool hasn't bothered supporting Hill is that he has the reputation of being foolishly arrogant. Well, he'd have to be, wouldn't he. The one-man-band that Lancaster BNP clearly is, would suit Hill down to the ground. It's only in that way that he can keep himself convinced that everything he says is right. A recent unwanted communication to us proves the point: 'Neither Copeland or Laidlaw were ever BNP members that a facts, live with it!The BNP did not claim Cottage had not been amember, just that he was not a member at the time...' Yes, the mistakes are all his.

Fact: David Copeland (the Soho bomber) was at one point a member of the BNP.
Fact: At the time of his arrest Laidlaw (who shot random people for no apparent reason) claimed to be a BNP member.
Fact: Robert Cottage was definitely a member of the BNP at the time of his arrest for possession of bomb-making materials.

Not that I'd want to get inside the head of anyone who considers the BNP a valid party but one wonders what goes on in there. One of the pledges on Hill's current leaflet states: '...to give the indigenous people of Lancaster a voice on the council'. Just what the hell does that mean? Is that meant to refer to white British people in Lancaster, because they're pretty well represented on the council already. Or is it meant to refer to Lancaster people who have lived here for generations? If that's the case, why should Hill represent them any more than anyone else - he's from Bradford. Not that we care but if that's a central pledge for his campaign, he's on another loser.

Someone asked the other day why Hill keeps sticking his nose into Skerton West and the only answer we heard that made any sense was that he hoped to make capital out of the old and thankfully almost-forgotten problems on Ryelands that involved Mal Hussein. Patently that's not working, hence the pitiful 93 votes he earned at the last by-election, most of which didn't come from Ryelands anyway. But someone speculated on Hill's reception on the estate should it become known that Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, once described people who live on housing estates as scum. Yes, indeed.

We've provided a poster which, in our opinion, should be posted on every council estate in Lancaster and Morecambe, but particularly on Ryelands where Hill is currently trying to spread his filth and lies. Let's see what the locals think of Hill after we start spreading the truth around a bit.

Barrow: BNP reveal their true fascist face

Fascist BNP activist Mike Ashburner has revealed the real racist face of the BNP

Further proof that the BNP is a racist party is shown by a recent complaint by prospective BNP candidate for Barrow, Mike Ashburner, to the Standards Board for England, against Barrow Borough Councillor Jim Hamezeian. Ashburner tried to claim that Jim Hamezeian could not hold Council Office because Councillor Hamezeian was born in Iran, and that this supposedly contradicted a 300-year old bill.

The fact that the Standards Board rejected Ashburner's claim shows the BNP up for the racists that they are. Standards Board spokeswoman Rebecca Jones has stated "There was no potential breach of the code identified."

To judge someone on the basis of where they were born is racism - and this is the racism which Ashburner and the Fascist BNP, which he represents, are guilty of. We can all reject racism by rejecting Mike Ashburner and the fascist BNP at the elections. Ashburner is no exception. The BNP has stated that "all non-whites must be repatriated" and BNP Leader Nick Griffin said, in 2002, "Our ultimate aim is an all-white society".

Unite Against Fascism, as part of our campaign against the fascist BNP in the run-up to the local elections, will be using this clear example of racism to show that the BNP truly are the racists which they pretend not to be.

[The article from the Evening Mail is reprinted below.]

Barrow and South Cumbria Unite Against Fascism (UAF)

North West Evening Mail, Wednesday March 14, 2007:

"You can't be a councillor, a 300-year-old bill says so."

BNP candidate threatens Iran-born Hamezeian.

Independent councillor Jim Hamezeian says a British National Party activist is "sad" for threatening him using an archaic 300-year-old law. Mike Ashburner - set to stand for the BNP in the Barrow Borough Council elections in May - reported Councillor Hamezeian to local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England.

Mr Ashburner claimed the Iranian-born councillor is breaching the 1689 Bill of Rights. It states: "And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm."

The Standards Board for England decided not to investigate the complaint.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Jones said: "There was no potential breach of the code identified."

Cllr Hamezeian first came to Barrow 35 years ago to work in the shipyard for the Iranian navy. The Ormsgill representative said: "Mike Ashburner must be a sad man to be used and manipulated by the BNP in order to make this childish complaint about me."

Cllr Hamezeian accused Mr Ashburner of "living in a cave". He said: "The BNP is racist and this is a clear example of how racist the BNP is." Cllr Hamezeian says people in Barrow have no time for the BNP and the party will be "totally dismissed" if it tries to fight the local elections. Cllr Hamezeian says his People's Party will be contesting the same Central seat on the council as Mr Ashburner.

But Mr Ashburner says he is "confident" of winning the ballot and he hit back at Cllr Hamezeian's comments. Mr Ashburner said Cllr Hamezeian was wrong to say he was "sad" for making the complaint. And he said: "I can't see how it's childish. It's to do with the law, nothing else." Mr Ashburner denies he is "living in a cave" and maintains that neither he nor the BNP is racist. He says the BNP's views are "very modern".

Mr Ashburner added he had asked the chief executive of the standards board to conduct a review of its decision.