Nick Griffin to contest Barking seat

Barnbrook for Barking? Apparently not.

BNP leader Nick Griffin has said he is going to stand in the Westminster constituency of Barking, east London, in the next general election

In June, the party won its first two seats in the European Parliament. Mr Griffin was elected for the North West region while Andrew Brons picked up another BNP seat in Yorkshire and Humber, where it won 10% of the vote.

Margaret Hodge, Labour MP for Barking, said she was "more than ready to expose and expel the BNP from the borough". She told the BBC she was ready to face a challenge in her constituency from the BNP leader.

"I always knew I would have a BNP candidate and it has turned out to be him," she said.

Mr Griffin said the BNP was not racist, but won votes because it "spoke openly about the problem of immigration". Mr Griffin said the BNP would concentrate more money and manpower on the Barking constituency than the party had targeted on any other election campaign. He said he believed the campaign would have repercussions throughout Essex.

Mr Griffin told a news conference: "It's all phoney with the other parties. Sometimes we can be a little blunt, a little politically incorrect, but we're always honest and people know that now."

He said the country faced a second economic crisis because the money pumped into the economy had not gone to generate solid jobs, and that in the face of the ensuing crisis the BNP stood poised to "sweep aside" Labour in a number of seats.

"The chickens are going to come home to roost in a monstrous way very soon," he said.

Mr Griffin was elected to the European Parliament in June even though the BNP polled fewer votes in the north-west England region than it had in 2004 - the slump in Labour support meant its share of the vote increased. It meant that although the BNP came fifth in the popular vote for the area, it won a seat through the system of proportional representation used in the European elections.

BBC