Another disaster strikes the ailing BNP, with the result of the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election continuing the consistently downward trend in its vote. The BNP polled just 1560 votes (just under 4.5%), which means the party can wave goodbye to yet another lost deposit, and was roundly beaten by UKIP (2029, or 5.8%), which will annoy pretty well everyone in the BNP.
It's worth remembering that Oldham was at one point an extremely important seat for the BNP - back in 2001 the party mustered up 11.2% and in the General Election last year they still managed to scrape together 5.7%. So what went wrong? Maybe it was the fact that the few local BNP activists left in Oldham refused to come out to support a candidate who had been foisted on them by Nick Griffin, who had already announced himself as a candidate only to back off rapidly when he realised how embarrassing (and likely) a low vote would be.
Or maybe it was the fact that Derek Adams, the BNP's candidate, is yet another bad-tempered, rude and arrogant shit along the lines of Lee Barnes (though probably not quite as insane). Certainly, Adam's behaviour at the hustings last week, where he took the stage and refused to leave until escorted off by the plods, didn't exactly endear him to the packed audience who booed him as he was hauled off.
Or maybe it's just that the BNP is crap and more people are realising it.
Labour: 14,718 (42.1%)
Lib Dems: 11,160 (31.9%)
Conservatives: 4,481 (12.8%)
UKIP: 2,029 (5.8%)
BNP: 1,560 (4.5%)
Green Party: 530 (1.5%)
Monster Raving Loony Party: 145 (0.4%)
English Democrats: 144 (0.4%)
Pirate Party: 96 (0.2%)
Bus Pass Elvis Party: 67 (0.1%)
It's just as well that many BNP members are delusional - no matter how you look at it, coming fifth and losing the deposit is not a good result. Or it isn't unless you're prepared to spin the result so much that reality doesn't get a look in. Here's a BNP supporter (Nick Griffin himself, I suspect) writing on the British Democracy Forum following the result being announced.
'Onwards and Upwards - Oldham was a good result for the BNP...With Nick Griffin standing we would undoubtedly have saved our deposit but he very selflessly stood aside for Derek, who with Clive's expert guidance fought a very good campaign...dig deep for the greater good of the party and for a just and noble cause...I'm sure genuine, loyal BNP members will join me in congratulating Nick, Clive and Derek, as well as everyone else who put it so much effort, on a fine result.'
Like I said, delusional.
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ReplyDeleteThere's a similar article on hope not hate. Part one.
ReplyDelete"The British National Party achieved its worst ever vote in Oldham East and Saddleworth yesterday, failing to save its deposit for the first time since it started contesting elections in the constituency in 2001.
The party’s 1,560 votes and fifth place, some way behind the UK Independence Party, will add to the long list of problems faced by Nick Griffin, the leader of the beleaguered party.
Derek Adams, the party’s candidate, had hoped to capitalise on his ejection from the platform of a hustings meeting at which only candidates from the three main parties had been invited to speak, claiming he had been censored. The BNP also tried to exploit last week’s investigation by The Times of “street grooming” of young teenage girls in the north of England by predominantly Muslim men."
Part two
ReplyDelete"Over the past few days the BNP website has carried several reports on how well the campaign was going, coupled with appeals to donate money to fund it. What has been most noticeable on the ground, however, is the almost total absence of local party activists. The Oldham BNP branch has largely collapsed over the past few years and those who have remained appear to have boycotted the campaign in protest at the party’s imposition of Adams as the candidate over Anita Corbett, a local activist.
As a result the campaign has been run by Clive Jefferson, the party’s moronic national elections officer and national treasurer, who has had to bus in supporters from his home turf in Cumbria. He has been helped by Adam Walker, the party’s “manager”, from Spennymoor, Co Durham. Both are members of Griffin’s staff paid by the European Parliament.
The result does however vindicate Griffin’s decision not to parachute himself into the constituency, announced shortly after The Guardian reported that he had confirmed he would be his party’s candidate.
Adams’s 4.6% represents a drop of 1.2% since the general election last May, when Alwyn Stott took 2,546 votes. In 2001, just after the race riots in the town, the BNP won 11.2% with 5,091 votes. The fascist party’s vote fell to 2,109 (4.9%) in 2005.
Yesterday’s by-election was the first where the BNP dropped behind the UKIP, which, with 2,029 votes, achieved its best result in the constituency of the past ten years and saved its deposit for the first time.
The poor result will do nothing to boost the low morale in the cash-strapped party, which reportedly was unable to pay its staff before Christmas. Many members are not renewing, unwilling to give money that only goes to fund Griffin’s failed legal actions and no longer interested in supporting a dictatorial party in which they have no voice."
Derek and Clive? Didn't they write a song about those two once?
ReplyDeleteJump, you fucker jump...lol
'Onwards and Upwards - Oldham was a good result for the BNP
ReplyDeleteThey could teach Blair and Co. a thing about spinning!
P.S. Almost certainly Griffin or Kemp. It's too literate for Jefferson and not in Adam Walker's writing style.
This is from 'blacksticks' on the Telegraph comments:
ReplyDeleteAnyone notice how many Asian ballot counters you see in that picture? The rest are probably with the Lib/Lab/Con artists.
No wonder the BNP does so badly.
All this bunch have left is spitefullness and conspiracy theories.
The BNP dropped to 4.9% and lost its deposit in 2005.
ReplyDeleteSo why did it get a little bounce in 2010 that saw it retain its deposit? The disgusting campaign by Phil Woolas may well provide the answer.
Even the BNP cannot spin this one. According to London Patriot :
ReplyDelete"The British National Party percentage share of the vote dropped by -1.25 which is very disappointing and we were beaten into 4th place by Ukip. Ukip generally performs very poorly in parliamentary elections. The patriotic vote was also split with the English Democrats. Unfortunately the patriotic vote is not the sole property of the British National Party and increasingly the British National Party will finds itself in three way contests with UKIP and the English Democrats unless our fortunes change."
You mention democracy forum. Have you noticed the accusations about Collett,Butler,and Barnbrook and the English Dems.
ReplyDeleteYou mention democracy forum. Have you noticed the accusations about Collett,Butler,and Barnbrook and the English Dems.
ReplyDeleteWhat? That they are all in the pay of "ZOG" ?
Yeah, heard that one....next!
Disappointing for them it may be, but the far right still got a combined total of almost 11% of the vote. We still have work to do.
ReplyDeleteDisappointing for them it may be, but the far right still got a combined total of almost 11% of the vote. We still have work to do.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan of UKIP but they ain't fascist. They come from a right wing Tory tradition and have a completely different history, dynamic and MO compared to groups like the BNP.
"I'm no fan of UKIP but they ain't fascist. They come from a right wing Tory tradition and have a completely different history, dynamic and MO compared to groups like the BNP."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad there are some who recognise this. Denouncing everyone who isn't in the Labour Party as fascist only serves to undermine genuine anti-fascist work.
Great news as regards the BNP, but the Fascists still beat the Green Party which is an absolute disgrace
ReplyDeleteThings are already hotting up in Barnsley. Word on the ground is that Chris Beverley is busy searching for an anti-Gri££in candidate so he can run the campaign. No doubt he thinks he can get a better result in Barnsley than the moron Jefferson managed in Oldham. This would stand him in good stead with the party faithful as he is tipped to be helping with another leadership challenge this year...
ReplyDeleteDisappointing for them it may be, but the far right still got a combined total of almost 11% of the vote. We still have work to do.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan of UKIP but they ain't fascist. They come from a right wing Tory tradition and have a completely different history, dynamic and MO compared to groups like the BNP.
Far right, not fascist. Big difference
"I'm no fan of UKIP but they ain't fascist. They come from a right wing Tory tradition and have a completely different history, dynamic and MO compared to groups like the BNP."
ReplyDeleteAlthough true some of their activists crossover and their voters even more so.
Nazzers blame the voters as usual.
ReplyDeleteFrom the BNP webshite:
“I just don’t understand it”, one of the activists who was out on the streets of Oldham with me on Wednesday told me this morning. “The public’s response, to you personally and our message and party generally was so positive. Lots of them seem to love us, but then they don’t bother to vote. It’s not what’s wrong with us; it’s what wrong with them I reckon!”