Searchlight poll finds huge support for far right 'if they gave up violence'

Level of far-right support could outstrip that in France or Holland, says poll for Searchlight

Huge numbers of Britons would support an anti-immigration English nationalist party if it was not associated with violence and fascist imagery, according to the largest survey into identity and extremism conducted in the UK.

A Populus poll found that 48% of the population would consider supporting a new anti-immigration party committed to challenging Islamist extremism, and would support policies to make it statutory for all public buildings to fly the flag of St George or the union flag. Anti-racism campaigners said the findings suggested Britain's mainstream parties were losing touch with public opinion on issues of identity and race.

The poll suggests that the level of backing for a far-right party could equal or even outstrip that in countries such as France, the Netherlands and Austria. France's National Front party hopes to secure 20% in the first round of the presidential vote next year. The Dutch anti-Islam party led by Geert Wilders attracted 15.5% of the vote in last year's parliamentary elections.

Anti-fascist groups said the poll's findings challenged the belief that Britons were more tolerant than other Europeans. "This is not because British people are more moderate, but simply because their views have not found a political articulation," said a report by the Searchlight Educational Trust, the anti-fascist charity that commissioned the poll.

According to the survey, 39% of Asian Britons, 34% of white Britons and 21% of black Britons wanted all immigration into the UK to be stopped permanently, or at least until the economy improved. And 43% of Asian Britons, 63% of white Britons and 17% of black Britons agreed with the statement that "immigration into Britain has been a bad thing for the country". Just over half of respondents – 52% – agreed with the proposition that "Muslims create problems in the UK".

Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP who fought a successful campaign against the British National party in his Dagenham and Rainham constituency in east London, said that the findings pointed to a "very real threat of a new potent political constituency built around an assertive English nationalism". The report identified a resurgence of English identity, with 39% preferring to call themselves English rather than British. Just 5% labelled themselves European.

Earlier this month David Cameron delivered a controversial speech on the failings of "state multiculturalism". The speech was seized on by the anti-Islamic English Defence League, which said that the prime minister was "coming round" to its way of thinking. BNP leader Nick Griffin also welcomed the speech as a sign that his party's ideas were entering "the political mainstream".

The poll also identified a majority keen to be allowed to openly criticise religion, with 60% believing they "should be allowed to say whatever they believe about religion". By contrast, fewer than half – 42% – said "people should be allowed to say whatever they believe about race".

Observer

Theresa May pressed to halt visit by anti-Muslim US preacher

Pastor Terry Jones at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, where he
had threatened to burn copies of the Koran on church grounds. Photograph: John Raoux/AP

Pastor who threatened to burn Qur'an plans to address far-right English Defence League in February

Home secretary Theresa May is under intense pressure to ban controversial anti-Muslim preacher Terry Jones from Britain after far-right activists said he had agreed to address them at a demonstration about "the evils of Islam".

The English Defence League (EDL) said it was "proud to announce" that the US pastor, who caused outrage with plans to burn the Qur'an on this year's anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, would be attending the event in Luton in early February. Jones confirmed that he would be arriving in the UK. The pastor's website said he intended to visit the EDL's "biggest demonstration to date" in February. The website stated: "During the protest, Dr Terry Jones will speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe."

President Barack Obama warned in September that Jones's planned Qur'an burnings would be a "recruitment bonanza" for al-Qaida and the US state department said it would put the country's citizens at risk across the world.

Tonight the British anti-extremist campaign, Hope Not Hate, launched its own petition urging May to ban Jones from Britain, while MPs demanded immediate action from the home secretary. Hope Not Hate's campaign co-ordinator, Nick Lowles, said: "Pastor Jones's presence in Luton will be incendiary and highly dangerous. He will attract and encourage thousands of English Defence League supporters to take to the streets of Luton.

"Like the EDL, Pastor Jones indiscriminately targets all Muslims and their actions can only lead to increased tensions and racism in our communities. His appearance will rightly cause concern and fear among Muslims across the country."

Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham, said he would table an urgent parliamentary motion tomorrow demanding that the pastor be banned from coming into the country.

"We have seen how Pastor Jones, with a very small congregation in Florida, created a firestorm by urging the Qur'an to be burned," Cruddas said. "We should not allow racial hatred to be whipped up in this manner in our country."

The EDL announced Jones's planned visit on its Facebook site today, saying he would attend "our biggest demo to date" and describing it as "the big one". There are fears that copies of the Qur'an could be burned by extremists.

The last time the EDL marched in Luton, 250 of their supporters went on the rampage through an Asian area of the town. Shop windows were smashed, cars overturned and a number of people were attacked. Thirty-five people were arrested as a result of the violence. Eleven people were arrested yesterday as 500 EDL supporters marched in Peterborough.

"The EDL march in February has the potential to be far worse," Lowles said. "Only extremists will benefit from his visit and, as we know, extremism breeds hatred and hatred breeds violence. Pastor Jones, a preacher of hate, must be stopped from entering the UK."

The home secretary has the power to exclude or deport an individual if she thinks their presence in the UK could threaten national security, public order or the safety of citizens. She can also do so if she believes their views glorify terrorism, promote violence or encourage other serious crime.

May has been keen to show that she is tough on extremism. Five weeks after the coalition government came into power, she banned a radical preacher who claimed that "every Muslim should be a terrorist" from entering Britain. Zakir Naik had been due to give a series of lectures at Wembley Arena and in Sheffield in June.

However, visitors from other countries cannot be banned just for having opinions that other people would find offensive. In the past, May has said the powers can only be used in "very serious" cases. She has already acted against the EDL, banning a march in Leicester in November.

News of Jones's planned visit comes as the head of the police intelligence unit on domestic extremism reveals that the EDL and related splinter groups have become his biggest concern.

Adrian Tudway, the national co-ordinator for domestic extremism, told the Observer: "We look at the extreme right and left, but currently our biggest single area of business are the various groups which call themselves defence leagues. These defence leagues can be found across England."

The unit is monitoring a "number of individuals" connected to extreme rightwing groups, details of which are disseminated to local police forces.

At the height of the controversy over Jones's threat to burn the Qur'an, effigies of the pastor were burned in Afghanistan and there was widespread condemnation across the Muslim world. Jones is a Pentecostalist who bases his theology on the literal text of the Bible. He runs the Florida-based Dove World Outreach Centre, which objects to Islam because it "teaches that Jesus is not the son of God, therefore taking away the saving power of Jesus and leading people straight to Hell".

Observer

More on the landslide Labour victory at Barking and Dagenham

Griffin is confronted by Searchlight editor Nick Lowles at the B and D count

A mixture of elation and disbelief erupted at the council election count on Friday

Elation at a historic clean sweep as Labour gained total control back of the council with all 51 seats being won by their candidates, and disbelief the electorate had voted out the 12 British National Party councillors elected four years ago. Conservatives Terry Justice and Neil Connolly were also casualties. The count took place at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre on Friday.

An indication of the borough's mood was with the two MPs, Jon Cruddas and Margaret Hodge being returned, but no one was prepared for the absolute rejection of the BNP councillors. None of the former councillors were seen or prepared to comment after the last results came through on Friday.

Education Cabinet member, Cllr Rocky Gill, said: "This is an absolutely amazing set of results. We have absolutely destroyed the BNP, we've wiped them out for good in Barking and Dagenham."

Margaret Hodge, who came out of the election with a massive 16,555 majority, gave a passionate speech after she was declared MP for Barking for another term by the council's chief executive, Rob Whiteman. She said: "Our voters faced a stark choice and they have overwhelmingly chosen democratic politics built on tolerance, fairness and decency, not politics built on hate. The message from Barking and Dagenham is clear: get out and stay out. You are not wanted and your vile politics have no place in British democracy. Pack your bags and go."

Nick Griffin was equally vocal about the result. He said: "I would like to thank the 6,620 people who voted for me who do not want to put up with the tirade of hatred against British people anymore. This was Barking's last chance."

Jon Cruddas, who had been MP for Dagenham since 2001, won with a majority of 2,630 over the Conservatives' Simon Jones. In his victory speech, he said: "I simply want to say that I find the work carried out by the Dagenham Labour Party extraordinary over the last few years. I also want to congratulate the Barking Labour Party for a fantastic total result and all the other candidates in this election. I look forward to being an MP for the constituents in Dagenham and Rainham."

A high spot of the night was when the assembled candidates burst into a rendition of the famous 'Dad's Army' theme song but with lyrics of 'Who do you think you are kidding Mr Griffin'.

Barking and Dagenham Post

BNP hopes of a breakthrough dashed as party defeated in target seats

Nick Griffin failed dramatically in his bid to gain a Westminster seat this morning when he suffered a resounding defeat in the British National Party’s east London stronghold

Margaret Hodge, the Labour incumbent, won by a majority of more than 16,000 to deflect the BNP leader’s challenge in what she labelled the most important and moral fight of her life. In a humiliating defeat, Mr Griffin was relegated to third place in Barking, trailing behind Conservative candidate Simon Marcus. The BNP’s share of the vote dropped by two per cent, the result of an extensive campaign to mobilise voters against the threat of the far right.

Ms Hodge, the Culture Minister, achieved a seven per cent swing, winning more than 24,000 votes and 55 per cent of the vote. She said: “The message of Barking to the BNP is clear: get out and stay out. You are not wanted here and your vile politics have no place in British democracy. Pack your bags and go.”

She said voters had chosen democratic politics built on fairness over “a fascist politics built on division, prejudice and hatred. We have not just beaten but we have smashed the attempts of extremists.”

The BNP had considered Barking a stronghold after exploiting local concerns about immigration and housing to win twelve seats in the local council in 2006. However, following a disastrous election campaign, Mr Griffin received 6,620 votes – one third as many as Ms Hodge.

There were indications of a national collapse in the BNP vote after it failed to make headway in its other target seat, Stoke Central. It also looked likely to lose seats on the Barking and Dagenham Council, despite beginning the campaign with hopes of gaining a majority. Mr Griffin blamed high voter turnout for his defeat and said that it was the “last chance for Barking”.

His voice drowned out by booing, he said: “This was the last of London. Within the next five years the indigenous people of London will be a minority in our own capital city. This is a wake up call, not just for London. This is a wake up call for the whole of Britain.”

Mr Griffin said he would not resign, despite the crushing defeat, however elements in his party are certain to demand answers about the disastrous performance.

There was a heavy police presence at the count in Goresbrook Leisure Centre, in Dagenham, as large numbers of BNP supporters turned out to support their leader. The BNP’s campaign has been was plagued with trouble and infighting. In the first week, Mr Griffin faced an alleged plot by BNP officials to overthrow him. He also told police that a colleague had threatened to kill him after an investigation into the political “conspiracy”.

On Tuesday, the head of the party’s online operation resigned and took the website down with him. Simon Bennett, 41, directed BNP traffic to his personal site, which contained a lengthy diatribe against Mr Griffin and other senior figures. The next day Robert Bailey, the party’s London organiser and Romford candidate, was videoed assaulting an Asian youth who had spat on him.

UKIP candidate Frank Maloney said he would make a complaint about Ms Hodge to the Electoral Commission, claiming she had spoken to voters inside polling booths.

At the same venue, incumbent Labour MP Jon Cruddas faced an anxious wait with a close run poll with his Tory opponent. However Mr Cruddas, widely tipped as a leadership contender, won his seat in Dagenham with a majority of 2,000 votes.

Times Online

On the front line of the war against the BNP

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is at war. The next two weeks will determine whether the area becomes the jewel in the crown for the British National Party – a BNP-controlled council with command of a £200 million-a-year budget. And sometimes, as this week, the warfare becomes physical. Police were called to Barking town centre after a punch-up began during a BNP canvassing session. And there were angry scenes in Dagenham last week when anti-fascist campaigner Billy Bragg had a stand-up row with Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s London Assembly member.

But even Bragg, a Barking man by birth, has not grasped the seriousness of the situation according to one leading campaigner. “They think that a vote for the BNP is a way of lashing out against the local council”, Bragg said last week. Wrong, says Sam Tarry, organiser for the anti-fascist Hope not Hate campaign and a Labour council candidate in Dagenham. “That shame that used to exist about voting BNP is gone. It’s well beyond a protest now. The BNP have been gaining nationally for five or six years. I think the council is going to be very, very tight.”

The 2006 local elections saw 12 BNP councillors elected to Barking and Dagenham council, making them the biggest BNP council group in the country. According to campaign group Searchlight, the organisers behind Hope not Hate, the party only needs to swing six marginal council wards to gain control.

Away from the town hall, Barking Labour candidate and culture minister Margaret Hodge and Jon Cruddas in the new Dagenham and Rainham contituency seem quietly confident of their own electoral success. But a late BNP surge could yet see Cruddas (notional majority 6,581) unseated by his Conservative opponent. And in November, BNP leader Nick Griffin announced he was standing for Parliament in Barking. Griffin vowed to spend more than the party has ever spent on a constituency campaign: no idle threat, with he and his fellow MEP Andrew Brons now on the Brussels payroll. How much of a threat is he to Labour?

“Griffin’s not here to win a parliamentary seat – the council’s the real prize”, Tarry insists. “He’s here to take the heat off the councillors. Obviously our strategy is to bind those things together. Locally he’s seen as an outsider, someone coming to take advantage of the situation.”

When I arrive in Dagenham, Hope not Hate’s footsoldiers have been out in force at the weekend: 548 to be precise, a record number for any election campaign, delivering glossy leaflets and full-colour Hope not Hate tabloid newspapers. “We got the whole borough done. It was fantastic”, says an activist.

Labour’s big guns, too, are out in force, at least for Hodge. On the day I visit her North Street offices, David Blunkett has been and gone, deputy leader Harriet Harman and her predecessor John Prescott are planning a visit, and health minister Baroness Thornton has just dropped in for a cup of tea. The trainers on her feet prove she has been out canvassing.

“If people are going to support us, they are really going to support us,” she says, echoing some of Sam Tarry’s views. “There’s a strong Labour vote and quite a sizeable BNP vote.”

Indeed, she met some BNP voters today. How did she deal with them? “I said, look, these guys are Nazis! – I feel I’m old enough and mature enough – if it’s someone older I say, ‘did your father fight in the war? Do you want people who like Adolf Hitler running the borough?’”

For all the common cause they have, Searchlight and Labour do not always agree on how to fight the BNP. And neither do Hodge and Cruddas’ offices. Hodge’s profile dominates her literature in a “top of the ticket” strategy. Cruddas gets a more equal billing with his council candidates. Some privately think Hodge’s approach is not the best way to protect the council. But there is no doubting the Barking MP’s sheer hard work: she has pounded the pavements regularly every weekend for the past two years and is currently canvassing three times a day.

Darren Rodwell, Hodge’s campaign manager, is proud of what has been achieved. Three years ago, he says, only 7 per cent of the electorate were on Barking’s contacts database, compared to 54 per cent now. Would he stake his home on a Labour victory, I ask. “I’m as confident as I can be; I would never do anything that would risk my family”, he smiles, before admitting that, in any case, he would move out if the BNP won.

How the impressive efforts in Barking and Dagenham compare to the BNP’s own canvassing is hard to say: at the time of writing, my questions to them were unanswered. But the far-right party has not come from nowhere – its voting figures at general elections have grown steadily for nearly 20 years – and with two Brussels seats and the chance of a Westminster seat, it is certainly not going nowhere. Whether that continues depends on Barking and Dagenham.

Tribune

BNP short of candidates to take Barking and Dagenham

The British National Party's hopes of seizing Barking and Dagenham council suffered a blow today after it emerged it is fielding only 34 candidates

The far-right party holds 12 seats and would need 14 more to take the council, but eight of the wards it is contesting are Labour strongholds. Until a few days ago it was confident it would have candidates standing in all 51 wards. There are questions over several BNP hopefuls after it was reported they registered at “front addresses” to get round rules that candidates must live in the area.

Dagenham Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: “It's clear on the doorstep that local residents are turning away from the extreme politics of the BNP. The fact that they have really struggled to get local candidates to stand in the council elections, suggests the chances of them creating the political earthquake they said they would in the borough, are diminishing by the day.”

London Evening Standard

The ugly truth behind a BNP council

On Friday, May 7, Britain could wake up to its first British National Party-run council. The previous day many parts of the country will hold local elections - and the far-right party is in striking distance of winning control of Barking and Dagenham Council.

The BNP is already the official opposition there, with 12 councillors. Its leader, Nick Griffin, is standing in Barking in the general election.

"Our drive to take the council, well, that's the real prize. It really is," Griffin said earlier this year.

Last month, BNP councillor Bob Bailey said: "We are on the verge of making history by taking this council and Margaret Hodge's and Jon Cruddas' parliamentary seats."

What would a BNP council's policies be? What would it do on schools, on caring for the elderly and most vulnerable? How would it allocate a £200million annual budget? The shadow budget drawn up in Barking and Dagenham last year and the party's manifesto allow us to see how BNP policies would work.

Should it win in East London, its strategy is to set its sights on Stoke-on-Trent, which has similar elections next year. Barking and Dagenham would be the science lab to test these dogmatic ideas...

HOUSING
The BNP plans to take a new homes site identified by the council and use it instead to park 1,000 caravans as local authority housing. At just £1,000 each, these old caravans led local campaigners to dub this a "Steptoe & Son solution" to social housing. The site would be a potential eyesore with no facilities, nowhere for kids to play and no substitute for real homes for some of the most vulnerable.

Under BNP policy, social housing - and caravans - would go to "UK citizens only", leaving vulnerable people to sleep on the streets.

CARE
Social work professionals say the best place for children in care is with foster families, but the BNP differs. It wants to take the several hundred children in care in Barking and put them into boarding school. While some children do still live in care homes in Britain, there are rarely more than eight per home.

The BNP's proposals would mean a return to Victorian-style "workfare", their alternative to welfare.

TEEN MUMS
The BNP plans to build an institution in Barking & Dagenham for all mothers under 21 to live in, with single mothers and babies taken into care. Failure to comply with the homes rules could result in the mother being sent to prison and the baby being taken into to care.

COMMUNITIES
The Corporate Grants Programme, which would affect 27 organisations including Victim Support, Relate and the Volunteer Bureau, all of which provide vital community services, would be halved by the BNP.

Bob Bailey, leader of the council's BNP group, calls the arrival of people from ethnic minorities into Barking and Dagenham "genocidal". He says the BNP would cut the "PC madness" of translation services, where one of the key groups of people to be affected would be blind people who require translation to and from Braille.

POVERTY
Bob Bailey claims that "only by voting for the BNP and electing a BNP council will the elderly and poor have a real champion in this chamber". Yet nationally the party supports the Tories in raising the inheritance tax threshold to £1million and it wants to cut "personal taxes".

SCHOOLS
One of the areas the BNP has earmarked for cuts is the Building Schools for the Future programme. This would delay much-needed work on all the borough's secondary schools. National policy is to scrap GCSEs for O levels and to cut the Talented and Gifted Young People programme.

EDUCATION
In its 2009 county council election manifesto the BNP says mixing white and non-white children is "destroying perfectly good local secondary schools". It adds that schools are "riddled with tension between pupils from an Islamic background and everyone else". This is despite the fact that schools in Barking and Dagenham recently received their best ever performance rating as most improved in Outer London.

BNP deputy chairman Simon Darby has called integrated schools "political paedophilia". The BNP would prefer to segregate children in an apartheid system, so that children from other ethnic backgrounds are taught separately - leading to a divided community, destroying children's friendships, and setting up ethnic tension in the future.

The party also wants all children with special needs to be taken out of the mainstream and put into special schools.

COUNCIL TAX
The BNP plans to cut council tax to "among the lowest of any London borough" in five years, yet its proposals cost almost £1million above existing spending. Its savings would be £18.6million, while its proposals cost £19.5million. Leader of the BNP group, Bob Bailey, says Labour relies on council tax for "loony left PC projects". But in the wake of a global recession tax cuts could severely impact on the poorest in society.

LOCAL EVENTS
The BNP would get rid of the popular Dagenham Town Show, slashing the events budget and ending opportunities for local families to have a free weekend out every July.

SPORT
In Barking and Dagenham, the BNP voted against congratulating British athletes on their success at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It does not consider athletes such as Amir Khan and Kelly Holmes to be British, and previously held a policy of supporting Denmark - and not England - in a World Cup as the only all-white team.

The party also opposed grants to local sports clubs including Barking Rugby Club and Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club, who between them coach hundreds of local children every weekend. Instead they suggested spending £50,000 on fixing up the town hall so they could webcast meetings.

KNIFE CRIME
The party likes to talk up knife crime in Barking and Dagenham. In September 2008, Richard Barnbrook, a BNP member of the London Assembly, broadcast a video blog about two murders in Barking that never actually happened. He was censured for his deliberate scare tactic. Yet when the council launched a campaign to ask the Government for stronger powers to deal with shops that sell knives to children, the BNP opposed it.

ENVIRONMENT
The BNP claims to be the "only truly environmental party unlike the fake 'Greens' who are merely a front for the far left of the Labour regime". Yet the party would end the building of wind turbines in Barking and Dagenham - London's first wind farm - and opposes "climate change dogma".

Mirror

Turning a blind eye on the campaign trail as BNP targets prize seat

A voter sneaks past pornmeister Dicky Barnbrook

British National Party activists are gathered outside the Underground station, smirking and smoking. A black man spits, twice, at their feet. “Yeah, I know who you are,” he says accusingly.

Does that happen a lot? “What’s that?” asks Richard Barnbrook, a big wheel in the party and an elected member of the Greater London Authority. That man just spat at you. “No! Deliberately?” Yes.

“I didn’t notice,” he mumbles, with a little shake of his head. “We actually get a very positive reaction from many older ethnic minority people here.”

Such a claim can soon be tested. Mr Barnbrook parades along the streets in his “trademark” beige suit which, he thinks, “adds to my charisma — everybody knows who I am”. An Asian woman shudders and moves off the pavement when she sees him approaching. A black father grabs his toddler’s hand and guides her to the other side of the road. A group of teenagers ride by on bikes, yelling obscenities. “Maybe I get a few funny looks, every now and then,” Mr Barnbrook concedes cheerfully.

Welcome to Barking, a suburban town that the BNP wants to make its own, where truth — as well as whole sections of the local population — can be just inconvenient obstacles to be sidestepped or swept away.

The decision by Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, to stand as a parliamentary candidate in Barking has inevitably brought the poison of racial politics ever closer to the surface of an already pockmarked eastern outpost of London.

At the general election in 2005, Mr Barnbrook was only 27 votes away from claiming second place ahead of the Tories. In the following year the BNP grabbed nine of the 30 borough councillor posts in the wards that make up the seat. The party secured an average 41 per cent of the vote in seven contested wards, compared with 33 per cent for Labour.

This is why Mr Griffin abandoned the North West, where he was elected as an MEP last year, and elbowed Mr Barnbrook aside for the chance to stand in Barking. It is where the BNP believes that white working-class alienation can be best exploited to gain a first crucial foothold in Westminster.

Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP for almost 16 years and veteran of many battles in a political career stretching over four decades, recognises that she is in the fight of her life. “We face a real threat from the BNP,” she says. “Griffin is here because he thinks he can win.”

She has, in the past, been criticised for relying too heavily on the black and Asian vote. There have been complaints that she has amplified “BNP propaganda” with efforts to address white voters’ sense of unfairness. Last week she called for immigrants to earn the right to benefits or council housing over several years so that “local people” have higher priority.

Ms Hodge’s campaign has not been helped by an often dysfunctional relationship with Jon Cruddas, the MP for neighbouring Dagenham, who argues that Labour’s appeal should be around shared economic interests, not racial identity. But she has been more visible lately than before, opening a campaign office after the council elections and doubling party membership locally to about 400. Although a number of the party’s older councillors have been purged and are threatening to run as independents, Ms Hodge says Labour has been revitalised. “I’m so proud. We have all had to raise our game.”

Differences within Labour have been put aside because they are far outweighed by the need to “lance the boil” of the BNP. “I am really fearful that if they get a hold here, Barking would become a no-go area for the rest of Britain,” Ms Hodge says. “They bring division and violence.”

There has been talk of Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates pulling out of the election to present a united front against racism. The consensus among them, however, appears to be that this would merely reinforce Mr Griffin’s claims that the Establishment is ganging up on him.

A greater concern for Labour is the candidacy of the Rev George Hargreaves, leader of the Christian Party, who has strong links to the big Pentecostalist churches proliferating in the area and who may shave away significant numbers of black voters from Labour. “I would much rather he was not standing,” Ms Hodge says.

Barking’s menagerie of candidates will also include Frank Maloney, the former boxing promoter, who is standing for the UK Independence Party. He launched his campaign by challenging Mr Griffin to a fist fight and with a poster that spelt Britain as Britian. The BNP enjoys pointing out that error, but should not laugh too loud. Mr Griffin launched his own campaign for Barking last year in Dagenham, having got confused about the constituency boundaries.

There is much to ridicule about a party that has only recently started wearing suits in an effort to be taken seriously. Council meetings here have descended into farce on occasion. Some BNP councillors — the official opposition — have fallen out among themselves, walked out or been thrown out for misconduct.

On the doorstep Mr Barnbrook mixes talk about wheelie bins with a promise to put immigrant families in tower blocks because, he alleges, they got homes in a Labour plot to flood the constituency with non-whites. Has he got any evidence? “Yes, through our freedom of information requests. But I can’t disclose it at this time because of data protection laws.”

Outside his house, easily recognisable by the St George and Union flags, Mr Barnbrook insists — a little unconvincingly — that he is not bitter about Mr Griffin taking over as parliamentary candidate.

“Only Nick has got an ego big enough to deal with sitting alone in the Commons,” he says. “And, anyway, to control the council would be far more prestigious. I’m better with people, I have more charisma.” So how does he get on with his neighbours? “Great,” he replies. “We have black and Muslim families living here. I get on with everybody.”

A few inquiries at homes nearby suggests that this is not quite true. One black man says that he feels uneasy leaving his young family on their own because “a lot of people come to that house, I don’t like the way they look at my children”. A few doors down, a woman says: “I’m scared of them. Please don’t print my name.”

Mr Barnbrook may try to be nice. He clearly believes in the powers of all that charisma and his special suit. The BNP is ridiculous — even pathetic. But when fomenting such fear and loathing, it is not funny.

Times Online

Nick Griffin attacked by his own BNP supporters over Question Time

Party's legal officer accuses leader of failing to press home his attack on 'the sanctimonious, hypocritical middle classes'

The leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, found himself the victim of an extraordinary attack from his own supporters last night following his controversial appearance on the BBC's Question Time.

As a public postmortem into one of the most divisive broadcasts in the corporation's history attempted to gauge its impact on the party's fortunes, Lee Barnes, the BNP's legal officer, accused Griffin of "failing to press the attack" during the televised debate, which was watched by a record 8 million people. Others sympathetic to the BNP's views expressed dismay at Griffin's flustered attempts to appeal to the mainstream.

The BNP's critics were quick to use the comments as proof of deep divisions within the party's membership over how it should position itself with the electorate. Griffin has claimed that he has dragged the party into the political mainstream. But the resulting backlash from those on his own side suggests many are uncomfortable with the BNP's attempts to cloak itself in more moderate terms.

Barnes complained on his personal website that Griffin "should have stood up to these whining, middle-class hypocrites that use the race card for self-enrichment – and thrown the truth right back into their fat, sanctimonious, hypocritical, self-serving faces". He accused his party's leader of "failing to press the attack" on the "ethnic middle class" for "taking up the best jobs while still playing the bogus race card for every opportunity". And in a move that is likely to reinforce concerns that Griffin's appearance will spark violence, Barnes used his personal website to suggest that "perhaps there needs to be a few 'white riots' around the country a la the Brixton riots of the 1980s before the idiot white liberal middle class and their ethnic middle-class fellow travellers wake up".

A spokesman for the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said: "This strips away once and for all Nick Griffin's pretence that the BNP is a non-violent organisation. Lee Barnes is not just another BNP member, he is the organisation's legal officer, and here he is talking about riots in the streets. The BNP hoped the Question Time appearance would mark their entry to the political mainstream, but instead they have pushed themselves back to the violent, extremist political fringe where they belong."

Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: "If this is the view expressed by Griffin's legal officer, imagine the views among the hardcore BNP membership."

Griffin's performance on Question Time, in which he was ambivalent about incendiary comments he had made in the past, admitted to links with the Ku Klux Klan, attacked Islam and appeared sweaty, smirking and evasive, has been widely derided in the media and by politicians from all the main parties. But the party's sympathisers are also joining the attack. Negative comments from BNP supporters were posted on the party's website yesterday, but many were quickly taken down.

One comment read: "Maybe some coaching could of been done so that Mr Griffin could of answered any questions articulately."

And in far-right internet chatrooms, the mood last night was one of a missed opportunity. In the Stormfront online forum, a BNP sympathiser said: "It was quite a bad performance by Griffin in comparison to his other TV appearances. Though he managed to get one or two things over (despite the constant interruptions and barracking) that would appeal to the majority, he did seem overawed by the occasion and was not, for the most part, at his best."

Another said: "It's almost like Nick went on expecting a normal episode of Question Time, it was always going to be a hatchet job and he should have been fully prepared for questions relating to his past. This lack of preparedness left him open to attack and flustered when asked to provide a reply." Another commented: "I'm starting to think this appealing to the mainstream approach is the wrong direction. I would rather have seen George Lincoln Rockwell [founder of the American Nazi party] on the panel, there would have been a riot."

The emerging splits within the BNP's core support over Griffin's performance came amid claims that Question Time had acted as a recruiting agent for the far-right party. A poll for the Daily Telegraph published yesterday suggested that 22% of the electorate would "seriously consider" voting BNP, while the party claimed thousands had registered for information following Griffin's appearance. "By the end of the night 9,000 new people had signed up as registered potential members or on our mailing lists," Simon Bennett, the BNP's webmaster, declared. "In the Euro elections, we gained 40,000 enquiries, but spent £500,000 to do so – on Question Time we spent peanuts but gained almost 25% of the Euro election total in eight hours! We had to upgrade our server capacity enormously, which allowed us to cope with extra traffic."

The claims seemed to reinforce concerns expressed by the Welsh secretary, Peter Hain, who had opposed Griffin's appearance on Question Time. "The BBC has handed the BNP the gift of the century on a plate and now we see the consequences," Hain said. "I'm very angry."

The BNP – and indeed the entire far-right movement – is no stranger to infighting and claims of splits will be dismissed by its high command. Griffin, a former key player in the National Front, assumed control over the party only after ousting its founder, John Tyndall.

Since then he has shored up his position, surrounding himself with a core of lieutenants and taking control of party finances. This has led to concerns that Griffin has become too powerful. Several senior BNP members quit after he overhauled the constitution to make his position as leader practically unassailable.

In far-right chat rooms yesterday many were asking whether the Question Time appearance was a watershed. "Griffin carries too much baggage to act as spokesman for the BNP," one said. "I lost count of the number of times past quotes came back to haunt him."

Observer

Straw to join BNP's Nick Griffin in Question Time debate

Justice secretary's appearance will reverse Labour's stance of not sharing platform with far-right party

Jack Straw has confirmed he will join the BNP leader Nick Griffin on an edition of the BBC's Question Time programme. Labour had previously made a point of not appearing alongside the far-right party, but Straw said today that he was "delighted" to have the opportunity to take on Griffin, MEP for the North West, on the flagship programme.

Anti-fascist campaigners reacted with anger to the news and called for huge demonstrations to be mounted outside the BBC studios when the programme is made.

Straw, who regularly takes on all comers in debate from a soapbox in his Blackburn constituency, said the BNP were defeated when Labour "fought them hard". He told the BBC's Politics Show North West: "Some people support the BNP because they subscribe to their views. Others do it out of a feeling of despair. We've got to make the argument, and I'm delighted to do so."

The BBC confirmed that the two men were among the panellists booked for a recording of the show, hosted by David Dimbleby, in London on 22 October. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats confirmed that they would be fielding representatives.

Straw's announcement brought a renewed attack on the BBC's decision from his cabinet colleague, Peter Hain. The Welsh secretary said he was meeting BBC executives on Wednesday to try to persuade them to drop their decision to give the BNP a seat on the panel. He also questioned whether the BBC was legally obliged to invite the BNP to appear after the party won two seats in the European parliament elections in June and said he would back any legal action that challenged the decision.

"I don't buy this stuff that under electoral law the BNP's two European seats allows them to be treated in the same way as the mainstream parties. If there were to be any legal action against the BBC I would wish it well," said Hain.

He added: "Their [the BNP's] MEPs were elected on a tiny vote and a low turnout. It's an absolute scandal that the BBC are treating an avowedly racist and fascist [party] on equal terms, in a way that will legitimise their standing in the public's eyes."

Hain said he was directing his anger at the BBC, rather than Straw, saying the corporation had put Labour ministers in an "impossible position" because they did not want the BNP to go unchallenged by leaving an empty chair.

Unite Against Fascism has pledged to hold a demonstration against the BBC's decision. Hain said he fully supported the group's actions.

A BBC spokeswoman said its obligation to treat all parties registered with the Electoral Commission "with due impartiality" was enshrined in the corporation's charter. She said that by winning two seats in the European parliament the BNP had demonstrated evidence of electoral support at national level, which would be reflected in the coverage it received on programmes such as Question Time.


Tony Kearns, assistant general secretary of the Communication Workers' Union, said it was a "disgrace" that the BBC was offering the BNP a seat on Question Time despite a huge outcry in recent weeks. He called on ministers and MPs to join protests against the decision.

Gordon Brown announced earlier this month that Labour had agreed to field a minister against the BNP and said those with long-standing opposition to sharing a platform with the party would not come under pressure to appear, naming Hain, and the home secretary, Alan Johnson.

The Liberal Democrats said they will probably field Chris Huhne, their home affairs spokesman. The party's leader, Nick Clegg, said last week: "If the BBC ask one of these fascist thugs, who have been elected to the European parliament, on to one of their flagship programmes, then I want us to be there to take them on."

The Conservatives said they did not yet know who would represent them on the programme.

The BNP could not be contacted for comment.

Observer

Just the sort of place the BNP loves

Stoke is a town in decline and it is in declining towns that the far right is taking hold. Daniel Trilling reports from the English Midlands

‘‘They’re a bunch of robbin’ bastards and I’m not voting for any of them,” spits a passer-by in his fifties, in typically blunt Midlands fashion. Sheltering from the rain in the porch of a defunct Woolworths in Hanley, the main retail district of Stoke-on-Trent, anti-racism campaigners are doggedly trying to convince Saturday morning shoppers to vote in the imminent European elections. They are one of many local groups across the UK taking part in Hope Not Hate, a drive to keep the British National Party from gaining a seat – and several hundred thousand pounds of funding – in the European Parliament on 4 June. Thanks to the unfolding MPs’ expenses scandal in Westminster, the campaigners’ task has just got a lot harder.

“This has come at exactly the wrong moment for us – people are now saying they won’t vote at all,” says Olwen Hamer, chair of the North Staffordshire Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, which is run by a handful of committed – and, right now, soaking wet – volunteers. Fringe parties such as the BNP benefit from a low turnout; in the West Midlands region, of which Stoke is a part, the far-right party needs only 11 per cent of the vote to win a seat. Voters, who are lukewarm towards European elections at the best of times, now express an unprecedented anger at the political system.

The BNP sees this as an opportunity to expand its support, with a campaign slogan inviting the electorate to “punish the pigs” (an irony, considering the well-documented track record of corruption among the party’s councillors). Its leader, Nick Griffin, may boast about the BNP being about to go mainstream, but in reality it remains tiny, having attracted fewer than 200,000 votes in the 2005 general election. Stoke, however, provides the strongest example of how the party, which is desperate to hide its roots in racist violence and appear respectable, has become adept at exploiting apathy. Nine BNP members sit on the city council; Griffin describes it as his party’s “jewel in the crown”.

While the media and politicians have had their eyes trained on Islamic extremism during the past decade, the far right has consolidated its position in local politics. Peter Hain, the former Labour minister and veteran anti-apartheid campaigner, confirms this. “It’s crept up on everybody. It’s been very evident for a number of years that the BNP have got a serious strategy for establishing a platform for racist and fascist politics in suits. People in the mainstream parties, with the odd exception, have tended to be very complacent about that.”

Received wisdom says that the BNP does well in deprived former industrial areas, capitalising on the prejudices and frustration of the white working class. Stoke would appear to fit the bill. The city, a conurbation with a population of 250,000, was once supported by ceramics and coal mining (“pots and pits”, as it’s known locally). The pits were killed off in the 1980s – people here still talk about the miners’ strike as if it were yesterday – and the pots have been depleted by overseas competitors. Now, the landscape is dotted with the towers of derelict bottle kilns and factories. Sandy McLatchi, an unemployed pottery worker, tells me that racism is endemic in Stoke, mainly directed against the city’s 9,000 inhabitants of Asian descent, many of whom moved here in the 1960s. “The city is split and completely insular, each town is like a tribe of its own, and the culture lends itself very well to the BNP. They don’t like outsiders here.”

The local MP, Mark Fisher, is a rebellious Labour backbencher and former arts minister who has represented Stoke Central since 1983. When we meet, I ask if his constituency has been badly hit by the recession; he half-jokes that it has never recovered from the last one. Unemployment has been high since the 1980s and manufacturing jobs have been replaced by service industry jobs that come and go with the fluctuations of the financial markets.

But this tells only part of the story. I suggest voters in towns like Stoke are angry at the expenses scandal not because of the sums involved, but because it is yet more evidence that Westminster politicians think of themselves as a class apart, deserving of a lifestyle comparable to that of bankers and “wealth creators”. He agrees: “We’ve got a new class of politicians who are careerists. MPs are younger now, they come straight from university to being a research assistant to becoming a candidate to becoming an MP. Everyone wants to be a minister.”

Meanwhile grass-roots support for mainstream parties has declined as ordinary people feel increasingly cut off from politics. This is particularly true in Labour’s case, where membership has plummeted from over 400,000 in 1997 to well under 200,000. The collapse is keenly felt in Stoke, which has been dominated by the Labour Party for decades. Effective opposition from the two other main parties is non-existent – the Conservative party branch is rumoured to have as few as 17 members.

Fisher points to two factors that have increased the rate of decay: Margaret Thatcher’s reform of local government, which transferred more power to Westminster, and New Labour’s enthusiasm for elected mayors, which he derides as a Blairite gimmick.

“I never felt that Blair had anything except the most superficial media-grabbing interest in elected mayors. He was never interested in local government; he didn’t understand the checks and balances that it requires.”

As a result, Stoke has a political culture that wouldn’t look out of place on The Wire. I wanted to speak to the mayor, Mark Meredith, but he has been charged with corruption and is on bail, along with Roger Ibbs, the former leader of the council’s Conservatives, and Mo Chaudry, a swimming pool owner who once appeared on Channel 4’s reality show The Secret Millionaire. On 8 May, the local government minister John Healey intervened with a series of measures intended to repair the “damaged” council.

It is in this context that the BNP has stepped in to fill a gap. Its activists have attracted votes in council wards neglected by other parties, in many cases by offering to cut residents’ lawns or collect their rubbish.

Alby Walker, the owner of a small joinery firm, and his wife, Ellie, are councillors in the Abbey Green ward of the city and candidates for the European Parliament. The BNP is hoping voters will find them the acceptable face of the far right. Sitting in their shared council office, calmly extolling the virtues of hard work, they could pass for run-of-the-mill Tory councillors, were it not for the wall plastered with far-right propaganda (“People like you – voting BNP”) and anti-Muslim headlines torn from the Sun and Daily Express newspapers.

Alby chooses his words carefully (“Oswald Mosley? Who’s that, Daniel?”), insisting that accusations of racism are slurs against the BNP. Ellie is less adept at staying on-message. Last year, interviewed on local television, she described herself as “racialist but not a racist”. Yet even Alby admits that when he first became a councillor, three years ago, “I didn’t fully understand the role. I’d just got the political ideology.”

The BNP’s ideology, he insists, is nationalist, rather than racist or fascist. But it is a nationalism based on race – only white people have the right to be British. Any non-whites, even if their families have lived here for generations, “can never be British, they are guests of Britain”.

The atmosphere in the wider community is more openly sinister. Mohammed Khan, a taxi driver whose parents migrated from Pakistan in the 1970s, tells me there are parts of the city he won’t visit for fear of being attacked. And the anti-racism campaigners I met speak of a pervasive atmosphere of intimidation. Black-suited bodyguards accompany BNP councillors on election platforms and fraternise with police at demonstrations. An often-used tactic for sowing disharmony is for a BNP activist to turn up at a pub and befriend regulars by talking about football, before moving on to untrue stories about preferential treatment for foreigners.

Most worrying is the party’s involvement with education. In May 2001, the BNP distributed a leaflet outside Longton High School, a Stoke comprehensive with a large contingent of Asian pupils, that spoke of a “race war” between children. Challenged by journalists from the local newspaper, Michael Coleman, the BNP’s branch secretary, acknowledged the leaflets were racist. He is now a councillor who sits as chair of the children and young people’s overview and scrutiny committee. Since June 2008, he has also been a governor at Longton High.

Ivan Hickman, secretary of the Stoke branch of the National Union of Teachers, confirms that the BNP has been making a determined effort to get its members elected to governing bodies of schools in order to look like a respectable political party. And a shortage of ordinary people willing to take up governors’ posts means that there are plenty of opportunities.

The evidence from Stoke suggests that the far right is being allowed to wrap its tendrils around the roots of democracy, helped by the collapse of public enthusiasm for its institutions. After 12 years in government, Labour can point to various attempts to promote “community cohesion”. But, says Fisher, these have been largely cosmetic. “We’ve done incredible things in this city. We’ve got 90 new primary schools, a really good Sure Start programme. But that’s not community cohesion. We’ve been good on spending the money, but we’ve been bad at grass-roots politics and empowering people at a local level.”

Rather than confront the problem, however, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, tells me curtly that her government “has always been building strong communities”. By contrast, her Conservative shadow, Paul Goodman, identifies a need to “focus more rigorously on the extremism that underlies violence”.

Nor is Blears’s view shared by some of her colleagues. Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP who has made a name for himself by fighting the BNP in his Essex constituency, Dagenham, is adamant that, despite the public’s anger at mainstream politics, the BNP need not profit – but only if politicians acknowledge their mistakes.

“Voters have material frustrations around housing and work and take offence that all political parties are preoccupied with Middle England,” he says. “But we are witnessing the biggest anti-fascist mobilisation ever seen – thousands of people are pitching in. It’s about not resigning ourselves to accepting that they will win.”

Back in Hanley, the sky has cleared a little and the campaigners are attracting a steady stream of people. A youthful organiser of the city’s Gay Pride festival drops by to lend his support. “The BNP try and stop us marching,” he says. “But we take that with a pinch of salt – we don’t care what they think.” Politicians may have written off the city, but its people certainly haven’t. If the left is going to rebuild itself, Stoke-on-Trent wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

New Statesman

BNP poster campaign for British workers uses American actors

British jobs for American workers - no, hang on a minute...

The poster demands “British jobs for British workers” and it shows three smiling men in hard-hats urging people to vote BNP. But the “building workers” in the ad – which is being driven up and down the country on a BNP vehicle called the “Truth Truck” – are not even British. They are American models who posed for a general photo agency shoot in Portland, Oregon, in the United States.

Another shot in the same set shows a black man working alongside white colleagues – but the racist BNP didn’t use that one.

Party bosses, led by Nick Griffin, have also printed millions of leaflets making bogus claims that a doctor and a respectable OAP couple are among their supporters.

A distinguished-looking medic is quoted saying: “I’m voting BNP because I see what immigration has done to the NHS. As a doctor I want to see an end to ‘health tourists’ and make sure British nurses are employed and paid fairly.”

But the man in the picture is another American model from a stock photo library.

The pensioners are quoted saying: “We’ve seen how this country has declined under the present government and we’re voting BNP because they will put pensioners before asylum seekers and ensure our future.”

But this couple are the Italian parents of the agency photographer. They can’t vote in Britain – and are appalled that their picture has been used to spread far-right propaganda.

BNP leader Griffin last week launched the party’s biggest election drive. His members are contesting 69 out of the UK’s 72 European Parliament seats and hope to win up to seven. But the party’s millions of leaflets could be BANNED if they are found to breach strict Royal Mail election material rules, following a complaint by Welsh party Plaid Cymru, who uncovered some of the photos.

Plaid MP Adam Price said: “These leaflets hideously misrepresent the views of the people photographed. I believe they have breached the guidelines set out for electoral communications and I call on the Royal Mail to stop distribution immediately.”

A spokesman for anti-fascist group Searchlight said: “This is a catastrophic own goal by Nick Griffin and the BNP.”

And senior Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: “How cynical can the BNP get? I can only assume no decent person would pose for posters or leaflets for the BNP so they had to make it all up. The British people will see this for what it is – a cynical con. How low can they go?”

Sunday Mirror

MPs urge City Hall to stop pay of BNP aide

City Hall bosses were urged to withdraw taxpayer funding from a BNP official today after he suggested Ugandans threw "spears" at their enemies.

Labour MPs demanded action after the remarks by Simon Darby, the British National Party's deputy leader whose part-time job at the Greater London Authority is funded by Londoners. Mr Darby, an aide to Assembly member Richard Barnbrook, also branded the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu "anti-British" and suggested he "deserved to be attacked".

The remarks came after the Archbishop criticised the BNP's leader Nick Griffin for claiming that black Britons were not British.

Like all City Hall employees, Mr Darby is required under the terms of his employment contract to "promote equality of opportunity". Now Labour MPs are demanding that GLA chiefs take disciplinary action.

Mr Darby, who tops the BNP European candidate list in the West Midlands, wrote on his blog: "If I had travelled to Africa and insulted the indigenous people in the same arrogant, conceited and insensitive way that John Sentamu had I would have deserved to be attacked. If I went to Uganda and told them that they were all genetic mongrels and that anyone could be Ugandan I'd still be picking spears out of myself now."

Today, Labour MP for Dagenham, Jon Cruddas, told the Standard: "The GLA has got to act. The BNP are dragging the whole system into the gutter. If Darby's vicious cocktail of thinly-veiled racism and threats aren't in breach of the GLA code of conduct then clearly the code isn't worth the paper it's written on."

It follows criticism last month, when the Standard revealed Mr Darby attended a far-Right rally in Italy.

In November, Mr Darby said he did BNP work while earning his public salary. A spokesman for campaign group Searchlight said: "[Mr Darby] is allowed to swan around peddling his messages of hate whilst being effectively subsidised by hard-working Londoners."

Evening Standard

Beat a bigot in a ballot

This chilling picture shows BNP deputy leader Simon Darby being given a NAZI SALUTE at a fascist rally.

Three extremists flashed the banned Hitler-style sign to the British far-right boss outside the event in Italy. Our exclusive snap fuels fears of danger ahead as the British National Party gains popularity in the recession.

Last night Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: "This shows the BNP are a gang of thugs parading as politicians."

NotW

Anyone doubting the danger of the BNP should look no further than the straight-arm salutes greeting deputy leader Simon Darby at a meeting in Mussolini's old stamping ground.

Darby is leading his party's drive for votes in June's Euro elections - and they may win up to three seats. Giving them the right to stick their snouts in a money-trough that could fund yet more of their bile.

Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman is right to warn that the BNP "are a bigger threat than ever." And on polling day, they will rely on the apathy of mainstream voters. So on June 4 remember these salutes. Use your vote wisely. And keep the BNP out of Brussels.

NotW

Time to unite, act and stop the BNP before Euro poll in June

The fight against the far right in Britain has never been harder – or more important. That is the message that came over loud and clear at the Unite Against Fascism national conference at Congress House in London on Saturday.

More than 400 politicians, trade union activists, members of Muslim, Jewish, black and Asian groups, and lesbian and gay organisations got together to sound the alarm about the rise of the British National Party.

The BNP has been winning council seats and polling record votes for a neo-fascist party in Britain and the fear is it could gain seats in the European Parliament unless a vigorous campaign is mounted this spring.

Ken Livingstone, chair of Unite Against Fascism said: “The BNP’s and fascists’ targets change. First it was the Jews, then the Irish, then the African, Caribbean and Asian communities. Today the prime targets are Muslims. The Muslim community is one of the most integrated communities in Britain. Opinion polling showed more Muslims in London felt patriotic towards England than the average Londoner. There is no Islamic enemy within.

“We must unite together against the BNP and forms of bigotry. Just like the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism fought the National Front in the 1970s, Unite Against Fascism is bringing together a movement to stop the BNP.”

Peter Hain, Labour MP for Neath, said: “The most important lesson of history is of unity against the BNP. Today’s fight is harder than the movement in the 1970s, with fascists polling high votes and attempting to present themselves as a legitimate, normal political party. I campaigned against apartheid in South Africa, and now I campaign against fascism, racism and Islamophobia.”

Glyn Ford, Labour MEP for South West England, said: “The BNP is emulating France’s Front National strategy. By June 1984 the Front National made a breakthrough and France has since then never been able to get rid of them. If the BNP get elected here it will be the start of a permanent presence. Our job is to stop the BNP. We must get out there, organise and mobilise the vote. People not voting will give fascists an electoral breakthrough.”

Those calls came in the wake of the shock BNP victory in a by-election for Sevenoaks council in Kent. The BNP won Swanley St Mary’s with 408 votes pushing Labour, which had held the seat, into second place with 332. The Tories came third with 247.

Paul Golding, the BNP candidate, called it “an outstanding result” and “a historic day for the BNP”. He said: “It has implications far beyond Sevenoaks and bodes well for the entire south east and the upcoming Euro elections.”

Swanley St Mary’s has, traditionally, been a safe Labour seat on a Conservative-controlled council. Swanley has a lot of social housing and little in common with the leafy lanes and commuter belt wealth of its near neighbour Sevenoaks.

It is the second council seat the BNP has taken in the south east of England outside London – Emma Colgate was elected to Thurrock council in Essex in May last year.

Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham, said: “With UKIP faltering and the economy hurtling into recession we need everyone who opposes the BNP’s message of hate to play a part because a BNP victory will change the political landscape in Britain.”

Tribune

BNP gains first council seat in south-east England

Win in Sevenoaks is far-right party's first victory in south east outside London

The British National party has gained its first council seat in south-east England outside London, taking a traditional Labour seat in Sevenoaks, Kent. The surprising win saw BNP candidate Paul Golding beat Labour's Mike Hogg in Swanley St Mary's, the first time the far-right party has campaigned in that ward.

Swanley St Mary's has been a traditional Labour seat in a Conservative-controlled district. The BNP gained 408 votes to Labour's 332, while the Tories earned 247.

Speaking to the BNP website, Golding said the win was "outstanding" and had "implications" for the rest of the south east and the upcoming European elections.

The BNP made advances in local government byelections across the UK yesterday. Although they failed to win in Thringstone, North West Leicestershire, the party polled more than 28% in third place. Labour successfully defended the seat.

They also failed to win at Bilton, Harrogate Borough, North Yorkshire, where Liberal Democrats held onto the seat, but did come third with 9% of the votes. Labour polled just 3% of votes, taking fourth place.

In Downham, Lewisham, south London, a double contest saw the Lib Dems hold both seats, while Labour came second with 24% of the votes. The BNP polled 11% in fourth place.

Last night's results follow a near miss for the far-right party in January. The BNP were just nine votes short of taking a Tory ward in a Bexley council byelection. However, Welling, where the byelection was held, is where the party used to have their headquarters.

Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who campaigns against the BNP in his London constituency, says the far-right party does pose a threat in the EU elections. Writing in the Guardian last month, he said: "The BNP poses a threat in six Euro regions, with as little as 7.5% required in the North West, where the party leader, Nick Griffin, is standing. With Ukip faltering, few local elections and the economy hurtling into recession, we will need everyone who opposes the BNP's message of hate to play a part. A BNP victory will change the political landscape in Britain."

Guardian

Labour rebels warn Brown he risks boosting far-right groups

Gordon Brown last night faced a growing Labour revolt over his handling of the wildcat strikes, which MPs warned could fuel far-right groups such as the British National party.

The protests have touched a nerve in the labour movement. The strikers' appropriation of Mr Brown's slogan of "British jobs for British workers" has been hailed by the BNP as a victory for its brand of nationalism.

Union leaders sought to distance the walkouts from the far right yesterday, saying the construction workers were shunning BNP support. "The unofficial action taking place across the UK is not about race or immigration," said Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite. "It's about class. It's about employers who exploit workers regardless of their nationality."

But Labour MPs warned that ministers' apparent dismissal of fears about jobs going to overseas workers risked exacerbating a wider failure to address concerns of the white working class.

They highlighted Peter Mandelson's exhortation in the Lords to "keep focusing not on the politics of xenophobia but the economics of this recession".

Jon Cruddas, the unofficial leader of the Labour left MPs, warned: "If we're simply caricaturing this [dispute] as being about protectionism and xenophobia, we're completely ignoring some material issues in this and, in doing so, we hand over what this is about to more pernicious forces."

Mr Cruddas told the FT: "Trite comments about protectionism or xenophobia do not address the whole question of equality [for British workers] before the law. If the Labour party can't grasp this and articulate that, then other forces will."

The motion "deplores" the use of foreign workers and calls for additional power stations to be "built by companies employing primarily British labour". Political opponents have attacked Mr Brown for indulging in populist "British jobs" rhetoric.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, last week accused the prime minister of championing globalisation on one hand while "on the other, he borrows this slogan from the BNP".

But some Labour MPs believe the problem lies less in the slogan than in the fact that the government has not implemented it. "Failure to deliver British jobs to British workers could wipe Labour out," said Frank Field, the maverick former minister. Labour must get a grip now, otherwise their actions will feed the BNP."

Mr Field's warning reflects a party concern that the government's failure to engage with the poorest white voters is creating a vacuum for the far-right to fill. Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, last year urged the Labour party to "recognise that where the BNP wins votes, it is often a result of local political failure".

MPs fear that European elections in June could hand the BNP its first seat in the European Parliament, potentially from a region including Ms Blears's constituency.

But polling experts caution that such fears should be seen in the context of the fringe parties' failure to make inroads into mainstream politics. John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said that the BNP and UK Independent Party have been "there for . . years but it's not obvious that their position now is any stronger than it has been before".

FT

Is a recession good news for the BNP?

As Britain slips into recession there is one political party that is gleeful. Nick Lowles assesses how the BNP will benefit from the unfolding economic crisis.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the British National Party will benefit politically from a recession. Government ministers certainly seem to think so. Journalists think so. And the BNP themselves certainly think so.

With unemployment likely to hit two million by the end of the year and house prices dropping 15% in the past 12 months, most people are feeling the pinch. The government’s response to the credit crunch might have boosted its poll ratings in the short term but it could be the far-right BNP that benefits when the recession really bites.

“Economic meltdowns are one of the drivers of political revolutions, and the BNP must be ready to take advantage of the mess all of the other parties have made of the economy,” David Hannam, the BNP deputy treasurer, told a party meeting recently.

He went on to explain the party’s line of attack. “Each immigrant who entered Britain decreased job prospects for native British workers. Our freedom is linked to the financial state of the country, and in a recession it is the workers who are first and hardest hit. The truth is that in an economically declining society, the worker is hit, but even in a so-called economically growing society, it is the worker who also gets hit. Successful monopolies are a by-product of globalism, and it is monopolies that decrease the demand for workers.”

His view is backed by party leader Nick Griffin who is confidently boasting that the BNP will benefit enormously from an economic downturn.

The belief of a far-right gain is supported by the Labour MP Jon Cruddas. “I’ve got a sense of foreboding about what lies ahead,” he told the BBC. “It will make a qualitative difference in terms of the context within which they’re allowed to perpetuate their scapegoating and myth-making.”

The government, meanwhile, is worried that an economic downturn would result in increased racial tension and violence between communities and even terrorism. In a 12-page internal memo, leaked to the Conservatives two months ago, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith relayed her concern over the consequences of an economic crisis. “There is a risk of a downturn increasing the appeal of far-right extremism and racism, which presents a threat as there is evidence that grievances based on experiencing racism are one of the factors that can lead to people becoming terrorists.”

The memo added that a downturn would affect the need for migrant workers, particularly in jobs such as construction where they make up a large proportion of the workforce. “Increased public hostility to migrants” was predicted to result from heightened competition for employment.

The government is so concerned that it has recently established a new police taskforce to monitor racist violence.

Controversy

Last month the new Immigration Minister controversially weighed into the debate. Phil Woolas told The Times that immigration became an “extremely thorny” subject if people were losing their jobs.

“It’s been too easy to get into this country in the past and it’s going to get harder,” he said.

Employers should, he believes, put British people first, or they will risk fuelling racism. “In times of economic difficulties, racial stereotyping becomes stronger but also if you’ve got skills shortages you should, as a government, attempt to fill those skills shortages with your indigenous population.”

Woolas was careful to include all British people in his British first policy, highlighting the high levels of unemployment affecting the British Bangladeshi community. He claimed that it was all too easy for an employer to hire a migrant to fill a job rather than to retrain British people of all races.

While Woolas was actually addressing some tough issues, including many which have wrongly been ignored for too long, he left himself open to attack with a series of incendiary quotes which he should have known would cause offence. He promised not to allow Britain’s population to rise above 70 million and attacked “health tourism”.

“It’s a national health service – it’s not an international health service,” he said.

Woolas has not been alone in raising difficult and controversial issues. Trevor Phillips, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, also weighed into the debate last month. Speaking ahead of an address to a CBI conference, Phillips said: “After forty years in which it was impolite to speak frankly about immigration policy, we now must be able to address this fundamental aspect of economic policy without embarrassment or without fear of being labelled closet racists or open-border fantasists.

“In what is to come, the best defence against prejudice against immigrants will be to make those who resent them competitive, to give them a place in society.

“We may need to do so with the sort of special measures we’ve previously targeted at ethnic minorities. But the name of the game today is to tackle inequality, not racial special pleading.”

This was not his first foray into this terrain. He had previously stressed the importance of positive action to help white working class communities through the economic crisis. “What we are seeing is that there is a whole group of people, a large proportion of whom are white, who are going to suffer from this crisis who are going to be the people we should want to help, particularly because they come from the wrong side of town,” he said.

“We are going to have to do something special for them. We are going to have to put extra resources where young people can’t compete with migrants’ skills.

“And in some parts of the country, it is clear that what defines disadvantage won’t be black or brown, it will be white. And we will have to take positive action to help some white groups, what we might call the white underclass.”

Nothing is certain

However, there are dissenting voices to the view that the far right will necessarily gain from an economic downturn. “Although there tends to be a bit of moral panic about it, it’s never really happened in a way that, in any sense, threatens the domination of the political scene by the main parties,” Professor Colin Rallings, from Plymouth University, says.

He went on to stress that previous economic downturns had been accompanied by only short-term boosts for the right and were often geographically patchy.

Is Rawlings right? Will any boost for the far right be patchy and short-lived? Certainly recent history is on his side. The 1970s economic crisis failed to give any long-lasting boost to the National Front. Indeed, if anything, the political fortunes of the NF were already on the wane at the height of the crisis and certainly by the early 1980s, when unemployment topped three million and bank base rate was in double figures and reached over 15%, the NF hardly existed.

During the recession of the early 1990s, and despite widespread media-fuelled concern over refugees, the BNP remained a largely inconsequential political force.

A different world

There is reason to believe that events might be different this time around. Britain of today is very different from that of the late 1970s. The Cold War overshadowed British and indeed world politics. There was a vibrant left in Britain and a strong and very active trade union movement. The Second World War was still strong in public consciousness and nationalism was a dirty word.

Since then the Soviet Union has collapsed and Europe fragmented. Nationalism has become the driving ideology of the past 20 years and socialism and social democracy are experiencing an identity crisis of huge proportions. In the past year alone eight out of ten social democratic parties have been driven from power in Europe, partly to the benefit of the far right. Fascist and rightwing populist parties have been rising across western Europe and there is no reason to suggest that the same cannot happen in Britain.

Additionally, the BNP of today is quite different from the NF of the 1970s. The NF contested elections, but only in a half-hearted manner. For the NF leaders John Tyndall and Martin Webster elections were simply an organising tool but real power was going to be gained through control of the streets and by positioning themselves as ready to answer society’s call to restore social order.

By contrast, the BNP has understood some political realities. It has publicly dropped some of its hardline policies, such as compulsory repatriation, which it knew would not be accepted by the vast majority of the population, and it has turned to local politics. As a result the BNP is positioning itself as a real and lasting challenge to the main political parties, particularly Labour.

More importantly, the political terrain has changed. Disillusionment with the mainstream parties is at an all-time high, voting at an all-time low and active participation in political parties is, in too many communities, seemingly non-existent.

It is into this disillusionment that the BNP message is resonating. Race remains the cornerstone of BNP politics but its appeal is far wider and deeper. It is precisely because of this that the BNP could benefit enormously from an economic downturn.

In Stoke-on-Trent the BNP believes it can take control of the council within two years. If there had been a mayoral contest next spring there were many, including some government ministers, who believed the BNP could win. At 6% of the local population the non-white community is tiny compared to many other towns and cities across the country. Immigration and race are not the causes of the city’s problems but simply the prism through which the BNP allows local people to understand their problems and anger.

The same is true for many other areas where the BNP is doing well. The former mining communities of Rotherham, Heanor and Nuneaton, three other areas of BNP success, have relatively small BME populations but deep-rooted structural economic problems.

Compare that to the NF of the 1970s, which drew the bulk of its support from towns and cities, such as Leicester and Bradford, which experienced the greatest influx of non-white immigrants.

There are two other issues that differentiate the present from the 1970s. The Cold War has been replaced by a world defined by the “war on terror” and just as a recession could boost the far right, so fundamentalist religious groups will prosper.

As unemployment rises and disillusionment with mainstream parties deepens, friction between new and old communities will grow. Winding this up will be the BNP and other fascist groups on one side and fundamentalist religious groups, bent on demonising other communities and religions, on the other. There is a symbiotic relationship between these extremes, with both needing the other to justify their own existence.

This could play out on the streets, as we saw so vividly in Oldham and Burnley in 2001, or through a rise in domestic terrorism. It is this fear that is gripping the Home Office. We are already beginning to see a rise in violent racism and this is only likely to accelerate as the economy nosedives.

There has also been a rise in terrorism in recent times. While every Muslim plot attracts massive media attention, less known has been the increase in attempted far-right terrorism, both in Britain and across the continent. In 2007, ten people were arrested in alleged rightwing plots in Britain. While all were stopped before they were executed, it does raise the likelihood that rightwing terrorism, be it by individuals or small groups, will continue to grow. One can only imagine the consequences of a fascist bombing campaign against Muslim targets in Britain. Likewise, while the feel good factor following the decision to award London the Olympics probably helped to defuse a backlash against the London bombs of 2005, a similar bombing campaign amid an economic downturn might have a different outcome.

In the 1970s the trade unions played a crucial role in defeating the NF and today they have once again indicated their willingness to take a lead. But today’s world, particularly in the workplace, is very different from that of 30 years ago. The unions are weaker, more workplaces are un-unionised and also fragmented.

“The workplace is different from the 1970s,” says Paul Meszaros, secretary of Bradford Trades Council. “Back then workplaces were bigger and more unionised so it was more common for Asian and white people to work alongside each other. We were able to debate, argue and eventually find common ground.

“Today, workplaces are smaller and with communities living more separate lives and in different neighbourhoods within the city there are fewer opportunities for people to come together.”

Recession might be a gift to the BNP but whether it will exploit the opportunity remains to be seen. Despite its growing sophistication the BNP still struggles to win first-past-the-post elections. It has even performed poorly in recent by-elections, including some in traditional strongholds.

How opponents of the BNP react will also determine the potential electoral boost for the far right and this is where things need to change. The criticism of Woolas and Phillips has been strong and sometimes correct but it has also highlighted two fundamental issues. Firstly, a common unwillingness to debate difficult but very real issues and secondly an acknowledgement that progressives have partly contributed to the problem.

The error of identity politics

It is easy to criticise Woolas for his comments and of course some of his remarks echo the disastrous “British jobs for British workers” approach adopted by Gordon Brown last year. However, he was trying to grapple with some difficult issues, which all too many people prefer to ignore.

Likewise, Phillips’s call for preferential treatment for white working class communities has been met by a barrage of criticism, some of it justified, some not. Phillips is totally correct in saying that a growing number of white working class people feel ignored, abandoned and unrepresented. As I myself have argued previously, the BNP is providing an identity for sections of this group.

However, accepting the existence of these sub-groups and calling for preferential treatment is part of the problem in the first place. We no longer talk of a working class without sub-dividing it along racial lines. Playing identity politics is a very dangerous game and it is now coming back to haunt us. Too much government policy and spending, locally and nationally, is directed through the prism of race, which is unwittingly helping to create this “white” identity, which is in turn being exploited by the BNP. Too many progressive people have been complicit in this, knowingly or unknowingly.

To prevent the BNP from exploiting our economic worries, class needs to replace race in popular discourse. We shouldn’t have white unemployed or black unemployed but just unemployed. We shouldn’t talk about white workers or black workers but just workers. That isn’t to say that we should ignore groups or not recognise particular hardships or discrimination, but we have to find a way to bring people along together, to get them to understand a common interest and shared future. If we don’t then how can we complain when communal groups, including the white working class, compete for scarce resources.

Similarly, we need to develop a more secular approach. One of the successes of the anti-fascist and anti-racist struggle in the late 1970s was its secularism. This was particularly found within the Asian Youth Movement, which brought together young Asian people of different religious backgrounds. While accepting the right to faith, we again need to find ways to bring people from different religious backgrounds together and this is no easy task. It is not just a question of differences between Christian and Muslim communities. In today’s Britain there is widespread suspicion and distrust between many religions, another issue that has too long been ignored.

We must bring more politics (with a small p) into anti-fascism. Just as we have been arguing for the past couple of years that simply shouting “nazi” at the BNP is no longer sufficient, so we must recognise that just calling for “Hope” over hate is also inadequate. When people are struggling economically and perhaps see little hope around them, we need to be able to address some of the underlying issues that might make them susceptible to the BNP and answer directly racist myths. Hope is a positive concept but will only resonate when people feel good about the community in which they live and positive about their own economic future.

Fairness

However, we also need to show fairness in our approach. We need to demonstrate that we are fighting for everyone, regardless of colour of skin or religious background. We must also be prepared to criticise and condemn when it is necessary. Wrong is wrong, from whichever angle or community it derives.

Trade unions are in an excellent position to take on the BNP and its economic scapegoating, but it needs a different approach. Unions need to find a more direct way to engage with their members and their families than they do at present. A letter through the post or an article in a union journal is no substitute for a workplace meeting and human dialogue.

The road ahead will not be easy. A recession will increase insecurity and so suspicion and hostility between communities. As the job market shrinks and local resources become increasingly scarce so racism and bitterness will grow. The BNP could make huge advances in the next couple of years. Whether it does will partly depend on how we – government, unions and anti-fascists – respond.

Searchlight

Don't let the BNP break through

The far right is in position to prosper if Labour fails to address its traditional supporters' grievances, says Mike Ion.

According to the Labour MP Jon Cruddas, the far-right BNP is busy exploiting the present economic crisis and could easily end up winning seats in the European parliament next year.

Jon has long pointed out that one reason for the BNP's growing support has been its ability to respond to and exploit genuine local grievances. The credit crunch will only end up exacerbating these and could help turn more people toward the far right. One way to prevent this is to address some of the underlying problems that have resulted in many traditional Labour supporters taking refuge in the policies of the far right.

The BNP is keen to take advantage of issues such as the end of funding for housing projects in predominantly white areas, and targets those wards with large numbers of disadvantaged white working-class families and where the local secondary schools are seen to be underperforming. It is often successful in what we might describe as "forgotten" white areas, where many traditional Labour supporters say they feel alienated from modern political discourse and have long been of the view that no one in the Labour party is listening to them, let alone concerned about them.

Historically, far-right parties have increased their support in the context of significant problems: high unemployment, economic deprivation, lack of educational achievement, high crime rates, drugs, and people of different ethnic backgrounds living apparently separate lives, which encourages the growth of myths and rumour.

One leaflet used in last May's local elections in Dagenham asked voters: "Are you concerned about the growth of Islam in Britain? Make May 4 referendum day." It added: "Defend Our Christian Culture."

It is sobering to remember that, in recent local elections, the BNP has continued to gain seats in east London and Stoke-on-Trent and picked up enough elsewhere to hold 46 council seats in England.

This follows 2002's dramatic local election successes in the north of England and a 4.9% showing in the 2004 European elections. For the first time ever in Britain, an openly racist party has sustained the support of more than one in 20 voters over several contests.

I believe the BNP is evidence of a new challenge in British politics. In the past the battleground (sometimes literally) of left v right politics centred on our inner cities. This is no longer the case.

The BNP has begun to develop a network of suburban supporters, people who are openly willing to admit not only to supporting a racist and bigoted political party but to doing so with pride and patriotic fervour.

If the trends of the past few years continue, the BNP may well make the type of breakthrough that Jon Cruddas is signalling and it will then be far more difficult to reverse than to stop it before it occurs.

Mike Ion was Labour's PPC for Shrewsbury in 2005. He blogs at mike-ion.blogspot.com

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