Where's there's a BNP will, there's a cock-up...

It doesn’t do much for the far-right BNP’s “learn our language” stance on immigration when a candidate uses poor grammar in his campaign 'leaflet'.

Will Blair’s challenge for the Rother Valley parliamentary seat is currently being publicised by eight sheets of home-printed A4, clumsily stapled together. It consists simply of a single “policy” diatribe about immigration and foreigners. There's no mention of any local issues at all, although there's a lot about what has supposedly been happening in Birmingham.

At the height of it Mr Blair' grumbles: “We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!”

Four pages later, he concludes: “If your [sic] coming here for free housing and benefits please try somewhere else.”

Mr Blair would no doubt want immigrants to abide by the laws of this country while they are learning the language. So he might like to think about this.

There are no official election details about his campaign agent, or indeed any contact information, despite Mr Blair currently representing Maltby on Rotherham Borough Council. And that makes his "leaflet" illegal.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, Section 110 any printed election material must contain the name and address of its printer and promoter. Failure to do so could result in investigation by the police and a fine of up to £5,000. It could even result in a petition to re-run the election, should the candidate actually win.

All this information is readily available in a handy guide for candidates produced by the Electoral Commission, the independent body charged protecting the integrity of and public confidence in the democratic process.

So Rother Valley's voters could be forgiven for wondering why they should vote for a man who wants to help make the country's laws, but who is evidently unaware of the basic legal requirements of standing for Parliament.

Rotherham Advertiser

Councillor quits the BNP

A Rotheram councillor has parted company with the BNP and joined another far-right organisation, the England First Party.

Coun John Gamble, who has represented Catcliffe and Brinsworth since last May when he defeated the then Mayor, Labour Coun Allan Jackson, had been a member of the BNP for about 10 years. His move has halved the party's representation on Rotherham Council to one seat.

Coun Gamble was unavailable for comment but, in a statement, the England First Party said: "In recent months he had become increasingly disillusioned with the BNP's national and local leadership, and has now decided to join a party that offers a serious, radical challenge to the corrupt political establishment."

The Star

BNP expected to give talk in Kiveton

British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin is expected to give a talk at a Kiveton club in December. The proposed talk by the controversial, far-right party looks likely to be met with very mixed reactions.

Back in May, the BNP gained two seats on Rotherham Council in Maltby as well as seats in Brinsworth and Catcliffe. But John Campbell, who is the chairman of Yorkshire Unite Against Fascism, is very concerned about the prospect of the BNP in Kiveton.

"The BNP are supremacists who want an all-white Britain and this can only be achieved by violence and crushing democracy," he said. "Wherever they have established themselves, racism and division has increased. I'm not in favour of people abusing free speech when they want to abandon democracy if they get in power."

Tory leader David Cameron also spoke out against the BNP earlier this month, describing them as an 'appalling bunch of racist thugs.'

Wales Parish Council chairman Gill Shaw says she is concerned but not surprised by the news.

"It's a bit disturbing but I can see why people are leaning towards it," she said. "We do not like to involve politics in the way we do things at the parish council and prefer to concentrate on community issues."

A 34-year-old man from Kiveton, who does not wish to be named, said he wants to listen to the BNP and welcomes the idea of them giving a talk in the village.

"I went to a BNP talk in Sheffield a few weeks back and I am interested to see what they have to offer," he said. "It's the only party that isn't avoiding talking about current issues. Immigration is a major issue and the BNP is talking about it."

BNP deputy leader Simon Derby told the Guardian that he thinks people have a right to know about their policies. However, he was not prepared to confirm the venue and time of the talk for fear that opposition parties would try to stop the talk going ahead.

"People accuse us of being fascists but they don't extend the courtesy of letting us speak," he said. "It speaks for itself really. We're accused of being extremist but we've already taken two seats in the area so how can we be described as extremists?"

There are already three groups set up on internet networking site Facebook which give details of the talk as taking place at the Proprietors Club on Station Road on Thursday 4th December.

(Dinnington) Guardian

Hope defeats Hate in Rotherham

When the BNP called a by-election in Rotherham, due to the resignation of a Labour councillor, many in the town and beyond feared the worse. The BNP were confident of a good show after managing to grab two seats in May's elections and the apparent disharmony in the local Labour Party seemed to suggest that Wickersley ward was indeed vulnerable. In May, Labour had lost this seat to the Tories with UKIP receiving an astonishing 25% of the vote, if Labour were to lose again maybe it would be the local BNP that could take advantage.

Hope not hate Yorkshire has been pointing out the increasing vulnerability of certain areas of South Yorkshire. Indeed as the BNP become increasingly defeated, demoralised and marginalised in West Yorkshire the threat they pose has seemed to move south. The problem for Labour and for anti-fascists is that some of these areas do not have the same tradition of campaigning as some more marginal areas mainly due to the fact that historically they have not needed to. Why bother with sophisticated campaigns strategy when all you need do is 'weigh the vote'?

Of course the problem is that the electorate cannot be taken for granted and is more than willing to provide a kicking to those who are too complacent. If Wickersley was to be saved a better campaign would have to be run.

We were lucky that a joint Hope not hate Yorkshire/Labour party day of action had already been planned for neighbouring Brinsworth and so we were able to get off to a flyer by moving the event to Wickersley. That first day set the tone as anti-fascists, trade unionists and party activists poured onto the streets to canvass local opinion. This collection of Voter ID continued throughout the campaign and would prove invaluable come polling day.

As well as mobilising for these events, Hope not hate Yorkshire was also involved in liaising with our trade union colleagues to set up a number of regional phone banks in order to assist the GOTV operation on the day. We were also able to respond to the BNP propaganda with a well received hope not hate leaflet. This leaflet although put together hastily had a resonance because it was targeted locally.

Election day was a blur of activity with a solid operation running to get labour voters out. The threat of the BNP certainly served to galvanise many local people, many of whom were less than enthusiastic at Labour's overall recent record. That they stayed loyal and rejected the hate and lies of the BNP is testament to their decency.

It is telling that a by-election victory in Rotherham has become worthy of a write-up, but at least the headlines are for a defeat for the BNP whose vote was still alarmingly high.

Thanks and praise for this fantastic victory must be extended to all those comrades in Rotherham who worked so hard, the Regional Labour Party and the trade unions, in particular, Unison, Community, USDAW and Unite.

Hope not hate Yorkshire together with Searchlight will continue to build and support local campaigns throughout South Yorkshire so that the lessons of Keighley and elsewhere can be learned and implemented.

Result
Labour 871
Con 821
BNP 538
UKIP 373
LibDem 191

By Paul Meszaros, Hope not hate, Yorkshire

Stop the BNP

Singer is threatened for anti-racist stance

The lead singer of a Sheffield band who spoke out against the British National Party says he has received threats of violence from far right supporters.

John McClure, lead singer with Reverend and the Makers, says he was threatened after he took a stance against the BNP and organised a carnival in Rotherham to be staged in September. He says death threats have been made against him, and against Drew McConnell of band Babyshambles, on the Stormfront internet bulletin board and other far right websites.

The threats came in response to Jon's decision to organise a 'Love Music, Hate Racism' carnival at the Magna Centre on Saturday, September 6. He said: "I find these people dangerous but this is not going to change anything. Why should we let these people stop us? This shows their behaviour is fundamentally at odds with democracy."

The BNP won their first-ever seats in South Yorkshire in the May local elections. BNP councillors now represent the Brinsworth and Catcliffe and the Maltby wards.

Jon said: "The fact they have been elected in Rotherham is bringing disgrace on our area. I respect people's right to democratic choice. Democracy is all well and good but not when these people are spreading their hatred. That's not part of the democratic process."

Wentworth MP and government minister John Healey has also backed the anti-racist carnival and will be speaking at the event. He said: "I am pleased to back what promises to be a great event with such an important message. It is great to see big names in music coming to Rotherham."

Marlene Guest, spokeswoman for Rotherham BNP, said the party had no objection to the concert.

"As far as we are concerned, they can get on with it. We are not against it, it's a free country."

The Star