"Hammered by Labour same as everyone. No surprise, no disgrace", tweeted BNP chairman Nick Griffin as the scale of his party's total obliteration in the local elections became clear. Griffin and the BNP went into these elections hoping to stem its electoral demise, which was triggered by a combination of infighting and the party's failure to break through at the 2010 general election. Today, the party leaves the contest facing the daunting realisation that it is no longer a significant player in British electoral politics. Put simply, the BNP's electoral challenge is over.
Here are some facts that will be facing Griffin this afternoon, as he sits down to consider how he might possibly sustain the morale of a dwindling and disgruntled base of foot soldiers. At the time of writing, the BNP has lost 10 of the 12 seats that it was defending.
Long gone are the days when the party could claim dozens of local councillors. Furthermore, gone are the days when the party could point to local bastions of support. Perhaps most significant of all, for the first time in 10 years there is not a single BNP councillor on Burnley borough council. The home of the party's initial breakthroughs over 2002-03 is now officially BNP free.
In other former strongholds, its vote has similarly collapsed. Two seats have been lost in Amber Valley, where the BNP vote slumped by almost 50% in Heanor East and Heanor West. Two seats have been lost in Rotherham, where, although support for the BNP remains, the reality is that it has fallen dramatically from four years ago. Support has crumbled in South Tyneside to between 4% and 13%, where not long ago Griffin could count on figures around 30%.
And in London where the party focused most of its efforts in an attempt to win a seat on the London assembly, the data suggests it has been thoroughly trounced. To add to the humiliation, in areas such as Basildon and Dudley support for BNP candidates was lower than support for their more extreme rivals, the old National Front (NF). As the anti-fascist network Hope Not Hate points out, we have not seen results like these since the 1990s, when the BNP never seriously invested in the ballot box strategy.
So what now? Griffin needed something anything to put in front of his weary followers as evidence that the party is not a spent electoral force. Evidence of an electoral revival was also needed to fend off the challenge from groups like the NF, and forthcoming plans by the English Defence League to enter elections with the British Freedom party (BFP). But the reality is far from what Griffin desired. Consider this: despite economic recession; despite deep cuts to local services; despite continuing public concern over immigration; despite high levels of dissatisfaction with the main parties; despite ongoing political distrust; despite an unpopular coalition government that includes the Liberal Democrats home for many protest voters; despite continuing public anger over the expenses scandal and more recent media and cash-for-access scandals; and despite a Labour party that has not yet reconnected fully with its core base the BNP has completely failed to make even an electoral squeak. At one time, voters in some parts of the country appeared willing to back the party. Today, they appear completely uninterested. In my view, the British National party's quest for electoral success is finished and Griffin's attempted strategy of "modernisation" lies in ruins. The question that remains is what will emerge to fill the vacuum?'
Posts: 838 | From: London | Registered: Oct 2011
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A largely factually incorrect article written by Matthew Goodwin (who else) who has an agenda of his own.
For starters prior to yesterday, the British National Party only had 7 seats, so the 10 or 12 figure this article reports is purely invented.
5 local souncil seats were lost, but what this article doesn't note is that in 3 of these seats the vote % never collapsed. In places like Rotherham, the BNP's vote has remained at a credible 29.5%.
The main victors yesterday were UKIP, who the left-wing media establishment are now fearing as they have a more stricter view on immigration, so they are trying to link them to the BNP.
LMAO. No true nationalist though would ever vote for them. I don't regard them as different to the three main parties, even if they are stricter on immigration.
Posts: 1575 | From: - | Registered: May 2011
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"Hammered by Labour same as everyone. No surprise, no disgrace", tweeted BNP chairman Nick Griffin as the scale of his party's total obliteration in the local elections became clear. Griffin and the BNP went into these elections hoping to stem its electoral demise, which was triggered by a combination of infighting and the party's failure to break through at the 2010 general election. Today, the party leaves the contest facing the daunting realisation that it is no longer a significant player in British electoral politics. Put simply, the BNP's electoral challenge is over.
Here are some facts that will be facing Griffin this afternoon, as he sits down to consider how he might possibly sustain the morale of a dwindling and disgruntled base of foot soldiers. At the time of writing, the BNP has lost 10 of the 12 seats that it was defending.
Long gone are the days when the party could claim dozens of local councillors. Furthermore, gone are the days when the party could point to local bastions of support. Perhaps most significant of all, for the first time in 10 years there is not a single BNP councillor on Burnley borough council. The home of the party's initial breakthroughs over 2002-03 is now officially BNP free.
In other former strongholds, its vote has similarly collapsed. Two seats have been lost in Amber Valley, where the BNP vote slumped by almost 50% in Heanor East and Heanor West. Two seats have been lost in Rotherham, where, although support for the BNP remains, the reality is that it has fallen dramatically from four years ago. Support has crumbled in South Tyneside to between 4% and 13%, where not long ago Griffin could count on figures around 30%.
And in London where the party focused most of its efforts in an attempt to win a seat on the London assembly, the data suggests it has been thoroughly trounced. To add to the humiliation, in areas such as Basildon and Dudley support for BNP candidates was lower than support for their more extreme rivals, the old National Front (NF). As the anti-fascist network Hope Not Hate points out, we have not seen results like these since the 1990s, when the BNP never seriously invested in the ballot box strategy.
So what now? Griffin needed something anything to put in front of his weary followers as evidence that the party is not a spent electoral force. Evidence of an electoral revival was also needed to fend off the challenge from groups like the NF, and forthcoming plans by the English Defence League to enter elections with the British Freedom party (BFP). But the reality is far from what Griffin desired. Consider this: despite economic recession; despite deep cuts to local services; despite continuing public concern over immigration; despite high levels of dissatisfaction with the main parties; despite ongoing political distrust; despite an unpopular coalition government that includes the Liberal Democrats home for many protest voters; despite continuing public anger over the expenses scandal and more recent media and cash-for-access scandals; and despite a Labour party that has not yet reconnected fully with its core base the BNP has completely failed to make even an electoral squeak. At one time, voters in some parts of the country appeared willing to back the party. Today, they appear completely uninterested. In my view, the British National party's quest for electoral success is finished and Griffin's attempted strategy of "modernisation" lies in ruins. The question that remains is what will emerge to fill the vacuum?'
Nice article, nice exposure!
Posts: 22244 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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^ Epic fail. The BNP is going away. It has two MEP's who polled nearly 1 million votes.
Posts: 1575 | From: - | Registered: May 2011
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BNP falls as Greens rise on mixed night for smaller parties
British National party faces political meltdown after losing six seats, while the Green party celebrates net gain of 11
Smaller political parties received mixed results from Thursday's local elections. While the British National party is facing obliteration, other parties, including the Greens, made gains across the country.
The far-right British National party is facing political meltdown after losing six council seats on the night and seeing its share of the vote drop by as much as half in some of its former strongholds. It failed to make any gains.
The party now has just three councillors left from a high of 57 three years ago and has been wiped out in Burnley, one of its original heartlands.
In London, the BNP poured resources into the assembly election, but with counting underway it appeared it had fallen short. The party lost seats in key BNP areas such as Epping Forest and Pendle.
This year it stood substantially fewer candidates than in previous years, with no one representing the party in several of its previous strongholds, in Yorkshire and the north-east.
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