Good News

The blogosphere is alive this morning with discussion of the demise of the BNP, which if it were to happen, would be very good news. In summary, the leadership has not seen fit to properly sack someone who said the following:

I'm going to level with you. I'd never say this on camera, yeah, and you can say this to whoever you want, 'cos it's true. The Jews have been thrown out of every country, including England. There's not a single European country the Jews have not been thrown out of. And let's face it, David, when it happens so many times it's not just persecution. There's no smoke without fire."

You can also add quotes about how great it must have been in 1930s Germany and you get the impression of a young nazi admirer, who is tipped to be the next leader of the BNP. Now either they are a fascist party, whose views take free speech into an area where they are likely to incite racial or religious hatred, or they are not. It seems clear from this that whatever attempts have been made to moderate their message have been simple window dressing.

If the BNP splits, or descends into internal chaos, it is an opportune time. They have been very close to making a breakthrough at a PR election, either in the London Assembly in 2008 or in the Euro Elections in 2009. Their leadership has pursued a strategy modelled on the rise of Jean Marie Le Pen in France and Jorg Haider in Austria, hoping to bring far right politics into the mainstream.

At a local level they have failed to impress local people, with their high point of around 50 elected councillors now falling back. In Sandwell, where they have had councillors since 2003, they lost a byelection last Thursday and are in retreat. In Burnley where they once had 7 councillors, they have dropped to back to just 4. Local people deserve good representation and hard working councillors. Voting for the BNP delivers neither.