My soapbox is back in the cupboard

I am paying the penalty this morning for getting on my soapbox again yesterday.

In yesterday's blog I had intended to put the matter of Conservative Party recruits to the BNP to bed. I had set out to apologise for my rather blunt and insular remarks in Wednesday's posting and to get on with covering yesterday's media confirmation of the lead article in December's Freedom that 'A slump is on the way.' Sadly I didn't. Once I started blogging, my 'high & mighty attitude' (as one correspondent called it yesterday) surfaced again and I ended up making what many see as another unfair attack on former members of the Tory Party who have joined our ranks.

I have taken the liberty of publishing one email I received on the Comment's Section of yesterday's blog because I think it provides a good overall summary of the heavy correspondence I have received on this matter. I hope Dean doesn't mind this.

The two key points he raises which I must acknowledge are:

That I ignored the role of the media during the 1980s & 90s which shaped public opinion of that time.
That someone in my position should keep private views for the pub and not air them on a blog which has as its only claim to fame that it comes from the editor of the BNP's newspaper.

I wholeheartedly accept this and apologise again for any offence caused. We have a huge battle ahead of us to keep hold of our country and everyone joining our Party to stand by our side in this crucial campaign is very welcome.

Sadly, I can claim that I was right about the result of the Prince's End by-election. Our vote did collapse and my thoughts today are with our excellent candidate Karen Parkes and her small and dedicated team who suffered for the non-performance of the previous BNP councillor. The same thing happened in Burnley and Barking where because of the disappointing performance of our councillors, our Party was severely punished in by-elections following their demise.

Last night's result was:
SANDWELL MBC
Prince’s End Ward
Thursday 6th December 2007
Delia Edwards (Lab) 796
Beatrice Owen (Con) 517
Karen Parkes (BNP) 314
Dorothy Brayshaw (Lib-Dem) 29
BNP Percentage 19.0%

In the greater scheme of things, this result does us a big favour. It shows everyone connected to our Party that you can't play fast and loose with the electorate. If our councillors don't do their jobs properly BNP candidates will be rejected - end of story. If we had still won in Prince's End after all that had happened it would have sent out the message that the BNP can win seats regardless of how effective or not our councillors are. That would have been bad for the British National Party and bad for local politics.

Our team in Prince's End have got to keep their heads up and start working for next May's elections. Russell Green, who I understand is a hard-working and effective BNP councillor, will be defending his seat and hopefully the electorate will have forgiven us by then and acknowledge his endeavours.

Off to the doctor on Monday for a blast of antibiotics. I should have gone a week ago but I was hoping that nature would just run its course.

Workington Reds are at Gainsborough Trinity tomorrow, desperate to bring something back from the game and halt a rather worrying slide down the table. I have made the trip to their Northolme Ground many times before with my favourite memory being when Reds won 4-2 in a snow storm and I spent the second half praying that the referee wasn't going to abandon the game.