What's in a few beers?

THE following was posted on the comments section last night and I'm re-printing it here just in case some readers don't visit there. Alan is one of our dedicated activists in the North East and he has been working hard in the Fenham by-election which takes place on Thursday.

"Some impressions from canvassing in 2 parts of the ward, one a council estate, the other highly 'enriched.'
1. English voters on the council estate were highly resentful of foreigners jumping the housing queue.
2. Support was generally good on the council estate, at least 50% of those at home when canvassed.
3. Supporters could all give a reason for voting BNP. 'No' voters never gave any reason for voting 'No' to the BNP (or for not voting at all).
4. 2 people canvassed reported threats of dismissal from employers about voting BNP. They were advised to report the threats to the police and reminded that the vote is a secret ballot (unsure why they didn't know this, apparently).
5. 'Enriched' parts of the ward are clearly victims of 'mouseholing,' foreigners occupying one house at a time in sequence, eventually forcing most whites out.
6. Many white voters in the 'enriched' areas said 'No' to the BNP. At least some may fear reprisals if the BNP does well.
7. Foreigners are conspicuous by their presence i.e. they don't have jobs - Fenham high street is as bad as or worse than the centre of Leeds in this respect, I thought.
A salutory experience."

Alan's thoughts show just what a difficult contest this one is to call. Probably that 11% ethnic minority vote will decide the outcome especially if there is a block vote for either Labour or the Lib-Dems.

Yesterday I reported on the Deputy Returning Officer at Bexley responding to complaints concerning the East Wickham by-election where the Tory candidate beat our own Michael Barnbrook by just 8 votes. I've been asked to provide some background.

There's a very good by-election website called Vote-2007 and on this site all the by-elections taking place are discussed by activities from the main parties.
Now one posting after the count came from a Lib-Dem in response to a spat with a Tory who had accused the Lib-Dems of taking votes from the Tory candidate and almost handing the BNP victory. It said:

"I would also talk to any friends you have in the local Tories about what happened at the count... but all I can say is the local Tories owe us some beers!"

Just some web-room banter you might think, but what makes this interesting is the 'Borrowman' who posted this comment has been identified as the husband/partner of the Lib-Dem candidate and so was definitely at the count. The key words are "what happened at the count" which indicates that is was something untoward.

The saga is continuing and David Moon, a nationalist who I have known for nearly a quarter of a century, is not letting the matter rest. He has responded to the Deputy Returning Officer's letter:

"I did not suggest that the website I referred to, 'Vote UK Discussion Forum', had anything to do with Bexley Council. You appear to have missed the point! I referred to it because it was potentially evidence of some collusion between the scrutineers/counting agents from the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties aimed at affecting the outcome of the election. You are, I am sure, well aware of the particular circumstances surrounding this by-election. The Lib Dem, Conservative and Labour parties were more concerned with the prevention of the election of the BNP candidate than the success of their own campaigns.
The result was a very close one and whilst the candidates and agents may have consented to the result standing following the recount, I do not think it helps the publics confidence in the democratic process if you ignore any potential evidence of fraud because it is inconvenient. Never forget that you and the other employees of the council are SERVANTS of the people, not their masters!

There's more on this, here, from a Lib-Dem Euro candidate.

Although it might all seem rather mysterious, our election guru Eddy Butler is very happy with the way the count was conducted and believes there is no reason for anyone to suspect that there was any skullduggery taking place. He told me this lunchtime:
"I am perfectly satisfied that the count was conducted in the correct manner (I was there) and there is no evidence of cheating. The staff at the count conducted two re-counts on their own initiative - without us even having to ask - which speaks for itself."

Freedom, Freedom, Freedom - that's me for the next few days, although I will keep this blog updated. Our own election guru up here in Cumbria, Clive Jefferson, has ordered 6,000 extra copies of the newspaper for the two by-elections in Carlisle that we are contesting, and he wants them "yesterday". . . . Hopefully he will have them late next week.