THERE are 5,500 homes in Hyde Newton ward and according to my information there have been five anti-BNP leaflets put out. That's a total of 27,500 leaflets distributed attacking the British National Party.
Now put yourself in the position of an ordinary voter. You are well aware that there's an election going on because you have already had leaflets from the main parties. Yet that letterbox keeps on banging. If you are home when the letterbox goes, you can't help but jump, especially if you hadn't heard the gate open. You stop what you are doing and go and see what it is.
OK, so the first 'Don't Vote BNP' leaflet might be of interest if you have an open mind and haven't decided where yet to cast your vote.
Then the letterbox goes again, so once more you stop what you're doing and go to see what it is.
"What! another anti-BNP leaflet." You're a bit mystified at this.
Letterbox again - slightly irritated.
Letterbox again - quite angry now.
Letterbox again - getting really cross and want to do something about it.
On top of this, then there's the doorbell.
It's a Labour canvasser and the conversation goes something like this . . .
LAB: "Can we count on your vote on Thursday?"
VOTER: I don't know, I haven't decided yet.
LAB: "Well can I ask you to vote for any of the candidates but not for the BNP."
VOTER: Why's that then?
LAB: "Because they are nazis, fascists and racists."
VOTER: "Yes I know, I've already had five leaflet telling me that."
Once Labour has gone, it's the turn of the Tories and Lib-Dems and virtually the same conversation takes place.
Now one thing is certain if you live in Hyde Newton, whether you are interested in politics or not, you know that the British National Party is standing in the election, because this has been embedded in your mind, not by leaflets that the BNP has put out, but thanks to the campaign of our opponents.
According to a local website in Tameside, both Labour and the BNP were out early this morning putting out their last minute leaflets. Election experts are in agreement that this is the best local campaign fought by Labour for many years and if they don't win the seat then they are in very big trouble.
My information is almost a carbon copy of last week's polling day report from Newcastle, and that is that anyone of three parties (Lab, BNP and this time the Tories) could win it and everything depends on who can get its vote out today. On the postal ballots, Labour have a slight lead but on the votes in so far, the BNP has done better that it did last year when we finished up 278 votes behind Labour.
As I said on the main website on Tuesday, unlike with Labour, winning or losing is not a matter of life or death to us, it is vote share that is all important.
Freedom should be busy rolling off the presses this afternoon, so with the newspaper out of the way I have been seconded to the Membership Office to help open another big post. This afternoon I will hopefully get the chance to answer correspondence and then tomorrow the cycle starts all over again with work beginning on Freedom 103 - the March issue.
If I hear anything from Hyde Newton during the day, I'll update this blog.
2 comments:
The BNP agent should get a sample of the 3rd party leaflets and check whose costs they are accredited to. I think a few quid spent inspecting election declarations might give room for an election petition to overturn the result.
A few quid spent on buying the marked register would also be useful. You can see who voted and where there are concentrations of votes cast. I'm not sure if you can identify blocks of postal votes, but it's worth a look. 100% turnout in a big street is automatically suspicious in my book. A check on votes cast from empty houses and large numbers of people living in 2-ups/2-down is also worth looking at.
Regards
The BNP agent should get a sample of the 3rd party leaflets and check whose costs they are accredited to. I think a few quid spent inspecting election declarations might give room for an election petition to overturn the result.
A few quid spent on buying the marked register would also be useful. You can see who voted and where there are concentrations of votes cast. I'm not sure if you can identify blocks of postal votes, but it's worth a look. 100% turnout in a big street is automatically suspicious in my book. A check on votes cast from empty houses and large numbers of people living in 2-ups/2-down is also worth looking at.
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