Could it be 40 for Cumbria?

A DIFFICULT day for us yesterday compounded by the news, delivered by a smirking Copeland organiser, that they now have 11 candidates, just one short of a full slate.

Allerdale BNP had been hoping to pip them 9-8 in the seats being fought stakes but now the final score looks like being 7-11, a crushing defeat for Workington, Maryport and Wigton by Whitehaven.

So added together it looks as though it's going to be an impressive showing by the British National Party in the Cumbria County Council Elections on June 4th. These are unconfirmed figures but at the moment, as I understand it, we have Carlisle (17), Copeland (11), Allerdale (7), Barrow (3), Eden (1), South Lakes (1). That's 40 seats, just two short of the 50% of seats available on the council.

Our difficult day came from people being out, not having the correct paperwork, both our key activists having to work and being side-tracked by having to move some heavy printing equipment - and I mean heavy - which took an hour and a half out of our busy day.

We did submit three nomination papers, which were accepted provisionally but because we lacked the BNP's certificate of authorisation were returned to us. When I last contested elections back in 200,7 I'm certain I just wrote on the nomination paper 'British National Party' and that was it. Anyway by four o'clock the papers were re-submitted and accepted so it's three down, four to go.

This morning we are splitting forces so we can actually start some campaigning. Paul and Carl will be putting out the Euro warm-up leaflet in the small remaining part of Maryport West that still has to be leafleted and I shall submit another two sets of nomination papers that were completed late yesterday, and try to complete a third.

Last night, when I got home, I finished our postal vote leaflet which will go out with a complementary issue of Freedom and a letter from Nick Griffin. Very simple leaflet just introducing the candidate with their photo and warning about the smear leaflets - telling voters "It's just the Labour Party" so don't be conned by the array of grandiose titles that appear on the anti-BNP leaflets.

I've also got two more candidates photos to get which must be taken today. As you can see there will be no 'paper' candidates in Allerdale, not like some places where you might find a jar of Hartleys on the supper table at five o'clock!!

No news from Sheffield, so who knows. Andrew Brons our lead candidate in Yorkshire and Humberside needs 10% of the vote to make it to Strasbourg, so with a bit of a buffer zone something around 12-13% would be a great result for us.

No other news as everyone is busy getting their nomination papers signed.

First stop this morning is Morrisons for some A4 paper for the leaflets - apparently is the cheapest port of call.

The smoke, the broken bottles, the bricks, the screaming and of course . . . Peter Hain

Ah memories . . .

The air was thick with pink smoke. I had to keep my eyes firmly fixed on the back of the lady walking in front of me to keep going in the right direction. Massive noise everywhere. The sound of bottles smashing, the sound of concrete against concrete as bricks landed on the road around us, the sound of people screaming abuse at you. The over-riding feeling . . . fear. Fear of being hit by a missile, fear of being attacked, fear of getting lost, fear of what was going to happen at the end of it all.

Ah memories . . .

It was the Lewisham National Front march of 1977. A perfectly legal march by 500 members of an increasingly popular political party which was opposed by a mob of 8,000 opponents. There were shocking scenes of violence. Violence against us the marchers and violence against the police officers escorting the march. Over 220 police and marchers were injured and had to receive hospital treatment.

The man who orchestrated that violence was a South African 'student' called Peter Hain, who now, thanks to the generosity of his adopted country, now sits in Parliament as MP for Neath.

This is what Hain has to say in The Guardian this morning:

"The lesson of the Anti-Nazi League's success is that the BNP needs to be confronted wherever its supporters march or appear in public."

Well, we know that the "success" of the Anti-Nazi League was based on its violent attacks on innocent people. The BNP don't hold marches, so it seems Hain is advocating attacks on BNP supporters out campaigning for the forthcoming European and County Council elections.

I expect Tony Ward of Liverpool (below) knows the sort of thing Hain is talking about . . .



You can read this morning's reports in The Guardian, here and here.

I'm happy with the discord within the Labour Party at the moment, Hain says "Confront them" and Austin says "Ignore them".

Five weeks to go to polling day and they haven got a strategy. That's got to be good news for us.

Very productive first day's campaigning up here yesterday, well it was preparing for the campaign really. This morning Allerdale organiser Paul Stafford and I should be handing in six completed nominations papers. A seventh will have to wait until next Monday as we are hopeful of having an 8th candidate standing which could mean a change of candidates in the ward concerned and an extra ward being fought in Workington.

We dropped off some leaflets in Carlisle at the end of the day and the news from our beautiful Border City is 17, (yes, SEVENTEEN) BNP county council candidates. That's a full slate for the appalling Neil Hodgkinson, editor of the Carlisle editions of Cumbrian Newspapers, to put in his pipe and smoke.

If there's no blog tomorrow I will have been arrested! We received a telephone call just after lunch yesterday from someone claiming to be a Workington policeman. He said that police in Workington were preparing to raid the homes and offices of all Allerdale BNP members!!

I just hope they are not using the stolen 2007 BNP membership list otherwise the people who bought my old house will be in for a bit of a shock!

Is there a record number of BNP candidates standing in Carlisle?

Just to stop people complaining, here's the other half of the centre page spread of our European Election candidates that appears in the May issue of Freedom.


ANOTHER excellent article this morning on the main website from my long-term political colleague, Steve Johnson. When it comes to the effects of globalisation, both economic and social, Steve knows how to spell it out and make it interesting to read.

I first met him thirty years ago, when he turned up one day out of the blue to help with our campaign in the Lewes constituency in East Sussex for the 1979 General Election, where I was election agent for our superb candidate, Betty Webb. He was rather an eccentric character, but a brilliant writer, and despite all the division and turmoil within nationalist politics over the next 15 years, we always seemed to end up on the same side, which was no mean feat.

I'm delighted that Steve is getting more involved now. He has enjoyed a success career in business, but now feels now, as we all do, that significant political change is in the air and that the British National Party might be on the verge of its long-awaited breakthrough.

I'm off to do my bit for that breakthrough this morning by helping to get the signatures for our seven (yes, still only seven, I'm afraid) candidates for the Cumbria County Council elections in Allerdale. I heard last night that another record number of BNP candidates will be standing in Carlisle for the same authority. That's going to be some news that will be difficult to ignore for our pathetically anti-BNP local newspaper up here, the News & Star.

As I'll be out of the office for much of the time over the next five weeks, I shall try to do an update to this blog each evening as well. In the morning bulletin I shall say what we hope to achieve during the day, and in the evening tell you how successful we have been. It will provide a good incentive to get things done.

There's a council by-election in Sheffield on Thursday, and if anyone knows how our campaign is going I would be grateful if they could drop me a line. South Yorkshire likes to keep its cards close to its chest as far as letting Freedom know what's going on in the region.

Back later if there's anything to report.

Salford says "Thank you"

Don't say you didn't see it first on this website!

This is one half of the centre page double spread of our European Election candidates in the May issue of Freedom. The newspaper is at the printers as I write and delivery to the units is promised for May 1st.

The front page headline is "Take care of our old folk" and calls for care homes to brought back into the public sector and for our elderly to be looked after in a way their lifetime of service to the nation and paying of their tax, deserves.

It could be a good issue to get out to postal voters in the first two weeks in May.

Congratulations are due to the readers of this blog who rallied around to support Salford BNP with the funding of its vital local council by-election on May 21st, just two weeks before the Euro poll.

Candidate Gary Tumulty, told me last night:

"We have been around the Irwell Riverside ward leafleting and have put out over 7500 leaflets. The response has been excellent with many people coming out in support and shaking my hand and saying they will be voting for us in the by-election and then again for the European Elections.

"Locals have told me of an issue they have with a park in the ward which I have acted upon and people will see that the British National Party listens and gets things sorted out.

"For the Euro elections we are going around the whole of Salford visiting the postal voters with our message and we now have our own "Truth Trailer" which we will be using in the by-election and the European Elections. I will send you a photo when we have one taken.

"I would like to thank you as well for the appeal that you ran on your blog and to all those who contributed to the Irwell by-election fund. We received a considerable amount of money to help us on our way, and even had our colour election address paid for by Bury BNP."

I would like to reiterate what Gary says and to thank all those who contributed to the fund. And full marks to the British National Party in Bury - it's a great example of how units are working together in the North West.

I'm on telephone duty, as well as election duty, today as Tina is on a course in Leicestershire.

My main job this morning is preparing the county council electorial divsion maps for the seven seats we are contesting. I'm still hopeful that it might be eight, and there's even an outside chance it might be nine, but there's no arm-twisting on my part, it's up to those concerned whether they come forward to stand or not.

Back with more news tomorrow.

When a cure can cause distress

ON this week's 1984 theme comes the report that there's a conference advocating techniques for men and women to be cured of their homosexuality. It's being organised by the Anglican Mainstream Organisation, a group which seeks to preserve the conservative tenets of Christianity.

Apparently, a recent study found that a sixth of Britain’s registered therapists and psychiatrists have been asked to cure homosexual patients, and the main speaker at the conference will be Joseph Nicolosi, of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.

Mr 
Nicolosi advocates and practices reparative therapy, which rehabilitates patients with unwanted homosexual feelings in order to return them to mainstream society. He believes he can "cure" homosexuality, and claims that being gay is the result of a problem in childhood and can be treated. He has a 66% success rate.

The Orwell element of the story is that is that the Church of England has condemned the conference saying that it will "distress" gay people and may cause offence. How could offering a cure for those who seek help with an illness, cause any distress? The only distress will be to those who seek to promote homosexuality as a political tool to undermine the family values in society.

Nick Griffin was brilliant on The Report on Radio 4 last night. For the BBC, it was a very fair programme and will do us no harm whatsoever.

Last night's election results were nothing to shout about but our effort in Erewash was a solid performance. The local Labour Party activists here deserve a mention for achieving an incredible result and their efforts no doubt trimmed a few percentage points off our vote. Also, apparently we missed the postal vote campaign which will have accounted for another couple of percentage points lost, so all-in-all it's a result we can live with.

It's a truncated blog this morning as I'm under the cosh with Freedom.

Erewash by-election update

GREAT photo of four of our five European election candidates for the East Midlands out campaigning in the Derby Road West ward for Erewash District Council. Kevan Stafford, Cathy Duffy, Lewis Allsebrook and Peter Jarvis. The lead candidate, the Reverend Robert West, was speaking at a local meeting just 20 miles up the road in Long Eaton.

East Midlands Elections Officer Wayne McDermott, has been in touch with his thoughts on the contest and other election matters in his region.

He told me:

"We polled 8.3% in Erewash at the European Elections in 2004 but I think the bulk of that vote came from the Ilkeston end of the district. At the General Election, a year later, we polled a rather disappointing 2.6%.

Derby Road West Ward ward is a split Conservative and Labour ward and whilst out campaigning there on Saturday it was easy to see why, with two totally different parts making up the ward. At the last election, the Lib-Dems came 3rd with over 22% and that was a very fair performance.

"We have no local group (yet) in the area and have not pulled people in from other areas apart from working at weekends. It's so close to the county council elections and all nearby groups are busy warming up their own areas. The campaign has rested on the efforts of a handful of hard-working local activists who have made three leaflet drops."

Quite rightly Wayne doesn't want to go on record with any predictions, but I know from our frequent conversations that he always has that 13% vote share, needed for the Euro-Elections in the East Midlands, on his mind. In Erewash, I think he also would like to see us close to the Lib-Dem vote if at all possible.

The campaign today will receive the boost of a visit from the British National Party's Truth Truck.

For the County Council elections on June 4th, there will be a record number of BNP candidates in the East Midlands. We will also be contesting the NW Leicestershire District Council by-election in Measham, where Wayne himself will be our candidate. It's an area we have never contested before but one that could be quite promising after a recent leaflet drop brought in a stack of new enquiries.

Allerdale 7 - 8 Copeland

THERE was a final planning meeting last night for the Cumbria County Council elections in Allerdale.

North West Regional Organiser Clive Jefferson, was there and he made it very clear that yesterday was the cut-off day for candidate selection and those who had, for the last month, been a pain in the backside by sitting on the fence as to whether they would stand or not, have been dismissed so we are left with SEVEN confirmed candidates.

There are 16 county council seats in Allerdale so we are just below the 50% contested mark. There are 84 seats on the full council. We are contesting six wards held by Labour and one held by the Lib-Dems.

Back in 2005 we didn't contest a single county council seat across the whole of Cumbria, let alone any in Allerdale, so this is a massive achievement. Also, all seven will be properly fought campaigns with an election address for the candidates. This, together with one Euro Election leaflet being distributed now, and the Euro Election address delivered by the Royal Mail, will form the backbone of our campaign although there will be some tweaks to it during the next 42 days just to maximise our vote.

I'm still hoping that we might be allowed to contest an eighth seat as I'm seeing one of the fence-sitters tonight. We get our election packs tomorrow, so once I have that nomination form in my hands I shall be able to find out which way he will be jumping.

The only 'disappointing news' was that our arch enemies within Cumbria, the dastardly Copeland BNP, are fielding more candidates than we are. Clive is also the Copeland organiser and he took great pleasure in telling us that they already had 8 candidates selected for Copeland's 12 county council seats.

There's a great traditional rivalry between the towns of Workington (Allerdale) and Whitehaven (Copeland) and they call each other's residents, "Jam-Eaters", which is the biggest insult possible up here in West Cumbria. I believe it stems from the idea that your parents don't earn enough money to provide a cooked evening meal, but I might be wrong.

So things have started to buzz in Allerdale and I can't wait to get involved with the campaigning next week. I have a list of election tasks to undertake, but first Freedom has to be finished, and that's the priority for the next four days.

They want us to think it's too late.

If there was ever a television programme which illustrated the urgency with which the British National Party needs to establish itself as a mainstream political party it was Tonight on ITV yesterday evening at 8 o'clock.

It was pure 1984. Immigrants interviewing other immigrants to explain to the British people the positive aspects of immigration. Even the 'local' workers, interviewed about Eastern European immigrants taking their jobs, were Afro-Caribbean immigrants. You could have been excused for thinking that the programme might have been about Britain in 60 years time when the British people have become the minority in their own country.

But that, of course, was its purpose. To make the British people believe that immigration is so far advanced that there is nothing that can be done about it - that there can be no reversal of the trend that is set to change the face of the British population forever.

Probably the most depressing part of the half hour slot came near the end when dear old Trevor McDonald visited a school in East London. Just two of the twelve children interviewed were British and if you closed your eyes one of those sounded as though she was Jamaican.

What is important for us is how ordinary Britons felt watching such a programme. Are they seeing it through our eyes or the eyes of those who made the programme. The answer to that question will decide our fate on June 4th.

I'm grateful to Cynthia Wainwright for a report from Cornwall on a day's activity in Helston and Falmouth.

"While leafletting in Falmouth a community policeman who was standing in a doorway asked for one of our leaflets. We joked that his superiors wouldn't want him to read it and he just smiled as he folded it up and placed it in his top pocket.

"We were chatting to him when a retired schoolteacher joined in the conversation, she forthrightly expressed her fears about what was happening to our country.

"It's typical of the response we have received in Cornwall since we started leafleting in September for the European Election campaign. While Cornwall hasn't been affected like the rest of the UK by immigration, over 60% of the population are White flighters who have turned their backs on the multi-racial society to find a little bit of England in their retirement years, so they are receptive to our message.

"Also significant numbers of East Europeans are appearing in towns like Cambourne and with the Government wanting another 70.000 houses built in the South West, it makes you wonder who they have been earmarked for."

Thanks to Scotland organiser Gary Raikes for a report on the by-election for the Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside by-election for Aberdeen Council.

These are the candidates:
Rosemary BRUCE (Lib-Dem)
Wilson FORBES (Ind)
David HUTCHISON (Ind)
Roy JONES (BNP)
George PARKINSON (SNP)
Jo PICK (Con)

Gary writes:

"Another day was spent on the campaign trail in Deeside on Sunday where our leafleteers basked in glorious sunshine pounded the streets of Aboyne delivering a ‘vote for Roy Jones’ leaflet with the ‘say no to EU rule’ one.

At the same time our candidate canvassed shoppers in the town centre where he was well received although disappointed to find voter apathy to be at an all time high.

While people were happy to stop and speak many expressed their disillusionment with politics and politicians by saying they would not be bothering to vote for anyone!

On a good note those he spoke to were well aware of the BNP standing in this election.

This election uses the transferable vote system so the outcome is far from clear.

Roy has worked hard over the last month to put the BNP marker down in Deeside and in that respect is all ready a winner, we have never contested this ward so this is a first step for BNP Scotland here that has already gained supporters, activists and another future candidate.

Our percentage at the count on Friday will provide measure of things to come on June 4th.

The European Election campaign issue of Freedom is nearing completion and booked into the printers for early next week. The priority here is to get it to our units by May 1st so there's a full month to get the newspaper as widely distributed as possible.

Woolas plea just alienates voters

It seems that I was too quick to turn off BBC's Radio 4 Today programme on Friday.

Once I heard the words 'Nelson Mandela', that was enough for me, but Freedom columnist Sally Wood, has scolded me for being much too hasty.

She wrote:

"You should have carried on listening to Radio 4 this morning as it got quite interesting.

It seems that John Humphreys used to live in South Africa, 30 years ago, and he went back to his old house to see how the neighbourhood has changed.

The houses all looked the same and the same old trees were still there but the huge difference was in the security: there was barbed wire everywhere and large electric gates.

He went to speak to the lady who now lives in his old house and she told him that she is often followed home from the shops by those intent on robbery, and so the gates have to close very fast behind her as she enters her drive.

He also visited a white squatter camp and asked a white man why he didn't go and look for a job, but the guy said he stood no chance of getting work as they only want to employ blacks."

Sally also draws my attention to Martin Kettle's column in Friday's issue of The Guardian. He believes that when the expenses claims of MPs are released to the public in July there will be suicides and by-elections!

Having watched last night's Dispatches programme on Channel 4 about the Westminster Gravy Train, I can well believe that this could be case.

Plenty of drivel in the weekend newspapers but one important report in the Mail on Sunday which you can read here

This is what we need. Senior Labour figures telling people to vote for any political party other than the BNP.

Such statements devalue the importance of a vote for Labour and rather than encouraging people to come out and vote, in fact confirms what many people already think - "that all the old gang parties are the same".

Disillusioned Labour voters will never 'Vote Tory', and at election time will either just stay at home or go out and actually 'Vote BNP' to punish the Government for letting them down.

It is such a naive statement from Woolas that I can only think it is a special message for ethnic minorities who are new-arrived in this country and who have no grasp of partisan party politics. I can't believe Woolas was addressing former miners in South Yorkshire telling them to vote for a Conservative Party that has destroyed their industry, community and way of life.

Another cracking photo taken in Exeter on Saturday.

Peter Lucas wrote in his accompanying report:

"Towards the end of the Second World War the Royal Air Force seemed to operate two distinct offensive strategies. Down in the South West these principles seem to have evolved, also. Bomber Command managed to muster 1,000 aircraft to attack one target during the course of one night, an incredible feat of organisation. Fighter Command would send out pairs of locomotive and tank busting Typhoons and Tempests on "interdiction" raids where they would roam the sky looking for targets of opportunity on the ground.
James Wallis and Mike Wainwright do the latter in Cornwall, organised by the formidable Cynthia Wainwright. On the 16th April the two of them raided three towns in one day handing out hundreds of leaflets and chatting with dozens of interested parties.
Laurie West over in East Devon takes the former approach and amassed eighteen activists to "bomb" the centre of Exeter on Saturday. A photograph of just some of the Magnificent Eighteen is shown here, the remainder having hared off to the other end of the Shopping Mall.
Both systems seem to work and both compliment each other as the recent enquiry rate indicates."


If anyone has any news on this week's three by-elections I would be very grateful for it. In the prediction thread on the Vote-2007 website, there are a wide range of BNP percentages suggested which probably means that no one really has much idea of the outcome, so it would be useful to be able to shed some light on this.

The New Statesman understands

Off-button at 7.13 this morning. I just couldn't stand any more.

It was the South African General Election this time, which isn't even until next week. John Humphrys has been sent all the way out there, at licence fee payers expense, just to report on the ANC recording a landslide victory.

John explained why the BBC is making such a fuss about it in his opening gambit: "The ANC is the party of Nelson Mandela."

Make no mistake Mandela is quite incredible. A former Black terrorist fawned over by so many White people. I expect he wakes up most mornings and thinks: "Nelson, how did you do it?".

It doesn't seem like Friday this morning with no elections to report on. Next week it is back to normal with contests for us in Redbridge, Erewash and Aberdeenshire. I'll try and get some info on how our campaigns are going over the next few days.

I expect most of you have read the article in yesterday's New Statesman. It's here if you haven't.

It is a very good understanding of what has taken place over the past five years and it acknowledges the changes that have taken place within the British National Party since 1999.

One of the key passages is:

"But even one seat in the European Parliament would provide resources and publicity that could act as a potent catalyst for a party accustomed to operating on a shoestring outside of the media spotlight."

It is key because it is correct in identifying our aspiration and the benefit of meeting it. It is also right in acknowledging how we have operated on shoestring budget, although claiming that we have been outside the media spotlight is naive. We have been hounded and persecuted in the media for the past ten years and all what we have achieved has been done inspite of this.

At the last European Elections we came close to winning three seats, and that was despite Max Clifford pulling Kilroy-Silk out of the hat for UKIP and a very poor campaign on our behalf. Our main leaflet was almost unreadable. Even our most enthusiastic supporters said it was awful and as it was our only way of reaching voters due to a virtual media black-out because of its love affair with UKIP, it was amazing that we polled so well.

This time around our campaign in 500% better, so hopefully 500% more effective, and that should be enough to secure a seat in the North West at the very least.

We had a very nice Easter Sunday, I meant to mention this before. All the family were there and as we enjoyed our aperitifs and chatted, we listened to our Colin Auty CD. My in-laws are great fans of his, and for me when listening to many of his songs, the hairs on the back of my neck still stand up.

Back in the early 1990s I wrote a series of books about the history of my football team, Workington Reds AFC. In 1977 they dropped out of the Football League and the title of the books was So Sad, So Very Sad . . which summed up the feelings of most of the supporters of this brave little club. Reds had such a proud history, two League Cup Quarter-Finals (including beating Blackburn 5-1 at Ewood Park), promotion to the old Third Division, and cup games against Liverpool (0-1), Manchester United (1-3) and Cheslea (2-2) (0-2), so it was a tragedy that they had fallen by the wayside.

When I listen to Colin's music and think of the events that led to him dropping out of politics, the title of those Workington books comes to mind.

Our manipulating media

YOU are going to start thinking that I'm being obsessive, but I just have to mention the BBC Radio 4 Today programme again this morning.

This time it was an item on the seven o'clock news bulletin which caught my attention.

The newsreader in a cheery voice, put on especially for the report, announced that the biggest democracy in the world was going to the polls with 714 million voters in India choosing their next government. The report told us that although terrorism and the collapse of the global economy were the main issues, people were just as concerned with local issues such as roads, schooling and local jobs.

By this time you could have been forgiven for thinking "it's just like one of our elections here in Britain", but then, slipped in before the announcer told us that early voting had been brisk, was the news that six policemen guarding a polling station had been killed, slaughtered within hours of it opening!

Is life so cheap in India that the death of six policemen on election duty doesn't warrant leading in the report on the election in that country?

No, of course not. But in the thinking of the BBC that's not the propaganda it wants to disseminate. The Beeb wants us to think of India and Indians as being just like us so that the fact that there are around 5 million living here in Britain doesn't unduly concern us.

If the BBC was reporting the news properly, it would have started the report with:
"Within hours of the polls opening in the Indian election, six policemen had been murdered."

But the BBC just peddles its own propaganda so it reported:
"The biggest democracy in the world goes to the polls today where the issues are terrorism and the global economy", all in the hope that the listener is thinking . . "just like here in Britain then."

Starting the news item with the slaughter of six policemen wouldn't have had that desired effect.

I dislike more than anything else those who are manipulating the media to suit their own ends. There was a classic yesterday in the Waltham Forest Guardian . . and no, I'm not talking about their story of the frail little black lady who was quietly gardening when she was set upon by half a dozen BNP skinhead thugs.

This time the newspaper was being just a little more subtle.

It reports that:
"A debate between the candidates in the upcoming Wanstead by-election has been cancelled."
and that the reason was because:
"Organisers and speakers at the planned debate feared BNP members from across the country may have turned up at the meeting to "hijack" it."

But that's not how the Ilford Recorder saw it. It reported:
"Tonight's by-election hustings have been cancelled after the Labour Party candidate refused to share the stage with the British National Party.
"Ross Hatfull contacted the organisers of the Wanstead by-election hustings scheduled for this evening to say that he would not debate with the BNP".

To clear up any confusion, the Conservative candidate writing on the Vote-2007 website made it very clear that it was just the Labour Party that had pulled the plug on the debate:

"If Ross Hatfull's reason for withdrawing from the hustings was the presence of the BNP, why did he leave it until the morning of the event rather than when the invitation was originally made a couple of weeks ago? (When I had the original phone call, the Residents' Association Chairman made it perfectly clear that all 6 candidates were being invited).
I was very much looking forward to this event and the Labour Party have done themselves no favours by doing this. Cowards."

The Waltham Forest Guardian reporter is one Daniel Binns. You can contact him here at dbinns@london.newsquest.co.uk. Why not drop him a line and tell him what you think about his "story"?

You can read his report here. Why not give your take on his reporting in the Comment's Section?

Finally, please support this appeal from Civil Liberty to help with the legal costs of Mark Walker's case against his unfair dismissal from his job as a teacher. Please read the report here.

Civil Liberty were brilliant when helping Tina in her legal battles after losing her job as a graduate mental health worker with Cumbria NHS because she was standing as a BNP candidate. We would never have even got to court if it hadn't been for the financial help Civil Liberty provided and although she lost her case (the law has since been changed and another year later she would have won), actually being able to have her day in court shocked the authorities and showed that BNP members will make a stand against this sort of persecution.

Hillsborough

IT is the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy and the Today programme remembered it in its slot after this morning's 8 o'clock news.

I could nit-pick that the coverage was only the same length as the that given to the German immigrant ship yesterday and that David Blunkett was given the opportunity during an interview to make political capital out of his time as Home Secretary, but some might think this churlish and point out that it's the BBC, so what should anyone expect.

You would have thought that with the scale of the tragedy, presenter James Naughtie would have been 'losing it' as he so often does when reporting on certain issues, but he was word perfect and his voice never wavered.

Perhaps he should be applauded for such a professional performance in dealing with the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters, especially when we know he can get so emotional and has trouble finding his words when reporting on certain other topics.

Back in 1989 football was still football. There was no Premier League, no foreign ownership, few foreign players and even fewer foreign managers. Those representing their clubs identified with the city or town bearing the name of that club and the Football League looked after all 92 clubs - no club received exclusive status just because it was the richest and could afford to buy the best players.

Naughtie's hankie

IT was the off button for the umpteenth time for the Today Programme this morning.


Now I'm certain that 2009 must be the fiftieth or hundredth anniversary of many acts of British heroism or times of great British achievement. Yet BBC Radio 4's flagship news programme chose to recollect the seventieth(?) anniversary of a boatload of Eastern European immigrants fleeing Germany and coming to Britain. The tenuous 'news' element to the story was that a book published in 1974 recalling the voyage, has been re-published.

Once the interviewer, James (Everyone must carry the guilt) Naughtie started slowing his voice down, so that his audience could dwell on the injustice of it all, and then his struggling for words with his voice starting to break up as he reached for his hankie appearing overcome by the courage and fortitude shown by the immigrants - I'm afraid I had had enough.

If the BBC had a spot to fill, then they should have found a story connected with the anniversary of something British. An act of heroism at a pit disaster or a British invention. Not something that has nothing to do with the British people apart from the fact that yet another boatload of immigrants landed up on our shores.

More predictions on how the British National Party might do in the European Elections in this morning's copy of The Times.

You can read the report here.

It appears that Glyn Ford has moderated his original prediction that the BNP would win seven seats, it's now down now to six seats. He's probably trying to keep more in line with Harriet Harman's one to three seat prediction in Friday's Independent newspaper.

Excellent meeting for our Euro candidates from the North West, North East and Scotland on Saturday. Dealing with a hostile media is something all our candidates must be able to do. The seminar was about those questions fired out at the begining of any interview which need to be got out of the way to enable our representatives to start talking about BNP policy. The day was very useful indeed and lots of good tips were picked up. There's more about the meeting and some of the literature that's going out in the North West on Clive Jefferson's blog which can be found here.

Email from Gary Tumulty this morning saying that there has been a brilliant response to the plea, put out on this blog on Saturday, for help and funds for the Irwell Riverside by-election in Salford just two weeks before the Euro Elections.

I can't stress how important this contest is, coming just two weeks before the big day on June 4th. The bottom line is that we must poll 8% or more to ensure that the final weeks of our campaign have the morale boost of knowing, in the North West at least, we are on course for an MEP.

Can you help in Salford?

I'm just off to a candidates' briefing for the European Elections but I wanted to post this message from Gary Tumulty from Salford BNP.

He writes:

"As you may know there is a another by-election in Salford on 21st May in Irwell Riverside Ward.
"We need help both canvassing and leafletting for this vitally important contest just two weeks before the European Elections. Please contact me on 07909 674 006 if you can help with the campaign.
"On the 19th March we fought the Pendlebury ward by-election and received a very good 13.5% vote share, but that took much of our local funds so we are in need of financial support.
Any donation would be very welcome with cheque or postal order made payable to the 'British National Party' and sent to:

British National Party,
P.O. Box 16,
Salford
M6 7PT.

Please support Salford BNP, this is an important election for all of us, not just for Salford and the North West.

Doing a Kinnock!

I don't mind admitting that I did a Neil Kinnock in the early hours of this morning when the Moston by-election result came through.

Mimicking the Labour leader's bizarre "well alright!" show of emotion during the Sheffield 'victory' rally at the 1992 General Election seemed quite appropriate at just after one o'clock in my thankfully deserted office.

I felt especially excited by this result and I hope that you did too. It was much better than some expectations and these results are always the sweetest to savour. I do sometimes get criticised for playing down expectations, but the Moston result provides the necessary proof that in the majority of cases, this is the best policy to follow.

Just after reporting the result on the main website, the Comments Section was jammed with those wanting to share in the glow of satisfaction that a better than expected election result brings. Everyone is bubbling with enthusiasm and no one is disappointed with last night's effort.

Yesterday I said that I would be happy with 8% and 'over the moon' with 10%, and I would have been. We just didn't know what level of support to expect, so it would have been quite wrong to unjustly raise people's hopes. Privately both Clive Jefferson and Mike Lester had said they were hoping for a vote around the 20% mark but 'on record' neither wanted to make any predictions.

I received numerous emails from those involved in the campaign who talked about "the brilliant reception we have received in Moston". Two or three confidently predicted our second place and the collapse in the Tory vote, while one even thought we might win.

Reporting these prediction yesterday would have raised expectations and, although they would have been exactly right with their take on how the result was going to go, if they had been wrong, people would have been left deflated. If we had just polled the 12% vote share, which was our target, it would have just been seen as disappointing, when in the bigger picture this was exactly what we wanted.

The blanket coverage of 12 Pakistani Muslims wanting to blow up Manchester's Trafford Centre, must have boosted our vote and this is something we must bear in mind as well, so we mustn't get too carried away.

Managing expectations is going to be key over the next 8 weeks in maintaining the morale of our campaigners who will be working harder than they have ever done before in their political lifetime. Also it doesn't end for the BNP after June 4th - it will be just beginning.

If we succeed in getting an MEP elected it will make things that much easier both financially and with greater representation in the media that this new status will afford us - but our battle will still have to be fought, with an MEP or without one.

For me it's head down on Freedom for the next three weeks so that the newspaper is out for the first of May - I had the Chairman of the Party on the telephone yesterday describing all sorts of horrors that will befall me if I miss this deadline. After that I shall be concentrating on Maryport West where I am standing in the Cumbria County Council elections. I will thoroughly enjoy this campaign, especially if the weather's fine in May, and there's no better way to lose a bit of weight and to keep yourself fit.

It's not about a bumbling policeman

SO 12 Pakistani Muslims, living in Britain, have been arrested.

It seems that they were planning another terrorist atrocity on the scale of the London tube bombing, so their detention could well have saved the lives of many British people.

Yet there is little celebration of this in the media this morning. Radio 4's Today progamme was only interested in criticising our counter-terrorist police for apparently arresting the men too soon.

Presenter James Naughtie was so wrapped up in his criticism of the senior officer concerned, and so intent, it seemed, to cover up the REAL story of the planned slaughter of British people by foreign terrorists, that he was left almost speechless when one interviewee dared to mention that those arrested were all of Pakistani Muslim origin.

The real story isn't about a bumbling policeman. It's about a fifth column of terrorists living in our midst who are waging a religious and cultural war against the British people.


Good luck to Derek Adams (above) and his team for the Moston by-election today, and thank you to all those involved who have emailed me with their take on how things will go.

Clive Jefferson, the North West's new regional organiser (well done Clive - a much deserved appointment), told me:

"An almost impossible one to call because no canvassing has been done.

"Derek and his team have put in a good campaign with top quality literature, including a full colour A3 leaflet.

"Derek is on the North West's European Elections list and his aim from the start was to build up the British National Party's profile in the area and to meet our target percentage to get Nick elected. I think both objectives will be achieved."

Experienced election campaigner Mike Lester was also in no rush to make any predictions. He said:

"The Moston by-election is difficult to predict. Firstly we have never stood in that ward before and we did not attempt to canvass it, so we have no realistic idea of what our true level of support is.

"The main shopping precinct is dominated by the ward's ethnic minority communities and many parts of the ward have seen better days. It seems to be an area much of which has missed out on Manchester's regeneration makeover.

"Our campaign consisted of a warm up leaflet, an excellent election address and a glossy postcard for the last week of the campaign.

"Special attention has been paid to postal voters and to the areas where the older British population resides. The demographic profile of the ward is changing with ethnic minority voters now making up about 20% of the electorate."

Others have been much more upbeat about our chances and many report "the great reception" that the BNP leafleters received in some parts of Moston. In summing up, I would be very happy with around 8% which will keep us on track for an MEP. A 10% vote and I shall be over the moon.

It will be interesting to see whether the arrests in Manchester last night influence voters in any way. Much will depend on how the media plays it. Will they go into details as to the terrorists' target and what was the outcome they intended?

Helping to keep our feet on the ground

THERE was an interesting report published in the European Voice yesterday.

It detailed research from the London School of Economics and Trinity College Dublin predicting the outcome of the European Election. Apparently, using a statistical model that draws on results from opinion polls and previous Euro Parliament elections, they worked out that British National Party will not win any seats on June 4th. You can read the report here.

I'm not fazed when a report like this gains publicity because it helps us all to keep our feet on the ground. It also exposes Gordon Brown's office's supposed investigations which claimed that the BNP would win 7 seats in the European Parliament, as complete nonsense. Its findings are specifically designed to motivate Labour's demoralised campaign troops and raise unrealistic expectations within our ranks as to what can be achieved.

Many thanks to Gary Tumulty for informing me of another by-election in Salford. Gary is the new membership secretary for Salford BNP and he will be our candidate in the contest for Irwell Riverside ward.

Now what is of particular interest here is that the election is due to take place on Thursday 21st May, just two weeks before the European Elections. The result could well provide an indicator as to our chances of getting Nick Griffin elected to Strasbourg.

The by-election has been called after the death of  James Hulmes, a Labour counciller and former Mayor of Salford.

The result last year was:
Irwell Riverside Ward
Stephen COEN (Labour) 888
Kenneth McKELVEY (Liberal Democrat) 337
David LEWIS (Conservative) 286
Anthony HEALEY (British National Party) 233

The BNP percentage was 13.4% and something along a similar level of support will do very nicely again on May 21st.


Above is a photograph of my wife Tina, and her mum Jenny, taken at our Battle for Britain Roadshow here in Cumbria the other week. I've posted it because I feel a bit guilty after referring to her in yesterday's blog as just a 'proof reader'.

In reality, Tina is Freedom's sub-editor and draws attention, not only to typos and grammatical errors in the newspaper, but also to the content if it might not be in keeping with the British National Party of 2009. We do have the odd spat over whether a report should be included or not, and/or whether a report actually serves to promote the nationalist cause or not. Sometimes she accuses me of still living back in the 1980s, and sometimes I accuse her of actually believing all the PC nonsense she was fed during her time training as a probation officer and later on working for a drink and drugs charity and the NHS.

But overall we do have an excellent working relationship which stems back to 1983 when I became editor of the National Front's newspaper NF News and Tina had the responsibility of typing up the stories (twice) on an IBM typesetter into galley format so that I could past them into place in the newspaper with cow gum and the aid of a lightbox. How technology has moved on since then.

Of course, even then Tina was more than just a typesetter but a key party activist in the Newham region of London where her mum was the local branch secretary. When Joe Pearce was sent to prison under the Race Relations Act, Tina and Joe's wife Gina, chained themselves to the Downing Street railings, then right outside No.10, a stunt which got us a stack of publicity. They also disrupted Tony Blackburn's show on Radio London another publicity gaining exercise which also drew attention to Joe's incarceration.

Later, after we were married and were living in Worthing in Sussex, Tina and Ted Budden (my political mentor, now sadly departed) made the front page of almost every newspaper and the top slot on the prime time 9 o'clock BBC News when she threw a jug of water over Gerry Adams at a public meeting organised by the Labour Party in Brighton just days after the IRA had slaughtered 11 guardsmen at their barracks in Deal in Kent.

The next morning there was a media frenzy with journalists at the door and on the telephone wanting to do a follow-up report. Soon as they found out that Tina was a leading official of the National Front the story was dropped.

So Tina's political background is just as extensive as mine, but her political knowledge is even more widespread. When we left to work and live in France in 1996, Tina enrolled in an Open University course in Politics and Social Science and four years later after we had returned to Cumbria was presented with her degree at a ceremony at Newcastle University.

She was working as a graduate mental health worker with Cumbria NHS when a witch-hunt in the local newspaper led to her being suspended from work, and then losing her job, because of her association with the British National Party. Now, as well as sub-editing Freedom each and every month, Tina is the Party's Membership Secretary.

And finally, you just can't get away from politics. I like to go to Borough Park and watch Workington Reds play their Conference North football to escape from politics for a couple of hours. Last night we beat struggling Hucknall Town with a last minute goal but the majority of the game was spent talking shop with a range of different people who stopped by my Popular Side vantage point for a chat. Still there was a useful outcome - another possible county council candidate for June 4th.

Back tomorrow with hopefully some news on the Moston by-election.

There's been a fall out from Redcar!

THIS is the front page of the April issue of Freedom which is out this weekend. Remember, you always get to see it first here on this blog.

I just hope the newspaper is OK. It seemed to me that I was at death's door last week and even the simplest task gave me problems. Fortunately Freedom was mostly completed by then, so it was just a matter of pulling it all together. But then disaster struck again when Tina, my proofreader, went down with the same bug, so the weekend and yesterday was all a bit of a struggle.

Anyway, I'm better this morning and my first job is to comment on those excellent election results from last Thursday.

That was a brilliant vote in Leeds and congratulations to candidate Tom Redmond on beating Labour, and Leeds City councillor Chris Beverley, who fought a sophisticated and targeted election, which maximised the BNP vote in the face of huge campaigns from the main parties.

I'm grateful to Paul Harris from Barnsley BNP for an insight into the campaign as it was taking place. He told me:

"On the Halton Moor Estate, which is a large council estate comprising around 30% of the ward, we have been receiving between 4 and 3 to 1 'Yes' canvass returns to 'No'.

"On the private housing estates, it's not so good but we are still averaging around 50/50. Some parts are rather less favourable than that, for example one day I had 16 No's to 10 Yes's, and 19 possibles.

"Although we have done 3 sweeps, in many areas we have only talked to probably around 20% of the voters.

"The only reason I have been able to take part in this campaign is because I was made redundant in January, so it's thanks to Gormless Gordon that I have been able to spend so much time on the campaign.'

There was another very good vote in Redcar where Lynn Payne scored a more than respectable 16% of the vote. But what is important here is that there may well be wide-ranging repercussions from the overall result which saw Labour lose a safe seat to the Lib-Dems. Let's evesdrop on a discussion on the Redcar by-election on the influential by-election website Vote-2007.

One poster wrote:
"If UAF, Unite and the local anti-fascists had channelled their efforts and resources into supporting the Labour campaign we would have comfortably held the seat."

And another replied:
"Unite is a Labour-affiliated union (I am a member of it) and if Labour-supporting officers and activists have time to be spent on campaigning, they should really be using it to work for Labour candidates."

I'm certain that this is a debate that we shall be hearing more about as Labour struggles to motivate its activists to put out its own leaflets.

And finally, well done to Mike Witchell in Felpham West on another surprisingly good vote in the South East. This region has been virtually unconsidered as a possible for returning a BNP MEP but now there's just an inkling that it might be the dark horse of the Euro Elections for us.

Only one election this week, in Moston in Manchester. I haven't heard anything about our campaign but understand that there is a huge Lib-Dem steamroller campaign taking place which might propel them from third to first.

The BNP will, of course, be looking for the 8% required to get Nick elected to the European Parliament, and if possible 12% to incorporate a buffer zone for those areas where we might not be able to meet that level of support. If anyone knows how it's going, please let me know so that I can update the readers of this blog tomorrow.

This morning I'm starting on Freedom 105 which will be the big print-run Euro Elections issue and looks as though it will be having a record-breaking circulation of 125,000!

Sick Bed

I'VE staggered out of my sick bed to post up last night's election results on the main website.

Been laid low with a cold for the past two days. As you get older they seem to take their toll more and with your head swimming it's near impossible to write anything that makes sense.

I'm in a real panic over Freedom which has to be to the printer by Monday, so that's where all my efforts will be channelled over the next 72 hours.