Our Quiet Revolution has given us foundations

"A WEEK is a long time in politics," so goes the saying, and how true it is.

Last Sunday it was all about UKIP. A 19% poll rating, Nick Griffin jocked off The Politics Show and replaced by Farage, and wall to wall Sunday newspapers enthusing about that Party.

It was very different yesterday with the BNP the centre of attention. A prime time spot on the BBC's seven o'clock evening news and our opponents up in arms about the Corporation giving us the oxygen of publicity.

Who can say what the state of play will be next Sunday, or more importantly a week on Thursday, when voters will make their choice.

Firstly, today, I want to draw your attention to an editorial in this morning's Independent.

I'm not surprised that there's no name attached to this 'Comment' because it's so shockingly researched that it's an embarrassment to the newspaper.

"The BNP has developed into a significant political force in only a handful of areas, mainly in a few troubled towns in the north-west of England that have experienced prolonged high unemployment as a result of the collapse of traditional industries and which have been under the complacent management of a single political party for decades. Outside these pockets, the BNP has made few inroads."

The author obviously hasn't bothered to check the local council by-election results of the past 24 months. Like a lot of journalists he has failed to notice our Quiet Revolution which has kept beneath the media's radar clocking up those 10-15% votes time after time in almost every county in the country.

I know my colleague Wayne McDermott and his boss Geoff Dickens, will be rather irritated that our excellent efforts in the East Midlands, seem to have been ignored by The Independent. Late last night Tina completed the 'New Member' stats for the past week and it was the East Midlands that topped the table from Yorkshire in second place and the North West back in third.

It was a worry when UKIP were being hyped up last week and many of us feared that it might be a repeat of 2004 all over again. But please rest assured things are very different for us this time around.

Our support has been built up over the past five years on firm foundations. There is a bedrock of BNP support that really exists and is there whether the media puts the spotlight on it or not. It is there whether there is an Expenses Scandal or not. It doesn't just exist, like UKIP's alleged support, only because of the Expenses Scandal.

Our campaign this time is on a different level than anything that has gone before and together with that solid bottom line of support we should make the necessary step up in votes needed to win a seat in the North West at the very least.

And remember that's what this campaign is all about, gaining an MEP to take the party another step along the path to an increased political influence within Britain.

It is a black and white issue, there is no grey area. If we get an MEP elected our campaign has been a success, if we don't it has been a failure.

At the moment Betfair, which is the public betting site where people put their money where their mouth is, has the odds for the BNP winning a seat in the European Parliament at 1.51, and the odds against us winning a seat at 2.56, so fingers-crossed at the moment it seems as though we are on target for a successful outcome.

There was a much better researched report in this morning's Independent about the BNP's website, which is still under attack from our opponents at the time of writing. You can read that report here.



Today's Allerdale candidate card is for Vince Richardson in the Harrington, Clifton, and Stainburn Electoral Division for Cumbria County Council. Here is the info for this one.
Harrington Clifton & Stainburn
Allan Caine (Liberal-Democrat)

Robert Hardon (Conservative)

Marjorie Rae (Labour)
Vincent Richardson (British National Party)

County 2005: Allan Caine (Lib-Dem) 1603, Joseph Holliday (Lab) 1450.
Borough 2007:
Clifton Ward: Heather McIntosh (Lib-Dem) 290, Maureen Rourke (Lab) 272.
Harrington Ward: Ian Francis (Lib-Dem) 610, Alan Caine (Lib-Dem 594), Marjorie Rae (Lab) 534, Hillary Harrington (Ind) 363.
Stainburn Ward: Robert Hardon (Con) 278, Edward Routledge (Lab) 120, Mary lancaster (Lib-Dem) 85.

So you can see that it's virgin territory for us but we are hopeful that Vince will make his presence felt.

Lovely day up here in Cumbria this morning so I'm off leafleting shortly - the forecast for this afternoon is not so good.