At last, Britons are stirring!

WHAT a good story to wake up to this morning! British workers at the third largest oil refinery in the country walking out because the management has brought in 90 foreign workers to cut costs.

Over three hundred staff took part in the unofficial action at the Lindsey Refinery, near Immingham, yesterday and one worker told BBC Radio Humberside: "We are angry that workers have been taken on from outside the UK when people here are out of work."

Great stuff. Let's hope the local BNP unit can organise an activity at the gates today giving out our British Jobs for British Workers leaflets.

Fenham Ward by-election today and I am very lucky that I am still able to give you the latest news from Newcastle. That's because Ken Booth, our excellent candidate, wasn't happy with me yesterday because someone told him that I had described him as "a boring old fart" on the BNP website. What I actually said was "a rather dry old stick" which is very different. After checking for himself, Ken agreed to this latest run-down. He told me:

"Everything depends on today. Either Labour, the Lib-Dems or ourselves could win. We will do everything we can to get our vote out. But what is most important is to look at our vote share. We are coming up from just 10%, where the other two parties are working from a base of 35%. That's a huge amount of ground to make up."

Cumbria's elections officer, Clive Jefferson, was at the opening of the postal votes yesterday. Of course he is sworn to secrecy about what took place, but what I did glean from what he was able to tell me was that neither Labour, nor the Lib-Dems had built up an unassailable lead and Clive confirms what Ken told me . . . "Everything depends on today".

If anyone can get to Newcastle today to help, activity will be going on till 10.00pm.

Interesting quote from Gerry Gable in the Bexley Times yesterday:

The newspaper reported: "But anti-BNP campaigners said the result did not reflect a rise in the party's popularity in the area. Searchlight publisher Gerry Gable said: "They have always had a strong base in the Bexley area, so this is no great shock.".

Our antagonist-in-chief acknowledging that we have a strong base of support!!!!

Normally he says we don't have any support and that anyone who has voted BNP "has been duped".

So why the change of tack?

I'll tell you why. Searchlight has just been handed a huge budget by the Labour Party and Trade Unions to try to keep the BNP votes down this year. Gerry knows this is a forlorn hope so in order to keep the funding coming in he will be dismissing every significant BNP vote with the quote: "This result does not reflect a rise in the Party's popularity. They have always had a strong base in the area, so this is no great shock."

I predict that Gerry's next three quotes to the press will be:

"This result does not reflect a rise in the Party's popularity in the area. They have always had a strong base in Newcastle, so this is no great shock."

"This result does not reflect a rise in the Party's popularity in the area. They have always had a strong base in Tameside, so this is no great shock."

"This result does not reflect a rise in the Party's popularity in the area. They have always had a strong base in Croydon, so this is no great shock."

Experience teaches you to always keep your feet on the ground, and that is what everyone must do during these exciting times. I have the greatest antidote when I suspect my expections are running away with me - the Mid Staffs by-election in March 1990.

I was the National Front's campaign manager and spent nearly a month in the constituency, working every day to try to maximise the Nationalist vote.

This was the result:

Mid Staffordshire (Lab gain from Con)
S Heal (Lab) 27,649
C Prior (Con) 18,200
T Jones (Lib-Dem) 6,315
I Wood (SDP) 1,422
R Saunders (Green) 1,215
J Bazeley (Ind) 547
D Sutch (Monster) 336
C Hill (NF) 311

It was a 'throat-slitting' result, just 0.6% of the vote and beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party. But little did I know at the time that those four, what appeared to be wasted, weeks would provide me with so much stability today.

And that's because it taught me to take nothing for granted and to appreciate each and every day that our Party is making progress. The membership of the BNP is growing every day and our election results are getting better every week. That is a massive feat considering what our enemies have thrown at us.

And finally, we are nearly through the week after ski-ing. Anyone who goes ski-ing will know that it is the hardest holiday to come back from. The first week home is just full of memories of the previous seven days and it's almost like 'doing time' to get through it. Now, if I may, the last photo from the holiday (I promise). "On top of the world, Ma"



My hat is an exclusive Workington Reds bobble hat. Guaranteed to keep you warm in freezing temperatures at Borough Park or on top of an Austrian mountain.

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.

Third Parties in Fenham!

This is a letter being sent out by the trade union Unison, intent on interfering with the result of the Fenham ward by-election which is being fought on Thursday. This is on top of a scurrilous leaflet put out earlier in the campaign by the same trade union. It will be interesting to see on which candidate's election expenses these items appear.

On the subject of interference in elections by "third parties", I am delighted to report that the BNP's legal eagle, Lee Barnes, has been in touch with the Electoral Commission with regard to a number of recent developments which appear to indicate that huge sums of money are already being spent by such "third parties" which could be in breech of electoral law. Needless to say this money is being spent on schemes designed to try to stop people voting for the British National Party. I will keep you up to date with any developments.

"It was all fair!" That's the bleat from the deputy returning officer at Bexley Council after he received a deluge of complaints concerning dubious electoral practices at the recent East Wickham by-election where the Tories held the seat by just eight votes from the BNP. In a letter to a regular reader of this blog he wrote:

"The Council has received a number of enquiries about comments appearing on the website “ Vote UK Discussion forum.” This website has nothing to do with the Council. I can confirm that the count was conducted to the highest professional standards within election rules. If you need further clarification I suggest you take up your concerns directly with the author of the comments.
Malcolm Constable
Deputy Returning Officer / Electoral Services Manager
London Borough of Bexley"

I was offered a 3 minute slot on Sunday's Politics Show which is covering the growth of the British National Party in Cumbria and the North East, but because of pressure of work (Freedom must be ready for next week) I had to decline the invitation. I understand that Adam Walker from Durham has been lined up as a more than suitable replacement.

I have appeared on the Politics Show before, back in 2004, when once again I was promised a three minute slot. I travelled over to Sunderland, a drive which took nearly 2 hours. I waited around for another two hours, did the interview and then drove back home. It was a day out from work but which would be worthwhile if it provided some good publicity. When I was watching the programme a couple of days later, the door bell rang and I opened it to let in a friend of my daughter. When I settled back to watch the rest of the show, I suddenly realised that I had been and gone. My three minute slot was, in fact, just 15 seconds. I have had numerous similar experiences which have put me off ever making any effort to accommodate the media.

I forgot to tell you about Christmas, I won the draw to choose the afternoon film and we all watched "Brassed Off". Everyone liked it and I will no doubt enjoy watching again. Here's a scene that's quite poignant. Stephen Tompkinson is Phil, a miner badly in debt after being arrested and imprisoned during the Miner's Strike. He supplements his income by being a clown for children's parties but when his wife and children walk out on him because the debt collectors have taken their furniture, he votes to take the pay-off offered by the Coal Board and votes to close the Grimley pit - hence this scene is called Coco the Scab