Usually there's an ulterior Motive

Earlier in the week I said I was disappointed to report that the Board of Deputies of British Jews were advising members of their community not to vote for the BNP. I revealed how one Ruth Smeeth was spearheading this campaign.

At the time I was under the impression that Ruth was just an ordinary member of the Jewish community concerned (however misguided this may have been) over the British National Party's surge in popularity, but of course that wasn't the case. In politics there is usually another reason why things happen, other than the initial impression the public is persuaded to take on board.

Ruth Smeeth just happens to be the Labour's Party Parliamentary candidate for Burton and another reason why she's launched this campaign is to stop the British National Party from gaining a foothold in the town itself.

In an article for the left-wing Labour magazine Progress, Ruth appeals to the Tories, Liberal Democrats and members of her own party to combat the BNP in the constituency by addressing voters' genuine and legitimate concerns about immigration, crime and anti-social behaviour.

Apparently she was worried by the recent Stretton ward by-election result for East Staffordshire Borough Council by-election. There, although the Tories held the seat comfortably, the 'story of the night' was that the BNP came a close third, with candidate Clive Jones notching 327 votes to Labour's 366.

Ruth said the two main parties had 'failed to anticipate' the recent council by-election result, which saw their share of the vote fall while BNP's climbed to 18.2 per cent.

"We need to engage in the debate and acknowledge the concerns of the community, explaining why immigration is positive and community cohesion is a noble goal," she told the local newspaper.

"If we don't take on this fight, we are letting the BNP win an argument that is already starting to have a detrimental impact on our society."

The weather has hit my football this afternoon with Reds game at home to Worcester City called off last night because of a waterlogged pitch. Still I'm not too concerned as I'm in the final phase of finishing Freedom which needs to go to the printers next week.

'Fine' Funeral & Quiet Revolution

IT WAS a 'fine' send off for Nigel Williamson yesterday - if a funeral can ever be 'fine' and I'm certain the gentleman himself would have been very pleased with it if he was looking down on Distington yesterday.

Two motor cycles with Union Jack flags led the cortege to the Crematorium where the service was arranged and conducted by Clive Jefferson, the Press Officer for Cumbria BNP. There were moving tributes from Clive himself, Tony Carvell from Carlisle BNP and Nick Griffin, the chairman of the British National Party.

The weather was spring-like and the hall full, and despite the sombre nature of the occasion, there was an underlying feeling of pride that Nigel's contribution to the BNP in his short time as a member and activist had touched so many people.

Martine, Nigel's widow, showed all her husband's courage and strength in battling through such a difficult day and was clearly moved by the show of support and depth of feeling of those who had travelled from a far to pay their respects.

Full marks to Clive for organising the event so well and to Debbie Stafford, now the BNP's one remaining councillor in Cumbria, for a superb buffet.

There was another excellent election result last night in Wellingborough.

Wellingborough Council
Redwell West Ward
Thursday 27th March 2008
Andrew Bigley (Con) 665
DavidRobinson (BNP) 177
Elaine Baggott (Lab) 169
Jane Brown (Lib-Dem) 40
Tony Ellwood (UKIP) 39
Jonathan Hornett (Green) 37
BNP Percentage 15.7%

There was an inkling that we might do well in a report from Rob Walker, the BNP contact for the town, which I posted on the main website on Tuesday, but I think to come second even surprised our activists on the ground.

This morning I got an update from Wayne McDermott who spent the day in Wellingborough yesterday.

"I am certain that you will have already heard that we got beaten last night with the people of Wellingborough roundly rejecting the BNP !!!!

"We came second and these are the sort of results that I like - a good vote, coming from nowhere in a Conservative heartland in middle England, and polling a more than respectable 16% of the vote.

"We ran a fair campaign with three local leaflets delivered and a full sweep of canvassing. But today we expect nothing less when contesting by election in most parts of the East Midlands - such are the huge strides the Party has made over the last 12 months. I am sure Rob Walker will provide you with a full report but a couple of highlights for me were:

"Outside the polling station where I was telling yesterday an elderly gentleman told me he was voting for the first time in his life because at last he had someone to vote for!

"Another massacre of the media and BNP opposition-puffed UKIP. I'm delighted when I see their name on the ballot paper now, because I know it will mean a great boost for our members and another spate of recruits to us from UKIP.

"There were two smear leaflets put out with endorsements from Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems. Now didn't that backfire on them as we beat all three!

"There were even some black and ethnic minority voters suggesting they where supporting us, saying they were scared that Britain was on the road to becoming a Muslim country.

"I was delighted by the number of non-voters from other wards in Wellingborough passing by and who asked me about BNP meetings, joining the Party and if they would be able to vote next time. I gave them the information they required as well as copy of Voice of Freedom."

It was nice to meet Hugglescote BNP councillor Graham Partner and Ivan Hammonds, our unlucky candidate in Ibstock in February (beaten by just 64 votes), yesterday who had travelled up from Leicestershire for Nigel's funeral. Earlier in the day John Ryde had sent me a copy of a 'humdinger' of a letter Graham had had published in the Coalville Times yesterday and I have included this below.

 

Media bias raises a laugh at Maryport meeting

IT WAS the usual warm and friendly meeting in Maryport last night with 30 odd locals braving the rain and hail to hear an update on our campaign in Carlisle for the local elections.

Allerdale BNP organiser Paul Stafford, opened the meeting with a minute's silence for our lost comrade Nigel Williamson and at the end there was a collection of £150 for his widow Martine.

I spoke on the media's bias against the BNP and as if to make my point, our local News & Star newspaper had that very evening a full page on how wonderful the Rock against Racism concerts were going to be next month and an editorial about how beneficial the recent increase in the number of immigrants in Carlisle has been to the city. Thankfully most local people now treat such propaganda with the contempt it deserves.

While I spoke on the media's bias in general, I did focus on the local media as well recalling the coverage of last year's Allerdale Council's local election count by the Times & Star. It carried a running commentary as events unfolded and the blatant anti-BNP bias, which I recalled last night, raised a laugh or two amongst the audience it was so obvious.

Here are some snippets:

"11.30am: RESULT: - and a huge cheer from the hall - ELLENBOROUGH - Janice Wood (L) 635; Martin Wood (L) 580; Martin Wingfield (BNP) 342. That's one of the four BNP candidates out of the running.

12.26pm RESULT: WIGTON - John Armstrong (I) 756, Alan Hortin 518, John Crouch (L) 650, George Scott (I) 821, Paul Stafford (BNP) 347. Armstrong, Crouch and Scott elected. That's two down for the BNP - the party had high hopes of capturing a seat there but they were given a hiding.

12.55pm "Wonderful news - obviously Jim's (the Labour leader of Allerdale Council) electorate didn't feel he was doing quite the 'perfect' job which he himself did. Jim gone, one Wingfield gone (that was me) - it's only lunchtime and I feel like cracking open the wine!"

2.36pm RESULT: EWANRIGG - Tina Wingfield (BNP) 276, Carl John Holding (L) 610, Carni McCarron-Holmes (L) 572. Holding and McCarron-Holmes elected. It's not a good day for the BNP - they've failed to capture any seats so far and they've just one candidate left.

It's all over for the BNP, who have left the centre. Four candidates fielded - no winners."

Neither Labour, the Tories or the Liberal Democrats were reported on in such a manner during this blow by blow account of the results. And in their summing up the newspaper said that the big losers of the elections were the BNP even though we had polled our best votes ever in Allerdale. Yet Labour, who had been annihilated and humiliated in that election, weren't deemed to have 'lost' as badly as the BNP.

This wasn't just biased journalism, it was bad journalism and that newspaper and its editorial team should hang their heads in shame.

Following on from yesterday's report that Rock Against Racism was targeting inmates on remand at Brixton to get them to vote for any political party other than the BNP, now we have Operation Black Vote urging immigrant groups to register to vote against the BNP.

"OBV (Operation Black Vote) have made a call for every black citizen who is eligible to vote to register before April 16th, and exercise this right at the London elections on May 1st.

"Every Black person eligible to vote must exercise that right as the threat of the British National Party gaining a significant foothold in the London election son May 1st is very real, the UK's leading national black policy research and networking organisation warn.

"Black populations of England and Wales are more concentrated in London than any other part of the UK, so representation in this city is critical to health, well being and future prosperity of these communities.

"There are concerns that many of the pressing issues effecting black Londoner's such as: the increasing representation of African Caribbean patients in psychiatric care; deaths of patients in mental health units. The over representation of black people within prison settings despite having lower offending rates and the school exclusion rates of black children will continue to get worse unless black voters ensure they elect a London Mayor who is committed to address these injustices.

"OBV, estimate that if 50,000 more Black Londoners vote than in the last London elections along with other communities we can defeat the rise of the BNP."

There certainly seems as much belief amongst our opponents as amongst ourselves that we are going to do well in the elections five weeks today.

ELECTION LATEST:
Just had this in from Keith Thompson in Southend:
"I was with Len Heather yesterday with his nominations at the Basildon Civic Suite. He is fighting the full slate, that is 14 candidates for the full 14 wards that are up for election. Southend on Sea are likewise fighting the full slate of 17 wards."

That's excellent news from Keith and should give everyone a morale boost.

This afternoon will be a sombre occasion as we lay to rest Nigel Williamson. He was such a key part of the BNP revival here in Cumbria and his contribution will be sorely missed.

Anti-BNP concert for Brixton inmates!

ONE of the 'big guns' in the opposition's armory against the British National Party in the run-up to the May elections is a series of music concerts under the banner of 'Rock Against Racism'.

The programme of events kicked off with a gig at Brixton Prison where inmates were told about the unacceptable policies of the BNP, including stopping immigration and clamping down on crime, while listening to a selection of songs about being in prison. The afternoon jolly was the idea of prison governor Paul McDowell, in an effort to rally support against the BNP for the GLA and Mayoral elections. Apparently McDowell, who says he is committed to fighting the BNP, believes that Brixton's 800 prisoners from 60 nationalities most of whom are on remand and entitled to a vote, will want to use their influence to try to nullify support for the BNP at the ballot box.

"The roots of this go back all the way to my involvement as a teenager in the Anti-Nazi League," said McDowell. "I have always had an interest in race relations and I've been able to cross-pollinate that in terms of my professional life as a prison governor. We're using entertainment to get some key messages across about racism and diversity."

As I said last week, I'm beginning to wonder whether our opponents might be losing the plot just a little in their various campaigns against us.

The leaflets they put out telling people to vote for any political party other than the BNP, do appear in some elections, to have had the very opposite effect. The electorate is already cynical of the motives of many mainstream politicians and are disinclined to do their bidding.

Now we have Rock Against Racism targeting prisoners on remand, a move which will hardly encourage support from the public in general whose main concern at the moment is rising crime in their communities. This, together with the campaign being fronted by the rather media unfriendly Pete Doherty and the champagne socialist Billy Bragg, must limit somewhat the appeal of this 'musical' attack on the BNP. Still we shall have to wait until May 1st to see how successful or not the campaign has been.

Allerdale meeting tonight where I must say a few words - probably on the local media's bias against us, the extent of which always surprises any new recruits to the Party.

Carlisle campaign: Just 37 days to go

It will be a sad day for British National Party members and supporters in Cumbria on Thursday when we attend the funeral of our colleague and friend Nigel Williamson.

On the evening before, there's a meeting of Allerdale BNP and although there was discussion that this should be postponed, it was decided that Nigel would have wanted it to go ahead, so it will take place as advertised  and the collection will be for Nigel's widow, Martine.

In one of last week's entries I mentioned the local elections in Carlisle on May 1st, and there's been quite a bit of correspondence regarding how we performed last time and if we can improve on this in five and a half weeks time.

In May 2007 these were the results:

Carlisle City Council
Belah Ward
Wayne Newton (BNP)96
BNP Percentage: 5.1%
Con 818, Lab 482, Ind 399, ED 96.

Botcheby Ward
Karl Chapple (BNP)217
BNP Percentage: 17.6%
Lab 618, Con 400.

Currock Ward
Brian Allan (BNP)309
BNP Percentage: 24.1%
Lab 571, Con 235, Lib-Dem 169.

Harraby Ward
David Fraser (BNP)262
BNP Percentage: 15.2%
Lab 776, Con 456, Lib-Dem 232.

St Adians Ward
Tony Carvell (BNP)200
BNP Percentage: 13.7%
Lab 750, 512.

Upperby Ward
Christine Williamson (BNP)168
BNP Percentage: 11.7%
Lab 677, Lib-Dem 371, Con 215.

As to our candidates and hopes this time around, please keep in check with Clive Jefferson's website at cumbrianpatriotbnp.blogspot I understand we will be contesting more than six wards this time around and that canvass returns in our target wards are already significantly up on last year.

Yesterday we had snow in Cumbria, and it was laying up on Shap as I made my way down the M6 to junction 28 and then on the country route to Southport for a crucial Conference North fixture.

It was an excellent day out as Reds secured a much-needed point against the promotion hopefuls. But as sometimes happens on these occasions there was some welcome political news at the game. I was approached by a West Cumbrian town councillor who told me that he and a number of his friends had "had enough" and are joining the BNP. He wanted details of meetings and how he could help so I briefed him over a cup of soup and a meat and potato pie at half time.

BNP poll 20% in West Sussex

Congratulations to Albert Bodle and his hard-working team of activists for an excellent near-20% of the vote in a first time election for the British National Party in rural West Sussex.

The full result:

Arun District Council


Yapton Ward


Thursday 20th March 2008


Ema Neno (Con) 620

David Jones (Lib-Dem) 212


Albert Bodle (BNP) 205

BNP Percentage: 19.8%




Now is that bad advice or what?

THE EUPHORIA over last night's brilliant election result in Havering is tempered somewhat this morning by news that the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Chronicle is launching a campaign to lobby members of the Jewish community to vote for any political party other than the British National Party.

This is disappointing news considering that in recent years there has been a growing dialogue between senior members of the Jewish Community and the BNP and that today there are an increasing number of Jews joining and campaigning for the BNP and feeling very comfortable with their political choice.

The JC in its editorial seems rather fuzzy in its thinking behind backing the anti-BNP campaign.

"The British National Party likes to tell us, it is unfairly maligned by its many political opponents. Why, far from espousing antisemitism, it merely seeks to restore British values that true patriots — among them loyal Jews — would naturally share. We are not so sure. The party has been working hard to remake its image, contesting council-ward, parish-council and local byelections using blonde local school activists or well-spoken middle-class family men, and is simply waiting for its electoral breakthrough. That cannot be allowed to happen, and every JC reader needs to understand the significance of their casting their vote on May 1 — for any party other than the BNP."

The British National Party is the only one of the four main parties to be campaigning against the growing influence of Islam in this country. The Old Gang parties seem prepared to just lie down and be walked over by advocates of this aggressive religion which has as its central plank the demise of all other religions.

Now amongst the non-believers of Islam, according to the Muslim preachers that teach in this country's mosques, there are none more hated and vilified than followers of the Jewish religion. In fact, what some of these clerics say should be done to the Jewish people (according to a recent Channel 4 documentary), I wouldn't want to publicise on this website.

Yet dispite this, the JC and Board of Deputies are asking Jews to vote for the very political parties that will allow the further growth of Islam and not for the only political party that will stem its growth in Britain.

Now is that bad advice or what.

But for supporters of the British National Party there is still a bit of a morale boost hidden away in the reporting of this rather depressing turn of events.

One Ruth Smeeth, apparently the campaign co-ordinator, has made a pretty good analysis of the BNP's chances in London. She reports:

“The BNP has grown in strength in the last 10 years. They have candidates standing for the GLA for the first time and councillors for re-election. They could take as many as three seats in London.

“Last year, the BNP stood in a by-election in Stanmore and got five per cent of the vote. The London election is scary because, if the voting levels remain the same, they will need only an extra 5,000 votes to win a seat.”

“The last elections clashed with European elections, but not this time. Then, the UK Independence Party got 11 per cent, but now it has collapsed and the BNP could capture that vote."

No football and no horseracing today, so it looks like another day in the office working on the all important April issue of Freedom. I will be having a glass of wine or two tonight, remembering our lost colleague Nigel and toasting Mark Logan's superb victory in Gooshays ward.

Fine Ambassador

His was the first face I usually saw. He was always smiling and always immaculately dressed. It didn't seem to matter where the meeting or activity was - Carlisle, Maryport, Workington or Whitehaven, he was always one of the first people there . . .

But sadly no more. The untimely death of Nigel Williamson is a devastating loss to everyone who knew him. Nigel was a great team player and fine ambassador for the British National Party. His friend and political colleague Clive Jefferson, provides a moving tribute on his website: cumbrianpatriotbnp.blogspot.com

Nigel was working hard along with Clive, Brian Allan and our team in Carlisle for the local elections in May where the Party is hoping to have more candidates and secure a bigger share of the vote than we did in May last year. In recent weeks Nigel had been out leafletting and canvassing three times a week and the response on the doorstep had been even more enthusiastic than it was 12 months ago.

Everyone campaigning here in Cumbria will have in their minds that all our efforts for May 1st are now for the BNP and for Nigel - these local elections will be dedicated to his memory and I'm certain he will be looking down to see how we have fared.

There was a useful Advisory Council meeting yesterday where future plans for the Party were discussed in detail. Suffice to say after May 1st it will be all systems go for the European Elections and the 2009 local elections. Planning meetings start in June and the Summer School this year will have a whole day on maximising election performance.

Researcher into voting fraud needed

I'm just off on a seven hour round trip for the BNP Advisory Council meeting, I expect the meeting will last as long as the journey itself, so it will be a tiring day and I won't feel like blogging when I get home.

Also Emily is back from university this afternoon for the Easter holidays so I expect the relative calm of the last few months will be broken.

Freedom photographer and contributor Bob Gertner has sent in some images of the forms being circulated around London in an effort to get the various immigrant communities to signed up to vote in the last ditch attempt to nullify the effect of the swing to the BNP by traditional Londoners. Bob tells me these three forms are for immigrants from Turkey and Southern Asia - I'll take his word for it.

With our elections open to all and sundry to take part, is it any wonder that there is so much election fraud? The latest example is covered in today's newspapers and comes from Slough. The media is writing it up as a crooked Tory but, in fact, the chap concerned being a Conservative is quite irrelevant. As with almost every case of election fraud in this country, it is someone from an immigrant community that is involved and the purpose of the fraud is to secure representation for their immigrant community and not about gaining increased influence for any of the 'Old Gang' parties.

What would be useful would be a researcher with time on their hands to look back, to say the 1979 General Election, and examine electoral fraud for the next near-30 years and come-up with the ethnic breakdown of those involved. I expect the results will be quite damning.

And to finish on a positive note, Jonathan Freedland writing in today's Guardian says:
"Those on the ground predict that, thanks to support in Barking and Dagenham, the British National Party could well win a London assembly seat."

Now I don't often agree with what is written in The Guardian, but in this instance I believe that Jonathan could be right.

Back tomorrow - M6 permitting.

Putting through your own net

Success in party politics is very much about avoiding scoring own goals. Over the last three decades, the Nationalist parties that I have been a member of have been prolific own goal scorers which was probably something to do with the lack of our success.

Now, thankfully, we are gradually getting our act together and as we have become more successful, it is our opponents who are finding their own net with increasing regularity. Take yesterday's St Patrick's Day message which was presented by Pete Doherty instructing Britain's Irish community not to vote for the BNP at the GLA Elections on May 1st.

I'm no authority on Doherty's music. I was brought up on The Kinks and the Small Faces and my most played CDs of the moment are a box set by Matt Monro and the soundtrack from the film Brassed Off. But while I know nothing of his musical talents, I have seen him on television for his various court appearances, as have the majority of the UK population.

He gives the impression of being quite an objectionable fellow and I can't believe for the life of me how our opponents can believe that his pronouncement on the BNP would influence any right-thinking person to vote one way or the other.

DOHERTY: Scoring for the BNP while playing for the opposition.

Also supporting the anti-BNP St Patrick's Day statement was Billy Bragg, who signed off his most recent performance in East London by shouting to the audience: "I'm Billy Bragg, and I'm from Barking!"

Well if I had been there I would have shouted back "You're not from Barking, you liar - you live in a mansion in the poshest part of west Dorset!"

Muslim charities based in and around London meet the Charity Commission's Faith and Social Cohesion Unit (FSCU) today so Commission staff can explained how they can raise more money.

The delegates will hear from Ghulam Rasool, Head of the Faith and Social Cohesion Unit; and Yousif Al-Khoei from the newly launched Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) as well as representatives from the British Muslim Forum, Muslim College, and the Three Faiths Forum.

Ghulam Rasool, Head of the Faith and Social Cohesion Unit will report:

"Faith-based charities are one of the fastest growing elements of the voluntary sector, and we work hand in hand with the Muslim community to strengthen the governance of existing charities, and promote the valuable contribution they make to society."

On the same theme, Khurshid Ahmed, Current Chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) will say:
"The Commission's new team will work closely with various Muslim organisations, charities and mosques, to ensure that governance within charities is strengthened, helping faith communities play their legitimate role in building a true and vibrant society, and advancing community cohesion."

"True and vibrant society? Advancing community cohension?" Maybe someone should tell that to the East London vicar still in hospital 12 days after being attacked outside his church by Muslim thugs.

The sole purpose of Charity Commission's Faith and Social Cohesion Unit is to channel funds into the Muslim community which don't appear to be coming from the Government so as not to antagonise the host population. But of course it's the long-suffering taxpayer that pays for the privilege of the Muslim Community having the Charity Commission's Faith and Social Cohesion Unit working on their behalf in the first place.

High jinks in Havering

There's an amusing tale from our by-election campaign in Havering.

Our excellent candidate in the Gooshays Ward there, Mark Logan, recounts what happened.

"We put out this special edition Gooshays Patriot yesterday because we heard that Gerry Gable and his gang from Searchlight had planned to distribute their anti-BNP literature in the ward.

"I decided to treat fire with fire on this occasion and planned to follow Gable around wherever he went. When he put one of his lying leaflets through a letterbox, we would be there to put through one of ours telling the truth.

"We certainly caught Gable by surprise, he looked completely shell-shocked and didn't know what to do next. We eventually engaged in a cat and mouse chase around the Gooshays with the BNP following the Searchlies gang around in several cars - it was like a scene from Starsky and Hutch. There were 15 BNP activists out and they had a similar number.

"Eventually they gave up and went back to the wilderness of Clayhall - the final result BNP-1 Searchlies-0 and I can report it was immensely satisfying to give Gable a taste of his own medicine. Let's hope we can come out on top again on Thursday!"

There are two by-election being held on Thursday and the candidates are as follows:

Havering Borough Council
Gooshays Ward
Thursday 20th March 2008
Yve Cornell (Lab)
David Durant (Lib)
Malcolm Fox (Con)
Mark Logan (BNP)
Ian Sanderson(Lib-Dem)
Lawrence Webb (UKIP)

Arun District Council
Yapton Ward
Thursday 20th March 2008
Albert Bodle (BNP)
David Jones (Lib-Dem)
Ema Neno (Con)

Hearing about the election in Yapton stirred some memories for me because I know the area very well.

It's a lovely picturesque village, or was forty years ago, and not far from Fontwell racecourse. Back in 1968 I spent a year at a "crammers" called West Down Tutors (The Mill), just down the road in Clymping. It was an easy going residential school and I can remember spending most of my time racing around the countryside on my Lambretta or in the betting office when, of course, I should have been studying for those O'Levels I didn't get when I was at Steyning Grammar School.

The Mill must have cost my parents a fortune. There were just 30-odd pupils with a teaching staff of 7 or eight, and I had a room next to Adrian Palmer, whose father owned Huntley & Palmer biscuits. Thankfully I managed to get the extra three O'Levels I needed which made my parents happy if not their bank manager.

Spring is in the air

IT'S A LOVELY day in West Cumbria and my general feeling of well-being has been helped by a vital point for Workington Reds against Hinckley United yesterday afternoon. The 1-1 draw maintains our position 10 points clear of the relegation zone with three games in hand and a far superior goal difference. It was a difficult afternoon with the visitors taking the lead against the run of play just before half time and we had to wait till five minutes before the end for Reedo (Michael Reed on as a sub) to level matters. The 370 crowd was better than on Tuesday night, but still a long way short of providing the much needed breaking even income.

My colleague Keith Thompson from Southend BNP responded to my report on our efforts in the Harrow by-election on Thursday. He wrote:

"I saw your article re the Harrow by-Election on the BNP website. I have a special interest in Harrow since I lived their for many years. I joined Union Movement in about 1961 as they had a branch. We fought lots of elections. Then came the NF period. They did even better. Of course the borough was getting darker by the day and we used to campaign with the slogan "Don't let Harrow become another Southall". Well, it certainly is now.

"I still go there from time to time and one hardly sees a white face. Neverthe less it is wonderful to see that some activity continues - and all these votes will help push up the British National Party's percentage in the GLA."

Keith also reported that he thinks that Southend BNP might be able to contest sixteen wards in the town in May. That is a brilliant achievement if it is the case, and a fine example to every other branch in the country.

It is now two weeks since we came back from our super holiday in Austria and I know now that I must let go of those wonderful memories for another year. Here's a website for that great little village just 30 minutes from Innsbruck.

http://www.lifte.at/kuhtai_en/index.php

I'm off for a walk along the prom to take in that first whiff of spring in the air, but will be back to see Richard Barnbrook on the London Politics Show at 2.00pm.

A plug for searching on Google

There were a couple of promising election results from Middlesbrough last night which can be found on the main website. In my 32 years involved in British nationalism, I can't remember there being any local elections fought in that town so to poll over 10% in two-by-elections held on the same day as a very first effort should make our two candidates and their helpers brim with pride.

My BNP Google search yesterday came up with a play being performed in Huddersfield. Apparently it deals with the many faces of that Yorkshire town.

There’s a woman police officer dealing with sexist colleagues.

The young Polish immigrant, who speaks broken English and has swapped professional work in her own country for physical labour in Britain.

The Jamaican woman, who defends the town to the hilt.

The female vicar who tries hard to bring people together from her town centre church.

The mixed-race rent boy and an elderly Cockney who votes for the British National Party because he feels his way of life is under threat.

The BNP supporter had, of course, to be portrayed as an outsider - it would be non-PC to have had someone actually from Huddersfield itself, appalled at the changes taking place in their town, and voting for the BNP.

I found it strange that there were no Muslims portrayed in the play - but on reflection I don't think they would have wanted to be involved with female vicars and policewomen and certainly not mixed-race rent boys. Maybe they were offered a slot and politely declined.

I hope the people of Huddersfield enjoy the offering.

I know I promised not to mention the 'Gang of Four' but I've been told that I have been branded a 'Nick Griffin Yes Man' in their latest bulletin. I can put up with all the attacks possible from our political opponents, but I do confess to being upset when attacked by former colleagues.

'A Nick Griffin Yes Man?' I suggest they Google 'Martin Wingfield' and educate themselves with a little bit of nationalist history.
I stand by Nick Griffin today because he is by far the best man for the job and the only possible leader of the British National Party. There is no other nationalist within a million miles of him politically.

On the football front, the demise of Scottish Premier League club Gretna, could have a devastating effect on Workington Reds. Our manager, Darren Edmondson was employed by the club as a Football in the Community officer but now with no one being paid, I presume that position is no longer in existence. I only hope it doesn't affect Darren's position at Borough Park where he is of course only on part-time terms.

Labour's new 'grassroot' support

Adverts across London are urging Poles to register to vote in the GLA elections while the queues in Eastern European capitals of those seeking to come to Britain just get bigger.

"Either Labour represents its core voters - or others will" - that's the title of Seumas Milne's column in The Guardian this morning.

What's worrying Seumas is that he has just discovered that Britain's working class are turning in significant numbers to the BNP! One has to wonder where the dear chap has been for the last six years. If he had been with me canvassing in Brunshaw ward in Burnley in 2002 he would have seen then, first hand, how families who had voted Labour all their lives were turning to the BNP. We polled over 31% in that election and even though candidate Simon Bennett wasn't elected, the BNP got three councillors elected in other wards in Burnley.

I expect he bumped into the beleaguered Dagenham MP Jon Cruddas, whose seat is under threat from the BNP at the next General Election, because he also reports:

"Of the four million votes Labour lost, the largest number were from the working class, north and south, white and non-white. As Jon Cruddas, who ran a powerful challenge for Labour's deputy leadership last year, points out: "Those voters didn't go to the Tories, they went to the nationalists, the BNP, the Liberals and Respect - or they stayed at home".

He also bemoans the fact that the BBC's White Season "has reinforced stereotypes and played to the agenda of the British National Party."

And there's more to come as the article finishes with a nice boost for the BNP.

"The next test of where this is leading will be the local elections in May, when the BNP, among others, is expected to make significant gains."

The most newsworthy point, which Seumas appears to have missed, is that despite this massive loss of support from its traditional support base, Labour votes have held up across the country. He should be asking why this is or perhaps he, like the rest of us, know exactly why this is. It is those people who have arrived in this country since 1997 that are now the bedrock of Labour support and that is why the Government continues to encourage immigration into this country - because its very future in power depends on it.

The wind caused Cheltenham to be abandoned yesterday, and this sort of weather is affecting the whole of Europe. A week ago last Saturday the wind caused havoc where I was at Innsbruck Airport. Flights during the day were diverted to Munich or Verona with departing passengers having to get on a coach to those airports.

Our flight was at 18.40 and our plane from Newcastle did manage to land. But we were an hour delayed, and then after leaving the terminal were held on a coach for another hour. When we finally boarded we sat on the runway for yet another hour as the pilot explained his dilemma.
Apparently the wind was too strong and in the wrong direction. Normally a plane from Innsbruck takes off into the wind and then turns at the end of the valley before making an assent over the mountains helped by the now tail wind. The pilot was worried that taking off with the wind behind him he wouldn't be able to turn into the wind with a full tank of petrol. He near enough said that we could be blown into the mountains!

We were told, as we sat on the tarmac, that they were looking at other options but it was most likely that we would have to go back to the terminal and spend the night in a hotel in Innsbruck. I felt like standing up and shouting, "Don't take any chances let's stay in Innsbruck," but before I could voice my fears we were suddenly off and flying through the mountains experiencing the worst turbulence I have ever flown in.

In the end, we didn't turn but had just hopped over the mountains at the end of the valley with a near empty fuel tank and landed in Stuttgart twenty minutes later before refueling and going on to Newcastle where we arrived five hours late. I don't mind admitting that I was scared and said a few prayers - but I've probably been watching too many Air Crash Investigation programmes on the National Geographical Channel

Fall from grace is no surprise

Richard Barnbrook and some members of his London campaign team celebrate the demise of Ken Livingstone's Race Relations Adviser

Lee Jasper's fall from grace last week didn't surprise me at all. I only met him the once but that was enough.

It was in May 2002 in Burnley after the BNP's historic success in the local council elections there. On the Friday morning after the count, Nick Griffin was giving an interview to BBC Radio 4 in the High Street when Lee Jasper arrived hotfoot from London. He started swearing at all and sundry about the British National Party and was warned by the Police about his conduct.

Later that morning he turned up at the Turf Moor Sports Hall where the recount was taking place which won the BNP its third seat on the council. Here he continued his appalling behaviour even offering the BNP chairman outside! He was warned by the Returning Officer, and then again by the Police before he was finally removed from the hall. Someone who can't control themselves in public is always doomed to fall foul of the authorities sooner or later.

I'm grateful to my colleague Wayne McDermott for alerting me to some important news from the Swindon Advertiser.

The newspaper reported that local councillor Owen Lister, who is a member of the UK Independence Party, had admitted that despite his membership, he would never dream of voting for the party.

The councillor for Abbey Meads ward told the Advertiser:
"When I joined UKIP I didn't look upon it is as joining a political party, but as a pressure group," he said. "I would never vote for UKIP in an election."
When a political party is in so much trouble that its members won't even vote for it, surely it's time to call it a day.

Doubled-edged sword at Borough Park last night. Spirited performance and thoroughly deserved 2-0 victory over high-flying Hyde United but the crowd was a desperate 241. http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/sport/1.54138

OK, it was a bitter night with gale force winds and there's not as much shelter at the Reds' ground as there was when they were still in the Football League back in 1977 - but that will provide little comfort for the cash-strapped club which needs gates of 600 just to pay the wage bill.

I'm hoping that the much-needed win and some better weather will boost the crowd on Saturday for the visit of another relegation threatened club, Hinckley United, in what is a real six-pointer.

Making progress in Middlesbrough

Here's a photo of our two brave lads contesting elections in Middlesbrough on Thursday. It's a feat in itself to be standing candidates here and whatever the votes polled by Kevin and Barry, they are laying the foundations on which the BNP can build in the run-up to the all important European Elections in 2009. Full story of these two elections on the main website.

BBC is running the story of missing young girls in Bradford - 33 in the last year alone. The report is very vague and the word immigrant is never mentioned. In Luton apparently, the mystery deepens with up to 400 young girls going missing from school at around the age of 13. There should, of course, be a huge outcry over this affair with the full story laid bare for the public to be able to take on board what is really happening here. The reality is that it is child abduction and child abuse on a massive scale but our weak-kneed politicians have to treat it with kid gloves for fear of upsetting Britain's ethnic minorities and losing their massive block vote at election time.

John Ryde from the East Midlands emailed me late last night to confirm what I said yesterday that the BNP in the region is growing apace. John wrote:

"Just back from a visit to Corby after speaking to some hardy souls who braved the weather to attend. It's the second meeting of this new group and there looks to be something we really can build on.

"The East Midlands is really buzzing now. Vibrant, energetic, enthusiastic, it has never been stronger or more committed.

"Geoff Dickens, our new Regional Organiser, has galvanised the whole area in just two months and to be honest those who sought to disrupt have done the party a favour. We lesser mortals are working twice, thrice and even harder to get things moving and it is happening.

"Our old Risograph recovered, covered with dust, from Brinsley has now been repositioned in Lincolnshire and combined with the Leicester print facilty, a massive East Midlands leafleting and recruiting campaign is being planned."

It's Cheltenham today which provides the greatest horseracing of the whole year, but it's too much work for me to try to back winners or lay losers there so I'm playing today at Southwell where it will be a tad easier to find a horse to finish in or out of the first three.

Big game for Workington Reds supporters at Borough Park tonight. We are desperate for even just a point to try to stem the slide towards the relegation zone.

Back in the Swing

It's a natural reaction when you come home from a brilliant holiday to think back on your time away and feel melancholy for something that has gone and can never come back again. Tina and I try to overcome this by returning the following year, so that although we mourn what has passed, we can look forward to it coming around again.

But there wasn't much time for reflection when we came home from Austria. I had Freedom to get to the printers and Tina had a week's membership post to process.

And on that membership side, I can report that things are really moving ahead for the Party, with London and the East Midlands leading the way as far as new recruits are concerned. Have no doubt whatsoever, the BNP is easily Britain's fastest growing political party and if the intensity of the membership surge of the last four months is translated into votes at the ballot box in the local council elections, then Britain will have a record number of BNP councillors on May 2nd.

Freedom is out at the weekend and I'm happy with this issue which has caused me so many problems, far more than any of the previous 67 I have edited. In this one I especially like The Cathy Duffy Story - from Airline to BNP councillor. It's written by Cathy herself, who was one of the 'stars' of London Weekend Television's Airline series, and is in two parts with this Freedom covering her life up to the time when she was elected to Charnwood Council. It's something a bit different for Freedom and I know our readers will find it interesting.

I'm disappointed that our list for the GLA elections only has one lady candidate on it. With the media doing its best to portray us in the worse possible light, a BNP list of six men and five women for the GLA would have gone a long way to soften our image. Still, I live 300 plus miles away from the capital and the selection committee has every right to tell me to mind my own business. I'm just making this point as a 6/5 make-up of our London team would have warranted a front page spot in Freedom as a great recruitment photo, with ten men swamping the solitary Roberta Woods, the photo doesn't have nearly the same impact.

No doubt I shall be accused of advocating quotas and ignoring the requirements of any selection committee which is to choose the best people for the job. In my defence, I shall just say that I want to see the BNP get as many GLA candidates elected as possible and sometimes it pays to give the overall image of a team a consideration as much as the qualifications of each of the individuals concerned.

Simon Darby tells me he was celebrating last night after West Bromwich Albion's demolition of Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup. I'm afraid there's no such celebrations in line for me. Workington Reds went down again on Saturday 3-0 at Stalybridge and have now lost seven of their last eight games. They have dropped down the table and are now hovering dangerously close to the relegation zone.

I hope we survive because our team is built almost entirely on local lads, with some having come through the ranks of the youth team and the reserves to make the grade in Conference North. That is something very rare today with so many players prepared to travel to get a contract. My main worry now is finance. Our crowds have dropped to the 300 mark and we need 600 through the turnstiles to pay the wages, so precious financial reserves are being eaten into. Attendances haven't been helped by Carlisle United's promotion push in Championship One or whatever it now called (in reality it's the old Third Division) and with United at home tomorrow night and Reds entertaining high-flying Hyde United I'm fearful of a less than 300 gate.

Quiet revolutionaries spotted in Rugby

So Kirsty Wark from the BBC's Newsnight team hasn't seen any growing support for the British National Party - or so she said when interviewing BNP chairman Nick Griffin. Well Kirsty, that's because it's our Quiet Revolution, and it is only showing itself where it matters - in local elections up and down the country. The key point that the BBC seems oblivious to is that in today's political climate voters won't tell opinion pollsters over the telephone or in the street that they are going to vote BNP, they just put their crosses where it matters in the privacy of the polling booth.

The front page of the December issue of Freedom last year detailed our progress in local election since May of that year and in the first two months of this year that progress has continued apace. www.bnp.org.uk/freedom/Vof90-1.pdf

On Thursday, the BNP's Quiet Revolution moved to Rugby in Warwickshire when BNP candidate George Jones pushed the media-puffed Liberal Democrat candidate into fourth place taking nearly 15% of the vote in the BNP's first effort in the ward.

FULL RESULT:
WARWICKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
LAWFORD AND NEW BILTON WARD
6th March 2008
Douglas HODKINSON (Labour) 724
Jane WATSON (Con) 723
George JONES (BNP) 313
Diane PASK (Lib-Dem) 235
Philip GODDEN (Green) 148
BNP Percentage: 14.6%

Shocking blogger

ABOVE: I , along with our holiday rep, follow John and Tina as we make our way to a mountain- side cafe on the Tuesday evening. It was a 30 minute walk and as a reward we had a gluhwein and a couple of schnapps there before flying down the same road we had walked up on a toboggan. It's a frightening but exhilarating experience and something we do every year.

Apologies, apologies! The lack of entries on this blog is a disgrace and I have quite rightly been branded a "shocking blogger". But there are mitigating circumstances and I shall now tell you about them.

OK, hands up, at the end of January I was finding it difficult to write anything without referring to the minor troubles the BNP had experienced just before Christmas. Suffice to say that I was initially hurt, and then angry at the betrayal of my Party and an ideology that I have been working to promote, mostly as a full time worker, since 1976, by four former work colleagues. But I was getting over this temporary writer's block when one morning my trusty AppleMac gave up the ghost.

Now, I bought my Power Mac G4 back in 1999 when it was a top of the range model. My Indesign 1.0 and Photoshop 5.0 software were the latest issues and for the next eight years I produced 68 issues of Freedom and 20 issues of Reds Review, a magazine about Workington Reds. Although the equipment was long out of date and some time during 2005 I stopped accessing the Internet because it kept making my Mac crash, it still produced a fairly good copy of Freedom for the printers.

At the beginning of February I was busy running off pages of the March issue of the newspaper for proof reading when my Mac made a whirring noise and then appeared to shut itself down. There was nothing I could do to revive it so I called a local computer shop and they said they could probably save my files and replace the hard disk. Unfortunately however, after a number of round trips to Whitehaven, 20 miles down the coast, I was forced to accept that while the computer was working as such, my software had lost a lot of its functions and the files of every previous Freedom I had produced were damaged or incomplete.

The computer failure had set me back at least two weeks. I had been hoping to finish the March issue before I went on a ski-ing holiday at the end of February but despite working 15 hour days it wasn't quite possible. Freedom will be out next weekend.

The up-shot of my troubles was the blog and any local political activity was shelved as I battled to finish Freedom on the patched-up Mac and with damaged software. But now, thanks to the BNP, I have a new computer and the latest software to continue the Freedom production.

With our two daughters at university, the annual family ski-ing holiday to Kuhtai was just for Tina and I and our son John, but we were joined by Freedom journalist and long-time family friend Steve Johnson. Kuhtai is in Austria's Stubai mountain range and at 2, 200 ft the little village is guaranteed snow whatever the weather elsewhere. I can thoroughly recommend it for intermediate skiers, with no queues, no ski buses and excellent ski-to-the-door hotels. We have fallen in love with the place and couldn't think of ski-ing anywhere else.