Woeful West walloped!

Norwich North voters gave a two fingered salute to the BNP and its bogus vicar in yesterday's hard fought by-election, rewarding the racist party with a deposit-losing 2.7% of the vote - putting the "reverend" Robert West in seventh place, behind Craig Murray, the "Honest Man" candidate.

The full result from the Press Association:

Chloe Smith (C) 13,591 (39.54%, +6.29%)
Chris Ostrowski (Lab) 6,243 (18.16%, -26.70%)
April Pond (LD) 4,803 (13.97%, -2.22%)
Glenn Tingle (UKIP) 4,068 (11.83%, +9.45%)
Rupert Read (Green) 3,350 (9.74%, +7.08%)
Craig Murray (Honest) 953 (2.77%)
Robert West (BNP) 941 (2.74%)
Bill Holden (Ind) 166 (0.48%, -0.17%)
Howling Laud (Loony) 144 (0.42%)
Anne Fryatt (NOTA) 59 (0.17%)
Thomas Burridge (Libertarian) 36 (0.10%)
Peter Baggs (Ind) 23 (0.07%)

C maj 7,348 (21.37%)
16.49% swing Lab to C
Electorate 75,124; Turnout 34,377 (45.76%, -15.33%)
2005: Lab maj 5,459 (11.61%) - Turnout 47,033 (61.09%)
Gibson (Lab) 21,097 (44.86%); Tumbridge (C) 15,638 (33.25%); Whitmore (LD) 7,616 (16.19%); Holmes (Green) 1,252 (2.66%); Youles (UKIP) 1,122 (2.39%); Holden (Ind) 308 (0.65%)

The BNP realised that it was in for a drubbing in Norwich North some time ago, and though it announced its intention to stand the dodgy West in a blaze of hype that saw excitable BNP members predict their first MP, it quickly became obvious the party's campaign was firmly stuck in some very deep mud.

The party attempted to stir disharmony in the constituency by falsely claiming that African immigrants were being housed ahead of locals in Norwich, and West became a figure of ridicule as doubts about his status as a "reverend" surfaced and dogged him throughout the campaign.

Realising the party was on a hiding to nothing the BNP stopped mentioning the by-election, and national support for West was not forthcoming. Planned visits to Norwich by BNP Euro MEPs Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons were shelved so as not to taint the pair with the impending disaster, and the puny Norfolk BNP organisation was left to sink or swim on its own.

It sank - and how!

The BNP's dismal Norwich North result falls into a clear pattern that has emerged since the heat of the Parliamentary expenses scandal has abated. In three significant local by-elections the racist party has seen its share of the vote tumble.

Last week in Nuneaton Arbury and Stockingford (Warwickshire County Council) - a division the BNP thought it could win - their vote share crashed by 11% as two thirds of those who had voted for the racist party in June deserted them.

Yesterday, in Reddish North (Stockport), the BNP vote share fell by 6.6% as more than half their votes evaporated - bad news for Nick Griffin, as Stockport falls within his North West Euro-region constituency. And in Dormanstown (Redcar-Cleveland) the BNP again managed to lose more than half its votes, its share again down by 6%.

As we saw in June, despite Nick Griffin's claim that the expenses scandal and disquiet at the scale of immigration amounted to a "perfect storm" for the BNP, the party managed to increase its vote by only 1.6%, and only disgusted stay-at-home Labour voters allowed him and Andrew Brons to win their Euro seats.

Griffin's lucky success was the only thing disguising what was a disastrous election for the BNP given the circumstances in which it took place. In fact it's pretty obvious that had the expenses scandal not broken when it did then the BNP vote would have fallen, with the happy result that Griffin's alleged electoral Midas Touch would have been exposed for the self-serving fiction it always was, and that with nothing to show for all the money, time and effort expended by the BNP in June the party would now be looking at its all too fallible leader in a very different light.

The Norwich North result shows that the BNP will never achieve power in the only place that matters - Westminster - and their disastrous vote losses in recent local by-elections give a true picture of the situation viz-a-viz the electorate and the BNP. Whichever way the BNP wants to look at it that picture is one of utter electoral failure.

Finally, we should like to mention the tireless anti-fascist campaigners of HOPE not hate and other organisations, and thank them for their unstinting efforts in getting out the truth of Robert West and the BNP in Norwich North. And to our list of people to thank we'd like to add Nick Griffin MEP, for providing us with the sitting duck candidate that was the ropey "reverend" Robert West. We couldn't have chosen better ourselves.

Report by Atreus (in his living room) and Denise Garside (by email from Berchtesgaden!)

UKIP sleazeballs attempt to manipulate HOPE not hate

It's no great secret that even by UKIP's standards their Norfolk outfit is a bit more right wing and a lot more ready to flirt with racism than is the norm for the anti-EU party.

From the start UKIP's local operation has made its dislike of HOPE not hate and other antifascist campaigns clear as crystal.

We witnessed their behaviour towards HnH campaigners outside Norwich City Hall hustings last Thursday, their refusal to take leaflets, and their aggressive attitudes when their Norwich North candidate Glenn Tingle was asked the simple question: "Have you ever at any time been associated in any way with the National Front?"

As usual Tingle refused to answer.

At the hustings UKIP brazenly used the organisation's Turkish descended youth wing vice-chair Yasin Akgun to smear HOPE not hate in a question claiming HnH was responsible for pelting BNP leader Nick Griffin with eggs. Unfortunately for Akgun, none of the Norwich North candidates thought that badly of the idea - only Glenn Tingle, who used the opportunity to attack HOPE not hate, knowing full well that Griffin's eggciting adventure was at the hands of the UAF, not HnH.

Since then UKIP has been claiming that their headquarters have been targetted by HOPE not hate campaigners, a claim which is - like most of UKIP's failing Norwich North campaign - one big fat lie.

Today they're claiming that HOPE not hate have been out with their spray cans, and sprayed the message "UKIP a bunch of nazi's" signed by "Hope not Hate" on a wall in Norwich.

Conveniently, a UKIP member just happened to be walking past, spotted the message and started raising hell.

Norfolk Unity isn't as constrained as HOPE not hate in what it can say publicly, so I'll spell out what's going on here.

The BNP can kiss goodbye to any hope of a decent result in Norwich. We know it and they know it - that's why they've stopped reporting it on their website and why they haven't bothered mobilising their members to support the bogus "reverend" West and his moribund campaign. But UKIP have been expecting great things in Norwich, and as the canvass resturns are showing, it's just not happening.

We're not saying Tingle will do that badly, but Norwich North isn't going to be the stellar breakthrough they thought it was going to be.

They're desperate, and the closer we get to polling day the more desperate they've become - so they hit on the idea of smearing themselves at the expense of HOPE not hate and the BNP.

Put simply they're generating a last minute opportunity to put themselves in the local newspapers with a story that they're not Nazis like the BNP (though it's hard to tell the difference, from their campaign literature and statements). They get to distance themselves from the BNP, mop up a few more votes from the BNP and attack the organisation they really loath - HOPE not hate. They also hoped to manipulate HnH into blaming the BNP for the fictional anti-UKIP campaign, which would have done UKIP no harm at all.

That's what it's all about.

For the record, HOPE not hate campaigning has been aimed squarely at the BNP, despite UKIP's fantasies.

Only two dishonest parties are campaigning in Norwich North, UKIP and the BNP. Steer clear of them both when you cast your vote tomorrow.

Stuffed in Stockingford

I've always had a soft spot for Stockingford, which is part of Nuneaton. You see I was born there, in one of the terraced back streets, where, at the time, everybody kept chickens and rabbits for the table and every inch of the garden was used for growing vegetables. I only lived there as a tot, and when Dad came out of the Army we left for Mum's native north Warwickshire village. The house in ------ Street was my Aunt Flo's and one of my cousins still lives there.

Despite having a soft spot for the place I never thought the day would come when I'd be singing ordinary old Stockingford's praises, but last Thursday the place did me (and you) proud.

In a barely noticed local by-election Stockingford told the BNP where to get off.

Now my fellow contributor to this blog, currently swanning around the Alps, keeps tabs on local by-elections and was always noticing that it was very rare for the BNP to improve its vote. If they'd stood in a ward for a first time then they'd usually lose ground on the second.

In Stockingford on Thursday they lost ground all right. Two thirds of it!

In June the BNP fought the Arbury and Stockingford division of Warwickshire County Council, and with 1283 votes they took 25% of the vote. For reasons too boring to go into here, a by-election was called in the same division for July 16th, and with a solid looking base to build on, 2 MEPs and tons of news coverage the BNP entered the contest brim full of confidence.

But with the MPs expenses scandal now in the background sanity returned, and with antifascists able to concentrate their efforts the BNP share of the vote fell by 11%, one of the biggest reverses the party has ever suffered. But that hides the fact that the BNP's Martin Findlay (already a Nuneaton Borough councillor) saw his vote crash to just 449 - a drop of two thirds.

June
Con 1637/1582
Lab 1480/1472
BNP 1283
Green 849/692

July 16th
Lab 1331 +13%
Con 1079 +2.5%
BNP 449 -11%
Green 170 -9.5%
LD 118
SA 43

Ignoring the figures (he didn't publish them) Martin Wingfield, proponent of the BNP's "quiet revolution" only mentioned that the BNP had beaten the Liberal Democrats.

In fairness, the Green Party vote also dived in Arbury and Stockingford, which shows exactly how many people wanted to punish the major parties and reluctantly rewarded the minor parties last month.

In June the BNP hardly improved its share of the vote over most of the country despite the expenses scandal, and this result confirms what most of us were thinking - that if there had been no expenses scandal the BNP's vote would have stalled and most likely fallen, it wouldn't have scraped two MEPs, and an internal revolution would be underway, probably with Nick Griffin out on his ear some time soon.

Closer to home for us here in Norfolk the Norwich North by-election is underway, and the BNP hobbled itself from the start by gifting us the bogus "reverend" Robert West, who's just so easy to lampoon and discredit. As in Stockingford electoral politics seem to have returned to normal, with the latest polls showing the BNP not registering at all, with those intending to vote for the devious devil dodger included somewhere among the 5% reserved for "others".

Has the tide turned?

Well I reckon it never really came in for the BNP. The truth is that in June with voter disillusion at fever pitch they hardly managed to grow their vote at all and only got their MEPs due to voters not turning out for the main parties, so their supposed victorious advance is more apparent than real, something they bang on about to keep their own members from seeing the political reality of their electoral situation.

The BNP got stuffed in Stockingford, let's hope they get nuked in Norwich North.

Norwich North by-election

The BNP's candidate, The Holy Hypocrite



The Norwich North by-election has been called for Thursday July 23rd. The known candidates so far are:

Thomas BURRIDGE (Libertarian)
Bill HOLDEN (Independent)
Alan HOPE (Official Monster Raving Loony)
Craig MURRAY (Independent)
Chris OSTROWSKI (Labour)
April POND (Liberal Democrat)
Rupert READ (Green)
Chloe SMITH (Conservative)
Glenn TINGLE (UK Independence)
Robert WEST (BNP)

The BNP's strange decision to nominate the slippery "Reverend" West has been something of a gift to Norfolk anti-fascists. His refusal to come clean regarding the validity of his alleged ordination is already being discussed in the local press, and we expect the matter to be persued by television journalists if the BNP allows their candidate to go before the cameras.

In Norwich North the BNP will be looking to save its deposit. Anything else would be a bonus, bolstering the party's premature claim to have broken into the mainstream.

The only occasion on which the BNP tested the electoral waters in the area was in the June County Council elections, when local organiser Julia Howman stood in Sprowston, coming last but with 6.67% of the vote (UKIP polled 19.11%). Anti-fascist campaigners will be attempting to keep the BNP's vote below the 5% required to save its deposit.

Questions have been raised concerning the political past of UKIP candidate Glenn Tingle. Rumours have been planted (by BNP members we must stress) that Tingle was once a National Front activist in Norwich. Though UKIP supporters have denied the rumour, to date we have yet to hear Mr Tingle make a direct refutation. Verifiable information on the truth of the rumour is welcomed, but we do not intend to repeat anything not backed by concrete fact.

The campaign against the BNP in Norwich North is being organised by Norfolk HOPE not hate and Norwich Trades Council. If you can help out on the ground please contact the campaign via the main HOPE not hate website, the Norwich Trade Council website, or the Norfolk HOPE not hate blog. Other local websites that will be covering the by-election and supporting the anti-fascist campaign are Norfolk Unity and Great Yarmouth HOPE not hate.

Doubts over BNP man's title claims

There was confusion last night over whether Norwich North's British National Party (BNP) candidate has the credentials to call himself “reverend”.

The Rev Robert West is at the centre of a row over his ministerial moniker, which he claimed was genuine - even though he admitted he had no current connection to any Christian denomination.

When questioned, Mr West, who lives in Holbeach in Lincolnshire, said: “It's been dealt with once and I don't have to justify myself.”

He said he had explained himself and shown his ordination certificate on a TV show in recent months, and said he had been advised “not to go through it all again”.

He said he had been “ordained as an elder” of the Apostolic Church of Wales some years ago. He claimed the word “elder” in the New Testament came from a Greek word meaning “priest”.

Mr West, who will be bidding to win the vacant Norwich North seat once the by-election date has been announced, said: “Ordination means recognition. It's simply recognition of what you are. It recognises your gifts.”

Meanwhile, UKIP leader Nigel Farrage was in Norwich yesterday outlining how his party planned to reach out to traditional Labour voters and Tories disenchanted with David Cameron's Conservative Party.

Norwich Evening News