Blog:Questioning the BNP
From Bolton Interweb
Norah Bone, Political Correspondent, 24th October 2009
On Thursday's Question Time, three times the normal number of viewers tuned in to watch Nick Griffin of the British Nazi, sorry National, Party take his place on the panel for the first time.
The commentators in the media and political worlds deemed his performance poor and announced that his panel opponents had truly wiped the floor with him. But they were not watching the same programme I was. Griffin made a few dreadful mistakes but overall he did better than many expected and it seems that a YouGov poll taken after the show supports the notion that, for the BNP, the appearance did more good than harm. 22% of those polled would consider voting BNP in a future local, general or European election.
Wind back a bit. The BNP gained a million votes and a couple of seats in this year's European elections. As a result the BBC felt obliged to give them an occasional seat on the Question Time panel. They have had extremists of the Left that no-one has voted for on the panel without protest. In the interests of impartiality the BBC decision sounds quite sensible and they were right invite the BNP because of their electoral success - not the BBC's fault. Peter Hain, rentagob of the Labour Party, complained bitterly, made suggestions of legal action against the BBC, and increased publicity and the audience for the programme when it was aired. Hain is now whinging, following that poll, that all his fears had been realised, the BNP are on the march."I'm very angry" he said. But that poll also revealed people who would actually be (not considering) giving their vote to the BNP was 3%, down from over 6% at those Euro elections.
Whatever the tiny percentages, whose fault is it that the BNP are having some electoral success? Whose fault is it that they got the seats that obliged the BBC to give the BNP airtime? Whose fault is it that 8 million people watched Question Time to see Griffin squirm (or otherwise)? Hain, Hain and Hain, not a dodgy firm of solicitors but Mr Angry of the Labour Party himself. Well, not just Hain, but the Labour Party in general, and the Tories, and the Lib Dems. About time, Mr Hain, that you started looking in the mirror instead of diverting attention onto others.
So what is behind the recent BNP successes?
- The Labour Party have been taking their natural heartlands for granted and ignoring their needs in their ongoing New Labour gentrification programme. Voters are not going to vote Tory or Lib Dem ever, but the BNP talks their language and provides a viable alternative to a Labour Party that cannot be distinguished from the Tories and Lib Dems on anything of any significance.
- The BNP under Griffin has learned lessons from the Mandelson & Co School of Spin and has come up with a number of public policies that, on the surface, would appear attractive and reasonable. They don't say they are racist, homophobic, Nazi thugs in their literature. Instead they talk about capital punishment for murderers, paedophiles, and terrorists. They talk about cooperatives and greater worker share ownership. They talk about houses for local people instead of just-arrived migrants. They are against the war in Afghanistan and want a truce with Islamic fundamentalists. And they are against animal cruelty. What's not to like? When challenged on anything a bit dubious like holocaust denial, whites only, etc. it is all glossed over.
- They can wave the victim card when they try to exercise their right to free speech and are shouted down and attempts are made to suppress them. Violent protesters from the Left, and politicians of all shades who will not engage with the BNP, give them publicity you couldn't buy at any price. If you are going to ignore the BNP then ignore them totally; don't go on and on and on about them, publicising them more.
- When every mainstream party has MPs with sticky fingers dipping into the public purse for duck islands and moat cleaning, the BNP are clean on this particular issue. Not because they are paragons of virtue but because they haven't had the opportunity yet. Fact is, though, that protests from a bunch of perceived crooks don't carry much credibility.
- You couldn't put a fag paper between the policies of the main three parties and there is no real choice in British politics right now - do you want a Centre Right Labour government, a Centre Left Tory government, or a Centre Centre Lib Dem. All three want to sell off the remaining national assets one day or another, it is just the timing in dispute. All three want to continue the war in Afghanistan. All three are committed to a multicultural Britain that has probably failed. If you want a proper choice the fringe parties, including the BNP, are willing to provide that choice.
The most effective Griffin opponent on Thursday night was the black American, Bonnie Greer. Calm, dignified, and reasonable in her responses and points, she was the only one that could be said to have outwitted and embarrassed Griffin effectively without appearing to bully him and provide him a victim card.
To beat the BNP the political establishment need to check their approach.
- They have to start listening to disconnected and and disgruntled voters in the areas targetted by the BNP. Wishy-washy ASBOs aren't the answer to dealing with anti-social behaviour on sink estates and 6 years for a rape or 2 years for being a kiddy-fiddler just isn't justice. F**k their "human rights", criminals need to be treated as criminals and locked up in very unpleasant surroundings for very long periods of time.
- The BNP need to be taken on head to head and decimated on their racism and thuggery. But you have to have and action policies that address the reason why people find their policies attractive.
- Stop giving them free publicity by campaigning against them rather than against their specific policies. A riot attracts the press and TV cameras where a boring march of a handful of loonies isn't newsworthy.
- Stop martyring BNP members and vilifying their voters. Instead use logic, reason, and exposure of what underlies the BNP to convert these people back into the mainstream.
- Get rid of the crooked politicians from all parties without letting them have pensions and cushion payments when the voters have their say. Start prosecuting and jailing them. At least those who are left can talk with some credibility.
Make no mistake the BNP, at its black heart, is a vile and nasty group of Nazi-loving thugs given a thin veneer of respectability by a master manipulator in the form of the devious and disgusting Griffin. He shared a platform with the Klu Klux Klan (and there isn't a non-violent KKK as Griffin would have you believe). He denied the holocaust and says he cannot say how and how much he changed his mind on this except that holocaust denial is a criminal offence in parts of Europe that he has to travel to. The BNP, apart from Griffin, has some of the most odious individuals at the helm you could imagine and Griffin has to struggle at times to keep them on the (false) message. Pick at the veneer just a little and you start to expose the evil and rotten core of the BNP. But, you know, some of their voters know all about the rotten core and vote for them anyway because they want the mainstream parties to sit up, listen, and do something about the issues the BNP has picked up on and exploited. If the BNP vote was a protest vote then work out what the voters were protesting about and bloody do something about it.
So, Peter Hain, stop whining about the BBC, get off your backside, and work out a proper answer to the BNP protest voters. Trying to suppress their protests will only make those protests get bigger and bigger - 22% is a very scary protest already. Well done, by the way, to Jack Straw and Chris Huhne for having the sense to at least try and take on Griffin. But pity Bonnie Greer isn't a politician; we need many more Greers.
© Evrose, 2010
