BNP Blunder Their Way to Victory
Article published: Monday, August 17th 2009
So the BNP have two seats in the European Parliament and with it the money, power and prestige that follows. All this despite the calamitous blunders and gaffes throughout the campaign that revealed the throbbing racist heart at the centre of the party.
The first sign that the BNP’s campaign was likely to provide plenty of fuel for the satirist’s pen came with the launch of their campaign against the apparent ‘flood’ of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Centred on the image of a Spitfire, the gist was “this wasn’t what we fought for.” It was just a shame for the BNP that the image used was not a plane flown by ’one of our lads’, but was in fact a Spitfire from the Polish squadron. Oops. Poles defending Britain from extremists, not quite the message they were going for.
Soon after, the party did what they do best and revealed their nasty side. Leader, Nick Griffin, defended a BNP ‘language and discipline manual’ that told members not to refer to non-white people born in this country as British. Instead, the manual went on, they should be called “racial foreigners.” They might be suited and booted but they sure are the same old British Nazi Party.
As if this wasn’t enough, the faux pas kept coming. It was revealed that the images used on BNP leaflets next to ‘quotes’ such as “we’ve seen how this country has declined” were not in fact of concerned British pensioners, but rather the Italian parents of an agency photographer. What of the archetypal British builders demanding “British jobs for British workers”? Ah, they’re American models posing for generic agency pictures.
In fact, the soldier shown complaining about the foreign wars he’s been sent off to has come out to openly condemn the racist party and is disgusted that his image has been used to convince people to vote for them.
Salford’s own Eddie O’Sullivan, a BNP candidate was the next to add to the long string of slip-ups. “Wogs go home,” is not the kind of face the BNP are trying to portray anymore. So you can imagine the panic at party headquarters (surely situated high on a craggy, lightening- blighted rock somewhere) when it was revealed that good ol’ Eddie had put this as his status on Facebook. He followed it up with “nice people… but can they not be nice people in the fucking Congo, or Bongo land or whatever.”
Even once they were elected the blunders didn’t stop. In his post election interviews Griffin (elected in the North-West) failed to mention his soon to be counterpart in the parliament and fellow party member, Andrew Brons. It seems he is ashamed of Brons’ Nazi sympathies.
The BNP MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside used to be a prominent member of the National Socialism Movement, a neo-Nazi party, formed on Hitler’s birthday that had a penchant for strutting around in SS uniforms and firebombing synagogues.
Brons has gone on to show just what a liability he is, recently declaring that Kelly Homes should not be considered British. Oh dear. Targeting such a prominent and popular sports star isn’t likely to win many people over is it now?
Still, after a calamitous campaign full of howlers and indiscretions, blunders and bloopers, the nastiest party in British politics have got their foot in the door.
Patrick Smith
More: Manchester
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