Would like to place a bet that by this time next year there will have been more ex BNP members found to be members of UKIP than UKIP will have MPs
Of course, you have absolutely no evidence for that groundless assertion. UKIP have in the past rejected any pacts or alliances with the UK's BNP and France's Front National and that's as it should be.
There are certainly enough former BNP advocates about who suddenly find themsleves very pro-UKIP.
Well UKIP are now playing with the big boys and am sure there are one or two Tory friendly journos currently digging away Will await their findings(and the reaction of some) with interest
Is Labour a racist party? The answer, I believe, is ‘no’. Apart from anything else, some of my best friends are in the party and I cannot think they hate themselves or anybody else simply because of their skin colour.
Yet the question must be asked. For just this weekend I was rummaging through recent editions of the Gazette Live (the latest news, sport and business from the North East, Middlesbrough and Teesside) when I happened upon this story: ‘Five Middlesbrough councillors resign from Labour Party and will stand as independents.’
You can read about the whole sorry episode here. But the crux of the article is this:
‘Cllr Junier said in his resignation letter: “I can no longer sit back and watch our fractured group implode through lack of direction, lack of leadership and more importantly lack of Labour values”
‘Cllr Pervaz Khan said he felt “ashamed” for belonging to Middlesbrough Labour group which “is treating some of my Asian family and friends in a manner which they perceive to be racist and, incidentally, so do I”
‘Cllr Sajaad Khan also criticised the current Labour leadership saying it was “different under Sir Stuart Bell, who would not have stood for all this”.’
But Labour will have their share of problems in Heywood too, specifically considering the standard "UKIP are racist" left-whinge is already devoid of credibility, while their own candidate, Liz McInnes, recently worked closely alongside a former BNP member, Trevor Maxfield, in her position in the Blackburn and Darwen Labour Party.
This is already a constituency whereby the local residents are becoming deeply disillusioned with their elected Labour councillors, as well as their Labour MPs. The impact of the Rotherham child rape scandal has echoed throughout the region, and speaking to locals you soon realise that they rightly lay the blame at the feet of key Labour figures including the council leader Roger Stone, who fell on his sword almost immediately, and Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright, who decided that clinging onto power for as long as possible was the best idea in the world.
The local Labour Party have already begun to demonise UKIP with untruths about the party's policy on taxation, the NHS, and more. But the 'raaaaccccissssttt' narrative will look desperate and hypocritical given McInnes's close working relationship with Maxfield. The former BNP man was welcomed with open arms into the local Labour Party – a cynical move predicated on the strong BNP vote in the area in 2005 and 2010. According to one source, the thought process was so deeply entrenched that Labour even made Maxfield the Mayor of Darwen in an attempt to whitewash (pun intended) his past.
The Nope Not Hope website states:
Maxfield had a long history with the BNP. He was appointed local organiser by no less a person than then BNP leader Nick Griffin back in 2004 when he was described by his predecessor as being one of the 'drug dealers and football hooligans' who made up the local branch of the BNP.
He didn't defect straight to Labour though - first he joined the white supremacist 'England First Party'. Of course, had he been a member of UKIP, we'd have read about all this on the front page of the Mirror and the Guardian, and Hope not Hate and [Unite Against Fascism] would have been picketing his house.
But, since he eventually joined Labour, that's alright then. As a fellow Labour councillor said when he was made cabinet member for culture, "To be fair to Trevor, he’s quite a good bloke. I think his BNP stuff is in the past". Not that far in the past, as he is pictured at a 'Heritage & Destiny' meeting in Bradford in 2006 with various other luminaries of the far right, including Eddy Morrison and Dave Smith.
[It is] a strange world indeed where Maxfield is not just accepted but promoted within the Labour Party despite his far right links, while he would not even qualify for membership of UKIP because of his past associations.
Jim Dobbin, who passed away leading up to this by-election, was popular as an older man who had surprisingly traditional views for a Labour MP. His opposition to same sex marriage, as well as his well documented Catholicism made him appealing to many local voters who do not necessarily buy in to the Guardian-reading, liberal left definition of what it means to stand up for the working man.
The Labour party publicly takes a stance of the British National Party as being their sworn enemy, yet the BNP draws most of its support from the same working class areas of Britain as Labour. A Yougov report takes this comparison further by revealing that over half of BNP voters are former Labour supporters who believe that Labour “used to care about the concerns of people like me but doesn’t nowadays”. I’ve personally witnessed a great deal of this in Liverpool.: former Labour voters who now vote for, or at least feel very sympathetic, to the BNP. This is ironic in that Labour tends to refer to the UK Independence Party (a nationalist party without the historical affiliation to racism of the BNP) as “racists”. UKIP picks up a lot of votes from former conservative “right wingers”, yet Labour appeals more directly to the “racists” they claim to oppose.
British Labor Party Parliamentary candidate Vicki Kirby was suspended on Saturday by Party leaders after it emerged that she was responsible for a series of hateful Tweets about Israel.
One tweet read:
“We invented Israel when saving them from Hitler, who now seems to be their teacher.”
Another claimed:
“Hitler might be the “Zionist God”
And, one pledged:
“I will never forget and I will make sure my kids teach their children how evil Israel is!”
Anna Soubry MP has called on Kimberley Town and Borough Councillor Andy Cooper to resign immediately, following racist comments about a former fellow Town Councillor. This morning a tenth Town Councillor, Janet Pearce, resigned after she received an email from Andy Cooper which he sent to all Councillors and in which he used racist language to describe Katharina Boettge who was born in Germany. Ms Boettge and fellow Green, David Kirwan, resigned from Kimberley Town Council last month after allegations that the Council was not being open about its finances and was being run in an undemocratic way by the controlling Labour group.
In her resignation letter, Janet Pearce says she has resigned because of the way the council’s finances are being run and because of Andy Cooper’s racist language, stating, “Such a comment is more befitting a member of the BNP and not a member of the Labour Party. Shame on you Andy!!”
The council's lead member for the environment Warren Swaine resigned from his post last night after a race row on Twitter.
“We have written to the leader of the Liberal Democrat group to ask if Cllr Swaine’s comments represent the position of the Liberal Democrat group.”
A Liberal Democrat candidate has refused to apologise for a series of shocking Islamophobic comments. Sick Dave Stones suggested a pork restaurant and a topless bar — named after Islam’s holiest city – should be build next to a mosque.
A Sutton councillor has pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault.
Worcester Park Liberal Democrat Councillor Stephen Fenwick admitted a single count in front of Westminster magistrates yesterday and was handed a year-long conditional discharge and a fine.
Need I go on all night? People need to face facts that Racism, Xenophobia, homophobia exists in ALL political parties!!!!
Nobody as far as I am aware has said that it doesn't but we are on the topic of BNP and UKIP
Some seem to get so uptight whenever racism is mentioned alongside UKIP We shall see where the BNP drop outs end up soon enough
UKIP are the only party which bans people who were previous members of the BNP
Quite true,
and the reason for that is that neither of the other three 'main' parties attract BNP types in sufficient numbers to require any need to make rules to bar them from joining.
I mean, it's a bit of a leap to go from being a card carrying member of the BNP and then want to join the Labour party or even the Tories come to that, but when it comes to Ukip it's not difficult to see why over one third of BNP voters and supporters have 'jumped ship' to Ukip,
and for the record I am NOT for one second saying that all members and supporters of Ukip are racists, indeed I believe that it's only a minority,
but a hell of a lot of racists support Ukip, hence over one third of the BNP vote defecting.
Comments
Presumably he'll join UKIP now.
I doubt UKIP would want him.
Has he got £1,000,000 he can promise which will magically turn into b*****r all?
Is he one of the "decent" BNP members Neil Hamilton said were leaving the BNP for UKIP?
That's naughty!
Does not need magic The guy is bankrupt
He hates fracking - and it could free him up to form an anti fracking paramilitary organisation.
The British countryside may be saved from the Westminster thugs even yet.
Careful Lateralthinking - those kind of extremist statements are liable to get you a Theresa May banning order. No more Digispy posts!
I was merely musing on where he might go next from my Wordsworthian idyll.
Good riddance! The far right and far left extreme organisations are riven by splits an disputes and self destruction is the inevitable (good) result.
Not now, but as we get toward the GE I might have to call on you to explain the difference to me.
Perhaps he'll start the No Fracking party.
He can't. UKIP rules strictly prohibit ex members of the BNP from joining.
It might have anti-fracking youth camps in secret locations and anti-fracking tanks.
Even anti-fracking jet fighters and anti-fracking battleships.
Not that I am advocating it of course. It was just in an anti-fracking dream I had.
Would like to place a bet that by this time next year there will have been more ex BNP members found to be members of UKIP than UKIP will have MPs
UKIP are the only party which bans people who were previous members of the BNP
Racists, xenophobes, homophobes, etc exist in ALL political parties. Sick and tired of the constant BS that they only exist in UKIP.
There are certainly enough former BNP advocates about who suddenly find themsleves very pro-UKIP.
Of course, you have absolutely no evidence for that groundless assertion. UKIP have in the past rejected any pacts or alliances with the UK's BNP and France's Front National and that's as it should be.
Well UKIP are now playing with the big boys and am sure there are one or two Tory friendly journos currently digging away Will await their findings(and the reaction of some) with interest
Again I state that not only UKIP have racist, xenophobic and homophobic members....
Is Labour a racist party?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-mp-diane-abbott-apologises-170824
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/22/Labour-cant-cry-ukip-racism-in-heywood-by-election-heres-why
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/13/labour-mp-jack-dromey-racist-pikey-comment-royal-mail-twitter
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22485739
http://www.collativelearning.com/blogbreakingnews/?p=109
http://cifwatch.com/2014/09/24/guardian-silent-about-labour-candidates-suspension-for-racist-tweets/
http://bramcotetoday.org.uk/2014/08/29/anna-soubry-mp-calls-on-kimberley-town-and-borough-councillor-andy-cooper-to-resign-immediately/
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/warren-swaine-resigns-over-twitter-4216924
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/01/lib-dem-anti-islam-candidate/
http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/11067497.Worcester_Park_councillor_convicted_for_racially_aggravated_assault_in_train_station_pub/
Need I go on all night? People need to face facts that Racism, Xenophobia, homophobia exists in ALL political parties!!!!
Some seem to get so uptight whenever racism is mentioned alongside UKIP We shall see where the BNP drop outs end up soon enough
A situation that was satirised in the Life Of Brian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS-0Az7dgRY
What about the Tories or are there no racists there?
and greens, and others?
Dont do half a job dig up something on someone from each party first!
Quite true,
and the reason for that is that neither of the other three 'main' parties attract BNP types in sufficient numbers to require any need to make rules to bar them from joining.
I mean, it's a bit of a leap to go from being a card carrying member of the BNP and then want to join the Labour party or even the Tories come to that, but when it comes to Ukip it's not difficult to see why over one third of BNP voters and supporters have 'jumped ship' to Ukip,
and for the record I am NOT for one second saying that all members and supporters of Ukip are racists, indeed I believe that it's only a minority,
but a hell of a lot of racists support Ukip, hence over one third of the BNP vote defecting.