You may not have noticed, but there was a party leadership contest yesterday for the BNP.
I blogged about some of the BNP’s travails back in November. My blogpost was met by some sharp denials by what I can only assume were BNP activists, but nonetheless the situation appeared to go from bad to worse for the BNP after that. Relations between Nick Griffin and the party’s second MEP, Andrew Brons, appeared to deteriorate in pretty dramatic terms culminating with this youtube video:
(This is an edited down version of a much longer recording that I have borrowed from the gentlemen at political scrapbook.)
Brons himself is a former National Front leader during the period which it was already dying. He is older than Griffin (64) and less rabble rousing and seems more cerebral. He used to teach A-level politics.
In June 2011 the BNP adopted a new constitution, said constitution stated that party leaders have to be re-elected every four years. Brons challenged Griffin for the leadership and this is the result:
Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
Nick Griffin | 1156 | 50.19% |
Andrew Brons | 1148 | 49.80% |
There were 11 spoilt ballots and 39 votes not counted as they lacked a signature. All in all Nick Griffin beat Andrew Brons by 9 votes. Griffin immediately called for unity, but I can’t help but feel that the opposite will happen. Close elections in split parties are rarely a good thing and the BNP is clearly highly divided at this time. The close result will give those within the party who oppose Griffin a feeling of a missed opportunity and fresh anger. It is hard to believe this is over.
In any case, it is difficult to see the BNP as anything but a party in terminal decline, a dead project. That is not to say that the far-right is dead, just that it will be forced to change. Indeed it may have already done, the EDL may now be the public face of the anti-immigration movement.
Labour managed to survive a close race despite some sniping from the sidelines but the hatred in the BNP runs deep.
ReplyDeleteBritish Freedom Party and Freedom Democrats are two recent parties that split from the BNP.
ReplyDeleteAlthough these parties formed because of hatred for Nick Griffin's leadership, this was only a small reason. These parties formed and many members left the BNP this year because the electorate has proven ethnic nationalism is not popular. This is why former BNP members are leaving for multiracial 'civic' nationalist parties like the English Democrats and UKIP (who field non-white candidates) but claim to just want to better control immigration.
People who know of the BNP's decline don't realise the real reason but blame it entirely on Griffin's non-popularity.
The real reason the BNP is declining is because Britain has sadly become too multiracial and multicultural and there is now no chance an ethnic nationalist party can ever gain much support. View the BNP forums or webblogs and you will see this. This is why before Nick Griffin became despised by BNP members, loads of members had already left for UKIP.
I doubt they have left for UKIP as ex BNP members are forbidden from joining UKIP and are not accepted
ReplyDelete^ They just refuse the well profiled BNP members. Rich barnbrook for example tried to get membership by both UKIP and the ED's but they refused. low profile members though who no one knows about UKIP accept. I know personally numerous bnp members who are now in UKIP. If you check various bnp blogs you will see people saying they have joined UKIP.
ReplyDeleteMost said they would rejoin BNP if andrew brons won, but since he didn't they have stayed in the english democrats and ukip.
If bnp can get back on track all members will rejoin it. No genuine racial or ethnic nationalist really takes 'civic' nationalist parties like ukip or eng dems seriously.