Racists cash in on asylum hysteria

Commission for racial equality analysis shows how a newly sophisticated BNP has changed its image and tactics to win votes and seats

Hugh Muir
Tuesday September 16, 2003
The Guardian

The extent to which the British National party has successfully exploited hysteria over asylum seekers and disillusionment with mainstream politics has been revealed by the commission for racial equality.
Internal intelligence gathered for a new push against the racist party shows that it has become very sophisticated in the way it campaigns, the seats it chooses to fight and the candidates being selected to contest them. Consequently, in an atmosphere that has grown increasingly intolerant, it has broadened its support.

The BNP now has 17 council seats and could secure an 18th on Thursday when voters in Stoke go to the polls. There is expected to be a tight three-way battle between the Labour candidate, the BNP and an independent. The Tory candidate has fought a low-key campaign and is not expected to make much impact.

But the BNP could increase its tally further on October 16 when it will fight three more seats, in Burnley, where it already has seven councillors, in Calderdale and in Bradford.

The analysis presented to CRE chairman Trevor Phillips shows how the BNP threat has changed in the past year.

It reveals that:

· The BNP now gets support from people who do not normally vote in local elections.

· Many of its new supporters are aged between 18 and 35. Most of them are male.

· Its support is moving up the social scale. It is gaining endorsements from the lower middle classes, many of whom were "Thatcher's children" and now feel that their earlier support for Tony Blair was misplaced.

· While 70% of the voters in most seats are highly unlikely to vote for the party, 20%-30% are susceptible to its approach.

Its analysis shows that the party has become adept at picking its battlegrounds. It performs well in areas where the majority party has become largely dysfunctional, split by factionalism or personal disputes. In Calderdale, the BNP won a seat in January after a Labour councillor fell ill and failed to show up for meetings. It won another seat in Heckmondwike, on Kirklees borough council, West Yorkshire, last month after a Labour councillor resigned, ran as an independent and split the Labour vote to the extent that the party could only manage third place.

Experts say the most fertile wards appear to be those with a very small number of minority residents, or all-white areas that have minorities close by. This allows the party to peddle the myth that wards are about to be swamped and to play on fears of multi-culturalism. It also targets seats that are winnable with just a low percentage of the vote.

The BNP has refined its process for picking candidates. Many of its supporters and officials have criminal records which groups such as Searchlight, the anti-fascist organisation, usually unearth. Doug Smith, who fought and lost a Stoke ward in May, was exposed for having a string of convictions, including one for armed robbery. Luke Smith, the councillor whose resignation prompted a byelection in Burnley, quit in September after attacking a party member with a glass at a function.

The party now seeks scandal-free candidates. Its nominee in Calderdale next month is Heath Clegg, 32, a married computer store manager and school governor. John West, the Stoke candidate, portrays himself as a father and grandfather with strong local roots.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the CRE, said the major parties, especially the Tories, must also start fighting credible election campaigns in areas vulnerable to the BNP.

"In some parts of the country it is beginning to look as though one of the components of the BNP's success is the lack of any proper showing by the Tories. People should realise that in some places the most effective way to get the BNP out is for people to vote Tory. The Tories themselves must put up a fight [there], even if they don't think they can win."

Mr Phillips, who will address the Tory party conference next month, says the anti-BNP strategy needs updating. "A lot of people behave as if we are fighting the BNP of the 1970s. We are fighting a completely different political party. They dress like New Labour and ape the community campaigning of the Liberal Democrats."