Fewer nationalist candidates at 2014 elections

With most councils now having published lists of candidates for the 2014 Local and European Parliamentary elections, it is now obvious that the BNP is ceasing to exist as an effective electoral machine, while so far no clear post-Griffin nationalist electoral challenge has emerged outside a handful of areas.

Heritage and Destiny will next week be publishing a full election preview in the May/June edition of the magazine, assessing both the state of the movement in the UK and the nature of the various European parties which might form a viable coalition of nationalists in the next European Parliament.

Apart from a couple of BNP council candidates in the Ulster town of Larne, the local election focus this year is on English councils, including city councils, districts and London boroughs.

So far we are aware of just 114 BNP council candidates, compared to 739 when the equivalent elections were last fought in 2010.

As has become a common sight at each point in the arc of BNP decline, some former strongholds have collapsed completely, and the party has only been saved from total embarrassment by the continued (though no doubt temporary) loyalty of a handful of branches.

Among the BNP disaster zones are Barking & Dagenham, which became the BNP flagship in London under the leadership of Richard Barnbrook, becoming the official opposition to Labour in 2006.  The party lost all its councillors here in 2010 and Mr Barnbrook is no longer with the BNP.  There will only be four BNP candidates here this year.  Similarly in the BNP’s other highest profile success area – Burnley – the BNP this year has only two candidates and there will be no nationalist on the ballot paper in Hapton with Park, once the strongest ward in the history of British nationalism.

England’s second city Birmingham, where the BNP had a full slate of 40 candidates eight years ago, now manages only three.

Across Yorkshire, North East and North West England a sad parade of defunct BNP branches total precisely zero candidates from an entire list of former strongholds that once put up strong challenges to the political establishment, and in some cases had full slates as recently as 2010.  These include Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead, Rotherham, Leeds, Kirklees, Barnsley, Wakefield, Bradford, Blackburn with Darwen, Oldham and Liverpool.

Formerly hot nationalist prospects elsewhere in England which similarly have seen a total BNP wipeout include the Black Country racial battleground of Sandwell, and three Essex white flight boroughs now overtaken by the ever swelling tide of migration: Thurrock, Epping Forest and Southend.

The only BNP councillor defending a seat this year anywhere in the country is Brian Parker, two-term councillor for Marsden ward, Pendle, who becomes the first nationalist councillor in history to seek a third term but is now one of only two BNP candidates across the entire borough.  Cllr Parker held on in 2010 by just 28 votes, and since he now faces UKIP opposition will do well to avoid abject humiliation, having bravely opted not to retire from the fray.

In most of the London boroughs the BNP has faded, though regional organiser Steve Squire will be happy to have fielded six candidates in his home borough of Enfield (up from four last time) and most impressively 21 candidates in Bexley (down from 26 last time but by far the largest BNP slate anywhere this year). The deeply divided Croydon BNP branch has nevertheless managed to put up five candidates.

Other islands of Griffinite loyalty in an ocean of disillusion are Salford (five candidates), Stockport (seven), Worcester (eight) and Coventry (thirteen).

The post-Griffin electoral landscape has yet to come into focus.  Seven candidates will stand this year for the newest challenger – the British Democratic Party: three for Newcastle City Council (where former BNP organiser Ken Booth and his Brit Dem colleagues are now the only serious nationalist electoral force in North East England); two for Bradford City Council (including former BNP city councillor Dr Jim Lewthwaite); one for Leeds City Council; and one in the London Borough of Redbridge.

The latter is Julian Leppert, who was BNP candidate for Mayor of London in 2004 and councillor for Hainault ward from 2006 to 2010: he will contest Hainault as a Brit Dem this year.

Legal confusion surrounding the National Front has meant that only the faction supporting Ian Edward (still recognised as party chairman by the Electoral Commission) is still able to use the NF name on ballot papers this year.  Mr Edward himself will stand in his usual West London territory: Harefield ward, Hillingdon, where he polled 13.9% as runner-up in 2006.

Four years ago the brightest NF prospect was in Thurrock, where Mick Griffin (no relation!) finished runner-up in Tilbury St Chad’s ward with 16.9%.  This year Mr Griffin will stand in the neighbouring Tilbury Riverside & Thurrock Park ward.

The rival NF faction headed by Kevin Bryan (who himself claims to be the legitimate NF chairman) has mostly been forced to sit out this campaign, but three of their activists are standing as independents: former BNP regional organiser Richard Edmonds in Worcester Park ward, Sutton; Tess Culnane in Downham ward, Lewisham; and Tony Martin in Croham ward, Croydon.

A very different ex-BNP independent is former Griffinite millionaire Paul Cromie, who won Queensbury ward, Bradford, for the BNP in 2010 but quit alongside his wife and fellow ward councillor Lynda to sit as an independent in 2012.  Cllr Cromie faces a tough task in attempting to retain his seat as an independent, especially as he now has UKIP opposition.

Another big name from the recent nationalist past is standing under an unfamiliar banner in Blackburn with Darwen.  Simon Bennett was the BNP’s North West regional press officer and key architect alongside Steven Smith of the party’s breakthrough victories in Burnley in 2002 and 2003.  He later quit the BNP (like so many others) and was England First Party candidate for Queensgate ward, Burnley, in 2007 when he polled 25.6%.

This year Mr Bennett is Conservative candidate for Ewood ward, Blackburn, where he is in a straight fight with Labour.  H&D understands that Mr Bennett first offered his services to UKIP, but was turned down owing to the fixed policy of Nigel Farage’s party to exclude anyone who has previously been a BNP member.  The Conservative Party proved more accommodating, which is perhaps not that surprising, since until 2004 Blackburn Conservatives had a councillor in Meadowhead ward (Eddie Harrison) who had been a National Front member and a parliamentary candidate for John Kingsley Read’s NF breakaway group, the National Party.

As regular readers will know, there is already an ex-BNP organiser on Blackburn with Darwen council – the Labour councillor for Earcroft ward, Trevor Maxfield.  On March 13th this year another ex-BNP member, Dr Peter Moseley, was elected as Conservative councillor for Aveland ward, South Kesteven, in a by-election.

This website will carry a full guide to nationalist campaigns in the local and European elections, accompanied by a detailed preview in the May/June edition of Heritage and Destiny magazine, and in the July/August edition a results analysis and assessment of the future for British nationalism.

[Thanks to Bob Taylor, Kevin Scott and Paul Hickman for correcting earlier errors in this article.]

Full list of BNP and other nationalist candidates

BNP

London Boroughs

Barking and Dagenham
Eastbrook – (6.4%) Anthony McKay (222 votes) and Paul Sturdy (166 votes)
Goresbrook – Bob Taylor (13.9%)
Mayesbrook – Giuseppe De Santis (8.9%)

Bexley
Barnehurst – Paul Hulme (2.6%)
Belvedere – Brian Haslam (8.1%)
Blackfen & Lamorbey – Chris Wait (6.6%)
Blendon & Penhill – Erin Bradley (9.3%)
Brampton – Maureen Slaughter (6.0%)
Christchurch – Ben Scott (6.0%)
Colyers – Peter Finch (9.9%)
Cray Meadows – John Brooks (6.9%)
Crayford – Stephen James (15.9%)
Danson Park – Ronald Slaughter (7.3%)
East Wickham – Nicola Finch (381 votes – 10.2%), Michael Jones (346 votes) and Jaymie McCoy (216 votes)
Erith – Robert Howard (9.0%)
Falconwood & Welling – Jimmy Dobson (8.9%)
Lesnes Abbey – Carl Bussey (7.0%)
North End – Mark Horne (14.9%)
Northumberland Heath – Paul Carver (12.1%)
Sidcup – Lucy Ann Money (4.1%)
St Mary’s – Mark Bryant (7.5%)
St Michael’s – Laurence Picton (10.4%)

Bromley
Cray Valley East – Deborah Kane (5.8%)
Cray Valley West – Roger Tonks (2.7%)
Mottingham & Chislehurst North – Philip Dalton (5.9%)

Croydon
Fieldway – David Clarke and John Clarke (8.1%)
Heathfield – Michael Collard (4.9%)
New Addington – (5.7%) Cliff Le May and Donna Treanor

Ealing
Northolt Mandeville – David Smith (5.0%)
Northolt West End – David Furness (8.2%)

Enfield
Enfield Highway – Gary O’Connor (6.7%)
Enfield Lock – Jason Keogh (6.3%)
Palmers Green – Angelos Gavriel (3.2%)
Ponders End – William Walton (6.1%)
Southbury – Marie Nicholas (4.7%)
Turkey Street – Steve Squire (6.1%)

Greenwich
Coldharbour & New Eltham – Cliff Adams (8.1%)
Eltham North – Roberta Woods (4.9%)
Eltham South – Thelma Peete (5.1%)
Eltham West – Paul Ramsey (8.6%)
Middle Park & Sutcliffe – Nick Scanlon (6.4%)

Havering
Gooshays – Ray Underwood (6.0%)
Heaton – Kevin Layzell (13.7%)

Hillingdon
Yiewsley – Vincent Evans (7.6%)
South Ruislip – Gavin Cardy (5.9%)

Kingston-upon-Thames
St James – David Child (3.0%)

 

Metropolitan Councils

Birmingham City Council
Erdington – Frances Waldron (1.2%)
Kingstanding – Frances Burke (2.1%)
Shard End – Kevin McHugh (2.9%)

Bolton MBC
Tonge with The Haulgh – Dorothee Sayers (3.4%)

Coventry City Council
Bablake – Mark Badrick (1.7%)
Binley & Willenhall – David Clarke (3.0%)
Cheylesmore – Stephen Comer (7.0%)
Henley – Rose Morris (3.0%)
Holbrook – Christine Wilkins (8.2%)
Longford – Frankie Bates (2.1%)
Lower Stoke – Keith Oxford (1.8%)
Radford – Arnold Clements (11.2%)
Sherbourne – Mark Graham (2.1%)
Upper Stoke – John Hurren (2.5%)
Westwood – Darren Thomas (8.8%)
Whoberley – Dawn Wagstaff (1.3%)
Woodlands – Hunter Helmsley (1.6%)

Dudley MBC
Coseley East – Ken Griffiths (3.9%)

Manchester City Council
Miles Platting & Newton Heath – Gareth Black (14.2%)  + 5.9
Moston – Stephen Carden (4.2%)  – 8.3

St Helens MBC
Billinge & Seneley Green – Alan Brindle (2.1%)
Thatto Heath – Paul Telford (2.1%)
Town Centre – Peter Clayton (3.5%)

Salford City Council
Cadishead – Brenda Leather (16.2%)
Irwell Riverside – Gary Tumulty (3.4%)
Langworthy – Kay Pollitt (3.5%)
Pendlebury – Eddy O’Sullivan (4.4%)
Winton – Wayne Tomlinson (12.3%)

Stockport MBC
Bredbury & Woodley – Andy Webster (2.4%)
Bredbury Green & Romiley – Tony Green (1.5%)
Brinnington & Central – Brenda Waterhouse (3.4%)
Heatons South – Sheila Spink (3.9%)
Manor – Duncan Warner (1.9%)
Reddish North – Paul Bennett (13.3%)
Reddish South – Ged Williams (8.3%)

Tameside MBC
Ashton St Peter’s – Bill Kitchen (10.3%)
Droylsden West – Ian Connor (3.5%)

Walsall MBC
Birchills-Leamore – Bob Ball (4.8%)

Wigan MBC
Abram – Dennis Shambley (4.9%)

Wolverhampton City Council
Bushbury North – Simon Patten (3.8%)
Spring Vale – David Bradnock (2.0%)

 

Unitary Authorities

Derby City Council
Chaddesden – Paul Hilliard (4.0%)
Derwent – Carol Tucker (3.1%)

 

District Councils

Amber Valley
Codnor & Waingroves – Alan Edwards (2.8%)
Ripley – Ken Cooper (3.1%)

Burnley
Gannow – John Rowe (9.8%)
Rosegrove with Lowerhouse – Chris Vanns (21.9%)

Exeter
Priory – Chris Stone (1.4%)

Nuneaton & Bedworth
Arbury – Phillip Kimberley (2.8%)
Barpool – Alwyn Deacon (4.5%)
Bede – Yvonne Deacon (12.5%)

Pendle
Marsden – Brian Parker (29.8%)
Vivary Bridge – John Rowe (11.4%)

Worcester City Council
Battenhall – Jennifer Whitwam (0.8%)
Bedwardine – Timothy Whitwam (1.5%)
Cathedral – Andrew North (0.8%)
Gorse Hill – Ashley Bradley (2.7%)
Nunnery – Carl Mason (13.0%)
Rainbow Hill – Alan Draper (2.9%)
St John – Linda Bell (1.6%)
Warndon – Julie Whitwam (2.9%)

 

Northern Ireland

Mid & East Antrim
Coast Road – Robert Bell and Steven Moore

———

British Democratic Party candidates

Redbridge
Hainault – Julian Leppert (8.0%)

Bradford City Council
Royds – Dr Jim Lewthwaite (4.5%)
Tong – Liam Kernaghan (4.2%)

Leeds City Council
Middleton Park – Kevin Meeson (6.9%)

Newcastle City Council
Benwell & Scotswood – Ken Booth (4.9%)
Elswick – Kenny Baldwin (18.5%)
Fenham – Russ Rickerby (4.3%)

——

National Front candidates

Hillingdon
Harefield – Ian Edward (7.1%)

Basildon
Laindon Park – Anthony Harms (0.8%)
Lee Chapel North – Thomas Beaney (3.3%)

Southend
Victoria – Bernadette Jaggers (0.9%)

Thurrock
Grays Thurrock – Thomas Davis (2.3%)
Tilbury Riverside & Thurrock Park – Mick Griffin (4.5%)

——-

Nationalists standing as Independents

Bexley
Blackfen & Lamorbey – Michael Barnbrook (20.2%)

Croydon
Croham – Tony Martin (1.9%)

Lewisham
Downham – Tess Culnane (2.7%)

Sutton
Worcester Park – Richard Edmonds (4.4%)

Bradford City Council
Queensbury – Paul Cromie (35.8%)
Wyke – Neil Craig (3.6%)