The rise of the BNP in Scotland: Sarwar our target

By Richard Elias | Monday, 5 July 2004 | Click here for original article

Right-wing extremists' real purpose is to sow dissent between local white and Asian voters

THE Scottish BNP plan to fight Asian MP Mohammad Sarwar at the next General Election.

They have no chance of winning the Labour MP's Govan seat but it will provide them a chance to stir up trouble and win publicity.

Sarwar became Britain's first Asian MP in 1997 and is widely respected at Westminster and across the country.

But deluded BNP vice-chairman Scott McLean believes Sarwar is 'losing support'.

He told our undercover reporter: 'White people should have a real choice to vote for.'

While the BNP failed to make their mark at the ballot box in Scotland, there are signs their latest propaganda war is winning over voters.

Although they did not win any seats in the European elections, there was a sharp rise in the votes they amassed.

The party contested the Euro constituency in Scotland, with Steven Blake as No1 choice and McLean as No2, and secured 19,427 votes, despite a poor turnout.

That amounted to 1.7 per cent of the vote, which compares favourably to the last General Election when they registered just 0.4 per cent.

Every vote was cheered by a small group of supporters at the Edinburgh count. And, according to experts, it all amounts to the warning signs of a BNP revival.

One political insider said: 'The fact they are registering nearly 20,000 votes means they are certainly on the radar in Scotland.

'And who knows, unless we are careful, they could do even better next time around.'

Nationally, the BNP won 17 local council seats, one more than in the previous elections, although their actual vote, around 800,000, increased by almost four per cent.

The party's sharp rise in popularity in England follows some of the worst race riots seen in Britain.

After trouble erupted across northern England in the summer of 2002, the spectre of the far-right making political in-roads across the UK loomed large. In towns such as Burnley and Halifax and Bradford, all of which have significant Asian populations, the BNP began to pick up support.

From across the social spectrum, disillusioned voters turned to Nick Griffin's party, believing they offered a realistic chance for change.

Council elections in 2003 saw the BNP make their most significant gains.

And for a time, it appeared as if Britain would go the same way as France and Austria, and have the far-right as a major political party.

But the threatened upsurge in popularity failed to materialise.

And despite a concerted effort to change the party's image and give them an 'acceptable' political face, voters rebelled.

The warning signs for the UK about the increased influence of the BNP had been there for several years with senior activists promising an all-out assault on the political scene.

Griffin's radical overhaul of the party, designed to rid itself of the old 'skinhead and bovver boot' image worked a treat.

The BNP began to win over those who, even a few months earlier, would have been repulsed by the organisation.

In the seventies and early eighties the far-right had been dominated by the National Front who made no secret of their extremist views.

But in-fighting led to their demise and it was left to the BNP to fly the flag for 'acceptable' far-right politics in the UK.

In 1993, they won a by-election in the London borough of Tower Hamlets with their 'rights for whites' campaign.

However, the momentum could not be maintained and within five months they lost the seat.

Four years later, they put up 55 candidates, allowing them a five-minute TV election broadcast.

Despite this, the results were disappointing with only three candidates keeping their deposits.

Searchlight, the anti-fascist magazine, believes that it was at this time Griffin began his make-over of the party.

The increase in the party's political intent was clearly illustrated earlier this year when the list of candidates for the local and Euro elections was announced. They fielded around 450 candidates, twice the number they did for the previous elections.

In Yorkshire alone, they put up 101 members.

Much of their new-found support came from disillusioned Labour voters who believed the BNP 'could make a difference' politically.

Despite their new-found image, senior politicians urged the public not to be taken in.

Tory chief Michael Howard described the BNP as 'a bunch of thugs dressed up as a political party'.

And a senior Labour source said: 'Left to their own devices, the extremists and racists within the BNP are quite capable of generating their own distorted and dangerous publicity.'

The alarm bells for the mainstream parties about the threat posed by the BNP had first rung during 2002 in France.

The National Front, headed by controversial politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, appeared as if they might win the presidential elections.

This was as a result of voter apathy with the population not bothering to go to the polls believing the result to be a foregone conclusion.

But the first round results stunned the country into action and in the second round of voting, the electorate came out in their millions to prevent Le Pen from winning.

However, the threat posed by the far-right was carefully noted on this side of the Channel.

And all mainstream parties here were extremely vocal in the build-up to this year's elections to urge supporters to get out and vote.

Even if they were disinterested in local politics, the message was simple: 'Vote to keep out the far-right'.

This was probably best summed-up in Burnley, the former mill town which had given the BNP some of their most-promising returns.

But the east Lancashire town which the party believed to be their 'stronghold' slipped out of their hands as the public were alerted to the real message behind the party.

At one stage the BNP was the official opposition party on the town council, with eight seats.

However, this time they won only one seat of the eight they contested.

A senior researcher for Labour warned: 'The most effective way to combat the far-right is not to ignore them and hope they will go away but to expose the real anti-democratic, racist agenda behind their veneer of respectability.

'What was widely predicted to be the big breakthrough for the BNP this time proved to be a rout.'

But despite the apparent demise of the BNP, the Home Secretary stressed that the fight was not over.

David Blunkett warned recently: 'We should not be complacent because their message is still a very dangerous one.'