BNP broken in Goresbrook

| Friday, 24 June 2005 Source: Searchlight

The BNP suffered a massive reversal of its fortunes in the Barking and Dagenham council by-election in Goresbrook on 23 June, when a 51% vote for the BNP last September turned into a 51% vote for Labour.

The BNP has now lost its only London council seat after just a few months, holding it only a month longer than did Derek Beackon, the BNP's first London councillor, after he won a by-election in Tower Hamlets in 1993.

Goresbrook was won back for democracy by a broad non-sectarian alliance consisting of Searchlight, the local Together groups and the Labour Party with the massive support of the trade union movement. Tens of thousands of leaflets, newspapers and postcards were circulated in the borough during several days of action.

BNP leaflets and even a DVD full of lies failed to save the seat for the nazi party. The BNP libelled local councillors and desecrated the local war memorial by their presence. Councillors' homes and cars were attacked.

Anti-fascists successfully built on the community action that led to the defeat of the BNP in Village ward, Dagenham, last October and in both constituencies in the borough in the general election, as well as in other parts of the country. The Together groups, formed over the past few months, are broad-based groups committed to building a fairer and better community. They bring together people from all political parties and none, faith groups, trade unions and ordinary residents from all walks of life.

Searchlight wants to thank every person who stuffed an anti-BNP leaflet through a door, addressed an envelope or canvassed in Goresbrook during several days of action. We thank Billy Bragg for coming along on the Saturday before polling day and taking part in the day's activities. We also want to thank all those in the ward who used their vote for the first time in a council election.

A battle is won but the war is far from over. In three weeks people will go to the polls in another by-election in nearby Becontree ward, where we hope to see a repeat of the dismay among BNP officers at the Goresbrook count as they realised what a heavy defeat they had suffered. They turned their anger not on the anti-fascists but on their own candidate Lawrence Rustem, who Searchlight predicted would fail as he had so many enemies within his own party.

A full report will appear in the July issue of Searchlight.

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