The British National Party lost all 12 of its seats on Barking and Dagemham council this afternoon, completing a day of abject failure for the fascists.
The British National Party lost all 12 of its seats on Barking and Dagemham council this afternoon, completing a day of abject failure for the fascists. Earlier, Nick Griffin had been told to “get out and stay out” by Margaret Hodge after being trounced by 24,628 votes to 6,620 in the general election. Griffin’s share of the vote fell 1.7 per cent, with turnout up 11.3 per cent.
The BNP also failed in Stoke, Griffin’s deputy Simon Darby finishing fourth to Tristram Hunt in Stoke-on-Trent Central. The racist party’s failure to gain ground follows their successes in last year’s European elections and 2008 London Assembly elections.
The BNP’s annihilation followed months of campaigning by Hope Not Hate, Unite Against Fascism, trade unioinists and community groups, Nick Lowles, head of Hope Not Hate, calling the grassroots mobilisation of thousands of campaigners key to the BNP’s resounding defeats.
He said:
“The BNP has been humiliated in Barking & Dagenham and Stoke-on-Trent and a huge thank you must go out to everyone who has got involved in the HOPE not hate campaign. We estimate that almost 1,000 people participated in the campaign in Barking & Dagenham over the last few months and 2-300 involved in our campaign in Stoke-on-Trent.
“In the last ten days of the campaign alone we have distributed over 130,000 pieces of literature in Barking & Dagenham. There was material for pensioners, black and Asian voters, young voters, women voters and male voters who had been identified as opposing the BNP. We did attack leaflets, positive leaflets and polling day cards to turnout our anti-BNP voters.
“On Monday 385 people delivered 55,000 leaflets and even yesterday, on polling day, we had 175 people out knocking up the vote. We played a major part in a highly successful campaign. The BNP is divided and defeated and the results in Barking & Dagenham and Stoke-on-Trent will have an impact on both the fascists and our own campaign in the months to come.
Sam Tarry, newly-elected Labour councillor for Chadwell Heath, tweeted:
“Barking & Dagenham was the BNP’s Stalingrad. They have been taken to pieces all over the country”
And:
“BNP smashed! Hope not hate being talked about as biggest anti-fascist movement since D-day! 170 people were out for HnH today!”
38 Responses to “BNP booted out of Barking”
BNP booted out of Barking « The best Labour blogs
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Ian
Unbelievable result 😀 Well done to Nick Lowles and the team on the ground in Barking. Congratulations.
Alan McKechan
Two things I read cheered me up: http://gu.com/p/2gzh6/tw & https://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/05/bnp-scum-jackbooted-out-of-barking/
Ralph Baldwin
Thanks to Will Straw for placing this article.
I would like to say a VERY special thank you to all the Heros and Heroines of Barking and Dagenham who sacrificed time, energy and money to see an end to this menace and threat.
I applaud you all as I wipe the tears from my eyes.
An incredible effort by everyone that highlights collectivve strength over hatred.
Truly by our common endeavor we can achieve so much.
A special thanks to Sam Tarry who I had the privalage of working with as we worked in Goresbrrok Ward.
Thank you to Hope Not Hate, Unite Against Fascism, Unite and the other precious Unions, and all the volunteers who travelled acroos the country and London to help.
We shall now be working the seats and do all we can to ensure this vile threat does not succeed via the ballot box again.
Why PR won’t give us a BNP government « Lonesome Day
[…] third (behind the Conservative candidate) in the general election and lost all 12 seats to Labour (see the Left Foot Forward report). Being more prominent there has not resulted in more success, quite the opposite. The more […]