← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · PENN
Thread ID: 5028 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2003-02-15
2003-02-15 10:24 | User Profile
BNP sets sights on taking Straw's seat By Russell Jenkins
THE British National Party is to target Jack Strawââ¬â¢s Blackburn seat at the next general election, claiming that it is vulnerable to the race issue. Robin Evans, 38, who won a seat on the Blackburn with Darwen Council less than three months ago, has announced his intention to stand against the Foreign Secretary.
He won a surprise victory in the predominantly white, working-class district of Mill East by vigorously exploiting racial tensions in the area, saying that asylum-seekers were moving in and receiving preferential treatment. The campaign was characterised by smears, dirty tricks and allegations of racial hatred.
Mr Evans, a self-employed builder from Darwen, caused controversy last month in the council chamber when he refused to denounce publicly claims by Nick Griffin, the BNP chairman, that the Holocaust was nothing more than Allied propaganda.
The BNP has believed for some time that Mr Strawââ¬â¢s constituency, with its large Asian population, would prove to be fertile ground for the partyââ¬â¢s appeal to disaffected whites.
Mr Griffin said that it would be able to do more than inflict a bloody nose on Mr Straw, whose majority at the 2001 general election was reduced from more than 14,000 to 9,249. He said: ââ¬ÅWe got a good vote at the last election and subsequently we won in Mill Hill, which is by no means the best-placed ward for us. **Jack Straw could very well lose the seat at the next election.ââ¬Â **
[...]
[url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,635-578240,00.html]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,63...-578240,00.html[/url]
2003-02-15 22:27 | User Profile
Excellent. Keep us posted.