We want and need a broadly based movement, to coalesce into a new party once in Parliament, just as the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Labour Party and (albeit at a very accelerated pace) the SDP all emerged.
I will be contesting North West Durham in any May or June Election, if the doctors let me when, in March, I next see them (several operations over the last couple of years). They almost certainly will, but having done exactly as they have told me is how I am still alive. In no particular order, priorities are my election, the re-election of Dai Davies, and the re-election of Bob Wareing. I don't agree with either of them about everything, but that's not how a political movement works.
I am more baffled than anything else at any suggestion that the Old Labour social conservative and patriotic position is embodied by the BNP, most of whose voters were previously Tories of the lower end of lower-middle-class type who see themselves as a cut above their chavvy neighbours. It is the Tory vote that goes down when the BNP vote goes up, but most commentators assume that Labour would ordinarily expect every vote in Yorkshire, or the North West, or the East End. If the BNP is any sort of voice of "the white working class", then how come it does pitifully badly here in the North East?
Keep Dai Davies and Bob Wareing in, and put me and anyone else we hear of in as well: you don't have to live in the constituency to give your time or your money.
Good luck with your political endeavors Mr. Lindsay. I hope all goes well.
ReplyDeleteHow many Old Labour type voters just stay home nowadays because the major parties don't offer much in the way of a choice? Perhaps some people mistakenly think they have moved over to the BNP instead?
Lots of folks still think fascism was a working-class movement, when it really wasn’t, as you point out, it was always more of a lower-middle class phenomenon, and still is. But I suppose blaming Old Labour voters on the BNP is more convenient for some.
Since you always insist the BNP are ex-working class Tories, I advise you to look at these polling data: http://www.channel4.com/news/media/2009/06/day08/yougovpoll_080609.pdf
ReplyDelete'Did the Conservative Party used to care about people like me but nowadays doesn't?'--All 28-52, UKIP 38-47, BNP 27-65 (less historically supportive of Tories than the average Briton)
'Did Labour...."""'--All 62-25, UKIP 59-36, BNP 59-32 (also a bit more sceptical than average, but a 32.5% swing from historical empathy for Tories (30.5% swing for all Britons, 16% for UKIP voters).
Parents' vote--All 42Lab 27Con 5Lib, UKIP 42Lab 32Con 5Lib, BNP 47Lab 25Con 3Lib (more Labour than average by a margin of 7 (UKIP 5 pts towards Tories), which is what matters most, since certainly the real parents' vote must be about even)
The most economically pressured electorate ---% dissatisfied with income/lifestyle -- 43 Greens & Labour, 47 LD, 50 Tories, 59 UKIP, **74 BNP**
Class - C2DE 45% of sample -- 36 Greens, 39 LD, 40 Tories, 47 Lab, 48 UKIP, **61 BNP**
Overall, it seems UKIP voters are extremely close to BNP, just slightly less pessimistic, more likely to blame Europe for Britain's problems and less likely to blame immigrants/immigration. Both sets of votes (for the Euro elections anyway)...UKIP is a bit more lower middle class and has, more ex-Tories and BNP more ex-Labour and purely working class.
The poll interviewed apparently 985 BNP voters and 4306 UKIP voters (out of 32268), so I should guess its margin of error is not terribly high.
I'm talking about real votes, not opinion polls.
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