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Saturday 1 October 2011

English Democrats to contest Barnsley St Helens Ward

The contest for the St Helens ward situated in the Barnsley Central constituency is unlikely to be one that fires the imagination of hardcore political pundits let alone that of ordinary prospective voters. Nonetheless, it could be of some interest because both the English Democrats and the BNP are fielding candidates. The English Democrats are a small and growing civic nationalist party, whilst the BNP is a fast-shrinking and discredited ethno-nationalist party. However, whereas my awareness of the BNP’s terminal downward trajectory has been acquired from a number of years closely following events associated with the party, it is unlikely that many electors in Barnsley will be aware of such goings on (although that may change once the BBC Panorama programme on the BNP is aired).

Compared to the English Democrats, the BNP possesses a high profile and significant level of voter brand awareness. That said, this ‘brand awareness’ is generally speaking about as positive as that enjoyed by Ratners immediately after the infamous speech delivered by its Chief Executive in 1991. The BNP brand is toxic and the party is way past its peak in terms of performance having reached its natural electoral ceiling in the EU elections of 2009. Most seasoned activists have left, as have a significant proportion of the BNP’s more competent and high-profile personnel. Some of these – the most notable being Eddy Butler – have sought to join the English Democrats. Former BNP councillor Chris Beverly has already done so and become Leeds English Democrat Chairman. On the other hand, a number of long-established members of the English Democrats have been uncomfortable about this influx of former BNP members and a number of them have left as a consequence.

There have been rumours that Mark Collett either has joined the English Democrats or is about to do so. If indeed it transpires that he is or does become a member of the party, this in itself will be sufficient to destroy its chances of projecting a credible image to the electorate and making a breakthrough. Whatever his talents may be in the field of graphic design, few former members of the BNP are freighted with as much toxic baggage as Collett. Watch the following footage -‘Nazi Boy’, ‘Young, Nazi and Proud’ and Collett’s encounter with Combat 18 founder member Tony White - and take into account his remarks about enjoying “crushing people”, his stupid ‘children’s story’ about a malign Jew and inviting underage girls to his hotel room at the BNP’s AGM in 2006. Make up your own mind about the man, but in my opinion he’s not an asset to himself, let alone to anyone else. His views are as repellent as his character. If he worms his way into the English Democrats and they don’t eject him quickly, their hopes of electoral growth are finished.

Until there has been confirmation that Collett will not be permitted to join the English Democrats I am holding back from becoming a member. If Collett is admitted, the English Democrats must prepare themselves to be reviled as a pariah party and to lose any prospect of attracting decent professionals, for after all, why would the latter wish to have their reputations sullied by association – no matter how distant - with creatures such as Collett? It is precisely because of individuals of Collett’s ilk that Britain, and England in particular, lacks a credible nationalist party of the type seen flourishing elsewhere in Europe in the form of the PVV, Front National and others.   

Returning to Barnsley, Kevin Riddiough from Hoyland has been announced as the English Democrat candidate for the St Helens ward. He has stood as a candidate twice previously, including at the Barnsley Central By-Election earlier this year. Another South Yorkshire borough - Doncaster - is something of a 'stronghold' for the English Democrats, as one of their members - Peter Davies - is Mayor of the town and their performance across the borough in the recent local elections was serviceable, with them narrowly missing out on gaining councillors in a number of wards. Barnsley is similar to Doncaster in terms of its socio-demographic composition, and should therefore constitute natural territory for the English Democrats.

Quite how Riddiough and his party will fare in the months and years ahead very much depends upon how successful they are in reaching out to the large disenfranchised section of the indigenous electorate, which of course is predicated upon them ensuring that their reputation does not get tarnished by the presence of neo-Nazi narcissists such as Mark Collett. Furthermore, Steve Uncles appears to be something of a loose cannon, for his contact with Sinn Féin did the party no favours. 

With UKIP having recently adopted the policy of campaigning for an English parliament, the English Democrats need to get their act together quickly and increase their public visibility in a positive fashion. One encouraging sign which distinguishes them from UKIP (Lord Pearson excepted) and puts them more in tune with the concerns of a large percentage of English electors, is that the English Democrats website recently chose to highlight the issue of Islamisation through drawing attention to the aims and actions of the Association of Muslim Police (AMP), which seeks not only to display sectarian favouritism towards Muslims within the force, which in itself is bad enough, but to proselytise on behalf of Islam within the police and society at large. The AMP should be outlawed as an organisation hostile towards and subversive of the English way of life, and it is to the credit of the English Democrats that they have chosen to draw attention to the poisonous intent of this body. 

The Guardian ran a half-favourable article on the English Democrats Annual Conference last weekend, but it strikes me that the strategy of this paper and of the so-called ‘anti-fascist’ movement will be to allow the party to grow until within a year or two of the next General Election, and then put the boot in. How? It’s quite straightforward really, yet completely avoidable if the party is sensible with respect to which BNP members it admits. This precise strategy is already being aired on the self-styled anti-fascist ‘Lancaster Unity’ blog as displayed in this comment by someone calling themselves ‘UK Fightback’:

            2:57 PM, September 26, 2011
So, there you have it: either the English Democrats behave in a rational and circumspect fashion, or they enjoy a couple of years of growth and are then blown apart for the sake of a little short-term fillip in membership. Which is it to be?

7 comments:

  1. It would be more effective to 'infiltrate' an existing conservative party, to make use of its organisation and 'brand recognition', than to start from the beginning with a new party.

    This is what the Tea Party in the US has been doing with respect to the Republican party there, with significant effect; though it's clear that many of the party bigwigs ('Rockefeller Republicans') seem comically unaware of what's really going on.

    There are those who would rather be the big fish in the small pond, but really there's damn little benefit for a political system to have more than two political parties.

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  2. Corrections of fact :

    You state 'allegations surrounding inviting underage girls to his hotel room at the BNP’s Conference in 2009'.

    1. The incident was at the BNP's AGM in 2006 not 2009.
    2. The incident was not an 'allegation'. It was found to be a fact by the Party's Disciplinary hearing who received evidence from members of the Party's 'security team' (that is the shaven headed tattoed thugs who accompany Griffin and his senior colleagues). Collett was given a final written warning about this incident. The following year he was involved in another incident at the Party AGM 2007, 'mooning' out of a hotel window when anti-fascist campaigners were protesting outside. The Police, who were stewarding the anti-fascist demo, had agreed with BNP Conference management that no BNP member was to do anything 'provocative' out of the hotel windows. The police were furious about Collett's breach of this agreement and the Party instigated disciplinary proceedings. Because of the previous years incident the disciplinary hearing recommended he be sacked. Nick Griffin ignored the disciplinary hearing.

    This failure to apply Party disciplinary hearing decisions to Mark Collett (and deputy Treasurer D Hannan) was the last straw for some of the Party's officers. The group, led by Party admin manager Kenny Smith, revolted. These are the 'December rebels' (December 2007) They have won a court case against Griffin for over £100000 (part of this is court costs and lawyers fees).

    Ivan Winters
    Democratic Nationalists

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  3. Brett, our Conservative Party is a serious problem, and even if 50% of its members agreed with a nationalist programme, you can guarantee that the globalist 50% would win out. The Conservatives have blocked the emergence of a nationalist party in Britain (in England in particular) for decades due to their largely faux patriotism. Moreover, they are very much a class-based party of privilege that does not have the interests of all members of the national community at heart. No, nationalist politics cannot find a home within the three big globalist parties: Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat. All three are viscerally opposed to nationalism.

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  4. Ivan, thank you very much for your corrections re the facts of the Collett Blackpool incident. I have now amended the article accordingly.

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  5. Hi, Durotrigan! I have corresponded with you here in the past and I have to say you write an excellent blog. As I have said before, I actually campaigned with Nick Griffin in Barking at the last election to no avail and you are correct in asserting that the BNP has had its day whilst Nick Griffin remains in charge. I voted against him in the recent leadership election which he unfortunately won by just nine votes. I think the BNP is now probably beyond repair even if a new 'non-toxic' leader were found.


    However, I couldn't join the English Democrats because they appear to put annoying our fellow Britons in Scotland, Wales and NI ahead of truely representing English interests. They are a civic nationalist party which has a pretty elastic definition of who constitutes the English people whilst I am an ethno nationalist.


    I would argue the EDs are better than UKIP who are basically just an Atlanticist anti-EU Tory Party with the same globalist economic policies.


    I am 'working-class' as I suspect you are and was once a 'working-class' Tory until I realised that they were just another globalist party although one that represented the interests of the better-off in our society. No genuine nationalist party can engage in class warfare and has to be a party for the British people as a whole which is why UKIP have trouble expanding their electoral base.

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  6. Welcome back ‘Anonymous’. I understand why you might have reservations about the English Democrats given their overt focus upon constitutional arrangements within the United Kingdom vis-à-vis its constituent nations. After all, neither the Scots, the Irish nor the Welsh pose the English any kind of existential threat, which is not something that can be said of the vast influx of hostile immigrants from beyond Europe. As you rightly note though, their position is far superior to that of UKIP, and for any shortcomings that they might possess owing to their emphasis upon being a purely civic nationalist party, having looked through their policies they could serve ethnonationalist goals well enough given the absence of a credible ethnonationalist party.

    Such is the state of public opinion that I do not believe that an overtly ethnonationalist party could thrive under current conditions, as the multiculturalist messages drip fed by the mainstream media, politicians and the education system have been internalised by the majority of English people. The task is therefore one of moving political debate and discourse in a more nationalist direction, so that people become accustomed to thinking freely in nationalist terms without imposing self-censorship as many automatically do today. If the English Democrats were to be successful, they would open up intellectual and public space for such themes to be aired.

    As for my class position, you have correctly guessed where my roots lie, and that is where most of my family remain. I dislike the politics of class antagonism, which is why I, amongst many other reasons, do not class myself as belonging to any political ‘wing’. The old dichotomy of Left/Right is today more or less meaningless. This leads me to agree with you on UKIP's lack of potential for uniting the nation.

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  7. Thanks for your reply, Durotogian. I could vote for the ED's with reservations. They aren't a separatist party which I couldn't support but I think the tone of some of their leaflets and broadcasts could make some people to believe that they are. They need to adjust their output so that they come across as non-separatists.


    I think you are correct in asserting that overt ethno-nationalism is unlikey to bring in the votes at the moment due to the propaganda of the vile leftist BBC and the press but unfortunately if the EDs are to help to change the intellectual climate for ethno nationalism then they will need to do this quickly as we as a nation don't have much time left before we are completely overwhelmed by the tsunami of immigration.


    As for UKIP, their limited appeal to all parts of our national community is proved by reading the Daily Mail comments section. The vast majority of UKIP fans seem to be former Tories and Thatcherite Tories at that.


    I agree that Left and Right are largely meaningless political terms nowdays. The choice is between globalism/internationalism on the one hand and localism/nationalism.

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