Yesterday’s announcement that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon,
alternatively known as Tommy Robinson, was leaving his position as joint
Vice-Chairman of the BFP to focus on his leadership of the EDL came as a
surprise to many. Quite what precipitated his decision is unclear, but this
announcement comes only a fortnight after an unsubstantiated rumour circulated
that Paul Weston had resigned from his position as BFP Chairman, a rumour that
was swiftly rebutted. It begs the question as to who started this rumour and
why?
In his interview with The Independent yesterday, Lennon (for
the sake of brevity I shall avoid the double-barrelled formulation) stated:
"I am looking at how to change the EDL into a genuine political party but we can't put a time on it at the moment. We are looking at the 2014 elections in Europe."It [the BFP] just isn't for me, I want to stick to the EDL. I wanted to make this decision before I committed myself to campaigning for the BFP. I have not been involved in an election campaign for them yet, so it is the right time."
What was it about the BFP’s policy platform that caused
Lennon to take this decision, if indeed it was a matter of policy that caused
his departure? Whatever the underpinning cause happened to be, attempting to
turn the EDL into a political party is an utterly pointless venture, being as
it is a single-issue protest group. Lennon would be better off re-evaluating
his movement’s aims, objectives and tactics, transforming it into a more
tightly focused and effective campaigning vehicle independent of any particular
political party. Although it has managed to establish itself in the public
consciousness, the EDL has not, generally speaking, projected an image that
would exert electoral appeal to anything other than a small hardcore of
supporters. Irrespective of the fact that there are certain widely-recognised
negative behaviours exhibited by Islamists in this country which the majority
of the general public find abhorrent, voters are not going to cast their
ballots for a party that makes tackling Islamism its number one issue, although
they would of course be happy to vote for a party with a comprehensive policy
platform that dealt appropriately with the Islamist problem as part of its wider
policy mix. Voters are primarily concerned about the economy, public services,
education, housing and immigration, not Islamism, no matter how much distaste
they may possess for it.
Does Lennon intend to transform the EDL into a political
party with such a broad policy mix? This seems doubtful. For all of its flaws
and fixation upon the Islamic issue, the BFP does at least profess to possess
objectives other than tackling Islamism and Islamisation; the EDL does not. In
this respect, Lennon’s move brings to mind the recent announcement by former
UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire in connection with the creation of a new political party
named ‘We Demand a Referendum’ (WDAR), which possesses no policy other than to
secure a referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the EU. For some
reason, The Sun threw its backing behind this venture last month, presumably
because Murdoch no longer finds Cameron’s Conservative Party to his liking.
How peculiar it is, that both Lennon and Sinclaire have
decided to leave single-issue fixated parties and establish new splinter
parties focused purely upon Islam and the EU respectively. This is not the
stuff of electoral politics, but of pressure group agitation, and given the
obsession of both figures with these single issues, they would be best advised
to keep out of electoral politics and instead concentrate upon building up
convincing arguments and campaigns in support of their respective positions. A
vote for either will be a wasted one; both parties will fail, and badly at
that. Voters need to be presented with a credible alternative to which they can
lend their support; a party that genuinely tackles both of these concerns
alongside the pressing need to address those issues that are central to the
winning of any campaign. The EDL will not be such a party, and neither will the
WDAR.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon: Leader of the EDL
Nikki Sinclaire: Leader of 'We Demand a Referendum'
