by René Lavanchy
Labour Party activists and anti-fascist campaigners insisted this week that voters had “moved away” from the British National Party in Barking, after BNP leader Nick Griffin announced he would stand for Parliament there in next year’s general election.
Mr Griffin has vowed to spend more money than the party has ever spent before on a single constituency to capture the east London seat held by culture minister Margaret Hodge, where support for the far-right party has made them the official opposition on the council.
The BNP came third in Barking in the 2005 general election, polling 4,916 – just 27 votes behind the Conservatives – but they would have to overturn Ms Hodge’s majority of more than 8,000. The party holds 12 of the council’s 51 seats and many Labour activists fear it will gain control next year.
Darren Rodwell, a campaigns co-ordinator in the borough, was upbeat about Labour’s prospects. “I think the reason they’ve brought Nick Griffin in was that on the ground, Barking CLP was beating the BNP. We’ve got a lot more support than the BNP, we know their people are demoralised”.
Acknowledging the BNP’s council seat wins, he said: “The majority of people weren’t BNP because they were racist, they were BNP because they weren’t listened to, and a lot
of them have moved away from that sort of politics”.
A local Unite Against Fascism activist agreed: “If you mobilise the majority of people who are anti-fascist – Nick Griffin
will lose.”
Opposition to Ms Hodge from some of her local party members has previously caused divisions within the local party. Mr Rodwell acknowledged this but said the party was campaigning vigorously and had amassed around 9,000 contacts during canvassing last month.
BNP deputy leader Simon Darby told Tribune Mr Griffin had been asked to stand by their council group in Barking and Dagenham. “Nick believes he should be an MP in Westminster and not in the European Parliament”, he said. The campaign could help them win control of the council next year, he added.
Margaret Hodge said: “We have been fighting the BNP for the last three years, so we have been expecting a BNP candidate to stand against me and it now turns out to be Nick Griffin. We want to expose the BNP for what they really are, not what they pretend to be.
“The BNP have no place in democratic politics and Labour will campaign against them across the country.”

