Read them and weep

Acknowledgements to Cllr Kevin Edwards' blog for the following data.

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Under Griffin's clueless leadership, not only has the British National Party fielded approximately only one-third as many candidates as it fielded four years ago, but it has also lost more than three-quarters of the seats it defended, gained no new district/borough seats and suffered a devastating collapse in electoral support of between one-third (in Scotland) and one-half (in England). The fall in the BNP share of the vote in Wales (where Griffin lives and where he was talking up the party's chances of actually winning a seat shortly before polling day) is between the two, at 44%. The only reason the fall in the BNP share of the vote in Scotland was less than in Wales is because the party's base-line level of support in Scotland was comparatively low in any case. It had less far to fall.

Griffin's only response to his failure of leadership is to whine "Not me, Guv" and then to start screaming hysterically about "Searchlight spies". Griffin is frantically trying to shift the blame for the electoral meltdown which the BNP has suffered onto his critics, such as I and others, who drew attention to the unmistakable signs of electoral decline following the general election last year.

As national chairman and leader of the BNP, Griffin should cease his puerile attempt to pass the buck and accept that it stops with him. Instead, as usual, whilst quick to claim credit to which he has no right, for the work of others, he declines to acknowledge any responsibility whatsoever when things go wrong. Instead he is determined to shoot the messenger, in fact to shoot all the messengers. As George Orwell says, in his essay "Notes on Nationalism" "...the use of scapegoats, is a way of attaining salvation without altering one's conduct."

Unless we have a new leader and right quick, the good ship BNP is heading straight for the iceberg and will be lost with all hands. I'm not interested in what the gourmand Griffin has for breakfast, provided it is not the BNP on toast. The only tweet from this cuckoo that I am remotely interested in reading is the one that tells the members of our party that he is finally facing facts and resigning as chairman in the best interests of the BNP.

It's time for the ham actor Griffin to exit stage right, before we have to fetch the hook. The new leader of the BNP is already waiting in the wings and is the safe pair of hands the party desperately needs.

Richard Edmonds: in your heart you know he's right.

BNP Regional Round-up

Scottish Parliamentary Election

2007 1.2%

2011 0.8%

Vote down by 33.3%

Welsh Assembly Election

2007 4.3%

2011 2.4%

Vote down by 44.2%

English Local Elections

Average vote per candidate with total number of candidates in brackets.

Eastern

2007 19.0% (65)

2011 8.0% (17) Down 57.9%

East Midlands

2007 18.5% (83)

2011 8.6% (37) Down 53.5%

North East

2007 11.5% (95)

2011 6.7% (19) Down 41.7%

North West

2007 14.9% (117)

2011 8.1% (65) Down 45.6%

South East

2007 12.0% (43)

2011 4.5% (9) Down 62.5%

South West

2007 11.1% (34)

2011 3.5% (4) Down 68.5%

West Midlands

2007 14.6% (126)

2011 6.8% (54) Down 53.4%

Yorks & Humber

2007 14.1% (179)

2011 8.9% (53) Down 36.9%

English Local Election Summary

2007 14.5% (742)

2011 6.9% (258) Down 52.4%