"The Commonwealth of Britain" - Republican UK Wikibox TL
- Thread starter powerab
- Start date
Closer Look, New Statesman Article on BNP Collapse
Why has the BNP collapsed?
By Tim Wigmore
The BNP might not be officially extinct, but the party has already descended into irrelevance. From nearly 5% of the vote in 2011, the party is now polling on less than 1%. It has collapsed from 29 MPs to 15 due to scandals and defections. With supporters abandoning the party in droves for the British Democratic Party, Britain First and English Democrats.
BNP MPs and staffers privately tell me holding onto their Westminster representation is a lost cause and that the party is “retreating into the regions”. 44% of incumbent BNP MPs seeking re-election this year are also running for seats in regional parliaments as an insurance policy.
The BNP has all but disappeared from the campaign trail, Nick Griffin, acting as both unofficial Presidential candidate and Parliamentary lead candidate has been barred from election debates and the number of BNP appearances in the media has dropped dramatically.
Only a few thousand registered supporters remain. The party’s offices in Wigton, in Cumbria, appear abandoned, with party work taking place at the home of one of the BNP’s admin staff instead according to Matthew Collins, director of research for Hope not Hate. The BNP’s collapse is partly a classic tale of factionalism and vicious infighting destroying a political party. Many BNP members came to loathe Nick Griffin, who hoarded power during his 15 years as BNP chairman from 1999, almost as much as those outside the party.
For years, an ugly war simmered within the BNP’s Parliamentary Caucus between Griffin and Senator Andrew Brons, the two most senior BNP politicians. Brons came within 90 votes of ousting Griffin as leader in 2011, and then quit the party in 2012. Brons then left to join the British Democratic Party, taking a large chunk of the BNP's MPs with him. Three BNP MPs went with Nick Griffin to form Britain first whilst 4,000 BNP supporters moved to the English Democrats with Senator Eddy Butler, giving the party it’s first ever national representation.
The BNP’s strategy was also flawed. After successes in 2008 and 2009, the BNP “gambled everything” in the 2011 Parliamentary election, Collins says. The party stood 400 candidates, and won over a million votes: 4.1 per cent of UK voters. Yet the election “bankrupted us,” admits Stephen Squire, a party spokesman and London BNP MP.
But even the best-organised party in the world could not have overcome the British public’s contempt for crude racism. Every generation in Britain is becoming less racist than the last. While almost 40% of those born before 1950 oppose marriage between black and white people, only 10% percent of those born since 1980 do. This was reflected in the BNP’s poor performance among young people: 18-24-year-olds provided only 14 percent of the BNP’s support. Unlike the most successful far-right parties, the BNP failed to link immigration to a wider political narrative. BNP policies were far less popular when associated with the party.
The BNP also suffered from being confronted head-on by the anti-extremist group Hope not Hate. In 2009, Richard Barnbrook expected to be elected Mayor of Barking, where the BNP was polling at 30% of the vote. Hope not Hate mobilised 2,000 volunteers and handed out 400,000 newspapers, leaflets and letters across the borough.
“We organised a massive voter drive and hammered the BNP on the ground,” Collins says. “Everywhere the BNP got a foothold, our activists worked hard in each local community to expose and undermine their message. We ran very localised campaigns in each area. Our campaigners were backed up by our research team, who found dirt on BNP councillors and candidates.”
The loathing of mainstream politicians has not gone away, even if the BNP is no longer a beneficiary. “Resignations and expulsions are a regular, almost daily occurrence, now,” Collins says. “There are now no longer enough people in the party for factions and splits.”
- New Statesman 31st March 2014
"I like Ed Balls, and I cannot lie..."
"All the Tories do is lie.
When Ed walks in with a plan
And a red box in his hand"
2014 Presidential Debate Part 2, The Economy
Whilst he wasn't on stage, Osborne's austerity agenda was a focal point of the debate
The first section of the debate was on the deficit and the economy, with candidates being asked how they planned to get the deficit down without vast tax increases or public spending cuts.
Farage was the first to answer.
“Whatever you hear from the other four candidates tonight, they have failed to get control of the deficit. They have all been in charge for the last six years. The last two coalitions were put together with the express aim of eliminating the deficit. That’s what they said they were going to do and they failed. The deficit is still running at nearly £100 billion every year. In the last eight years the national debt has nearly tripled from £800 billion to 2 trillion. We need to make cuts and I have some ideas for places we could start. We could cut almost £20 billion pounds a year from the foreign aid budget, we could save another £10 billion pounds a year and not send money to Brussels. We could end vanity projects like HS2 saving £5 billion pounds a year. There's a plan and a promise that could be kept, but it requires new thinking in Buckingham.”
As the only candidate on stage without Government experience, Farage argued he would bring a "fresh perspective"
Again cutting foreign aid and money to the European Commission was very popular with his base, but he did little to reach out to undecided voters. Farage was the only candidate on stage who’s party had not served in Government recently, whilst this allowed him free reign to attack the other candidates it also meant he lacked credibility on financial matters.
Ed Miliband interjected.
“As usual Nigel's lying to you. We've been cutting the deficit every year and we've been doing it in a fair way. George Osborne and Michael Howard promised to end the deficit, they failed so Labour stepped in. As President, I won't veto tax rises for millionaires like President Howard did, raising £50 million pounds a year. We've instituted common-sense spending reductions whilst ring-fencing spending on key areas like education and health. But the most important thing is that living standards have risen over the last three years, that has given the Government more tax revenue and allowed the economy to grow. We can boost living standards and cut the deficit, we have to. But we can't do that if we have a President holding our country back, in Buckingham I'll push our economy forward, not cut it to shreds.”
Miliband made a strong argument for traditional Keynesian economics and he had a strong foundation to stand on as living standards had risen significantly in the last three years. More than that he took the deficit argument head on, by making the argument for spending in schools and education in order to push Britain's finances forward.
At this point Natalie Bennett entered the conversation.
Bennett's campaign message was she would "keep Tories out and Labour in line"
“Well it's nice to see Ed taking the credit for the rise in public living standards when it was the Greens in the cabinet who stopped the worst excesses of a Balls austerity agenda. What we're offering is not cuts. We've reduced austerity as a junior coalition partner, in Buckingham we'll reverse it entirely. I will invest in the future of every person in this room. Let's think about what cuts really mean, if you close down a library or a children's centre, that's more unemployed workers, more people on universal credit and less spending in our communities. Cuts make everybody poorer. I will raise taxes on those who aren't paying their fair share, multinational companies and rich individuals in particular. If they pay their share in the world's fifth richest country we can afford to have a decent society and decent public services. We've shown it can work in Government, let us finish the job.”
Bennett again benefited from being the most radical anti-cuts candidate in the room. She made a clear argument that it was the Greens who were responsible for curbing austerity. She managed to get in a few digs at her Labour coalition partner, whilst outlining her achievements in Government and her plans for the future.
Micheal Howard stepped in next
Howard hoped to leverage his work on international tax avoidance
“Well firstly not for the first time Ed and Natalie are wrong about our plans. I have personally tackled tax avoidance, at the G20 I rallied global leaders against global tax dodging. Under our plan we are going to raise £4 bn from tax avoidance. In Government we reduced tax avoidance, we put more money into the NHS and we cut taxes for working people. But we need to understand why the deficit matters and how we got here. We got here because people like Ed Miliband couldn't control themsleves. Ed Miliband thinks the Government isn't borrowing enough and taxing enough. If you don't understand the mistakes of the past you can't provide leadership for the future. Ed Miliband has learnt nothing from the last six years, it's his Government that crashed the car and if you give him the chance he'll crash it again.”
Howard had the most aggressive tactics of the debaters on stage, keeping the pressure on Miliband and reminding the audience of the financial crash. His “car” metaphor would become a running theme in the debate, much to the bemusement of some commentators. Whilst he was a seasoned debater and put on a decent speech, an old man going into dry statistics on tax avoidance was not the most riveting television.
Howard was by far the oldest candidate
Nick Clegg challenged Howard in his speech.
“I’m blown away by what the President has just said. President Howard would have you believe he's some kind of taxation warrior. But in his manifesto he's said he won't ask the richest in society to pay even a single penny in extra tax. He wants to impose ideologically driven cuts on schools. When I hear him talk about the choice between competence and chaos I want him to imagine the chaos in people's lives for people who don't know if they'll wake up tomorrow and you've shut their hospital down. You need to take a balanced approach. You do need to reduce spending but you also need to ask the very richest to pay a bit more tax. It's the only way to get our deficit down.”
Clegg tried to position himself between the “reckless spending” of Miliband and the “ideological cuts” of Howard, but he struggled to make a coherent argument against both when his party had served in Government with both of them, helping them to make cuts and make additional borrowing. By dogmatically sticking to his equidistance strategy, he alienated both sides of the economic debate.
Usually an accomplished public speaker, Clegg struggled to make his mark on the debate
To what extent was being "anti-cuts" a winning message in the 2014 Presidential Election? (30 Marks) - A Level Politics Exam (2019)
Closer Look, BBC Wales Excerpt on Premier Election
Welsh Premier candidates push for votes
Nick Servini Political editor, Wales
I've been out with most of the parties during the Premier campaign in Wales.
Whilst their larger, more rebellious cousins to the north get much of the media’s attention, many in the Welsh political scene are predicting an earthquake. Polling shows the Welsh Tories collapsing whilst Welsh UKIP is seeing an unprecedented surge.
A BBC/ICM poll shows the Tories winning just 6 seats in the Welsh Parliament, making them the smallest Party in the Senedd, behind the Lib Dems and even the Greens.
The same poll shows UKIP surging to become Wales’ main opposition party, with 19 legislators sent to Cardiff.
A bizarre moment in the campaign came when reporters were gathered in Swansea expecting to see UKIP candidate for Welsh Premier, Nathan Gill, to be told he wouldn't be showing due to security concerns.
We then all trooped off to the Liberty Stadium to interview him in the safety of the stands, and for him to hold a meeting for thousands of party supporters.
UKIP may have been getting all the headlines across the Commonwealth. In Wales the critical question is what happens to the Labour vote and to what extent there'll be a Labour bounce.
Everyone I speak to says it's too tight to call.
If Labour wins big then Alun Michael will comfortably hold the Premiership and First Minister Owen Smith will be able to cast off one or all his troublesome coalition partners.
If UKIP win big we could see them supplanting Plaid and the Tories to become Wales' main opposition party.
One poll caused particular distress in team Labour, showing Gill on over 30%, if he can pull enough Tory voters in the final round he could prove a real challenge to Michael’s reelection chances.
Both Labour and UKIP recognised the importance of Wales for both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, with both Miliband and Farage making multiple visits to the nation. Ed Miliband in particular recognises his path to Buckingham runs through the cities and valleys of Wales.
Both the Tories and Plaid say they've been campaigning hard in their heartland areas.
I was with the Conservatives Premiere candidate David Jones at the GE Healthcare plant in Cardiff north yesterday.
He said it was all about getting the core vote out but admitted it had not been easy on the doorstep. Explaining that the workings of the Premier have an impact on people's daily lives can be challenging, even for the media.
The big focus for Plaid has been the central role Plaid policies have played for the Welsh economy, and the rural economy in particular. Their stint in Government has divided their support base and the party expects to make moderate losses.
The impact of EU aid is also a question often put to Labour's Premier, Alun Michael, who has taken credit for negotiating a third tranche of EU funding. He accepts that mistakes were made in the early days but that now a focus on 400, rather than 4,000 projects, will make a greater difference.
However it is First Minister Owen Smith, not Premier Michael who has been the star of the Welsh Campaign, a close confidant of Ed Miliband, Smith has gone out to bat for his party’s Presidential nominee on several occasions and impressed pundits.
At just 43, many expect Mr Smith to have a bright future ahead of him, the Cardiff bubble whispers the Premiership or a Cabinet post awaits him, some even talk of a Presidential bid one day. The Commonwealth is still yet to have a Welsh President.
- Excerpt from BBC News Wales, 5th April 2014
So Welsh Election is occurring contemporaneously to the General-Presidential-European Election Day, I suppose. There are other regions and local communities (mayoralties, town councils,...) on ballot?
Yes so regional elections happen in tandem with their national counterparts so all "executive" officers (President, Premier and Mayors) occur together and all Parliamentary Elections (both regional and national) happen on the same day
So on the 22nd of May the people of the Commonwealth are electing 1 President, 650 MPs, 78 Mayors, 73 MEPs and countless regional Parliamentarians. As well as any local council elections that happen to occur in 2014.
UK elections use separate ballots for different elections, with ballot boxes for each.
It must take ages to count them all.
Well then, at least people can get a workout while voting. Say there are two boxes per election at the local polling station, and in our imaginary "Commonwealthton", all elections are held. That means:
Two for the Presidential race (2)
Two for the local Parliamentary race (4)
Two for the Mayoral race (6)
Two for the European elections (8)
Two for the regional Parliamentary elections (10)
Two for the local council election (12)
That's a lot of money spent on the ballots, setting up the boxes, taking over the space necessary, and it would require extreme amounts of additional work if, like in my native United States, it's all supervised by volunteers. Now, expand that over an entire nation, with varying circumstances. Jesus Christ.
And this is why I would favour a more staggered approach. Something like this:
Year A - President, the Commons, and some local elections
Year B - Senate, and some local elections
Year C - Regional Premiers, regional Lower Houses, and some local elections
Year D - Regional senates, and some local elections
Year E - Metro Mayors, and whatever's left over of the local elections
Insert European elections where appropriate.
That's fair and I have staggered the electoral stages, Executive every 5 years, Upper Houses every 4 and Lower Houses every 3. But in Britain we have a tradition of trying to cram as many elections as possible into one day. With even more staggering we'd see votes every year and quickly see voter fatigue.
Presidents of the Commonwealth as of 2014
Tony Blair- Labour- 1999-2004
Defeated:
(1999: William Hague- Conservative, Paddy Ashdown- Liberal Democrat, Craig Mackinlay- UKIP)
Michael Howard- Conservative- 2004-201x
Defeated:
(2004: Tony Blair- Labour, Charles Kennedy- Liberal Democrat, Roger Knapman- UKIP)
(2009: Gordon Brown- Labour, Nick Clegg- Liberal Democrat, Nigel Farage- UKIP, Nick Griffin- BNP)
Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth as of 2014
Gordon Brown- Labour- 1999-2007
Defeated:
(1999: Michael Howard- Conservative, Ed Davey- Liberal Democrat, Nigel Farage- UKIP)
(2002: Michael Howard- Conservative, Menzies Campbell- Liberal Democrat, Nigel Farage- UKIP)
(2004 SPECIAL: David Davis- Conservative, Menzies Campbell- Liberal Democrat)
(2005: David Davis- Conservative, Vince Cable- Liberal Democrat, Malcom Pearson- UKIP)
David Miliband- Labour- 2007-2008
George Osborne- Conservative- 2008-2011
Defeated:
(2008: David Miliband- Labour, Ed Davey- Liberal Democrat, Malcom Pearson- UKIP, Nick Griffin- BNP)
Ed Balls- Labour- 2011-201x
Defeated:
(2011: George Osborne- Conservative, Chris Huhne- Liberal Democrat, Malcom Pearson- UKIP, Nick Griffin- BNP, Natalie Bennett- Green)
Senate Leaders of the Commonwealth as of 2014
Margaret Beckett- Labour- 1999-2003
Defeated:
(1999: Michael Ancram- Conservative, Adrian Sanders- Liberal Democrat, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
John Reid- Labour- 2003
David Laws- Liberal Democrat- 2003-2007
Defeated:
(2003: John Reid- Labour, Oliver Letwin- Conservative, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
David Davis- Conservative- 2007-2009
Defeated:
(2007: Jack Straw- Labour, Norman Lamb- Liberal Democrat, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
Ken Clarke- Conservative- 2009-2011
Douglas Alexander- Labour- 2011-201x
Defeated:
(2011: Ken Clarke- Conservative, Danny Alexander- Liberal Democrat, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
Tony Blair- Labour- 1999-2004
Defeated:
(1999: William Hague- Conservative, Paddy Ashdown- Liberal Democrat, Craig Mackinlay- UKIP)
Michael Howard- Conservative- 2004-201x
Defeated:
(2004: Tony Blair- Labour, Charles Kennedy- Liberal Democrat, Roger Knapman- UKIP)
(2009: Gordon Brown- Labour, Nick Clegg- Liberal Democrat, Nigel Farage- UKIP, Nick Griffin- BNP)
Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth as of 2014
Gordon Brown- Labour- 1999-2007
Defeated:
(1999: Michael Howard- Conservative, Ed Davey- Liberal Democrat, Nigel Farage- UKIP)
(2002: Michael Howard- Conservative, Menzies Campbell- Liberal Democrat, Nigel Farage- UKIP)
(2004 SPECIAL: David Davis- Conservative, Menzies Campbell- Liberal Democrat)
(2005: David Davis- Conservative, Vince Cable- Liberal Democrat, Malcom Pearson- UKIP)
David Miliband- Labour- 2007-2008
George Osborne- Conservative- 2008-2011
Defeated:
(2008: David Miliband- Labour, Ed Davey- Liberal Democrat, Malcom Pearson- UKIP, Nick Griffin- BNP)
Ed Balls- Labour- 2011-201x
Defeated:
(2011: George Osborne- Conservative, Chris Huhne- Liberal Democrat, Malcom Pearson- UKIP, Nick Griffin- BNP, Natalie Bennett- Green)
Senate Leaders of the Commonwealth as of 2014
Margaret Beckett- Labour- 1999-2003
Defeated:
(1999: Michael Ancram- Conservative, Adrian Sanders- Liberal Democrat, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
John Reid- Labour- 2003
David Laws- Liberal Democrat- 2003-2007
Defeated:
(2003: John Reid- Labour, Oliver Letwin- Conservative, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
David Davis- Conservative- 2007-2009
Defeated:
(2007: Jack Straw- Labour, Norman Lamb- Liberal Democrat, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
Ken Clarke- Conservative- 2009-2011
Douglas Alexander- Labour- 2011-201x
Defeated:
(2011: Ken Clarke- Conservative, Danny Alexander- Liberal Democrat, David Campbell-Bannerman- UKIP)
2014 Presidential Debate, Part 3, Immigration and Home Affairs
The refugee crisis in Calais was an issue of great anxiety for many voters
The next section of the debate was on the issue of immigration, crime and home affairs with candidates asked how they would tackle the issue of immigration from both within the EU and outside it.
Michael Howard was called up first.
"What we need in our country is to recognise the people who come here and work hard, contributing to our companies and our communities. They help make this a great country. But we do need immigration that's controlled and fair. In recent decades it has been too high and I want to see it come down, and it did come down between 2008-2011, but under Ed Balls it's gone up again. The last Conservative Government reduced immigration by putting a cap on people coming from outside the EU. But under Ed Balls, EU immigration has shot up. Here are the proposals I will put in place as President. If you're coming from the European Union you won't get unemployment benefits. If you've been here for five months and don't have a job you have to leave. And if you come here and work you'll have to work five years paying into the system before you can get anything out."
Howard's popularity had slipped since the highs of 2008-09
Again Howard’s answers were boring and technical. He managed to keep the pressure up on Labour and Ed Miliband with his aggressive debating style, but failed to connect with the question on an emotional level
Nigel Farage saw his chance to strike.
“I told you at the start they were all the same. You see tonight that President Howard is the same as every other candidate on this stage. They all agree we should be part of the European Union. As members of the EU, we cannot control immigration. The President can talk about benefits, Senator Miliband can talk about benefits, this isn't about benefits this about numbers. We have a total open door to eleven former communist countries and to the Eurozone where people are suffering. I don't blame a single migrant who comes to Britain wanting to better their lot. But immigration has depressed wages and caused a housing crisis. We have to build a new house every six minutes just to cope with current levels of immigration. We need to change our relationship to Europe to one of trade and friendship and take back control of our borders. 70% of British people want something done.”
The immigration section was Farage’s time to shine, and he successfully connected it to the issue of Europe. But he didn’t say anything new or anything he hadn’t said before. He failed to extend UKIP as more than a single issue party as figures like Carswell had wanted.
Ed Miliband interjected.
Farage and Miliband had clashed before on the Andrew Marr sofa
“Of course people want something done and their concerns are real but you've got to explain how you'll deal with them. The current Labour Government has put in place new rules, saying when you come to this country you have to work for a year before claiming benefits. We wanted to raise it to three years but the Greens blocked us. But when I'm President I'll do something much more important. I'll stop the undercutting of wages in our country. Employers exploiting migrant Labour, not paying the minimum wage and recruiting only from abroad. There's been just ten prosecutions for failing to pay the minimum wage in the last four years. We've got to deal with it, and when I'm President I will. If you want a President that will cut Britain off from the rest of the world, that's not me. We've got to play our role in the world. But if you want a President for controls on immigration, that's what I offer.”
Miliband made a brief attack on his coalition partners whilst making a broadly pro-immigration speech. He successfully pivoted the conversation to wages and workers rights, an issue he was much more comfortable speaking on.
It was then Nick Clegg’s turn to speak.
Clegg was positioned awkwardly at the end of the podium line
“Well I will never spread fear about immigration. I will never cave into the dog-whistle rhetoric of Michael Howard and Nigel Farage like Ed has. We need to remember there's good immigration and bad immigration. Bad immigration is being stopped. In Government the Lib Dems introduced new checks at the borders to stop illegal immigration. We've increased penalties against unscrupulous employers who hire people from elsewhere. When I'm elected President I will change the laws so if you want to claim benefits you have to learn English. But there is also good immigration. We should remain a decent open country who welcomes people who come here and play by the rules, pay their taxes and create jobs. If we turned everybody away the NHS would collapse overnight. I want Britain to be open for business, not open for abuse.”
Again Clegg struggled to put out a significant niche for himself, by dividing immigration into good immigration and bad immigration, he neither captured the pro-migration vote of Bennett supporters, nor addressed the concerns of some of his small town and rural supporters.
Clegg alienated many of his own supporters during the debate
Home Secretary Natalie Bennett was the last to make her point.
"Ed complains that I blocked him from taking benefits away from vulnerable people. I did and I'm proud of it. I celebrate the free movement of people in Europe. Many Britons have been able to take advantage of that, that's a real plus. But if we think about non-EU immigration, what I've delivered as Home Secretary is a controlled but fair and humane system. Successful asylum applications have increased by a third under my watch. When people talk to me about immigration they're concerned about low wages, crowded schools and housing problems. Those weren't caused by immigration they were caused by cuts. In Government we Greens have been the nation's shield against the cuts agenda of the four other parties. There's no point stopping immigration if Michael Howard shuts your hospital down. There's no point closing the border if Ed Miliband fires your kid's teacher. What I will do as President is protect public services, not find someone else to scapegoat."
Bennett's line about her pride in immigration got a round of applause from her supporters in the audience, she took Farage directly to task and used her experience as Home Secretary to prove her competence, whilst making a passionate pro-migration case.
Bennett had been the most small-l liberal Home Secretary for a generation
To what extent did the major candidates agree on European policy in 2014 (30 Marks) - A Level Politics Exam (2019)