BNP Election Success in Swanley, Kent

by johnofgwent

I usually leave the election results postings to GA himeslf, but it's quarter to six, the new job means I'm trapped in a hotel on what is a stinking midden of a building site on a marshland where the morning air reeks of a mixture of rotting vegetation and something resembling chicken manure in what is most definitely the arse end of the otherwise magnificent city of Edinburgh, and I'm bored.

So it was with some delight that I found, whilst peering through the overnight unmoderated comments, a one-line reference to the Swanley Council Election. And then another with a link to a news item on the official British National Party site.

Read the details for yourself there if you wish, but in essence the British National Party Candidate has triumphed in what is reported to be "the safest labour ward in kent". Figures from the count are reported on the official party site thus:-

• Paul Golding (BNP) 408
• Mike Hogg (Labour) 332
• Tony Harry Searles (Conservative) 247

”This is an outstanding result,” said Councillor Golding, speaking exclusively to BNP News after the result was announced. Councillor Golding pointed out that this victory was the first BNP breakthrough south of the River Thames and thanked to the volunteers who pitched in to help this vital campaign.

Again according to the official party website

"The ashen-faced Labour team stormed out of the counting hall as soon as they could. Only the Tories, who had been friendly throughout the day, stayed behind to congratulate Councillor Golding on his election victory".

Which, just as with the debacle of the not-so-illustrious Weyman Bennett (whose organisation wouldn't know an election if it bit them on the bum) throwing a strop on live talk radio as reported in an earlier blog entry, shows up the real attitude of the left to the process of democracy in action, does it not.

I spent a good half hour digging round the 'net vainly seeking additional verification of this election result. I noted for example that whilst the British National Party candidate was happy to state his case to, and offer debate with, anyone with the means to get online at the "votewise.co.uk" site, the other two candidates did not get round to making their case there despite the site's organisers, in the best tradition of electoral fairness, making approaches to both those candidates in the hope of promoting the election and the participants.

I noted also that few of the online sites run by the local and national press who carried stories of the calling of the election have yet got round to covering the result. I wonder if any of them will bother to cover the result at all.

EDIT ADDED 21-02-09 by johnofgwent. I may owe the BBC a small apology for casting their impartiality into doubt. Or maybe Rod Liddle and his lefty pals read The Green Arrow Blog and wish to deny me the ability to say "I told you so". Either way, I took a wander over to the BBC News Web Site yesterday afternoon, and if you pick the menu item England from the menu on the left, and then go to the drop-down list titled "News Local To You" at the top right and pick Kent from the list of regional choices, you find this page titled "BNP Unseats Labour In By election" is the top story. Enjoy it while you can for god knows it is well deserved.

However, I have a message for the newly successful Mr Golding. Get your celebrations over and done with quickly, for there is work to do. Whilst I was digging round the news sites to see if any had bothered to cover this hard won and well earned result, I noticed that GEC Alstom are seeking to gain planning permission for an accomodation barge to house what the GMB Union fear will be yet another wholly foreign workforce taking the jobs from british workers in the construction industry denied the chace even to apply to do the work for the successful prime bidder.