BNP Election Result Part 3.

Ahead of the European election much was made of the British National Parties election leaflet. In part this was because a large number of British postal workers refused to deliver it in effect saying that they would rather face the sack then help the BNP get elected. A brave thing to do in a recession. The main controversy though was about the leaflet itself;



As you can see the leaflet features testimonials from BNP voters to prove that the people who vote for the BNP are ordinary folk just like you and me. The main message is that the BNP are the only political party that will fight for British jobs for British workers. To emphasise the point the front of the leaflet features a photograph of a RAF Spitfire flying in the Battle of Britain. As soon as the leaflet was made public this website popped up and pointed out one or two minor problems; http://www.newspeak.org.uk/2009/05/13/british-national-party-voters-dont-exist/

• The builders who supported the BNP because the were sick of foreign workers coming over and taking all the jobs weren't British at all. In fact they were Americans who had never heard of the BNP. The photograph was taken as a way to promote Portland Oregan and the original image feature a fourth, black, construction worker.

• The doctor who supported the BNP because he'd seen what immigration had done to the NHS and wanted to bring and end to health tourism not only wasn't British he wasn't even a doctor. Instead he is an American model/actor who dressed up in a white coat for a stock image in photo-library. Again he's never heard of the BNP and when he was contacted about the leaflet was keen to distance himself from the party.

• The grandparents who supported the BNP because they'll put pensioners ahead of asylum seekers are Italians posing as a favour to their son, an Italian photographer. When contacted the photographer was especially unhappy that the BNP were using one of his photographs because he was aware of how the BNP attempted to victimise Italian workers at the Linsey oil refinery protests.

• Ignoring the fact that the Spitfire in the Battle of Britain was fighting against fascists like the BNP the BNP still managed to mess up the use of the image even further. The Spitfire pictured flew in world war two as part of one of the RAF's Free Polish squadrons. This means that the pilot of the plane was a Polish immigrant who'd come over the Britain to do a job that a British worker wasn't skilled enough to do.

These appalling cock-ups were picked up by the moderately right-wing Daily Mail newspaper who ran the story as a full page spread for their readers some of whom are potential BNP voters. Viewed in isolation the incident appears to be just another example of a none too bright political party making stupid mistakes on their election campaign and being picked up on it by rival bloggers and newspapers. However when you look at it alongside the Ian Griffin manhunt and a recent episode of British TV show Ashes to Ashes it takes on much more significance.

Ashes to Ashes is a cop show set in 1980's London and is the follow up to another show called Life on Mars. Both shows are made by the production company who are famous for making the show Spooks. Spooks is a high quality TV drama set in the world of espionage that is made with the assistance of Britain's own MI5. For the first four or five series this made the show a really great watch with the TV people and the spies dancing round each other and slowly revealing each others secrets. Then the balance of power shifted and the spies started eating the production team alive. In the episode of Ashes to Ashes that was first broadcast days after the Daily Mail's expose on the BNP the TV detectives were investigating the murder of a Polish migrant on a building site. At one point one of the the cops turned to another and pointing to an, off screen, Polish builder said; "Did you know he used to fly Spitfires in the Battle of Britain?"

That simple line of dialogue could well have given some conspiratorially minded viewers the impression that MI5 had somehow infiltrated the BNP and deliberately sabotaged their election leaflet in order to ruin their chances at the European elections. Personally I think the BNP have a seemingly endless ability to screw up their own propaganda and the TV show has a very short lead time between finally editing and broadcast. Therefore MI5 would have had time to see the leaflet before it was released from the printers and pressurised the TV people to include the dialogue in the show to give the public a false impression about MI5's role in the BNP's election campaign. This has the added advantage of making the BNP look like an oppressed minority and helps them secure the outlaw vote.