Pleased at BNPs failure?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independen...-failure-1976138.html

Whether one is a BNP supporter or not, would it have been better in the name of democracy, if there had been at least two BNP MPs in the Commons?

Controversial I know, but before most of you go "Ape S**t", just give it some serious thinking.

[thetruthhurts]

Yawn!

[jednbutter]

Yes, it would have opened a more meaningful debate, as in why suspected terrorists are not deported back to there own country and why they are here in the first place.

[Lonnie]

No.

[naomi24]

How could they have seats 'in the name of democracy'? We had a democratic election and they didn't win any.

[sp1814]

Nope - this was a fantastically interesting and dramatic election, and the best thing about it was the abject failure of the far right parties.

Seriously - it now takes away the central plank of the "silent majority nonsense". The so-called silent majority had their chance to vote in the BNP and they didn't.

Britons should be rather pleased with themselves. Once again, we've shown that we do not tolerate extremism.

One other thing - it would be very difficult for any BNP MP to join in debates on anything other than race, because their candidates are almost all educationally...limited.

[Gromit]

You are in denial AOG, snap out of it. They are an extreme party, and at the election they were conclusively snubbed by the electorate.

They put a lot of effort into Griffin's constituency and were trounced, and they lost most of their councillors around the country. Their views are dangerous, unfair and devisive and far from sad they did not get a couple of seats, I am very happy. It clearly shows that those people who share their views are very much a very tiny minority.

If you are arguing for proportional representation, like we have in our Euro Elections (which is how they have two MEPs) then that is enough to convinced me that PR is flawed.

Would you also like a couple of Communist/Respect/Sicilalist Workers MPs in the name od Democracy as well, or is it just sour grapes at seeing your team so comprehensively beaten?

[sp1814]

A joke I've just made up:

Q. Why did the BNP do so badly at the General Election?

A. Most of their supporters don't know how to spell 'X'

Good innit.

Might tell that one tomorrow at work.

[naomi24]

^^ Haa!

[mike11111]

I like that one. However we must remember that X was,until the fairly recent advent of universal primary education, the traditional method by which an illiterate person would append his mark to any legal document; witnessed by someone literate who could subscribe his own name. Even in the late 19th early 20th C it would not be uncommon to find intelligent people who had never been to school using this as their mark.

[andy-hughes]

Interestingly, I believe that in a PR system, the BNP would have won 30 seats!

In the name of democracy, a flawed system, but the best we have, the people vote for those they wish to govern us - and this time around, the BNP has failed to ignite any interest, despite a campaign which appears superfically at least, to be based on ideas which most of us would consider to be reasonable.

I do think they are a wolf in sheep's clothing. The only people i have known who really suppor them to the point of voting for them, are avowed racists, even though they continually deny it. Only two people, but that is what democracy is made of - individuals.

[Gromit]

To put their failure into perspective, at last years Euro Elections (which have a low turnout) the BNP got nearly a million votes.

At the General Election they got just over half a million votes. So in less than 12 months, half of their supporters have deserted them.

[sp1814]

My guess is that the British have turned away completely from extremist (of both right and left varieties).

Success in the future may well go to whichever party can sustain the perception that they hold 'the middle ground'.

In fact the results of this election support that. There wasn't a massive swing to any party. I think people remember how divided the country was under the last truly socialist Government (Callaghan) and the last truly right wing Government (Thatcher's second term post-Falklands), and they don't want that any more.

Just a guess.

[anotheoldgit]

/// One other thing - it would be very difficult for any BNP MP to join in debates on anything other than race, because their candidates are almost all educationally...limited. ///

This is typical of the saying "The pot calling the kettle black" (pardon the pun, nothing racist intended)

sp states, without any kind of proof, that "BNP candidates are almost all educationally.limited".

Since he did not supply any proof, I can only assume that he knows the educational standard of each and every candidate, as I presume he does of all other parties candidates?

Shouldn't bother with the "JOKE" not many on here with a sense of humour.

[jno]

well, the Tories have all been to Eton. Nick Griffin went to a girls' school in Southwold. (No, that's not a joke.)

[andy-hughes]

i think sp was being a bit tongue-in-cheek there AOG, you mustn't rise to it!

[LazyGun]

I don't think they should even consider themselves eligible to have any parliamentary representation, even assuming they can get a significantly larger proportion of the popular vote ( I might be wrong, but I think the best they achieved in any one seat was around 2%), until they resolve the legal battle over the high court imposed injunction regarding their discriminatory membership policy and constitution.

And they probably need to sort out a senior membership that either gets arrested for issuing death threats against the party leader (Mark Collett, April2010), or arrested over a televised street scuffle ( Bob Bailey, May2010) , or a webmaster who resigns and closes the BNPs official internet web pages, twitter and facebook accounts (Simon Bennett, May2010). They might want to consider why they cannot hang onto their local councillors. ( Mark Logan Apr2010, "BNP too racist", Alby Walker Apr2010 " Nasty anti-semitic strain running through the BNP"). Oh yes, and losing all 12 local councillors in Barking and Havering - to Labour.

[Quinlad]

I've no idea how educated BNP members are. They're certainly hapless though. Remember that BNP press conference in February?

"Right, lads, we've got the media coming and we need to make a good impression. We want to show people that we're not a bunch of thugs. Make sure you don't do anything to make us look thick or aggressive."

(Ten minutes later....)

"What's that? You've lost your rag with a journalist from the Times, grabbed him by the face, and man-handled him out the door? Oh no, we're going to look like idiots now!"

[Gromit]

It might be wishful thinking, but I wouldn't be surprised if the BNP implodes, there is evidence that the process has already started (see above), and will fall apart to come back in a few years, renamed, but still full of the same loonies.

[jno]

I think in part they're suffering from the existence of Ukip, which is anti-foreignerism with a smiley face - Ukippers got twice as many votes as the BNP (but still no seats). BNP remains a minority interest, but Ukip is well ahead of the Greens, for instance.

[olddutch]

563,743 voted for British National Party at the election

which amounted to 1.9 % of those who voted nationally

1.9% of 650 seats = 12 seats

AOG what are your thoughts on PR ?