Experiences of talking to people who vote for the BNP

We sadly have a real problem with political debate when elected politicians, political journalists or politicos refuse to accept that others may disagree with their views and resort to accusations that are just silly and immature.



For example, an article appeared on Liberal Conspiracy that Boris Johnson wants to kill children, the New Statesman article which claims that Cameron has borrowed a facist statement and Cllr Assenheim's assertions that my campaigning taticts are bully boy tactics of the BNP.

These examples just show how extreme some in politics can be. Some of us for a number of years, from all parties, have been working to stave off the BNP in our wards.

The examples above were unwise and can stoke racial tensions when none exist. For the likes of Cllr Assenheim that use the BNP to make racist slurs, it makes me wonder if these people who talk about BNP and its voters know what the BNP is about.

For a number of years I have been talking to people about politics in places as diverse as East London and I have talked to and listened to many people who have said that they would vote for the BNP not just in West Shoebury but around the country.

Roughly, there are 3 types of people who say this (there may well be more, but these are the ones that I instantly recognise):

(1) there are people who, when they realise that you are from a 'mainstream' party, want to shock you by the extremes that they will go to to impress on you their dissatisfaction with politics and politicians in the UK.

(2) there are people who are very concerned about immigration in their community and the percieved advantage that immigrants have over the 'native' population in terms of housing and jobs.

(3) there are people who sign up to unpleasant racist and authoritarian views that makes my skin crawl. The number who fall into this category is, thankfully, very small.

There is a common theme in all of this - these are people who feel as if they have no access, no say and are not listened to.

As politics has been professionalised, we have grown used to seeing our politicians on television, hearing them on radio and having coverage in the print media, we have seen less and less of them in person on street corners.

During the last round of local elections in 2008, I cannot tell you how many times people told me that it was the first time they had met a councillor or candidate in person.

The oft-heard complaint of voters on doorsteps is that we only get to hear from politicians 'when you want our vote'. The days when it was acceptable for politicians to turn up periodically and sporadically are over.

My view is that it is through engagement that we will overcome the prejudices people have - about politicians, let alone about people who come from different races and credes.

As a candidate, my aim is (and, with luck, will be) to communicate - to listen, to learn and to explain - as a person, I am imperfect and I have imperfect knowledge about the things that I experience, let alone the things of which I have no experience.

As a result, for me, the primary aim of politics is to listen and to learn and to apply that listening and learning to find ways to improve our lot. I suspect that most people on all sides of the political divide will agree with that - but there will be some who say that this is racist BNP bully boy taticts campaigning!