Has David Dimbleby killed the BNP?

Is this the end for the British National Party? I know that sentence reads like one of those headlines in the Daily Mail to which the answer is always no, like ‘Do tramps give you cancer?’ But things are nonetheless looking a little grim for that doughty and loveable band of white supremacists who, the whining left kept telling us, were poised to sweep all before them, like Guderian’s elite XIX Corp at the Battle of Wyzna.

Is this the end for the British National Party? I know that sentence reads like one of those headlines in the Daily Mail to which the answer is always no, like ‘Do tramps give you cancer?’ But things are nonetheless looking a little grim for that doughty and loveable band of white supremacists who, the whining left kept telling us, were poised to sweep all before them, like Guderian’s elite XIX Corp at the Battle of Wyzna. This did not happen — and it may be that we have David Dimbleby to thank for that, of which more later.

The thing is nobody these days worries terribly much about the BNP; if there is a far-right group attracting attention it is surely the pie-faced shaven-headed loons of the English Defence League, and they are not bothering anyone electorally. The BNP, which 12 months ago had become a compelling cartoon bogeyman to frighten the kiddies, a formidable electoral force as a consequence of its newfound ‘respectability’, which had somehow sent two MEPs to Brussels, is now back in the abyss, where it was before Nick Griffin took over its leadership.

As is usual among far-right groups in Britain, which is one reason why they never get anywhere, the BNP is busy purging its ranks of traitors, reds, buggerers, etc — these being the usual accusations levelled at people who disagree with the leadership’s line.