The BNP’s Big Tent

The British National Party has boldly entered the 20th Century by voting to allow non whites to become, gasp, members of the BNP. Leader (and MEP) Nick Griffin is quoted in The Guardian article as conservatively estimating membership from non-whites to be a “trickle, rather than a flood”. Magnanimously, he goes on to observe that “Anyone can be a member of this party. We are happy to accept anyone as a member providing they agree with us that this country should remain fundamentally British”.

Of course, the BNP’s definition of fundamentally British might differ from a more mainstream view. I’d go on about it, but it’s a) a soft target, and b) they have an FAQ for the more curious or open minded. Suffice it to say that while they claim to not be racist, they wouldn’t mind it if everybody who is not white left these islands for good, via a mechanism of “firm but voluntary incentives for immigrants and their descendants to return home”, according to their manifesto in advance of the 2005 General Election. I’m OK, even though I’m an American citizen of largely Irish lineage, but if you’re third or fourth generation Caribbean, you’re out.

So, in essence, you have to agree to kick yourself out of the UK in order to be a member of the BNP.

I propose the following. While Griffin argues that these odd looking newcomers to the party will “be accepted, they’ll be welcomed, providing they’re there to do the things that we want to do, and providing they accept and agree with our principles, which is that multiculturalism, we believe, has been a failure . . . “, with only 14,000 members, it wouldn’t take too many new members to overwhelm and take over the party.

I’m just saying.

It’s good to see that membership in the club of respectable fascist right parties in the UK has increased by one. We needed a little competition over there, to keep UKIP honest.