The canary in a coalmine? Explaining the emergence of the british national party in english local politics

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 62, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 377-398

  Wilks Heeg, Stuart ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67651202791     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: 14602482     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsn043     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. R. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain: From Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front, I.B. Tauris, 1998; N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
2. See M. Cronin (ed.), The Failure of British Fascism: The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition, Macmillan, 1996; P. Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, Oxford University Press, 2003; H. Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, 1995; R. Eatwell, 'Britain: The BNP and the problem of legitimacy', in H.G. Betz and S. Immerfall (eds) The New Politics of the Right: Neo-Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies, Macmillan, 1998, pp. 143-55; R. Eatwell, 'The extreme right in Britain: the long road to "modernization"', in R. Eatwell and C. Muddle (eds) Western Democracies and the New Extreme Right Challenge, Routledge, 2004, pp. 62-79.
3. M.J. Goodwin, 'The extreme right in Britain: still an "ugly duckling" but for how long?', The Political Quarterly, 78, 2006, 241-51.
4. P. John, H. Margetts, D. Rowlands and S. Weir, The BNP - The Roots of its Appeal, University of Essex: Democratic Audit, 2006.
5. Kitschelt, op. cit. n. 2; Cronin, op. cit., n. 2; Eatwell, op. cit. n. 2.
6. S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, Macmillan, 1982, p. 24 and p. 102.
7. Thurlow, op. cit. n. 1, p. 261.
8. J. Yonwin, 'Electoral performance of far-right parties in the UK', House of Commons research report, SN/SG/1982, 2004.
9. John et al., op. cit., n. 4.
10. Copsey, op. cit., n. 1.
11. Yonwin, op. cit, n. 6.
12. Ibid.
13. Copsey, op. cit., n. 1.
14. D. Renton, 'Examining the success of the British National Party, 1999-2003', Race and Class, 45, 2003, 75-85, 83.
15. Renton, op. cit., n. 12, p. 84.
16. Yonwin, 2004, op. cit., n. 6, p. 2.
17. S. Gable, 'BNP Britain's fourth party claim does not stand up', Searchlight, 8 May 2005.
18. Renton, op. cit., n. 12, pp. 75-76.
19. Copsey, op. cit., n. 1. Nick Griffin appeared on both Radio 4's Today Programme and BBC 2's Newsnight in September 2001. Since then he has been interviewed on the Today programme again on 25 June 2003 and 12 July 2005 and also on Newsnight on 16 July 2004 and 25 May 2007.
20. BBC News 'Hodge attacked for 'BNP language', BBC News, 25 May 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ hi/uk-politics/6690007.stm [Accessed 28 May 2007].
21. Renton, 2003, op. cit., n. 12; R. Eatwell, 'Community cohesion and cumulative extremism in contemporary Britain', The Political Quarterly, 77, 2006, pp. 203-17.
22. Copsey, op. cit., n. 1; Eatwell, op. cit., n. 19.
23. Renton, op. cit., n. 12; Copsey, op. cit., n. 1.
24. Renton, op. cit., n. 12.
25. J. Rhodes, 'The "local" politics of the British National Party', Sage Race Relations Abstracts, 31, 2006, 5-20, 5.
26. Ibid., p. 7
27. Ibid.
28. R. Griffin, The Nature of Fascism, Macmillan, 1991; Copsey, op. cit., n. 1.
29. John et al., op. cit., n. 4.
30. H. Brooks (2002) A Town Betrayed: Burnley in the Ten Years to the Riots, unpublished manuscript, p. 24.
31. P. Seyd and P. Whiteley, 'British party members: an overview', Party Politics, 10, 2004, 355-66; Power Inquiry, Power, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, 2006.
32. P. Facey and E. Robinson, An analysis of the health of local political parties in 2003, New Politics Network, 2004.
33. J. Cruddas and J. Harris, Fit for Purpose: A Programme for Labour Party Renewal, Compass, 2006, p. 4.
34. J. Graham, Local Politics: A Case for Treatment?, Unlock Democracy, 2006.
35. J. Fisher, 'Small Kingdoms and Crumbling Organisations', British Elections and Parties Review, 10, 2000, 133-50.
36. S. Wilks-Heeg and S. Clayton, Whose Town is it Anyway? The State of Local Democracy in Two Northern Towns, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, 2006.
37. Conservative Central Office recently took the decision to merge Liverpool's five Conservative Associations, the combined membership of which was less than 250, into a single entity run from the centre.
38. S. Smith, How It Was Done: The rise of Burnley BNP - The inside story, Cliviger Press, 2004.
39. Ibid., p. 9.
40. J. Tyndall, in Smith, op. cit., n. 34.
41. Copsey, op. cit., n. 1.
42. Ibid., p. 129.
43. Ibid.
44. F. Mactaggart, G. Mulgan and R. Ali, Parties for the Public Good, The Young Foundation, 2006, p. 12.
45. Live interview with Frank Dobson broadcast on Today, BBC Radio 4, 1 October 2003, 07.35 hours.
46. The number of wards in Loughton has since expanded to seven due to redrawing of ward boundaries in 2004.
47. I. Cobain, 'Racism, recruitment and how the BNP believes it is just one crisis away from power', The Guardian, 22 December 2006.
48. N. Lowles, 'A BNP Borough?', Searchlight, June 2008.