Originally Posted by cassie

Ah yes! Anthony Wedgewood Benn! He wants to get back into Parliament again! It would be a supreme irony if the only way he could do it now was via the Lords!!!

Originally Posted by Britannist

Interesting comments, Cassie.

He (Benn) allegedly thought recently about applying for the Labour candidacy for Kensington North (a new constituency which pro-EU Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind currently represents much of) but did not do so in the end, I believe. The Kensington North seat will probably be won by Sir Malcolm Rifkind but the result could be close (Labour have an active party and numerous council seats in a big part of the constituency).

Apparently, Benn's granddaughter has been selected as Labour Parliamentary candidate for a Conservative-held seat in West Sussex (one that the Conservatives are likely to retain).

Originally Posted by cassie

Well, well, well! What connection has Benn's granddaughter with West Sussex I wonder?

Originally Posted by Francis

I actually see that as a possible reason why the BNP and Respect won't do very well.

A significant proportion of the BNP's support has traditionally been protest voting, and whenever they've won seats it's lead to a strong fall back, as a significant number of their votes came from people who DIDN'T want them to get in, but wanted to send a message to the other parties and so, upon seeing them elected, cease voting for them.

Also, looking at the record of elected BNP councilors, in a lot of cases they've been decidedly poor, therefore if I was a gambling man I'd suggested that a good deal of the BNP's value is already in their price, and a slide back is quite possible, and seeing as they didn't get any seats last time that would mean a high chance of getting none this time.

The main hope for the BNP is for a rise in protest votes in other areas to maybe carry them through to one seat, however they are going to be handicapped by not receiving the same level of publicity as they did when Hodge made her statements, that assisted with the B&D results, and watching the political scene the opposition clearly has plenty of ammunition, in reserve, that they can use against the BNP (self inflicted as usual).

So they might get lucky, and grab a seat from some protest voting, but I'd say at present the chances are against it.

Also, don't forget that the last time around the BNP were riding high (they scored 808,200 votes in the Euro elections in 2004 too), since then they've slipped back to their previous standings at national level (192,746 votes at the 2005 General election).

Originally Posted by a swansong 4 europe

The silence is almost deafening since 1st May. I suspect the likes of Francis and Cassie are skulking in disgust at the outcome of the results and the utter failure of their projections for the outcome.

I am also intrigued by Francis' comparison with the votes of the 2005 GE and the Euro 2004?? Probably over 90% of the BNP's Euro vote came from England, and during the GE of 2005, the majority of their candidates were in England, yet they contested barely a 6th of the available seats, so how can one realistically compare each election?

No matter how you look at it, the BNP achieved the impossible, and UKIP completely blew any inroads it had made over the last 4 years, and based on results since then, are in a downward spiral. Had any other party suffered such an embarrasing collapse of support, then the leader of that party would have either resigned or been booted out. So, how come F-F-F-F-F-FARAGE is still Leader?

UKIP must stop making excuses before it gets wiped out in next years Euro poll where I suspect they will be lucky to hold onto any seats north of Surrey.