Liberty Alone

Because I find this man despicable.

There’s more at the Evening Standard and Duncan Borrowman also has the story (as I’m sure many others will).

Perhaps I can be saved however, because being a good liberal, I do support his right to say such idiotic things. Where would we be if he couldn’t say them? We might take him seriously!

(hat tip: Carrie - “Who are the BNP? Are they all cavemen?”)

There have been quite a few very instructive responses to mt recent post on the BNP, and they’ve caused me to review my position.

The BNP are the most blatent anti-liberal party in the country at the moment (although Respect come a close second). The areas where they will naturally be strong are not going to be areas where there is a strong liberal presense (of any party) and since the Liberal Democrats are the closest to a consistent liberal party we have it stands to reason that Liberal Democrat support will be low in such areas.
The support the BNP garner will not, generally, come from LibDem voters. It is popular to say that they gain support from Tory voters, and this is true for a certain consituency of authoritarian anti-liberal Tory voters - this is largely what we see in well off places like Loughton. In other areas the natural target of the BNP are old Labour voters. Economically they have a lot in common. The command economy of old labour and the socialist firebrands naturally leads to nationalism and to an ‘us vs. them’ mentality, which the BNP feed upon.

The lower number of LibDem opponents to the BNP should be seen as these areas not being areas where we have the organisation on the ground and part of that reason is that area has a strong level of anti-liberal sentiment. Sentiment which the Tories and Labour obviously feed upon and nurture, a policy which is now having the effect of making the BNP palatable.