The last few desolate years at the BNP have prompted masses of defections. Many tiny hopeless extreme right parties were formed but activists also tried their luck by swapping to other far right parties. So many ex-BNP activists signed up to the English Democrats, for example, that almost half of their candidates in the 2012 elections were ex-BNP. What is less well documented, though, is that ex-BNPers also defected to the (allegedly) more mainstream UKIP.
In a recent post on his Northants patriot blog, recent BNP-to-English Democrats convert, Rob Walker, has exploded UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s myth that “[UKIP] are the only UK political party that bars you from becoming a member, let alone an officer or candidate, if you have ever been involved with the BNP.”:
I know for a fact that there are members of UKIP who have been past members of the BNP, I also know of three people in Northamptonshire alone that held memberships simultaneously of both Parties!
The truth is that many on the far right, including those in street movements like the EDL, admire UKIP and see them as a less “toxic” (and more likely to succeed) version of the BNP. UKIP’s extreme authoritarian policies on immigration and anti-crime crusades as well as their hysterical fear of multiculturalism mean they are not so far removed from their openly racist bedfellows on the far right. It is no surprise that they attract former BNP members craving the possibility of actually getting some votes.
As fascist parties like the BNP implode we might expect to see UKIP slide further to the right in a bid to mop up their supporters.