Tag Archives: Robert West

2015/05/05

Flogging a dead horse : far right election candidates

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

This is a really bad time for the electoral ambitions of the far right.  In the run-up to the most unpredictable General Election for many years, the far right are nowhere.  With their own little parties in disarray, and most of their thunder stolen by the rise of UKIP (more on that later), only three candidates in the East Midlands are stepping up to lose their deposits on Thursday.  In Lincolnshire, the ludicrous pretend vicar Robert West is standing for the BNP in Boston & Skegness, whilst Cathy Duffy is the BNP candidate for Charnwood in Leicestershire.  The English Democrat’s one candidate in the region is the party’s National Secretary Derek Hilling, standing in Kettering, Northants; the ED were hoping to contest at least three seats in the county, but have decided not to spread their meagre resources too thinly, and are going all out behind Derek.  Hmm….

Rabbit in the headlights….Derek Hilling

 

There are more far-right candidates in the local council elections, also to be held on Thursday.

The BNP have Cathy Duffy (again) standing in Charnwood.  Duffy is an endangered species, being one of only two BNP councillors in the whole country, and the only one in the East Midlands.  We’ll see if she manages political survival on Thursday.  Meanwhile, the Derbyshire Blackshirt Paul Hilliard is standing, as usual, in Derby; and Marc Whitestone is standing in East Northamptonshire.

The English Democrats have two candidates, Oliver Healey and David Haslett, in Leicester.

The British Democratic Party, an Andrew Brons-inspired BNP breakaway, are standing five candidates in Leicestershire, which they regard as their stronghold – Kevan Stafford, Chris Canham, Julia Green and Paul Newman in Charnwood, and virulent muslim-hater Graham Partner in North-West Leics.

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2014/05/21

Far-right election candidates in the region

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

There are a number of fascist candidates standing in this week’s Euro Parliament and local council elections :

European parliament

BNP : Cathy Duffy, Robert West, Bob Brindley, Geoffrey Dickens, Paul Hillard.

English Democrats : Kevin Sills, Dave Wickham, John Dowle, Oliver Healey, Terry Spencer.

 

Cathy Duffy...she's not going to be an MEP...

Cathy Duffy…she’s not going to be an MEP

Cathy Duffy from Charnwood is the obvious choice for head of the BNP list, being a rare animal – one of the party’s two local councillors in the whole country.  The inclusion of Paul ‘Aloe Vera’ Hilliard as the last candidate on the list shows how his stock has fallen in the party, with outright fruitcake and twitter twat Bob Brindley selected above him.

 

Kevin Sills - nor is he...

Kevin Sills – nor is he…

The English Democrats are the usual mix of ex-members of other far-right parties, and people who find UKIP a bit liberal.  Veteran party-swopper Kevin Sills is their lead candidate.

 

Councils

Amber Valley : Alan Edward (Codnor & Waingroves), Ken Cooper (Ripley).

Derby : Paul Hilliard (Chaddesden), Carol Tucker (Derwent).

The most interesting feature of the local candidate list is how sparse it is, with only four candidates from the BNP standing in our region, all in Derbyshire.  This reflects the general decline of the party, who are fielding 114 candidates nationwide, compared to 739 in the equivalent elections in 2010.  The party seems extremely unlikely to add to its pitiful national tally of two councillors.

 

Although these elections promise very lean pickings for the BNP and their ilk, it’s likely – and alarming – that UKIP will do well (taking votes from all parties, including the BNP).  They are standing numerous candidates in both Euro and council elections, have a huge campaign budget, and have a high national profile.  Although their politics are vague and vacuous, they are undoubtedly pushing the political discourse to the right and need to be opposed.  The results of Thursday’s elections will make interesting reading.

 

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2013/09/15

BNP scraping the barrel for Euros

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

East Midlands BNP have announced their candidates for the 2014 Euro elections. The list is as interesting for who’s not on it as who is:

1. Cllr. Cathy Duffy.
2. Revd. Robert West.
3. Bob Brindley.
4. Steve Brammer.
5. To be decided.

The first two are obvious choices for the party as the most prominent BNPers in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire even though both did poorly in May’s local elections (West only managed to get 88 votes). Nottingham’s Bob Brindley, however, is anything but a “safe” choice. Brindley uses his Nottingham BNP twitter feed to launch increasingly barmy diatribes against Jews, homosexuality, Asians and just about everyone who isn’t a signed up white supremacist (although he has made an exception for serial paedophile Jimmy Savile).

Bob Brindley: Holocaust denial

Bob Brindley: Holocaust denial

HagueHomosexual 120913Frankfurt 120913270713Twit 200713

After Brindley comes Steve Brammer from Ranskill, North Nottinghamshire. Brammer is almost unknown to fascists in the Midlands, probably because he lives only a few miles from South Yorkshire. He has never stood in an election before.

"Fresh" blood: First time candidate Steve Brammer

“Fresh” blood: First time candidate Steve Brammer

And next in line after Brammer is… well it looks like they couldn’t find anyone else to stand for them! There are no candidates from Derbyshire or from Northamptonshire, no sign of “super activist” Paul Hilliard from Derby and no sign of “Heanor Patriot” Cliff Roper either. Have they jumped ship as well? We will see. Certainly Roper showed signs of a swing to a more extreme right wing position after losing his Amber Valley seat, headlining his blog with the notorious 14 word phrase beloved of neo-Nazis. Perhaps the BNP isn’t extreme enough for him any more?

The release of this list is a further sign of decline for the fascist party. Only a few years ago, the East Midlands were seen as one of the BNP’s strongholds. Now they are struggling even to find 5 people across the entire region to stand for them. Good riddance!

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2013/05/03

BNP losses in Lincolnshire

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The first East Midlands county election has declared and the BNP have done rather badly in Lincolnshire. The “Reverend” Robert West got a measly 88 votes in Holbeach, 4% of the vote and a massive collapse since 2009 when the BNP came second with 418 votes (16.5%). In Louth Wolds, John Hattersley’s 318 votes (10.8%) in 2009 slumped to 176 (7.9%) this time. In Spalding East & Moulton where the BNP polled 573 votes (20.5%) in 2009, Anthony Williams only managed 94 votes (3.9%) – the BNP’s share of the vote is only a quarter of what it was.

Robert West - God is not on his side!

Robert West – God is not on his side!

It seems that all their leafleting in Skegness around the halal slaughterhouse has come to nothing as well. Robert Ashton, Lincoln Coastal Branch organiser stood for the BNP in Skegness South, a seat the party has not contested previously, and managed a very poor 77 votes (4.3%).

In the run up to these elections anti-fascists were pleased at the low number of candidates the BNP were standing, suggesting that the party was collapsing. The BNP claimed they were concentrating on areas where they thought they would do well. That is not turning out to be the case.

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2013/04/09

More East Midlands far right candidates

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The nominations are in for Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire County Council elections. In all three counties there are fewer BNP candidates than in 2009 suggesting the party’s support has collapsed across the region.

Lincolnshire

  • Holbeach – Robert Malcolm Brian West (BNP)
  • Louth Wolds – John Atty (BNP)
  • Skegness South – Robert John Ashton (BNP)
  • Spalding East & Moulton – Anthony John Williams (BNP)

BNP had 23 candidates in 2009

Northamptonshire

  • Brickhill & Queensway – David Peter Robinson (BNP)
  • Clover Hill – Victoria Hilling (Eng Dems)
  • Corby West – Marc Gordon Riddell (BNP)
  • Croyland & Swanspool – Terry Spencer (Eng Dems)
  • Delapre & Rushmere – Mark Andrew Plowman (BNP)
  • Desborough – Kevin Sills (Eng Dems), Clive Skinner (BNP)
  • Hatton Park – Rob Walker (Eng Dems)
  • Irthlingborough – John Elvis Whitestone (BNP)
  • Kingsthorpe North – Peter James Whitestone (BNP)
  • Kingswood – Stella Wright (BNP)
  • Lloyds – Gordon Riddell (BNP)
  • Oakley – James Andrew Gordon Campbell (BNP)
  • Towcester & Roade – John Hughes (BNP)
  • Windmill – Derek Hilling (Eng Dems)

BNP had 12 candidates in 2009 and English Democrats had 4.

Nottinghamshire

  • Beauvale  – David Michael Matthew Wright (BNP)
  • Eastwood – Alex McConnell (BNP)

BNP had 15 candidates in 2009.

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2012/07/11

The BNP’s god delusion

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The Church of England voted this week to ban clergy from joining racist or discrimatory organisations.  This ban, targetted mostly at the BNP, has predictably been condemned by the fascist party, whose persecution complex has been further reinforced.  The BNP would dearly like to believe that God is on their side; in common with most strains of European (and US) fascism, identification with some variety of Christian belief is very important to them, especially as a perceived counterpoint to Islam.

Although the UK’s established church may have pushed the BNP away, the party have their  own pretend church to comfort them – the “Christian Council of Britain”.  This BNP front group, named as a conscious counterpoint to the Muslim Council of Britain, is headed by the “Reverend” Robert West.

 

Bigoted bible-bashing bell-end : Robert West

West, from Holbeach in Lincolnshire, is an interesting character. He has not been ordained into any recognised church, and has been unable to explain how he earns the title “Reverend”.  Presumably it helps him get a better deal on his car insurance?  West was expelled by Lincolnshire Tories for addressing the BNP and agreeing to front the Christian Council of Britain in 2006, and ever since has played the strange role of the “BNP’s vicar”, saying grace at party events, blessing the pudding at fundraising dinners, and popping up at events all over the East Midlands.

His mission with the Christian Council appears to be aiming to establish a god-given racism, as the organisation’s constitution blathers about “the godly importance of race and nation” and the establishment of “national homelands – by the will of God”, and similar racist wet-dreams.  It’s no surprise to find that the Council also expresses very “traditional” views on issues such as homosexuality and the role of women.  Religion and fascism have often shared socially conservative agendas, and the Council is the BNP’s laughable attempt to make a link between god and Griffin.

Unfortunately for Robert and his tiny pseudo-church, his views are rejected even by the mainstream church in the UK, let alone with the overwhelmingly secular population at large.  The BNP’s desperate attempt to co-opt religion for their own ends isn’t doing so well; Robert’s racist prayers don’t seem likely to be answered anytime soon.

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