Yeah but nevertheless it was a HUGE result for the BNP.....There is every chance that lapsed BNP members will now rejoin and hundreds of new members will also join....
I was suprised how good the Tory was and just how shit Jack Straw was.....
There will always be a certain amount of pent-up "demand" when you uncensor something, and I suppose it's quite likely that some of those drawn to the BNP are being attracted by the cachet of its having been, effectively, banned. My suspicion is that the prosaic reality of a BNP that can't rely on its primary tactic of moaning about how badly it's being oppressed will actually turn out to be rather boring.
Much in the same way that, all over the country, where BNP councillors have been voted into office, there's a greater than usual level of disillusionment about the results. Because, even if they could fulfil half of what the party rhetoric promises (which partly because they mostly turn out to be useless, and because they went a bit long on promises, they can't) they'd still be a disappointment.
I think having Griffin out in the open will have a a transient, short-term effect. But he's such a charisma-free, and rather nasty, individual that any more than about 3 TV appearances a year is going to make him look horribly over-exposed. With the predictable outcome on party membership.
I wouldn't advocate complacency about the BNP, because that would be foolish. But I think any idea that the party is going to make some kind of quantum leap because Mr Griffin's been allowed onto the television is no more than wishful thinking.