The turn-out in Britain for the last set of European elections was the lowest in the whole continent. Is there any wonder? Three election leaflets popped through my door today, ready for the box ticking on Super Thursday. None of them was from one of the main domestic parties. Instead, we had the British National Party (BNP), the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and John J Naisbitt, an independent candidate, all of whom want to represent the East of England seat.

Of the three, only John J Naisbitt would ever have had any chance of getting a vote from me, and even then it was a very, very slim possibility. Nonetheless, I sat down and read each leaflet from beginning to end.

The BNP is campaigning under the banner ‘Make Britain SAFE’ where SAFE stands for Stop Asylum ForEver. Now and then, though, it seems to get itself confused about what constitutes asylum, and what is illegal immigration. It then goes on to say:

Politicians and the media … have condemned the British people as ‘racist’ while ignoring the fact that the majority of racist attacks are carried out against white people.

The bold characters were bold in the original leaflet, too.

I’d have thought the problem with that statement would have been immediately obvious, as it makes a distinction between ‘British’ and non-white. The implication is that every British person is white and every non-white person obviously cannot possibly be British. It also ignores the fact that while the majority of victims of racist attacks may be white those attacks could also have been carried out by white people. How many of them are attacks by native ‘British’ people against perfectly legal and justified immigrants from Poland, Romania, Hungary or France?

It goes on:

It is time to re-assert English culture and British values in our own country - starting by making St George’s Day a national holiday

Whoopiedoo - vote for us and get an extra day off work. Hang on, though, isn’t it getting confused about English and British there. It’s the British National Party, but it wants to re-assert English culture. I don’t think the Scots or Welsh would like that so much, and yet the BNP address printed on the front of the leaflet is in… Wales.

Look at what happened in Holland when 18% of Dutch voters backed a party like the BNP.

That’s one of its closing comments and yes, I’d agree - look at what happened. The party’s leader got assassinated because of his views. It glosses over this fact, choosing instead to point out that the government made changes to the rules governing immigration and asylum, although you have to wonder whether those rules were changed more because of a backlash after the assassination than because of the 18% vote.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) leaflet was next in the pile. It’s the refuge of recently deposed chat show host Robert Kilroy Silk, who was ousted from his morning slot after branding Arabs ’suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors’.

Lend us your vote and teach the politicians a lesson

That is the plea printed on the back of its garish pink and yellow leaflet. It’s interesting to see how a vote for them will punish ‘the politicians’, though. Does that mean that UKIP members are not politicians themselves? That doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Looking at the list of candidates in this region, three of them are farmers, and one of them is an officer of the National Farmers’ Union. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it, considering the amount of money farmers get in the form of subsidies from Europe. Especially as the stated aims of the UKIP, as printed on its leaflet, are:

SAY NO to EU membership
SAY NO to the EU constitution
SAY NO to unlimited EU immigration
SAY NO to the euro

SAY GOODBYE to your farm subsidies then.

Apart from saying ‘no’ the UKIP doesn’t seem to be doing much at all, or making many promises about the improvements it will deliver if it is elected..

That leaves only John J Naisbitt. Now, why does he want to be a politician? Aah, yes…

Circumstances have propelled me. Although I am in generally good health this may be my last chance. I just have to do it. I hope you can understand.

Right. So it is his lifelong ambition and now, with not much time left he wants a pop at it. Considering the third line of his leaflet says the following…

Health; good - some varicose veins

…and he closes with…

Please check website for daily bulletins - use your public library or consult your grandchildren, if necessary

…I’m not convinced he’s the candidate for me. In fact, the more I read, the more I’m convinced he would be a bad choice. He’s not even done his research properly:

I think there is only one Independent Member in the European Parliament… Please check this for yourselves.

…is swiftly followed by…

I doubt if many of you have an idea of what the (Euro MEP) Ballot Paper will look like on 10 June… if you have and you understand what it involves, please let me know!

Well, that’s it. Unless he can close with something very convincing then he’s not going to get my vote. Hmmm… let’s see. Aah, here we go:

Please turn out and vote; please save my deposit (and my marriage of 42 years)

Oh dear.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2004 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.