How Labor lost the support of working people

A reader commenting on Peter Hitchens’s article at The Daily Mail, who comes from a working class background, tells how he ceased being a Labor supporter and now votes for the BNP. Be sure to see the sentence I’ve italicized. It says it all.

I wholeheartedly agree with your comments on The BNP, and the reasons for its possible rise. I started working life as a miner, then a bus driver, and ended it as the Principal of British Rail’s management college. The route had many turns and twists, but I never forgot my origins, or tried to hide them. In the early sixties I was active in the Labour party, and in the T&GWU of Frank Cousins. I gained a union scholarship to Ruskin College,Oxford, then a state mature scholarship to read economics at Hull University. I remained true to my political heritage until 1986, since when I have not even voted Labour.

Why?

In 1983 I became a manager in David Blunket’s Sheffield City Council. There I witnessed the manual workers being forced to attend “race awareness training” in which they were harangued by a black “consultant” from London who was paid daily more than most of his listeners earned in a month.

I also found myself surrounded by people who presumed that I was racist, sexist and every other “ist” on the sole evidence of my white skin and working class demeanour. Any attempt to defend myself brought only knowing smiles. I was told firmly that racism is a “white problem.” I ceased to argue. Since those days the three main parties have given the impression that racism is the most serious problem they face. [Italics added.] Now the party that betrayed its roots seems surprised that decent, working class people identify with the BNP. Well, up yours Tony!

“Since those days the three main parties have given the impression that racism is the most serious problem they face.” Doesn’t this back up my point that anti-racism is the guiding philosophy of the modern liberal West, and doesn’t it follow that we cannot hope to save the West from liberalism without confronting and refuting the anti-racism that is at its core?

Here is a further selection from the many comments following Hitchens’s article:

- If you are concerned about immigration, crime, and the destruction of British traditions then there really is no alternative than to vote BNP.
Whether this is a good or a bad thing is open to debate.

- The fact that increasing numbers of the British people are considering voting for the BNP should come as no surprise to anyone. The three mainstream parties are so tied up in liberal ideology that they are now incapable of even discussing those issues which concern most of electorate. The BNP though have no such qualms – as can be seen by reading their Abbreviated Manifesto.

- The BNP are gaining acceptability. Though not yet creditability. The party is seen as a last salvation by many. No surprise.

- The party of the left has absorbed the neo-liberal economics of the right. The party of the right is now absorbing the liberal social policy of the left. The globalists are exploiting the nation state; meanwhile the media sit in the middle enjoying the game and desensitizing the masses from what was once respectable.

- Funny thing when reading that the erstwhile Peter Hitchins finds the BNP folk dim he echoes my sentiments on how I find him.

- We need a centre right party, and unfortunately Cameron et al are taking the Tories well to the left of centre. This leaves those of us who agree with much of your comment with only the choice to either abstain or to try and wake up the main parties by voting for one of the minor parties, however “loony” they are and how much disreputable historical baggage they are bringing with them.

- I read all your articles and often find myself shouting at my computer screen. Half of me wants to slap you on the back and say, “yes, good point!” and the other half of me wants to slap some good sense into you. Are you saying at the end of your article, “close the doors?” as if you are, you’re talking BNP language by all accounts. Or are you just arguing for the sake of arguement? You also say, quote: ‘Both indigenous people and migrants, it seems to me, have made a huge and unsung effort, to cope with a difficult situation, which neither group chose.’ How so sir? Surely those that make their home in another land have chosen to do so?

- I live in an Arab country where it is impossible to become a citizen unless you are Arab and a Muslim. The country does however allow you residence if you are contributing to the economy through work. If you lose your job, commit a crime or are unable to support your self, you leave. Everyone knows the score and the country prospers (and was doing so before the oil price went through the roof). What is so special about Britain that it has to do the opposite?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 04, 2006 02:30 AM | Send