The recent announcement of the BNP's first prospective parliamentary candidate in Wiltshire has made the national papers. Mick Simpkins, the first councillor in Wiltshire will be fighting for the Chippenham constituency seat and it hasn't hit the papers for that reason but because one of his opponents will be Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, better known as The Black Farmer.
The Independent newspaper implies that the BNP are fighting the seat because Wilfred is black, however Mick Simpkins points out that it just so happens he lives in Corsham and therefore within the area covered by the seat. This highlights the BNP's community politics stance which is unique, all other parties seem to parachute strangers into the area and Wilfred is one of these, being one of Dippy Dave Cameron's A-listers, picked because he is black and not as a result of the people of Chippenham selecting him as Wilfred suggests.
This decision has not been lost on the electorate in the area, many of my Conservative friends have told me they and their colleagues are extremely unhappy with the decision. To rub salt into the wounds, Wilfred has already stated that he believes the countryside is too white - well some of us think that the inner cities are too black! Too try to redress this situation for a television programme, Wilfred took young people from deprived inner city areas to learn about the countryside. Funnily enough, none of the youngsters included were white. I am looking forward to the follow-up series where a white business man takes a group of white youngsters into a black-dominated area to learn how to run a kebab-house.
Wilfred, according to the Independent, is no stranger to struggle as he battled his way out of inner-city Birmingham to end up as a successful business man, famous for being Britain's only black farmer. The paper paints rather a glossy picture of his life, as, for being a farmer, I think the phrase gentleman farmer would be more appropriate, this being slightly different to someone who is up at dawn to milk the cows! Additionally, his Wikipaedia entry, for what it's worth suggests that the year Wilfred spent in the army was cut short as he was kicked out for lack of discipline, not a good start for a Conservative.
The paper says that Wilfred now faces the fight of his life against the British National Party, in the election. I am not sure I would have put it quite like that but I do know that from the feedback the BNP is getting from the public, he will certainly have a struggle, almost certainly not winning the once "safe" Tory seat. I like, Mick Simpkins, have also met Wilfred and he certainly is a very pleasant chap but I am afraid his foray into West Country politics is going to end in tears as the BNP take a sizeable chunk of the Conservative vote.
This space is certainly one to keep watching!
On a final note, the Independent asked Gerry Gable, the communist responsible for the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, for his view, presumably because of his similar lack of associations with the West Country. Less than able Gable said "We're concerned wherever the BNP field candidates. They are a cancer within British society but ... [Mr Emmanuel-Jones] will give them a bloody good run for their money."
As said, let's watch this space shall we?
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