The dust has almost settled. My assessment of how the BNP performed.

[daftpunk]

Ok, they didn't make the political breakthrough I'd hoped for, but if you look at the results they are actually very encouraging.

The BNP got 563,743 votes (dispite only fighting half of all the available 650 seats)

They got 10% of the vote. That is pretty amazing for a small party, and under proportional representation those votes would result in seats.

NC will merge with someone (eventually?) and as one of his main aims is to push through PR it's all good for the BNP.

What do these results mean for the BNP ?

The tripling of the BNP vote on May 6th has some important implications.

Firstly, where they went head to head with UKIP and the Greens they thrashed them, they overtook UKIP in 178 seats, and UKIP have far more money than the BNP, and of course UKIP and the Greens are favoured by the media.

Secondly, while all minority parties were pushed to the edge by the bigger parties, the BNP's vote not only help up, but proportionally increased when compared to their June 2009 Euro election results.

The BNP are here to stay, and although the election was a disappointment in some respests, it was a clear sign that 1000's of people up and down the country support the policies of the BNP.

And let's not forget, political pundits had all but written off the Labour party after they lost the 92'election....

They went on to win 3 elections.

Theshreikingharpy. I agree with you about the treatment of DP by other posters, I think they love the banter and being able to get together in a group, a bit like Lord of the Flies, with DP as the fly and they are the Lords. Anyway I've had enough of MN for tonight, so goodnight, and Goodnight DP.

Well, mycounty, unless you're a namechanger, it would appear from a search of your name that you haven't been on MN for very long.

Forgive those of us who have been here for some time, who have tried to engage with DP and debate the issues with her, for being less than interested any more.

DP knows exactly what she is doing with these threads and thrives on the attention, which is why the accusation of troll is being levied against her.

TSH - you have been here for some time, and I find it slightly unnerving that you are so clearly a supporter of DP. Do you share her odious, racist views as well?

[peeps in on thread through fingers...pmsl at aitch's Wed 12-May-10 00:28:17 use of word numbnuts, and leaves again]

I started the "ban the pro-BNP" thread, and I stand by it. it wasnt a request to ban discussion of the BNP and their policies but a request for MNHQ to do something about threads being started for the purpose of being inflammatory. a huge majority of mners have been getting increasingly upset about these threads and posts/comments made on them. they/we have repeatedly emailed MNHQ asking them to step in and moderate (UCM's name was mentioned a LOT) and nothing was done. THATS why it was bought onboard. it became clear that things were getting worse and a lot of valued posters were leaving because of one.

we live in a democracy. this gives us freedom of speech (me too) and also means that we can poll/vote on important issues, whether its the development of a new forum or what constitutes trolling. huge numbers of mners have made their feelings clear and an agreement has been reached, but i find an outpouring of sympathy for the way poor dp has been treated baffling and misplaced.

have sympathy for the posters who feel they cant post about their childs SN because of comments made. or the gay women being called names by her. or the muslims who have to read insults about their faith and accusations. sympathise with those who deserve it.

So, DP

Is this a music thread I've wandered into by mistake? I thought it was your solemn avowed intent only to post on music threads for the next three months

It's just the absolute blatentness of prmoising to stick to only music for 3 months

Then immediately going and bumping, not just any thread, but a BNP thread.

FGS.

Biwi;

No, people haven't always tried to debate with me, they have tried to batter me into submission..totally different. And if anyone thinks the BNP are something new, they really need to read up on the political history of this country. Mosley and the British Union of Fascists for example.

TSH;

Yep, of course that's been going on, no doubt about it, it's always the same 10 or 15 people, (who I think use me as a form of entertainment sometimes) "oh look, DP has turned up on a thread, lets go and give her a cyber kicking"....

I wont namechange, pointless really as it would be obvious who I was within 5 minutes....lol.
Hope to see you on a few music threads...be interesting to find out what music is popular in Switzerland. (daftpunk probably, they're Euro pop..ha ha )

Mycounty; Hope to see you over there too..

I will continue to support the BNP. I think They've all but given up trying to win seats in London, Labour have socially engineered parts of the country to make it impossible for any party to win apart from Labour. The BNP will take to the suburbs and other parts of the country where they did suprisingly well. Hopefully when PR comes in, BNP/UKIP/and all other small parties will benefit....the voting system at the moment makes it virtually impossible for small parties to win much.

Hopefully catch up with a few of you on music....

Everyone else, have a lovely summer and maybe catch up with you in the Autumn..

Peace & Love

Daftpunk x

Since the thread has already been bumped, (I wasn't going to post this but its bumped up anyway!), then This Guardian article is a much better analysis of how the BNP did in the election, now the "dust has settled".

Imnotsotelling. Who are you to demand that DP sticks to her 'three months' As she says normallly she is battered into submission, it's not normally a debate with her is it? What do you think MN is? a police state, where only some opinions are allowed?

'Condemnation robust debate and challenging prejudicial attitudes is one thing and behaving like a petulant sixth form girl by obsessively lobbing puerile insults is something entirely different. '

Shriekingharpy, I hope you weren't trying to pin the puerile insults onto me. I cans ee that some were indulging but I try not to.

I think it is an absolute disgrace, that dp is not allowed to freely post on other threads without abuse. It shows more about those who post the abuse, than it can ever show about DP.

complimentary

have you read the other thread

you are aware that people have left MN because of DP
that she repeatedly causes huge offense to harmless people who's lifestyles she disapproves of

I don't know how long you've been on MN but this has been going on for years

I can't be bothered to argue with you
DP made a promise on the other thread which she has broken already

I am very tired of the insults levelled at decent people. And so are many others. People with children with SN not posting because of her views. It's just not on.

People come to MN for support not to be repeatedly told they are revolting/a waste of space etc.

If this was RL DP would be a pariah, why should it be any different on here.

When I read the OP I thought it was a parody thread. Apparently not!

BNP are entitled to freedom of speech as much as anyone else, even on mumsnet. In fact, the more they speak, the more people realize how ridiculous they are (I very much enjoyed watching Question Time)

But I don't think people here, (predominantly middle class) should be too complacent. BNP may get a footing in years to come. In 2000 Austria voted in Hadar (basically the Nazi party), causing the EU to hold an emergency conference for the first time ever not allowing another country (Austria) to be present. I think that I know some people personally IRL who may vote BNP. (No friends, but you can't choose your family)

Not sure what my point is. Just, that daftpunk, I think if you're a woman, you should not be voting BNP. I don'T think men should be voting BNP either, but I don't understand why a woman would vote BNP. daftpunk, could you explain???

So it is fine for DP to go around the boards posting whatever she likes about gay people, children with SN, muslims etc etc etc ad infinitum, when she knows that those people are on the trheads?

It is fine for people with children with SN to be driven from the boards by what she says, to tell people that they should not be allowed to have children, that they are sinful, that their lives are unnatural and wrong, and so on and so on about a million topics, a million different things.

Yet it's not OK for people to ask her to please just stop?

I know she loves all this, and I know that some people think she is great. I and many others have engaged time and time again, for years, but it's still the same old stuff. And it's really offensive.

You think it's great, that's fine. Like I say, she loves all this, so I'm going to

Imnotsotelling. In some parts, I agree with you, but surely people have left MN because they see the abuse and are to frightended to post here, without being 'flamed' a term used on MN. I looked at a relationship thread where the poor women had problems with her husband and wrote 'please don't flame me' What's that all about? the poor women needed support from other mothers, not a kick up the backside. I find this type of bear baiting sadly a sign of the times. [sad
I do take your points on board.

where did I say I thought it was great?
I have no idea about DP's posting history, I only read this thread untill page 3 (it's 21 pages long). If she's made comments about gay people, children with SN, muslims, then that's disgusting. I'm not condoning that.

I actually think she's just being inflammatory, rather than actually supporting BNP, which is why I asked her to explain exactly why she supports them, from a woman's point of view.

The person who taught me that freedom of speech for everyone in Britain, including the BNP, was an Iranian man- who knows all too well where a country can lead if all groups are not allowed to give their opinion.

that freedom of speech is important

Actually, for some reason I thought daftpunk was gay. Dunno why- maybe something she said about falling in love with another mumsnetter or something .

That's why I thought it was a parody thread.

I should just head back off to the Feminism topic where I know who's who and what's what

Complimentary, if you insist on believing that she has ever been 'battered into submission' then you are clearly, clearly not seeing the whole picture.

Sakura, I don't think anyone meant you thought it was great. I am interested in your Iranian man and his perspective, though...perhaps he could teach us a thing or two.