Gaby Hinsliff, the political editor of the Observer, has written that Nothing British’s Stolen Valour campaign can teach the left a lot about how to take on the BNP.
Nothing British ”co-ordinated this week’s letter from former army chiefs of staff attacking the BNP for hijacking the good name of the military in an attempt to boost its patriotic credentials, with a powerful “not in our name” message using veterans including the Falklands hero Simon Weston.
Griffin’s uncharacteristically hysterical reaction – suggesting they were traitors – successfully wrecked his credibility among the kind of voters he might be trying to attract.”
On the stale approaches of the left she wrote:
“The left tends to dwell on immigration policy and whether it should appease BNP supporters by talking up British jobs for British workers, or restricting access to council houses. The right is more confident that its stance on immigration is populist and is therefore less hung up on it, but has in the past seen the BNP as not really its problem (particularly when it was taking votes largely from Labour supporters).”
Gaby encapsulates the Nothing British campaign as follows:
“The launch of Nothing British was another important moment, reflecting a recognition that Griffin had widened the BNP’s appeal and was trying to steal ground – on patriotism, or law and order – held by the mainstream right that was not overtly to do with race (such as its misleading campaign on rights for squaddies).”
