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Barnsley BNP was founded by our original Organiser Steve in April 2001. Steve and other volunteers started leafleting various areas of the Barnsley Borough and this led to the group putting up its first electoral candidates in the May 2003 local elections. Two candidates stood in this election, one of them in the Monk Bretton ward where an old folks home had recently been shut down by Barnsley Council, and then re-opened as an asylum centre. The appearance of these election candidates was greeted with great alarm and distress by the Labour Party and other groups in the town, and there was an avalanche of horrendous abuse in the local press and from local politicians and union leaders. In the election both candidates received around 10% of the vote.
The following year all seats on the council were up for re-election due to ward boundary changes, and also the elections for the European parliament were to be held. This was seen as a great opportunity to promote the Party and gain seats, and Barnsley BNP put a tremendous effort into recruiting candidates. In all, 14 candidates stood in this election in Barnsley, including eight female candidates. Again there was an immense outpouring of hatred and condemnation for our Party from the Establishment and media. The election was held on June 10th, and although we didn’t win any seats in Barnsley we certainly made the other political parties sit up and pay attention.
After this election, in July 2004, a meeting was called in Barnsley and Paul Harris was appointed as the new Organiser. At this point the group had no proper organisation or structure, a condition which Paul immediately set about rectifying. First, a PO Box address was taken out, the email address of barnsley@bnp.co.uk was opened, and for the first time a proper membership list was compiled. Another member was recruited as group fund holder and he set about with great ability building up the finances of the group.
In December 2004 and January 2005 the group leafleted against a proposed Islamic ‘community centre’ (in other words a Mosque) which was to be a converted residential property on Dodworth Road. This was in response to a request for help from a local resident. Our campaign was reported favourably in the local press and several letters from our members were published, as well as letters condemning us.
After visiting many members the first proper public meeting of Barnsley BNP was called by Paul in March 2005. 26 members and supporters attended this meeting in the function room of a town centre public house, which was seen at the time as a great achievement. Two further meetings were held this year at the same venue.
In this year, 2005, a General Election was to be held, and the BNP planned to stand just over 100 candidates throughout the country. Barnsley was chosen to stand a candidate due to having received around 8% of the vote in the European election the previous year. As before there was an intensive media led campaign to vilify the BNP with no term of abuse being considered too harsh. On the day of the election our candidate received 1403 votes, just 28 votes short of the 5% of the vote needed to retain our £500 deposit.
The group continued with leafleting and recruiting new members and in early 2006 Paul asked another keen member to write a quarterly newsletter for Barnsley members, which has now become the well established Barnsley Patriot.
As the local elections of 2006 approached Paul was keen to maintain the momentum of the BNP in Barnsley and set about recruiting candidates. It was at this point that Ian Sutton entered the scene as one of the eleven candidates who were to stand in this election. Although there were three less candidates in this election than in 2004 they were as a group of significantly higher quality. There was a far greater campaigning effort by Barnsley BNP in this election, and several wards were fully leafleted with election addresses, most notably Ian Sutton’s ward of Darton West. On the day of the election Ian received 701 votes or 24% of the vote and several other encouraging results were received.
With Ian now fully on board the group was given new impetus and we decided to put maximum effort into getting Ian elected in 2007. It was hardly a secret that this would be our target ward as Ian had received by far the best vote in 2006. All through the year from June 2006 right up to the election of 2007 we canvassed and leafleted Ian’s ward intensively.
Around the middle of 2006 another member came forward who had considerable computer skills and had already set up our sister site www.barnsley-nationalist.co.uk. We immediately seized on this new avenue for our campaigning and as a result the websites that you now see have been developed. In November 2006 a candidate was stood in a by-election in the Worsbrough ward, and received a very creditable vote.
Our group continued to hold public meetings every three or four months, which were by now becoming very well attended. Several of these meetings are reported on this website. As the 2007 election approached an extensive effort was again put into recruiting candidates. Because the BNP had by now become much more strongly established throughout the country, and conditions were easing considerably, we were able to recruit a record 18 candidates for this election. In the election campaign we had for the first time professional full colour glossy leaflets which had been designed and printed by Mark Collett, then our national Director of Publicity. The effort put into this campaign was again far greater than the year before, and many thousands of leaflets were put out throughout the Borough by an army of volunteers.
On the day of the election all this effort put into the campaign paid off handsomely and we received 7822 votes in all, around 14.5% of the total. In his contest Ian came second with 27% of the vote, against a very intensive effort from Labour to retain their seat, and the usual illegal smear leaflets from the extreme left which were distributed throughout the ward. Two other of our candidates also came second, and four of our results were over 20%. Labour were now on notice that the BNP were here to stay in Barnsley and were soon going to win seats in this town.
The next development in our campaigning in Barnsley was the establishment of our Voice of Freedom sales stand in the town centre on Saturday afternoons. As regular visitors will know this has been extensively reported on this website. In October 2007 it was announced that Barnsley BNP was to be promoted from a group to a branch due to the high level of activity and progress in the town. In November of 2007 the branch held its biggest and most successful public meeting yet at which our Party leader Nick Griffin gave a superb speech.
The level of activity was now at such a point that it was felt that regular activist meetings needed to be held to discuss progress and determine future plans. By now Ian was playing a much greater role in the running of the branch and at the December 2007 activists meeting the decision was made that Paul Harris would step down as Organiser and Ian Sutton would take over the position. Paul wished Ian every success in his new role, and everyone present gave a round of applause for Paul’s dedication and commitment in building up the Party to this stage in Barnsley.
The plans and activity for 2008? You will have to wait and see.
The following year all seats on the council were up for re-election due to ward boundary changes, and also the elections for the European parliament were to be held. This was seen as a great opportunity to promote the Party and gain seats, and Barnsley BNP put a tremendous effort into recruiting candidates. In all, 14 candidates stood in this election in Barnsley, including eight female candidates. Again there was an immense outpouring of hatred and condemnation for our Party from the Establishment and media. The election was held on June 10th, and although we didn’t win any seats in Barnsley we certainly made the other political parties sit up and pay attention.
After this election, in July 2004, a meeting was called in Barnsley and Paul Harris was appointed as the new Organiser. At this point the group had no proper organisation or structure, a condition which Paul immediately set about rectifying. First, a PO Box address was taken out, the email address of barnsley@bnp.co.uk was opened, and for the first time a proper membership list was compiled. Another member was recruited as group fund holder and he set about with great ability building up the finances of the group.
In December 2004 and January 2005 the group leafleted against a proposed Islamic ‘community centre’ (in other words a Mosque) which was to be a converted residential property on Dodworth Road. This was in response to a request for help from a local resident. Our campaign was reported favourably in the local press and several letters from our members were published, as well as letters condemning us.
After visiting many members the first proper public meeting of Barnsley BNP was called by Paul in March 2005. 26 members and supporters attended this meeting in the function room of a town centre public house, which was seen at the time as a great achievement. Two further meetings were held this year at the same venue.
In this year, 2005, a General Election was to be held, and the BNP planned to stand just over 100 candidates throughout the country. Barnsley was chosen to stand a candidate due to having received around 8% of the vote in the European election the previous year. As before there was an intensive media led campaign to vilify the BNP with no term of abuse being considered too harsh. On the day of the election our candidate received 1403 votes, just 28 votes short of the 5% of the vote needed to retain our £500 deposit.
The group continued with leafleting and recruiting new members and in early 2006 Paul asked another keen member to write a quarterly newsletter for Barnsley members, which has now become the well established Barnsley Patriot.
As the local elections of 2006 approached Paul was keen to maintain the momentum of the BNP in Barnsley and set about recruiting candidates. It was at this point that Ian Sutton entered the scene as one of the eleven candidates who were to stand in this election. Although there were three less candidates in this election than in 2004 they were as a group of significantly higher quality. There was a far greater campaigning effort by Barnsley BNP in this election, and several wards were fully leafleted with election addresses, most notably Ian Sutton’s ward of Darton West. On the day of the election Ian received 701 votes or 24% of the vote and several other encouraging results were received.
With Ian now fully on board the group was given new impetus and we decided to put maximum effort into getting Ian elected in 2007. It was hardly a secret that this would be our target ward as Ian had received by far the best vote in 2006. All through the year from June 2006 right up to the election of 2007 we canvassed and leafleted Ian’s ward intensively.
Around the middle of 2006 another member came forward who had considerable computer skills and had already set up our sister site www.barnsley-nationalist.co.uk. We immediately seized on this new avenue for our campaigning and as a result the websites that you now see have been developed. In November 2006 a candidate was stood in a by-election in the Worsbrough ward, and received a very creditable vote.
Our group continued to hold public meetings every three or four months, which were by now becoming very well attended. Several of these meetings are reported on this website. As the 2007 election approached an extensive effort was again put into recruiting candidates. Because the BNP had by now become much more strongly established throughout the country, and conditions were easing considerably, we were able to recruit a record 18 candidates for this election. In the election campaign we had for the first time professional full colour glossy leaflets which had been designed and printed by Mark Collett, then our national Director of Publicity. The effort put into this campaign was again far greater than the year before, and many thousands of leaflets were put out throughout the Borough by an army of volunteers.
On the day of the election all this effort put into the campaign paid off handsomely and we received 7822 votes in all, around 14.5% of the total. In his contest Ian came second with 27% of the vote, against a very intensive effort from Labour to retain their seat, and the usual illegal smear leaflets from the extreme left which were distributed throughout the ward. Two other of our candidates also came second, and four of our results were over 20%. Labour were now on notice that the BNP were here to stay in Barnsley and were soon going to win seats in this town.
The next development in our campaigning in Barnsley was the establishment of our Voice of Freedom sales stand in the town centre on Saturday afternoons. As regular visitors will know this has been extensively reported on this website. In October 2007 it was announced that Barnsley BNP was to be promoted from a group to a branch due to the high level of activity and progress in the town. In November of 2007 the branch held its biggest and most successful public meeting yet at which our Party leader Nick Griffin gave a superb speech.
The level of activity was now at such a point that it was felt that regular activist meetings needed to be held to discuss progress and determine future plans. By now Ian was playing a much greater role in the running of the branch and at the December 2007 activists meeting the decision was made that Paul Harris would step down as Organiser and Ian Sutton would take over the position. Paul wished Ian every success in his new role, and everyone present gave a round of applause for Paul’s dedication and commitment in building up the Party to this stage in Barnsley.
The plans and activity for 2008? You will have to wait and see.
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