I gave Norman Tebbit a warm welcome to the blogosphere earlier this week, but I’m dismayed to see that he’s joined those who absurdly seek to redefine the BNP as “left-wing”. I’m inclined to argue that to label the BNP as either left-wing or right-wing is to lend the party’s “policies” a degree of ideological coherence they don’t deserve. But even so, the increasingly popular argument that the BNP is left-wing deserves to be resisted, and here are ten good reasons why.
1. The BNP’s political doctrine is based on theories of racial supremacy and hierarchy. Those on the right may have the ghost of a point when they explore the economic similarities between Stalinism and state fascism, but no far-left party has ever endorsed white supremacism.
2. The party may support widespread nationalisation but it’s the end not the means that counts. The left supports nationalisation in the belief that it will further economic equality. The far right supports nationalisation in the belief that it will further the power of “the nation”.
3. It has pledged to raise the inheritance-tax threshold to £1m (was this before or after the Tories?). Not much sign of left-wing egalitarianism there.
4. Unlike the “far-left” CND (to borrow the right’s own definition), the party supports Britain’s continued possession of nuclear weapons.
5. It opposes “left-wing” comprehensive education and would reintroduce academic selection at 11.
6. The party supports immediate withdrawal from the EU. Is this necessarily right-wing? Several far-left groups such as No2EU also support withdrawal. But those on the right who describe the BNP as “left-wing” are the very same people who portray the EU as an inherently left-wing institution. They can’t have it both ways.
7. Like its fascist predecessors, the BNP is opposed to free trade unions.
8. The BNP opposes civil partnerships, supports the reintroduction of Section 28 and maintains a section on its website called “Liars, buggers and thieves”. Even the most misguided conservative has never described homophobia as “left-wing”.
9. It has pledged to repeal the Human Rights Act. For good or ill, the mainstream right has largely chosen to define human rights as a cause of the liberal left. It’s therefore rather contradictory to describe a party that doesn’t believe in them as “left-wing”.
10. Appearing on Question Time, Nick Griffin declared the BBC to be part of a “thoroughly unpleasant ultra-leftist establishment”. As my colleague Mehdi Hasan has argued, genuine lefties know that the BBC is predominantly right-wing.
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