Up until now the Tory strategy - strongly advocated by Eric Pickles and accepted by David Cameron - has been to work around the BNP. It's where I've been, too. The idea is to deny the BNP the 'oxygen of publicity' and work harder than them when it comes to pavement politics.Some Tory MPs are beginning to worry that that strategy may no longer be tenable. One MP told ConservativeHome: 'The BNP activists are not like they were. They don't wear bomber jackets. They don't have number one shaved heads. They don't have tattooes. They look smart. They smile. They are talking about housing and jobs, not race. They aren't fitting the caricature and voters are confused.'
At a meeting of Conservative Peers earlier this week the rise of the BNP was evident from a number of regional presentations made by party campaigners.
CCHQ isn't currently moving from its 'no oxygen' tactic but Tory MPs are mulling alternative options. There is a particular concern to find messages that stop normally Conservative voters from supporting the BNP in June's European elections. Three stand out at present:
- Connect the BNP with criminality. This was what The Sun did a few years ago - highlighting the criminal connections of many BNP candidates. 'Voters won't vote for a criminal party,' the Tory MP told me.
- Connect the BNP with falling house prices. This was the tactic pursued vigorouly two years ago by certain Conservatives.
- Connect the BNP with Left-wing, socialist policies. This is a strategy set out by Charles Walker MP.
Tim Montgomerie
Poster Comment:
Related: BNP gains from Labour disaffection . And Immigration: Heaping Up the Funeral Pyre. And Immigration is putting pressure on our services, warns Cameron.