“STOKE TURNS TO THE BNP” was the front page headline in Freedom, the newspaper of the British National Party, for its November 2002 issue. The report beneath it was on the election for the Mayor of Stoke where BNP candidate Steve Batkin had stunned the political pundits by coming third and beating both the Tory and Lib-Dem candidates in the first round of voting.

The initial result that day was:
George Stevenson (Lab) 9,752
Mike Wolfe (Ind) 9,356
Steve Batkin (BNP) 8,213
Roger Ibbs (Con) 4,417
Geoffrey Snow (Ind) 3,975
Fred Morrow (Lib-Dem) 2,408
BNP Percentage: 19%

A few months later Steve Batkin went on to become the first BNP councillor in the city winning Longton North and now, as the Party prepared for the all-important elections three weeks today, it has six BNP councillors and is looking to increase that tally.

The target in Stoke is three new councillors in the three wards where the BNP topped the poll last May. It is a tall order but the BNP group on the council have performed well and are popular with their constituents so there is every reason to believe that with good campaigns these three wards can provide BNP victories once again.

In May 2007 in Abbey Green, Ellie Walker held off strong challenges from both Labour and the Tories. She had a majority of just 36, and 38 respectively and Melanie Baddeley will have to pull out all the stops to maintain that advantage with a Lab/Lib-Dem pack resulting in the withdrawal of Nick Clegg’s man.

In Bentilee & Townsend, Steve Batkin will be hoping to return to the council after being beaten by a massive Labour campaign in Longton North last year. David Marfleet won this seat with a 68 vote majority and with an Independent providing the only real opposition, Steve must have the best chance of any of the BNP candidates of being victorious.

The third target seat is Weston & Meir which Michael Coleman won last year with a slender 13 vote majority over the Tories. It will provide the BNP with its sternest test as the Tories have flooded the ward with campaigners desperate to rest it away from us. Anthony Tabbinor’s job won’t be made any easier by the sudden intervention of an Independent candidate, a phenomenon which seems to happen with surprising regularity in BNP marginal wards.

All in all the British National Party is contesting ten seats in Stoke and other wards to watch out for are Longton North where Pauline Smith is seeking to recapture the seat lost last year. Labour beat the BNP by just 45 votes with both candidates polling over 1,400 votes, an incredible achievement. Labour admitting spending a ’small fortune’ in their effort to unseat Steve Batkin and might not have such resources available to them this time. Lynne Pond in neighbouring Longton South might also fancy her chances. labour here have a 500 plus majority, but the BNP polled over 1,000 votes last year and that significant support could be built on to narrow the gap.

Back in November 2002 after the mayoral election, Mike Temple, a lecturer in politics at Staffordshire University told the Stoke Sentinel newspaper:
“The BNP have shown that they have a great deal of potential support in the city. God knows what would happen if they got themselves properly organised.”

Nearly six years down the line that improved organisation is gradually taking shape.


STOKE -ON-TRENT COUNCIL

Abbey Green
Melanie Baddeley (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Ind, Green.
May 2007: BNP 770, Lab 734, Con 732, Lib-Dem 295, Ind 287.

Bentilee & Townsend
Steven Batkin (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Lib-Dem, Ind.
May 2007: BNP 676, Ind 608, Lab 555, Con 222, Lib 196.

Chell & Packmoor
Craig Pond (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Ind, Ind.
May 2007: Ind 728, Lab 596, Ind 336, Con 305, UKIP 178, Lib-Dem 170.

Fenton Ward
Samual Tunstall (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Lib-Dem, Ind.
May 2007: Lab 1,120, BNP 822, Con 491, Lib-Dem 393.

Longton North
Pauline Smith (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Ind.
May 2007: Lab 1,463, BNP 1,418, Con 708.

Longton South
Lynne Pond (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Lib-Dem, Ind.
May 2007: Lab 1,542, BNP 1,016, Con 671, Lib-Dem 584.

Meir Park & Sandon
John Burgess (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Ind.
May 2007: Con 920, Lab 830, BNP 779, Ind 481, Lib-Dem 238, UKIP 89.

Northwood & Birches Head
Stanley Leese (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Ind, Lib-Dem, Ind.
May 2007: Lib-Dem 689, Ind 570, Ind 468, Lab 447, UKIP 244, Con 238.

Tunstall
Terence Cope (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Ind, Ind.
May 2007: Lab 995, BNP 720, Ind 478, Ind 360, Con 294, Ind 245.

Weston & Meir North
Anthony Tabbinor (BNP)
Opponents: Lab, Con, Ind.
May 2007: BNP 1,041, Con 1,028, Lab 709, Lib-Dem 338.

It's a coming peeps............

The British National Party News | BNP sets its sights on three ‘GAINS’ in Stoke