Naturally all decent Lancastrians will be dismayed that the neo-Nazi British National Party has won a council seat in their county. The result will distract the media from the famous Conservative victory in the county. But the BNP will have just one out of 84 in Lancashire. They have also won a seat in Hertfordshire. Thus far the BNP don't seem to have won any seats at all anywhere else out of the thousands contested.
In Essex, for instance, they made a big push but got universally defeated. "I am also pleased that the BNP has failed to make the much predicted breakthrough," says Lord Hanningfield, the Conservative leader of Essex Council. "The vast majority of the people of Essex have rejected the politics and policies of extremism, intolerance and hatred."