Getting to the roots of far right xenophobia
Dr Matthew Goodwin is a lecturer at the University of Nottingham, whose forthcoming book, “The New British Fascism: Rise of the BNP” , will be published by Routledge on May 4th
For someone who lectures undergraduates about extremist politics, recent weeks have given us much to discuss. A by-election in Barnsley confirmed both the decline of the BNP, and the ascent of UKIP which is recruiting far right votes.
EDL-thugsMeanwhile, a new poll organised by Searchlight suggests “huge numbers of Britons” are waiting to support a respectable anti-immigrant party. Three-fifths of white Britons think immigration has been bad for Britain, and around half of all respondents think Muslims have created problems.
This, of course, is nothing new. One reason I became interested in extremism was a poll in the early 1990s which suggested one fifth of Britons might consider supporting a Le Pen-style party. And ever since the late 1960s - and long before mass immigration and the financial crisis - we have known that large numbers of Britons endorse anti-immigrant ideas and policies, like those that appear in far right manifestos.