>>Away from east London, the BNP's gains were less spectacular.
>
>What is it about east London?
Their gains were actually in Essex rather than East London, although it's essentially a London overspill area.
Actually, the BNP's gains elsewhere in the country (Stoke-on-Trent and Burnley, for instance) sometimes added to and consolidated pockets of support they already had. The gains in Barking & Dagenham are to do with: a) poor and inadequate local housing, b) Labour puffing of them in the area (especially a spectacularly ill-judged comment from Margaret Hodge MP), c) BNP fabrications about an 'Africans for Essex' scheme in which African migrants were supposedly getting £50,000 from the council to buy homes, d) a nationwide surge in racism.
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