Racist Party Gains Traction in Britain

With immigration shaping up to be a major issue of Britain’s May 6 general election, the xenophobic British National Party is gaining worrisome levels of popularity. In neighborhoods like Barking and Dagenham, blue-collar sections on the outskirts of London, the race for a parliamentary seat will be between the unpopular Labour Party and a candidate from the BNP, which aims to restore the country for white Britons. “I’m not a racist, but they’re letting so many of them in,” one resident complained about foreigners. “They come and sign on for benefits. A lot of the children in schools don’t even speak English. There’s so many illegal ones that the government can’t even find all of them.” The party is led by the well-spoken, Cambridge-educated Nick Griffin, who has denied the Holocaust, said that Hitler “went a bit too far,” and has been convicted of distributing material likely to incite racial violence.