Imagine all the people...

Unlike some, I have no problem with what Ms* Warsi said, on the grounds that she is absolutely correct.

But Lady Warsi - who was nominated for a peerage earlier this year when party leader David Cameron promoted her to a seat in the shadow cabinet - told the BBC she stood by her comments.

"To suggest I am some sort of apologist for the British National Party is ludicrous.

"You only have to go on their websites and look at their leaflets. I am one of their most hated figures," said Lady Warsi.

"I was talking about people who have been duped into voting for the British National Party because they feel that some of the concerns they are wanting to talk about are not being dealt with by the mainstream political parties."

Rightly or wrongly, people are concerned about immigration and people are voting for the BNP for this reason. The BNP garnered more votes in the recent by-elections than UKIP, for fuck's sake; if people wanted to use a protest vote, there are many parties other than the BNP to vote for. These people are voting for the BNP, not against the mainstream parties.

And yes, the mainstream parties are not addressing immigration; but we all know why this is. It is our old friend, that elephant in the room, the European Union. The majority of our immigration comes from EU countries and there is, quite simply, no way in which we can stop it.

The mainstream parties do not want to address the EU question: Brown and Ming desperately want to avoid a referendum on the Constitution Reform Treaty and even the Tories are not that keen, not really. They fear, as Ming and Brown do, that it will turn into a vote about whether we want to be in the EU or not, and they do not want to withdraw (even if they are not prepared to engage their voters in an argument as to why).

Still, there is at least one screaming hypocrite here.

Her comments also drew criticism from anti-racist group Operation Black Vote - for whom Lady Warsi used to work.

Spokesman Simon Woolley told the Independent on Sunday: "Pandering to the racist views peddled by the BNP and bought by the BNP voters is wrong."

Whereas pandering to the racist views peddled by Operation Black Vote and drawing up racist all-black shortlists (in consultation with Operation Black Vote) is, of course, absolutely fine.

Operation Black Vote was, by the way, set up by the 1990 Trust which lists explicitly racist objectives in its "Black Manifesto".

Me? I'll take the level-headed and self-evidently true statements by Ms Warsi over and above the condemnatory comments of the leader of a racist, unaccountable organisation like Operation Black Vote.

UPDATE: Thunderdragon agrees, and so good for him. Unfortunately, Norfolk Blogger continues to write self-righteous crap (but what do you expect from a LibDem?).

Ms Warsi's views on homosexual equality and now on the BNP are not views that should be upheld by any political party.

Poor old Nich; what a quandry he is in! You see, Ms Warsi is a Muslim and now poor Nich is surprised that she doesn't look on homosexuals favourably—perhaps Nich would like to start condemning the views of Muslims? Or is the view that Muslims might have some unpleasant ideas not the kind of view that any politcal party should hold? Oh dear, oh dear, Nich—how will you deal with this quandry?

Of course, poor, darling Nich thinks that as long as he says that no one should hold these views on homosexuality, or the views that BNP voters have, that people will no longer think these things.

No doubt Nich is one of these little shits who is just itching to use the law to prosecute people for any opinions that conflict with his own. Either that, or he just likes to bury his head in the sand and pretend that none of this is happening.

People vote for the BNP, Nich; get used to it. And now perhaps you could turn your colossal LibDem brain to thinking about how we might address these people's concerns and stop the rise of the far-left BNP** in Britain.


* She is no peer of my realm, merely a political appointee.

** Yes, they are.