I have a great deal of respect for Iain Dale, I really do. He supports the wrong party but he’s carved a career out of political commentating largely thanks to his blog and, of course, he’s shown impeccable taste in giving me awards for the last two years on the trot.

However, this is the non-story of the week and I very much doubt it would have even warranted a mention had the man in question been a Liebour candidate and not a Conswervative.

Basically, a black man is standing as an MP for the Conswervatives in Chippenham, Wiltshire. A BNP councillor who lives in the same constituency is also standing as an MP for the BNP. The Conswervative candidate says that the BNP councillor is only standing because he (the Conswervative, not the BNP councillor) is black. The BNP councillor says it’s nothing to do with his colour, it’s because it’s the constituency he lives in.

Regular readers will know that although I defend the BNP’s right to exist because they are a lawful party, I despise the party itself. There appears to be nothing other than the word of his opponent to suggest that the BNP councillor has chosen to stand for election in Chippenham simply because the Conswervatives have put up a black candidate. Iain, unfortunately, has a worsening habit of bigging up non-stories to promote the Conswervatives. Not that Mr Emmanuel-Jones needs any more publicity, he’s rather conveniently got himself all over a national newspaper in the run-up to the May elections.

Edit:
It turns out that the Conswervative candidate is actually from Devon and that the BNP candidate is actually the local candidate according to a comment in Iain’s post.

Technorati Tags: Iain Dale, Conswervatives