A Letter From BurnleyFriday 12th April 2002.He was standing in a doorway at the top of Wycoller Avenue. Both he and the lady of the house were watching the BNP leafletters coming up the hill. He knew who they were. He paid his respects and left to knock on the door of another house further down. The leafletters were coming closer, on both sides of the street, and he stopped to take another look. His shoulders dropped and he turned around and made his way back to his car, leaving his intended visit for another day. He watched the leafletters in his rear view mirror for some minutes and then drove off and turned into Brunshaw Avenue. Peter Pike MP cut a rather forlorn figure this morning in Brunshaw ward, Burnley. Totally alone and obviously distracted from his morning's visits by the presence of the opposition. His demeanour was a clear indication that his doorstep enquiries were corroborating what BNP cavassers had been discovering over the last ten weeks. Labour voters don't live in Brunshaw anymore. A local window cleaner, plying his trade in the Brunshaw Road later that morning, summed up the situation. "Labour's going to get the biggest shock they have ever had on May 2nd. They are finished in Burnley." There is, however, one peice of good news for Peter Pike MP and Burnley Labour Party. A lady in Ribchester Avenue is voting Labour. "No, I'm voting Labour", she told me as I offered her one of our Simon Bennett leaflets. She seemed taken aback by my surprised look, and quickly followed up with, "I've always voted Labour."
When I turned to leave, apologising for disturbing her, she was busy drying her hands on her apron, 'Malik', is Rafique Malik, a towering figure in Burnley local politics in recent years. In many people's eyes Burnley Labour Party is Rafique Malik, and now his son, the highly regarded, (in Millbank's eyes at least), Shahid is carrying on the family tradition in the town. It must be very galling for the actual leader of the Labour Group on Burnley Council, Stuart Caddy, that he has been so eclipsed by the Malik Legacy. Few know of him, what he does or why he does it. But enough of the opposition, what of the BNP in Burnley this week. Let's have some facts and figures. Canvassing returns across four central wards show 44% for the BNP, 12% Others and 44% Undecided. The returns are from daytime canvassing 10.00am to 3.00pm, so their value is strictly limited. On the doorstep the BNP support is totally committed, and you have the feeling that they will vote come hell or high water. The Undecideds will probably vote for another party or not at all, and the Others are those who will vote Labour but can't bring themselves to tell anyone that they will. Interviews have been conducted with the Daily Mail and The Observer, and the BBC have booked Burnley BNP officials, Steve Smith and Simon Bennett, for a programme next Wednesday. There's been coverage in The Guardian, The Independent and The Times, while the local papers have dutifully listed our candidates. And finally one last tale from the doorstep . . . On Wednesday morning I knocked on a door in Olympic Street. A lady answered and I recited my lines. She took the leaflet and was glancing through it when a voice from behind her boomed, "Send him in!" An imposing figure sitting on the sofa eyed me up and down before slowly examining the leaflet. After a silence that seemed an eternity, he put out his hand and said, "Thank God, at last you lot have got your act together".
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