While Labour ministers tour the TV studios telling anyone who will listen that the election of two BNP MEPs is the fault of “the entire political establishment” or “all of the main parties”, the truth of the matter is rather different. The stifling orthodoxy around issues of immigration, race and religion is at the root of it. Labour’s traditional supporters feel alienated and disenfranchised. Dismissed as reactionaries – or worse, racists – by a cosy metropolitan consensus around issues of immigration, these communities rightly feel marginaised. And it is no good blaming the Tories.

Labour effectively muzzled the Tories on immigration after Howard’s ‘dog whistle’ campaign in 2005. Tory attempts to open up the debate on immigration have met with the most vile slurs from a Labour attack machine determined to close down the debate and smear as racist anyone who dared challenge the new orthodoxy. And so the election of the BNP is solely the fault of the left, both inside and outside of parliament. Until Labour acknowledge the very real fears in working class communities about the disruptive effects of mass immigration upon jobs, parties such as the BNP will continue to thrive.

UPDATE: Melanie Phillips makes a similar argument here