Nick Lowles supports former BNP councillor and friend of Nick Griffin over UKIP

Former BNP councillor Paul Cromie
- congratulated by HnH for beating
the UKIP candidate!

It's true. It really is. On Nick Lowles personal blog on the Hope not Hate website he writes:

"Former BNP councillor, turned Independent, Paul Cromie, has fought off a strong challenge from UKIP in his Queensbury ward, in Bradford.
Well done Paul!"

You can read the post yourself, here. And it's screen-shotted below in case they have a change of heart and remove it.

Changes of heart seem common when it comes to Paul Cromie and his wife Linda, who is also a local councillor. Cromie professed to have left the BNP in 2011 and yet in April 2012 Lowles was writing on his blog a post entitled "He's Back", in which he passed comment on the Cromies attending a BNP fundraiser in Yorkshire where they met with Nick Griffin. Cromie wrote in his defence that Griffin was a personal friend.

The date of this meeting makes it doubly interesting because of the elections in May 2012. In the Queensborough ward which the Cromies represent on Bradford Council, the Conservative Party candidate was a Michael Walls. What is remarkable is that he was proposed and seconded on his nomination papers by Paul & Linda Cromie. Since his election, he is very close to the Cromies, who helped him with his campaign in 2012, and were at the count cheering as he won. Queensborough is a three member seat elected in thirds.

It really is true. Nick Lowles is congratulating an ex-BNP
councillor for beating UKIP.

The chumminess the couple display towards their Conservative colleague in Queensborough is nothing compared with their closeness to the ruling Labour group. At the Bradford count following Thursday's elections, Cromie was seen laughing and joking with the local Labour councillors, including those who run both Hope not Hate and local UAF activities across the city. Rumours persist that Cromie would defect to Labour if he thought he and his wife could hold their seats under that party's banner: in the meantime, the Cromies know what side their bread is buttered on in a city where in most wards they weigh rather than count the Labour vote: if Queensborough was not one of only a few non-Labour wards in the city, the Cromies would sign up in a heartbeat. Labour's perpetual grip on Bradford politics means only they can hand out the plum jobs, the seats on local boards. Its not just the plums, either - there's the icing too: Hope not Hate spend some of their 'restricted' funds which they receive from the Department for Communities and Local Government on their 'anti-racist community work' campaign in Bradford.

In Bradford, Hope not Hate were particularly active during the local election campaign. It was one of the places where the Labour Party instead of running its own campaign against UKIP based on policy ran Hope not Hate's leaflets based on scaremongering. It is not by accident that HnH's leaflets were all in Labour Party colours. UKIP Bradford have published on their own blog pictures of Labour councillors and campaign teams engaged in such negative campaigning which were tweeted by Labour councillors using campaign groups bought and paid for by Hope not Hate's government grant allied to those made by Bradford council itself.

They hypocrisy scarcely needs pointing out, although that Lowles would be so blatant is rather a surprise. They had nothing to say about the former BNP councillor who is now a Labour cabinet member in Darwen. No comment on the former openly Nazi Labour councillor in the Home Counties. Nothing about the 9 Labour councillors in Harrow or the 5 Labour councillors in Middlesbrough who resigned because of racism within the Labour Party.

The message is clear. There are no allies too low, no racism which is too much: to be considered a Labour Party ally is to be immune to criticism from Lowles and his chums. This extends to UAF, who are also notable by the silence over such incidents.

Many of Hope not Hate's own supporters are not best pleased by Lowles support for a 'former' racist though. On Twitter, Lowles & co are not backpedalling furiously as suggesting their support for Crombie was an 'in-joke'. Clearly it's an in-joke their own supporters didn't appreciate, and one which 41 of their supporters didn't see, as that's how many times their original message of support for Crombie was re-tweeted!