Hope not Hate's '85%' campaign runs into some factual difficulties

Hope not Hate's 85% campaign appears to have run into some difficulties, most of them factual. To make up for this, we've created our own '16%' campaign to highlight the share of the vote Labour gained in Rochester and Strood. See if you can spot which one is ours below.

 

Labour MP photographed with known NF activist in her constituency

 

UKIP MP pictured with stranger

 The top picture of course shows Labour MP Dame Anne Begg photographed with her local Scottish NF activist during the recent referendum campaign. She knew who he was. The bottom picture shows UKIP MP Mark Reckless photographed with a stranger who came into the constituency office and who was unknown to him. Even HnH don't name her. Somehow this makes him racist in a way that Dame Anne Begg isn't.

Scottish Labour MP campaigned with National Front leader

Clearly a Labour Party event for the
'no' campaign in Aberdeen

Following earlier revelations regarding the links between Labour's Liz McInnes (their candidate for Heywood and Middleton) and former BNP councillor Trevor Maxfield, news reaches us of a rather more shocking collaboration.

9 days ago, Dame Anne Begg, Labour MP for Aberdeen South, was out campaigning for a 'no' vote. Some of her campaign team looked a little rough around the edges, but they were clearly welcome there: the picture shows them taking part in the Labour 'action day'.

Labour MP Dame Anne Begg and Scottish NF
leader Dave McDonald share a laugh and a joke

The bloke on the right seemed to get on particularly well with Ms Begg, as the next picture shows: they seem to be sharing a laugh and a joke. All of which is slightly surprising, as his name is Dave McDonald. Not a household name perhaps, but one she should have been aware of: McDonald is the leader of the Scottish National Front.

So, did Ms Begg not know who he is? Unlikely. He was the NF's candidate for the Aberdeen Donside by-election, and has apparently been active in Aberdeen politics for the Scottish National Front since at least 2003. As our source says, it is inconceivable that she would not know who he was.

Now the NF does have its share of troubles just at the moment, with about 3 different groups of people arguing about who is and who isn't the official National Front. At least one of these groups claims that McDonald isn't a member of their version of the 'official NF'. They need to get the message through to Dave then, because earlier the same day - before he linked up with the local Labour MP - he was out spreading his own message, complete with National Front banner. We wonder why Hope not Hate haven't been spreading this one all over their pages? You can see McDonald's interview with STV here from the Donside by-election


Dave McDonald earlier the same day, before joining
the local Labour MP and Labour Party

We can only imagine what Nick Lowles and his motley crew would be saying if a UKIP MEP had ben photographed campaigning with an NF activist. But Anne Begg is Labour, so associating with the far right is ok.