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. 

Heywood & Middleton Labour candidate and her BNP colleague

Labour Heywood & Middleton candidate Liz McInnes -
remember her association with the far-right when she
starts shouting 'racist' at UKIP

Spare a thought for Labour candidate for Heywood & Middleton, Liz McInnes. There she was, all set to call UKIP 'racist', 'fascist' and 'nazis', and she seems to have forgotten one of her colleagues.

For Liz is a councillor in Rossendale. The neighbouring Borough is Blackburn with Darwen. Both are covered by the same constituency Labour Party, known as Rossendale and Darwen after the parliamentary constituency.

Former Nazi turned Labour Mayor -
and colleague of Heywood & Middleton
Labour candidate Liz McInnes

Blackburn with Darwen's current councillor for the Earcroft ward is Trevor Maxfield. Maxfield  was originally elected as a BNP councillor for the ward, before defecting to the Labour Party, which rapidly changed its mind about him being a 'racist', 'fascist' and 'nazi' - so much so that they made him Mayor of Darwen.

Maxfield had a long history with the BNP. He was appointed local organiser by no less a person than
then BNP leader Nick Griffin back in 2004 when he was described by his predecessor as being one of the 'drug dealers and football hooligans' who made up the local branch of the BNP. He didn't defect straight to Labour though - first he joined the white supremacist 'England First Party'. Of course, had he been a member of UKIP, we'd have read about all this on the front page of the Mirror and the Guardian, and Hope not Hate and UAF would have been picketing his house. But, since he eventually joined Labour, that's alright then. As a fellow Labour councillor said when he was made cabinet member for culture, "To be fair to Trevor, he’s quite a good bloke. I think his BNP stuff is in the past". Not that far in the past, as he is pictured at a 'Heritage & Destiny' meeting in Bradford in 2006 with various other luminaries of the far right, including Eddy Morrison and Dave Smith. Its a strange world indeed where Maxfield is not just accepted but promoted within the Labour Party despite his far right links, while he would not even qualify for membership of UKIP because of his past associations. And they call us racist!

Still, things work a bit differently in Rossendale & Darwen. The local Labour candidate - they lost the seat to the Tories in 2010 - is none other than William Straw, son of former Home Secretary Jack. Readers may recall that back in 1998, he was cautioned by police for selling cannabis, something which would have stopped anyone less propelled by nepotism from being selected. Local Labour councillors have rallied around him since his selection, with Liz McInnes saying how wonderful he is just above a similar endorsement from Trevor Maxfield.


Will himself did plenty for race relations, which is probably why a former BNP councillor speaks so highly of him. After all, Will caused no little controversy shortly after his selection when he was attacked and decried as a racist after being pictured with two fancy dress goers who had 'blacked up'.

So when Labour start slinging the usual slurs at John Bickley, the UKIP candidate, it is worth recalling that their own local party has quite a lot to answer for itself.