Jenny Griffin is a busy girl

On 26 March, Clive Jefferson, the hapless BNP national elections officer announced on the BNP website that the local elections campaign was “hotting up” and, in an effort to chivvy along other activists, claimed that his patch, North West Cumbria, was going to stand 15 candidates “and counting” in Copeland and 15 candidates “and counting” in Allerdale.

“This year’s elections have a different feel to them. There are no unrealistic expectations,” claimed Jefferson. “There are a lot of new people coming forward eager to pin the British National Party heart to their chests,” he boasted. “People have worked quietly but systematically over the last year, and there is a feeling of real excitement in the active groups who are fielding big slates in 2011 … Cumbria has thrown the challenge down. Which region is going to beat the Cumbrian gambit of 30 seats?”

The BNP faithful lapped it up.

There appears to have been a problem though. Jefferson’s efforts to whip his colleagues into a frenzy of excitement were not based on fact. Indeed, when nominations closed it was revealed that there were only four candidates standing in Copeland which means that a number of BNP branches have managed to beat Clive Jefferson’s big push hands down.

There was little respite for Jefferson in Allerdale either where, despite claiming he had 15 candidates “and counting”, he could, at the end of the day, only muster six. And, what happened to their mayoral candidate for Middlesborough? He or she is also a no-show.

Two of the candidates were Jennifer Matthys, the daughter of Nick Griffin, and her husband, Angus. Angus is best remembered as the man who had to wear rubber gloves to open the BNP's post when he worked with Jenny at the BNP's Belfast office. Both are standing as candidates for the BNP in Allerdale.

But Jenny will be particularly busy come election day. She is standing on the Welsh Assembly regional list for South Wales East (fourth on the list) on the same day. And now we hear she's also standing in Scotland, Mid Scotland and Fife region, while husband Angus is also standing in Glasow, on the regional list! An unlikely proposition I know, but one wonders how they will divide their time between so many different countries should they get elected? Obviously, given their past there it's no surprise that neither made it onto the list for Northern Ireland.