This was the first general election after the formation of the BNP following the disintegration of the National Front (NF) in the early 1980s.
Although the party did not anticipate winning any seats (as was the case) the election was pivotal in ensuring that its profile was raised, with 13 million viewers watching the broadcast.
Only three constituencies (Hackney S & Shoreditch, Islington S & Finsbury and Worthing) were contested by both parties and in all three the NF beat the BNP.
[2] With party finances strained, leader John Tyndall decided not to fight this election.
[4] The party's Bromley officer Alf Waite and West Kent chief Michael Easter both broke rank and stood as candidates and, despite attempts by Tyndall to maintain unity, some of Waite and Easter's supporters split from the BNP to join the Flag Group after the election.
[5] [6] Although a wider slate of candidates was put forward than in 1987, the party concentrated its campaigning efforts on the East London constituencies of Bethnal Green and Stepney and Bow and Poplar on the back of some relatively strong performances in local elections in the early 1990s.
[8] Both Tyndall and Tony Lecomber felt that recruitment of new members was of central importance to the growth of the BNP and it was agreed that a larger scale general election campaign was needed in order to accomplish this.
[10] The party spent £60,000 on their election campaign, although ultimately it had no great impact on volume of membership.
[12] On the back of an intense local campaign that had been bolstered by the tensions around the 2001 Oldham race riots, the BNP secured their best ever general election result in Oldham West and Royton where party leader Nick Griffin secured 16.4% of the vote.
The highest percentage was achieved in Barking by Richard Barnbrook, later to be elected to the London Assembly in 2008 when the BNP passed the 5% threshold and thus qualified for a single seat.
[18] [19] The BNP fielded 338 candidates[24] (including 19 in Wales and 14 in Scotland but none in Northern Ireland), nearly three times the number in 2005.
The election results followed a campaign in which the BNP website was closed down by its designer, the party's publicity director was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill Griffin and a candidate in London was filmed fighting in the street with a group of Asian teenagers.
In the Heckmondwike ward of Kirklees Council in August, David Exley polled 1,607 votes (44%).
In September, Nick Geri won the Grays Riverside ward of Thurrock council, polling 552 votes (38%).
[59][69] In 2007, the number of BNP councillors fell slowly due to resignations and expulsions, several of them associated with a failed leadership challenge in the summer.
[71] Between the 2011 and 2012 elections, the BNP lost a number of councillors to resignations, such as in Nuneaton and Bedworth[75] and Amber Valley.
[81] In the London local elections, the party ran 32 candidates- six in Enfield, five in Croydon and Greenwich, four in Barking and Dagenham, three in Bexley, two in Bromley, Ealing, Havering and Hillingdon, and one in Kingston upon Thames.
the party ran a total of 61 candidates; 41 in metropolitan boroughs (thirteen in Coventry City Council, seven in Stockport, five in Salford, three in St Helens and Birmingham, two each in Manchester, Tameside and Wolverhampton, and one each in Bolton, Dudley, Walsall and Wigan), 2 in unitary authorities (both in Derby) and 18 in non-metropolitan districts (eight in Worcestershire, three in Nuneaton and Bedworth, two each in Amber Valley, Burnley and Pendle, and one in Exeter).
[84] Nationally, 16 BNP candidates stood for election; 3 in metropolitan boroughs (two in Salford, one in Manchester), 1 in unitary authorities (Derby) and 12 in non-metropolitan districts (four in Worcester City, two in Northampton borough, and one each in Charnwood, East Northamptonshire, Maldon, Burnley, Exeter and Pendle).
In the 2016 elections, the party fielded two candidates in Burnley,[86] and one each in Barnsley,[87] Tameside,[88] Havant[89] and Pendle.
In the 2017 local elections, the BNP ran seven candidates; five in Essex (two in Pitsea,[91] one in Halstead,[92] one in Maldon[93] and one in Heybridge & Tollesbury[93]), one in Hampshire (Hayling Island[94]) and one in Lincolnshire (Louth South[95]).
It ran fifteen candidates overall; five in Bexley, three in Croydon, two in Barking and Dagenham, and one each in Ealing, Greenwich, Havering, Hillingdon and Lewisham.
The party ran 2 candidates in the 2021 local elections;[101] one in a by-election for Croydon and one in West Northamptonshire.
In the 2004 European elections, the BNP vote increased by 3.9%, saving deposits in every region except Scotland.
Two candidates, in Swansea East and Islwyn, respectively, saved their deposits for the first time ever in a Welsh Assembly constituency.