Earlier this week, a short clip from a video appeared on social media. It took completely out of context a speech I had given in 2016 about my battle against the fascist BNP in Barking.
The clip went viral and hard-left trolls had a field day, calling me everything under the sun, from a “f***ing racist” to a “Zionist stooge.”
Obviously, these attacks always hurt, but the idea that defeating the vile racism of the extreme right in my own constituency made me similarly racist is deeply worrying, especially when the attack comes from people who supposedly claim anti-racist values as a badge of honour.
I remain immensely proud of my successful battle against the BNP. In 2006, I was in my sixties when the BNP secured 12 seats in Barking and Dagenham town hall, having only stood 13 candidates. Had they managed a complete slate across the borough they would have swept the board and taken control of the council. So when Nick Griffin announced he would stand against me in the 2010 election, I knew the threat was serious.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge talks to the media during the local council election for Barking and Dagenham on May 4, 2006 in London. The right-wing British National Party (BNP) fielded 13 candidates in the Barking and Dagenham constituency and succeeded in winning 12 seats. (Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)
I could have retired. My husband was terminally ill. But as a first-generation immigrant whose family had fled persecution, abandoning the fight against the BNP was simply not an option. Defeating Griffin was essential to extinguishing his brand of antisemitic politics in London. I put all my energy into the battle for Barking.
The Jewish community were immensely supportive. The Community Security Trust helped me develop my campaign strategy and many Jewish people, including traditionally Conservative-supporting Jews, helped finance our campaign. In the meantime, I had to get used to racist jibes, including when one BNP activist screamed at me in the street, “Get back to Germany, Margaret”; to which I retorted, “I can’t. They killed all my family.”
So why the attack from the extreme left today? Obviously, I am a target because of the role I played in challenging Corbyn’s despicable role in allowing antisemitism to infect the Labour Party. But something more worrying is at play. Almost two decades ago, many voters in Barking and Dagenham first turned to the BNP out of frustration with the Labour Party, because they felt we did not care about, or even understand, their concerns.
The borough has gone through an incredible demographic change in a very short period of time. When I first became the MP for Barking and Dagenham in 1994, it was a white working-class and close-knit community. I had never met so many great-grandmothers who lived within walking distance of their great-grandchildren. Over 90 per cent of homes were council housing, but Right to Buy changed that. The housing moved into private hands and through buying and letting the community changed rapidly. According to the 1991 Census, over 90 per cent of people living in the borough were white.
By 2021, that stood at just under 45 per cent. For all of us, change can be challenging. Rapid and full-blown change in any neighbourhood can cause disruption, uncertainty and frustration. Couple that transformation of the borough with a loss of unionised, well-paid jobs at the Ford factory in Dagenham; a complacent inward-looking local Labour Party; successive governments neglecting the quality of life on council estates; and the lack of new affordable homes, you can see that the circumstances were ripe for exploitation by the far right. My constituents, like all of us, found the scale of change difficult but their support for the BNP did not make them automatic racists.
Understanding their frustrations and resentment was not — as the far left implies — conceding to racism. By listening, talking and responding as best I could to their frustrations, I rebuilt trust and brought many alienated voters back to Labour.
Labour has always been at its best when offering a credible and positive vision for the future. Time and again, the Labour Party has only won general elections and transformed Britain by defeating political extremism, whether it hails from the extreme left or the hard right. This must always be our focus. But we should not be surprised that the standard bearers of all political extremes have more in common than they care to admit. I leave you with this anecdote.
Recently, I have been writing up my experiences in fighting racism. I had an election leaflet on my desk that the BNP produced in 2010. It was full of vile, antisemitic and conspiratorial comments. On the back of the leaflet was an item headed: “ten things you should know about Margaret Hodge.” The page was filled with hideous lies. But my assistant, who had joined me after the fight against the BNP and was working with me in the antisemitism campaign, looked at the leaflet in astonishment and said: “You won’t believe this, Margaret, but that precise page has been cut and pasted onto social media by the hard left to attack you.”
It is this fact — that the tactics of the far right and the extreme left have so much in common — that should worry us all. That is why the hard left had another go at me this week.
Margaret Hodge is MP for Barking.
