Whilst out campaigning against the BNP for today's London Mayoral election, Matthew Collins, author of Hate: My Life In The British Far Right, encountered an old "friend", who took him back to his politics of old...
A man approached me outside a tube station on Tuesday to tell me that we went to school together. He’d done pretty well there too, by the looks of him. He was wearing an expensive suit and had perfectly polished and expensive black shoes. He also held a briefcase close to his chest defensively, as if to protect himself from me. Did I remember him? I had to apologise and say sadly not.
'That’s OK', he snorted. 'I don’t think we ever actually spoke to each other properly'. He was holding an expensive briefcase, and I was holding a handful of leaflets. My hair was flat and my coat and jeans were damp. I had to think fast on my feet a little. Handing out leaflets at tube stations is not my job you see; well, not my only job. On Tuesday I spent all day outside of tube and train stations in the capital handing out leaflets trying to persuade people to vote in today’s London elections. It’s not as easy task as you may think, either.
For a start, this bloke would not take one from me. 'Are these BNP leaflets?' he asked. 'No,' I replied. 'They’re actually leaflets trying to get people out to vote against the BNP, vote for anyone but the BNP. It doesn’t really matter who you vote for as every vote not for the BNP goes against the BNP'.
'Who should I vote for, then' he asked. 'Anyone but the BNP' I replied. He was not overly convinced.
'Anyone?'
Yes, anyone.
'Even Tory?' he asked.
If you have to, replied I. 'You can read about it in this leaflet.' I thrust it at him and he finally took a read of it. 'Very admirable' he told me, without actually reading the whole thing.
'I just wanted to talk to you and tell you, that I have voted against the BNP at every given opportunity since I could vote, mainly as a result of having gone to school with you and put up with your endless bullying, your racism, your foul language and hooligan behaviour'.
And with that, he was off. A great weight lifted from his shoulders no doubt. I have no idea who he was, but it’s a quite common theme for me when meeting old school “friends”.
I guess that’s why I have sore feet and a dodgy knee from all of the leafleting I do with my colleagues at every election. Old school “friends” have a habit of creeping up on you like that.