Despite their rather pathetic result on Thursday, it isn't clear that the BNP's candidate, Edward Holmes will be all that. The former councillor and council leader for the Labour Party, has his sights set on a seat in parliament. He’s the prospective BNP candidate for the Ashfield constituency in the coming general election; a seat likely to be hotly contested following Geoff Hoon's decision to step down as MP.

Holmes was among the BNP activists interviewed by BBC weatherman Des Coleman for a documentary about the party in the East Midlands. Holmes established that Coleman was British based on which side he would fight for in a hypothetical war with Jamaica, but despite the TV presenter making the 'correct' selection, was still adamant that a black man could not join the party.

Although the constituency was extensively leafleted by activists from both Unite Against Fascism and Notts Stop the BNP, nobody should have any illusions about a Labour victory constituting some kind of high-water mark for anti-fascism. It is the very policies pursued by Labour at local and national level which have disenfranchised large sections of the working class, creating the space in which groups like the BNP, and more recently the EDL, operate.

Nevertheless, we should take some comfort from the BNP's pathetic showing in Hucknall. Not just because they were defeated there, but because of the implication that party's great hope for Ashfield is something of an electoral handicap.