Shock and horror - the BNP have their first MEP. But why are many Muslims living in the Northwest not entirely surprised by the news.

For many people the events of the past week came as a little bit of a shock to the system. The British National Party have not one but two MEP’s. And their leader will now more than likely set-up office in Lancashire.

But if you look at how many Muslims are perceived..is it any wonder that people went and voted for the BNP.

Protest vote? Expenses? the recession? Many regional and national commentators have been quick to blame the political parties. But this was far from just their fault.

Speaking last night Griffin was quite vocal in his critcism of newspapers like the Sun and Express for their ‘smear’ campaigns against his party. Secretly, however he must have thanked members of the right-wing press for helping to portray an image of Brtish Muslims which inadvertedly aided him and his party.

Printing baseless and at times ridiculous accusations and claims did nothing else but to sway the British voter who came to see Muslims as a threat.

Who can ignore the fact that over the past few years there have been countless articles and column inches written on British Muslims We are all for open debate and discussion but there were times when it did become desperate. Anything remotely Islam and Muslim related was thrown on to the front pages. Put Muslim in the headline and it became a story. Take it out and the story was dead.

Some might say one must blame Muslims themselves for helping to portray this image. But much of what has been written did not even concern Muslims. It just so happened someone somewhere down the line had mentioned it was related to Islam and Muslims in some way...and that was good enough.

You could say the British electorate are not that stupid and they would not be taken in by the constant barrage of anti-Muslim stories.

But Griffin’s underlying message during his campaign and one he reiterated on both Sky news and the BBC on the night of his victory was that Muslims and Islam were essentially the problem.

And this is exactly what we have heard and read on numerous blogs and columns on reputable newspaper websites over and over again.