Rising Islamophobia makes Birmingham fertile ground for BNP

"This party's for white people, I make no bones about that," says Simon Darby, the man leading the far right's expansion in Birmingham.

The British National Party's regional organiser - already a councillor in nearby Dudley and one of 23 BNP councillors in the country - believes the party can exploit increasing Islamophobia and disillusionment with mainstream political parties to make gains in local elections on 4 May.

The BNP is growing fastest in England's second city, according to the anti-fascist group Searchlight. It will field a record 86 candidates in the West Midlands and, for the first time, contest all 41 wards of Birmingham City Council. The party wants to make 4 May "a referendum on Islam" - and Birmingham is its "jewel in the crown". Pictures of the London bus blown up on 7 July, and the handful of extremists who called for the beheading of the cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohamed, adorn leaflets screaming "Enough is enough!"

The problem with Birmingham, says Mr Darby, is that there are so many non-whites. "There are some parts you wouldn't believe. Lozells, where the riots were last year, and Handsworth - they were predominantly Afro-Caribbean communities, and the Muslim community are pushing them out ... back into Aston and Nechells, which causes a lot of white flight.

"Birmingham will become an Islamic city in 10 to 20 years, and to a lot of people that is quite startling, that a city in the middle of England can swap over to sharia law." Confronted by the statistics, that Birmingham is 15 per cent Muslim and less than 20 per cent Asian, Mr Darby says it is important for whites to vote for the BNP before it is "too late" and they are a minority living in a "Eurabian caliphate".

Race is "not the only issue obviously", he admits. The BNP hopes to capitalise on the demise of the region's heavy industry, specifically the closure of Rover's plant at Longbridge, and on high levels of drug-related crime.

Key targets are "typical white working-class housing estates" in Kingstanding and Erdington. Would people in Great Barr, another target, vote for the BNP?

Two affronted residents slammed their doors at the mere suggestion. Joanne Orton, 31, was surprised to have the option: "The who party? Oh right, the BNP. I'm open-minded - I've got mixed-race children - but I'll have a look at the policies ... there are enough English people without jobs."

The BNP is even standing in Lozells, a predominantly black and Asian-populated tangle of rundown terraces in central Birmingham.