What happened was that the leader of a (tiny) opposition party was arrested for a thought crime: criticizing Islam, which increasingly powerful in Britain.
Nick Griffin has now been indicted—by an astonishing coincidence, just as Tony Blair is running for reelection. [BNP leader faces race hate charges, Press Association, April 6, 2005]
Britain's liberal elite is determined that neither immigration nor crime should even be raised as issues in an election—by either side. It turns out that these are racial issues, and thus taboo.