The British National Party candidate in the Cranbrook by-election vowed to never stand again following a crushing electoral defeat. Anthony Young, 77, of Belgrave Road, Ilford, criticised his party's leadership and the management of his campaign after he won just 37 votes.
He said: "The scruffy and amateurish-looking leaflet distributed only on the Tuesday evening, some 36 hours before the polls opened - and to at the most, some 400 people carefully selected from the register as having British, European or Jewish-looking names - cannot have helped. The even more pathetic result than the May 1 GLA figures for the ward was personally painful. I won't stand for election again for anything anywhere. Perhaps in heaven, if I ever get there, it will be different, but frankly, it helps nobody to pretend that someone of my vintage is physically or mentally up to the job."
Before voters went to the polls, Mr Young said he could not understand why he was standing in the election, after Cranbrook ward gained the lowest number of votes out of Redbridge's 21 wards in the May 1 elections.
"If you were to ask me why we bothered to fight this time round, I would have to reply that trying to understand what my party's leadership is thinking is like trying to read the mind of God."
Simon Derby, deputy leader of the BNP, said:"I have no idea why he said that. He shouldn't really be coming up with statements like that. He wasn't pushed into standing. I would suggest that he won't be standing again.
Ilford Recorder
July 17, 2008
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2 comments:
I'm sure there are some vigorous 77 year olds out there, making huge contributions to their communities.
But isn't 77 a little late to be launching a political career?
'Isn't 77 a little late to be launching a political career?'
How ageist of you and anyway Mr Young was a Labour councillor in the 1970s so he was hardly launching anything. A little more research needed before you comment methinks!
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