Church event scrapped due to BNP links

An annual church fund-raising event in Clarborough has been cancelled because of the host's association with a right wing political party.David Otter, a British National Party (BNP) candidate in recent local elections, says his membership of the party means the popular village event has been scrapped.

He has hosted the church fund-raising barbecue at his Hayton home for the last 20 years generating thousands for charities and the village's St Peter's Church.

"I and many other people are flabbergasted by this," he said. "We had organised a date for the barbeque and then I received a call to tell me they could not find enough people to run it, which I found very odd. It was playing on my mind so I rang back and asked if it was anything to do about my membership of the BNP and, after a pause, they said 'yes'."

Hayton Church's Rev Mark Cantrill, who has spoken to Mr Otter about the decision, says it was made at a specially-convened meeting of the Parochial Church Council (PCC).

"(The decision to cancel) was due to limited numbers of people available to staff the event and provide the necessary resources and transport," he explained. "The PCC also noted Mr Otter had recently stood as a BNP candidate, which raised the issue of the relationship between the policies of the BNP and Christian teaching, which is to be explored and considered further."

Rev Cantrill said his concerns are supported by the Church of England's General Synod which passed a motion in 2004 after the performance of the BNP in local elections in parts of Lancashire.

"It stated: 'any political movement that seeks to divide our communities on the basis of ethnicity is an affront to the nature of God... and is a grave danger to harmonious community relationships; consequently voting for and/or supporting a political party that offers racist policies is incompatible with Christian discipleship'," he added.

Mr Otter, who insisted he is not a racist, said he was 'nearly heartbroken' by the decision.

"I joined the BNP because the Conservative Party had drifted too far to the left," he added.

Retford Times