Former BNP councillor admits defeat

A British National Party councillor kicked off Sandwell Council for missing meetings today admitted defeat after learning he faces crippling legal costs to win back his seat.

Coun James Lloyd, BNP member for Princes End in Tipton, has been disqualified from office after missing meetings for six months and failing to give an explanation. Today it was revealed that Coun Lloyd's only hope of winning the legal fight could be going to the High Court, which he said was out of the question.

Neeraj Sharma, Sandwell Council's monitoring officer, said today: "We have told Coun Lloyd the legislation under which he ceases to be a member of the local authority and suggested to him that he might consider taking independent legal advice. We are not aware of any direct right of appeal under the current legislative provisions. However, the High Court of course has inherent jurisdiction over such matters."

Coun Lloyd, who was the former leader of the BNP in Sandwell and was elected to the local authority in 2004, told the Black Country Mail today there was no way he could afford a costly legal battle.

"I am afraid that's it as far as I am concerned," he said. "I am very disappointed with the members services department on the council. I would have thought they might have given me a quick phone call to warn me about falling foul of this six-month rule. All this has come completely out of the blue and I have been stitched up like a kipper. It looks like I am going to have to accept what has happened and bite the bullet. I certainly cannot afford to pay thousands of pounds a day for a High Court hearing. I am off the council for now but if the BNP selects me I shall certainly be fighting again at the local elections next May."

Coun Lloyd's disqualification from the council was part of a double setback for the BNP in Sandwell, coming hot on the heels of the resignation of Coun Simon Smith who revealed he has become an Independent.

Birmingham Mail

BNP's James Lloyd kicked out at last

A Tipton BNP councillor has been kicked off Sandwell Council for failing to attend a single authority meeting in the last six months.

James Lloyd, who represented the Princes End ward, has been disqualified as a result of his absence and failing to explain why. The councillor, first elected in 2004, was sent a letter from the authority’s chief executive Allison Fraser yesterday informing him of the decision.

In her letter, Dr Fraser said: “You last attended a meeting of the authority on April 12, 2007 when you were recorded as being in attendance at a meeting of the Employment Appeals Panel. During six months you have not provided reasons for your failure to attend and have not sought approval from the authority. You have now ceased to be a member of the authority.”

The disqualification will be announced to members at a meeting of the full council on October 30. Mr Lloyd said today he was not aware of the council’s decision and had been working away from home.

The BNP member was at the centre of a scandal in January when he was asked to quit as licensee of the Lagoon pub in Princes End following a string of violence.

He said today: “Since I lost the business I have been forced to take a building site job in Oxfordshire, working up to 15 hours a day. I have been coming back to Sandwell at weekends, but my phone is on 24/7 for the people who voted for me.”

Express and Star

The Red White And Blue Lagoon

THE LAGOON PUB in Tipton offers an insight into how the British National Party run their affairs.

Cllr Jamie Lloyd: dodged a bullet fired by a man in his pub. Sandwell Council stripped the landlord of his licence to run the drinking den recently after a spate of violent incidents, including beatings. The landlord, Jamie Lloyd, is also a BNP Sandwell councillor, former parliamentary candidate in West Bromwich West, and local leader of the far-right party. On one occasion a man entered the establishment brandishing a machete, and on another a man fired a semi-automatic weapon, reportedly at councillor Lloyd. Police eventually lost patience with the Lagoon, which is situated in Princes End, the ward represented by Councillor Lloyd, and in January the Council's licencing committee closed the pub. Cllr Lloyd is reported to have failed to report the incident to police, and hampered their enquires by failing to give a statement and delaying the handing over of CCTV footage. Until its' closure, the Lagoon served effectively as the BNP's local "headquarters", and a regular drinking hole for BNP foot soldiers, and the pub football team - the Tipton Boilers - played in a strip sponsored by the party. The Football Association later ruled that soccer teams are forbidden from wearing a strip that displayed a political message. The Lagoon was also noted for hanging effigies of three Tipton terror suspects held in Guantanamo Bay, who were later released without charge. If this is how the BNP run a pub, some locals have mused, what horrors lie in wait should they get their hands on political power. BLACK INFORMATION LINK