Face of Tory "Become a Councillor" campaign is EDL sympathiser

The face of the Conservative Party’s official “Become a Councillor” campaign is an EDL sympathiser who attended an organising meeting for their controversial Tower Hamlets demonstration, Political Scrapbook can reveal. Cllr Blaine Robin was publicly praised by EDL leader Tommy Robinson for his presence at the meeting in Southend-On-Sea.

The gathering of EDL organisers included leaders of all the group’s so-called “southern divisions” and was designed to build momentum for the action in Tower Hamlets which cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to police and led to sixty arrests for offences including assault on a police office, common assault, drunk and disorderly and affray.

Video footage below shows Tommy Robinson appearing to point to the councillor while saying he was “proud” that he attended the meeting. Robin is prominently featured on the Conservative Party website as part of the Become a Councillor campaign, which encourages people to stand as Tory candidates to “make a difference to their local community”.

“I’m proud that the first politician, I’ve ever met who actually represents his constituents was a man outside … who’s a local politician in Southend [points to person in crowd] … It’s even greater to see that he has heard the free message of the English Defence League not the distorted media attempt [sic]”

While Blaine has denied being an official member of the EDL, the councillor’s sympathies can not be in doubt, having praised the far right group’s “good intentions” on his Facebook page and posted their propaganda on his website. David Cameron has claimed “there’s none sicker than the EDL”.

But it seems that not all Conservative politicians agree.

Political Scrapbook

Thanks to NewsHound and others for the heads-up