Councillor met with BNP leader

An Independent Havering councillor is facing fresh accusations of right-wing links after it emerged he recently entertained the leader of the British National Party at his business in Rainham.

Local Residents' Association leader, Cllr Jeffrey Tucker, met leader of the BNP Nick Griffin last Wednesday at his jewellery business - Tucker's Goldmine - in Upminster Road South. Refusing to reveal any details of the meeting, Cllr Tucker maintained he is still a left-wing politician and will work with anyone interested in helping the community he represents.

He said: "If someone wants to see me I do not care who they are. If they can help with assisting the residents of this area my door is open to them - and they'll get a cup of tea too. As an independent politician I can listen to anybody, as long as it is for the good of the community."

The meeting came only weeks after Cllr Tucker was condemned by other councillors for his affiliations with the right-wing National Liberal Party (NLP) - which has its roots in the National Front.

Leader of Havering Council, Cllr Michael White, previously dubbed Cllr Tucker "a dangerous person" for his work with the NLP. He said: "What he is actually doing is conning the public. He's pretending to be something he isn't.

Romford Recorder

'I quit' says BNP council row man

British National Party member Peter Pirnie has quit his Kingswear council seat just three days after the controversial decision to co-opt him on to his village parish council.

The 49-year-old bus driver became a councillor on Tuesday and announced his resignation yesterday afternoon amid a wave of criticism over the parish council decision to hand a BNP member a seat.Mr Pirnie said he was quitting because of the strain the row was having on his already disabled wife Sandra.

"I am putting my wife's health first. I have decided to cancel my seat and let them get on with it," he said from his Kingswear home.

He said he had been forced to listen to people attacking him on the radio and had been deluged with media calls at his home. "I have just had enough of them. I don't want anything to do with politics for a while. My wife's health is more important," he added. He accused his critics of being 'nasty, narrow minded and jealous' and added: "I have lived in this parish for 31 years. If this is the sort of thing that people are going to do then let them all get on with it."

Mr Pirnie has stood in local and general elections as a Labour candidate and a BNP candidate but never got in. He stood clearly under a BNP banner for the district council seat in Townstal and the Kingswear parish council's Kingswear ward in last month's local election and came bottom of the poll in both counts. But when it came to putting his name forward as a candidate for co-option onto the Kingswear parish council's Hillhead ward this week he declared himself as an independent. And he, and another two candidates, were duly made councillors by the other seven parish councillors.

The row over his co-option broke as the BNP's official website celebrated Mr Pirnie as the party's first councillor in Devon and the second in the Westcountry.

Kingswear's parish council chairman revealed yesterday that he had given Mr Pirnie an ultimatum - to either quit as a councillor or quit the BNP.

"I understand that he is standing down as a councillor. I am going to his home tonight to collect his resignation and I will be very relieved to do so," he said.

Earlier Mr Hawkins had said that both before the parish council meeting on Tuesday and during it he had asked Mr Pirnie if he was standing as a BNP candidate or as an independent.

"He said he was standing as a resident of Kingswear an independent. On that he was co-opted with the other two candidates."

He went on: "If he had stood as a BNP candidate that parish would never have even considered him. He has lived in Kingswear for a long time. We would not have co-opted a BNP councillor."

Mr Pirnie had insisted his BNP membership would have no bearing on his conduct at the parish council. He said: "I am a member of the BNP but I am not a candidate for the party in Kingswear. When I go into meetings I will leave that at the door."

Herald Express

BNP loses councillor just a week after the local elections

Mark Leat, the Longton North BNP councillor on Stoke Council has decided he's had enough of the fascist BNP and stumbled across the council chamber to become a non-aligned Independent, thus wiping out in a single embarrassing go the staggering single extra seat that the BNP made at last week's local government elections.

So, after putting up the record number of 750 candidates and ploughing a phenomenal amount of money into the campaign - delivering up to six campaign leaflets in some areas, we're told - the party has ended up precisely where it started.

Leat's only claim to fame is a bit of BNP self-promotion when a pre-election Voice of Freedom article claimed the party was achieving credibility following his award of chairman of the Health Commission. Following this, the party claimed it was 'working towards the day when the BNP hold the majority on Stoke Council'. That's put an end to that plan.

More info as and when we get it...

Thanks to our friends at Kirklees Unity for the tip-off. :-)

Could candidate apathy allow in the extremists?

Widespread disinterest in standing for parish council seats could leave the door open for extremists to take them, it was warned this week.

In 43 of the parish wards in East Herts, electors will not get to vote for a local representative on May 3. Too few people have been nominated for a poll in 22 of them and the exact quota has come forward in another 14, which also negates the need for a vote. Only seven wards - Aston, Brickendon Liberty, Cottered, Little Berkhamsted, Walkern, Westmill and Widford - will require an actual vote.

And while town councils generally attract electoral interest, this time there are only five candidates for 12 Sawbridgeworth Town Council seats.

The situation has prompted former Bishop's Stortford mayor Keith Barnes, whose four-seat town Central ward has four British National Party candidates standing among a list of 13, to say: "You could have had an extreme group get in without a vote being cast or someone from the Monster Raving Loony Party."

In Albury, where six seats are up for grabs, only Paul Cole has put his name forward. The situation is similar in Standon, where Henry Davies stands alone for the three spots. In Braughing, the trio of Andrew Peat, David Williamson and Peter Boylan know they already form half of the council.

The new parish councils will have to co-opt new members after May 3 to get up to full strength. If the field of candidates number less than a third of the seats available, a re-election is necessary. If the same happens again, the district council can appoint people.

By comparison, the number of independents standing this year for East Herts Council is on the rise to five - and a former Tory has changed allegiance.

Deborah Clark is a former Conservative who has switched to being an independent in the same Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston ward. She said she had tried fighting for change from within but found it difficult to speak out on important matters as a member of a political party, stating: "The resistance to change was frustrating."

Also seeking election in Sawbridgeworth for the district council is her husband Nigel Clark, better known as secretary of Stop Harlow North campaign. He said there was a lot of support to take party politics away from providing basic local services at district level, although at a national level his personal values were Conservative.

Keith Barnes has been an independent in Central for 24 years and former Ratepayers' Association mayor Eric Marshall is back in the fray in Stortford All Saints after more than a decade.

Retired social worker Mary Wilkinson, of Westland Green, is contesting Little Hadham for East Herts as an independent.

Herts and Essex News

Oldham anti-fascist election election campaign gets off to a great start

Click on image for full-size pic.
The complete Oldham Voice can be downloaded from here.

Oldham United Against Racism's third party election campaign got off to a tremendous start on the day of action on Sunday 1st April. A record turnout for a single leafleting session delivered thousands of copies of the Oldham Voice in four of the wards where we expect to face far right candidates in the May elections.

Among the particpants were several Labour councillors and MP Phil Woolas, who complimented OUAR on the content of the leaflet which is locally produced. As you will see by looking at the leaflet - see link below - OUAR campaigns independently of all political parties. This means that whilst we are pleased to see Labour and Lib-Dem activists (not forgetting several good independents as well) supporting our campaign, we are not promoting their manifestos. Rather, we are about stopping the advance of the BNP in particular and the far right in general. For that reason, the Oldham Voice goes out separately from any party literature.

There will be many more opportunities for supporters to help deliver the remaining lealfets over the next couple of weeks. If you are not already on our mailing list and would like to help, please contact us through our email address: info@oldhamtuc.org.uk

Oldham TUC