BNP politician Richard Barnbrook faces ban after 'making up' murders

The BNP’s representative on the London Assembly is facing a six-month ban after he fabricated murder stories to increase fear of knife crime

Richard Barnbrook, who is accused of bringing the authority into disrepute, may become the first politician in its history to be suspended when the case is heard today. An independent investigation found that Mr Barnbrook’s comments on YouTube about non-existent murders had showed “wilful disregard for the truth”. He said that he had got his words “jumbled up”.

City Hall’s standards committee will consider a penalty for Mr Barnbrook, who was elected in May, after he was found to have brought both the London Assembly, and Barking and Dagenham Council, the East London authority to which he was elected in 2006, into disrepute. Their options range from forcing him to apologise, undertake a course or participate in conciliation, to suspending him from both authorities for up to six months.

Supporters of both the BNP and Unite Against Fascism, which campaigns against rightwing groups, are planning to attend the hearing. London Patriots, a fringe rightwing organisation, says it will bus supporters to City Hall, raising fears of clashes between the groups.

In a video, which was posted on YouTube in May last year, Mr Barnbrook said: “Three weeks ago, there was a murder of a young girl. We don’t know who’s done it, her girlfriend was attacked inside an educational institute. Again, two weeks ago there was another attack by knives on the streets of Barking and Dagenham where two people were murdered.”

The Metropolitan police confirmed that there had been no murders or serious incidents in the time period cited, and that murders in the area were actually decreasing.

During a joint investigation by the GLA and the council, Mr Barnbrook admitted to investigators that he was aware that his comments were inaccurate. He was accused of making up the murders because knife crime was an emotive issue in the capital at the time. Valerie Rush, a Labour cabinet member at Barking and Dagenham Council, who made a complaint about Mr Barnbrook, said he had “openly and outrageously” lied to “whip up fears in the London community”.

Mr Barnbrook has since changed his position and yesterday told The Times that his comments should be excused because he had dyslexia. He said that he was the subject of a witchhunt because he had “humiliated” Boris Johnson, and his Tory colleagues, by highlighting the issue of knife crime.

Referring to the “young girl” he had spoken about in the video, he said: “I said she was murdered in Barking, but I should have said she was from Barking. She was actually murdered in Newham. The two additional murders that I spoke about, I should have said attempted murders. We had done five takes of the video. Some of the words would have got jumbled up.”

He said that once he realised the video was incorrect, it was removed.

Mr Barnbrook had been the most senior elected member of the BNP until June, when its leader Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons were both voted into the European Parliament. His disciplinary hearing was scheduled for July but was delayed when he claimed stress-related illness and was signed off work for two weeks.

Times Online

Updated: Tricky Dicky throws a sickie

BNP's Richard Barnbrook fails to appear at misconduct hearing

Meeting to consider whether Richard Barnbrook brought his office into disrepute is cancelled after he phones panel to tell them he has been signed off work for stress

A meeting to consider whether Richard Barnbrook, one of the most senior elected members of the British National party, had brought his office into disrepute was cut short today after he failed to turn up on stress grounds.

Barnbrook, who is both a London assembly member and sits on Barking and Dagenham council, could be suspended amid charges that he brought his office into disrepute by falsely claiming three murders had taken place over a three-week period in the Barking and Dagenham area.

But the meeting was cut short after Barnbrook telephoned just before his hearing was due to begin to say that he had been signed off for stress for two weeks by his GP. Barnbrook's failure to submit written evidence to the hearing resulted in the panel ruling it would be unfair to continue in his absence.

Today's meeting will be reconvened on either 12 August or 4 September...

Guardian

Barnbrook off for two weeks because of "stress"

Here is an interesting insight into the modus operandi of the BNP. For those of you who are aware of the BNP’s politics and their use of rumours and falsifications, this story should be of use to you.

Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s London Assembly member, is off work for two weeks due to stress. Barnbrook was due to face a joint Barking and Dagenham Council and Greater London Authority disciplinary panel and risked a possible suspension because he stands accused of bringing his office into disrepute.

The Guardian reported this morning: “A joint investigation for the Greater London authority and Barking and Dagenham council concluded in May that Barnbrook brought his office and the respective authorities into disrepute after falsely claiming in an interview that three murders had taken place over a three week period in the Barking and Dagenham area.”

The panel was going to announce its decision today.

However, it is said that after consulting with his legal advisor, Lee Barnes, who is also legal director for the BNP, Barnbrook decided not to attend this morning’s hearing, which was due to start at 10.30am. Barnes, according to sources from Barking and Dagenham Council, told Barnbrook that the “make-up” of the panel would not guarantee him a fair hearing.

But before the panel could decide as to whether they should go ahead and make a decision on the case, news came in that Barnbrook was given sick leave due to “stress”. The panel believed that they did not want to add to his medical state and have set aside two dates, August 14th and September 4th 2009, and will announce when they will hold the next panel meeting in due course.

It is not the first time that the BNP have been accused of making up stories to fit their political agenda. In 2001, the BNP came under fire in the BBC documentary “Under the Skin”for Panorama. As a part of the documentary, the BBC investigated an “important part of the British National Party's "community politics" strategy … FAIR - Families Against Immigrant Racism.” (Now disbanded)

The group advertised itself as assisting “white victims of racist violence and harassment and offered legal and counselling advice.”

Dave Hill, the BNP's former East London organiser, was FAIR’s co-ordinator for the capital. To the BBC he said, "There is no mystery, there is no controversy to FAIR, it's just a white rights organisation. We're targeting race hate that is not targeted by other victim support groups."

However, after an undercover investigation it became clear that Hill was encouraging “victims” to exaggerate and lie to the police about “attacks” and “racism”. He also encouraged people to lie to doctors. Hill is caught saying: "This is very important, ...go to your doctor and tell your doctor that you're suffering extreme stress... What he'll do, he'll put you on anti-depressants. You don't have to take them, you can wash them down the toilet. But once you're on medication and you're also suffering racial abuse at your address then you're a priority case..."

Barnbrook’s fabricated tale only proves how despite the cosmetic enhancements to the BNP’s image, what lies beneath is a very ugly and discredited rabble of amateurs dressed up as politicians.

There is nothing British about the BNP

BNP member faces Assembly suspension

Richard Barnbrook faces grilling over comments on knife crime made in YouTube video

One of the most senior elected members of the British National party today faces suspension from the London assembly as a panel decides whether he has brought his office into disrepute. Richard Barnbrook, who is the BNP's only member on the 25 strong assembly as well as a councillor in Barking and Dagenham, faces a grilling over comments he made last year on a video posted on the internet.

A joint investigation for the Greater London authority and Barking and Dagenham council concluded in May that Barnbrook brought his office and the respective authorities into disrepute after falsely claiming in an interview that three murders had taken place over a three week period in the Barking and Dagenham area.

Barnbrook will face a full hearing in Dagenham before the standard committees of both the Greater London authority and the council to explain his position and take questions. If found in breach of the code, Barnbrook faces a range of possible sanctions, including up to six months' suspension from elected office.

The complaint against Barnbrook was first lodged last September after he claimed in an interview posted on YouTube and his own website that a girl had been murdered within the borough within the past three weeks. "We don't know who's done it. Her girlfriend was attacked inside an educational institute," Barnbrook said in the prerecorded interview, in which he sought to highlight failings in tackling knife crime. He also said that two weeks previously "there was another attack by knives on the streets of Barking and Dagenham where two people were murdered".

Valerie Rush, a Labour cabinet member at the local authority, accused Barnbrook of "openly and outrageously" lying to "whip up fears in the London community".

In her complaint to the GLA and the council, Rush said Barnbrook had acted in a way that brought his honesty and integrity as a councillor into disrepute.

Barnbrook, who is one of 12 BNP councillors in Barking and Dagenham, said that he knew at the time that he made the statements that "there had been no fatalities in Barking and Dagenham", according to a report documenting the investigation into the complaint. Barnbrook nevertheless refused to apologise for the statements "until knife crime is over".

This meant that the interview – filmed by Simon Darby, the BNP's deputy leader, who works part-time for Barnbrook in the London assembly – was posted on the internet despite Barnbrook knowing the statements were incorrect, the report noted.

The Metropolitan police confirmed that there had been no murders or incidents resulting in critical injuries requiring intensive care in the time period cited, and that murders in the area were actually decreasing.

By the time the draft investigation report was published, Barnbrook said he did not accept that "the inaccuracy of my statement was deliberate". He also stated: "I did not know that the data in the recording was incorrect. I would not have posted the recording if I had known that it was incorrect."

Barnbrook also insisted that "once I realised that the data was incorrect, the recording was removed from the internet on my instruction within 24 hours".

The investigation ruled that Barnbrook's original claim that he knew what he was saying was untrue "seems at odds" with the principles of honesty and integrity. "If the public were aware that Mr Barnbrook was in fact putting out statements that he knew were false, we consider that his could reasonably be regarded as undermining public confidence in both members and the authorities as a whole in being able to fulfil their function."

The report's findings prepare the way for one of a range of sanctions today, including suspension from office for up to six months. But this can be challenged on appeal to the president of the Adjudication Panel for England. If an appeal is accepted, the body can overturn the finding or vary the sanction.

Guardian

Dicky hits the cider after week of chaos

We spotted Dicky in the Canden's Head yesterday lunchtime, knocking back the Magner's Cider like it was going out of fashion, pissed out of his brains and trying to locate a dye house so he could change the colour of his suit and thus give the impression that the Oxfam rubbish bin shop had once again received his custom this decade.

Poor old Dicky. Chaos in Barking and Dagenham council chamber, caught out telling porkies about knife crime in the borough and back on the booze again.

He might be a crap councillor and Assembly member but a least he's always good for a laugh, bless him.