BNP secures council seat in London

Hugh Muir
Saturday September 18, 2004

The far-right BNP won its first council seat in London for more than a decade yesterday in a byelection marred by allegations of dirty tricks.

It beat Labour into second place by 470 votes in the Goresbrook ward of Barking and Dagenham, east London.

Its candidate, Daniel Kelley, received 1,072 votes to Labour's 602. The Conservatives polled 111 votes, the Liberals Democrats 85, Ukip 137 and the Greens 59.

The BNP had identified the seat, in a largely white working class area, as its most winnable prospect in the country and sent up to 40 activists to the area during the campaign.

Nick Griffin, the party leader, joined campaigners at the weekend and is believed to have been in east London when the result was announced.

The party hopes to benefit from a domino effect when it fights two more London byelections in the next few weeks.

The election was the first test of public opinion about the BNP since racists in the party were exposed by a BBC documentary.

But the election was clouded by the controversy about the methods the party was alleged to have used to drum up support.

It is understood that party canvassers showed potential supporters a leaflet produced by the local healthcare trust and told them it proved that Somalis were being given priority. The leaflet is printed in Somali and none of those being canvassed would have been able to read it for themselves.

A similar leaflet in English merely describes the services available from the refugee support team.

Another leaflet alleged to have been used by the party suggested that other borough councils had been given carte blanche to send more people from ethnic minorities to Barking.

Len Duvall, chairman of the London Labour party, said: "This is a serious loss and we cannot be complacent about it. We need to ... work harder to explain to people what the BNP really stands for.

"I don't believe that many of the people who voted for them really understand what they are about."

He said there was a sharp fall in the votes won by the Tories and Liberal Democrats.

John Biggs, the local London assembly member, said: "That the BNP can win a council seat is a disaster for decent people in Barking and Dagenham. It will give people outside a negative impression damaging the reputation of the area."

Charles Fairbrass, the council leader, said: "They put out leaflets that were not true. They have stirred up racial fears, but we don't have racial problems here."

The last BNP seat in London was won by Derek Beackon in Millwall in 1993, but was lost eight months later.