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BNP member faces boycott in assembly

LONDON: The far-Right British National Party’s first-ever member of the London Assembly is facing a boycott from mainstream parties and he has been warned to desist from peddling his group’s racist agenda. Staff from ethnic minorities at City Hall are reported to have voiced reluctance to work for Richard Barnbrook because of his party’s belligerent anti-immigrant stance.

Mr. Barnbrook, a 47-year-old former artist married to a ballerina, had a taste of things to come when candidates of other parties walked out as he started to make his victory speech.

His victory, thanks to London’s liberal election rules which allow any candidate who wins five per cent of the votes to sit in the Assembly, was described by anti-fascist campaigner Gerry Gable as a victory for “hatred, violence and stupidity.”

Leading rights activists expressed concern over the impact of BNP’s victory on race relations in London, one of Britain’s most multicultural cities.

A spokesman for the Greater London Authority warned Mr. Barnbrook, whose party wants all immigrants to be deported back to their countries of origin, that as an elected member he “must recognise his responsibility to represent all of his constituents.”

Leaders of mainstream parties made clear that they would not cooperate with him.

The leader of the Tory group, Richard Barnes, said: “The BNP will have problems finding secretaries and getting support from the staff here, and I will totally support people’s right to say they don’t want to serve him.”

Mr. Barnbrook said he would “not be cowed.” “If I have to be a lone wolf I will be one,” he told The Times. And, true to form, in his first public remarks he said he would oppose “preferential treatment” for racial minorities and called for a ban on Muslim women wearing “burqa” in public places.

Although the BNP did not do as well in last week’s local elections as in previous years, its victory in London was seen as a major breakthrough in a city that prides itself on its racial diversity.

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