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Articles |
30/04/02 - BNP leader expelled
over asylum seeker girlfriend
The Evening Standard London
THE British National Party has expelled one of its
most influential members for having a South American
girlfriend, writes Richard Allen.
Kenneth Francis, the former BNP organiser for Newham,
east London, had his membership withdrawn for living
with Annie Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Ecuador.
The expulsion came despite the party chairman Nick Griffin
and his top aide Tony Lecomber being regular guests
at the couple's home for three years.
Teacher Ms Hernandez would chat with the group when
discussions moved off party matters. She also attended
several party conferences.
Mr Francis said that no one from the BNP ever criticised
the relationship until November 2000 when he received
a letter from Mr Lecomber telling him he should leave
the party. Mr Francis said: "They had always made
out that they didn't have a problem with her. Then they
stabbed us in the backs." However Mr Lecomber told
The Times that he and other BNP officials had disliked
Mr Francis's association with Ms Hernandez, but had
been unable to act until his powerful supporters within
the party had been ousted. He said: "I didn't like
it one bit. I used to put up with it on sufferance."
Mr Francis's departure has damaged the BNP's standing
in East London where it had its first success in local
elections in 1993 when Derek Beackon was made a councillor
for Tower Hamlets. Under the stewardship of Mr Francis,
who stood as BNP candidate for West Ham in the 1997
general election, the area had the highest number of
BNP candidates anywhere in Britain for the European
Parliament elections in 1999.
However, in March last year the BNP was beaten by the
Christian People's Alliance in a by-election for the Beckton
ward of Canning Town, sparking the party's withdrawal
from the area. |
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