Voters reject 'stealth extremist' candidate
Random | 21.10.2000 11:48
A supporter of Ian Paisley and ex-NF supporter who attempted to pass himself off as an independent residents' candidate has been humiliated in a by-election to Hounslow Borough Council.
A Baptist minister who used to conduct the National Front's Remembrance Day services and is now a key ally of the Rev Ian Paisley has failed in his bid to be elected to Hounslow Borough Council in West London.
The Rev Brian Green is a House of Commons research assistant to Paisley and his extremist Democratic Unionist Party, while his wife fulfills the same role for two other DUP MPs.
In the 1970s he was associated with the National Front: although he never joined the party he received its support when he stood in Islington during the 1970 general election, where he recorded the NF's best result anywhere in the country. He conducted the party's Remembrance Day services for seven years, and in 1985 NF members openly sold newspapers at his church when he invited the Rev William McCrae - now a DUP MP - to preach there.
Despite this, he was selected to stand in October 19th's East Bedfont by-election by the Hounslow Residents' Group. This organisation claims to be a community group watching Hounslow's Labour leadership: it is noticeable however that it rarely criticises non-Asian councillors. Ironically the HRG's founder, Ray Ferguson, enjoys considerable support in the Asian community among those who are unaware of this.
One Asian who no longer supports the HRG is Julius Lobo, who was the group's candidate in Bedfont in the 1998 council elections, finishing just two votes behind the Tories (Labour won and the Lib Dems were second). He gave his support to the Liberal Democrats in the by-election.
During the campaign the Lib Dems attacked Green for his Paisleyite links - with the result that their candidate, John Howliston, received a death threat from one of Green's congregation. The Lib Dems decided not to publicise his NF links as their experience of the area suggested this would actually gain him votes and they wished to see him poll as poorly as possible. Labour remained silent on his record.
The result was a crushing defeat for Green (and for Labour). The HRG vote fell from 17 per cent in 1998 to 10 per cent, with just 135 people backing Green. There was a 15 per cent swing away from Labour as the Lib Dems took the seat with a 201 majority.
With the election now over, details of Green's NF past are now being quietly fed to the local papers in the area. With any luck it finish the HRG's political ambitions as well as Green's.
The Rev Brian Green is a House of Commons research assistant to Paisley and his extremist Democratic Unionist Party, while his wife fulfills the same role for two other DUP MPs.
In the 1970s he was associated with the National Front: although he never joined the party he received its support when he stood in Islington during the 1970 general election, where he recorded the NF's best result anywhere in the country. He conducted the party's Remembrance Day services for seven years, and in 1985 NF members openly sold newspapers at his church when he invited the Rev William McCrae - now a DUP MP - to preach there.
Despite this, he was selected to stand in October 19th's East Bedfont by-election by the Hounslow Residents' Group. This organisation claims to be a community group watching Hounslow's Labour leadership: it is noticeable however that it rarely criticises non-Asian councillors. Ironically the HRG's founder, Ray Ferguson, enjoys considerable support in the Asian community among those who are unaware of this.
One Asian who no longer supports the HRG is Julius Lobo, who was the group's candidate in Bedfont in the 1998 council elections, finishing just two votes behind the Tories (Labour won and the Lib Dems were second). He gave his support to the Liberal Democrats in the by-election.
During the campaign the Lib Dems attacked Green for his Paisleyite links - with the result that their candidate, John Howliston, received a death threat from one of Green's congregation. The Lib Dems decided not to publicise his NF links as their experience of the area suggested this would actually gain him votes and they wished to see him poll as poorly as possible. Labour remained silent on his record.
The result was a crushing defeat for Green (and for Labour). The HRG vote fell from 17 per cent in 1998 to 10 per cent, with just 135 people backing Green. There was a 15 per cent swing away from Labour as the Lib Dems took the seat with a 201 majority.
With the election now over, details of Green's NF past are now being quietly fed to the local papers in the area. With any luck it finish the HRG's political ambitions as well as Green's.
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