BNP councillor removed from meeting

by Sonia Gable | Wednesday, 28 January 2009

A British National Party councillor was thrown out of last month’s Barking and Dagenham assembly meeting after refusing to apologise for "repellent" comments made during a debate on sex education in October.

Councillor Lawrence Rustem was asked to say sorry for his remark that teaching sex education to children under secondary school age was akin to paedophilia. He repeatedly failed to give a direct answer to Councillor Shaun Carroll, a Labour Executive member. Instead he launched into a long rant about the Labour government and immigration before he was told to be quiet by Councillor Fred Barns, the assembly chairman.

After even the BNP’s lead councillor Robert Bailey and other BNP members shouted at Rustem to shut up, Rustem was escorted from the chamber.

Unable to recognise when he had done enough damage, Rustem then suggested to Councillor Carroll to "come outside for a dance".

Rustem has put in a complaint about the decision to remove him, claiming, "They didn’t like what they were hearing and the only option was to try to silence me". Barking and Dagenham Council said Councillor Barns’s decision was made in line with the constitutional rules concerning conduct and disturbance at meetings.

Defending his views Rustem said: "Teaching sex education to children under 12, I consider borders on paedophilia, quite frankly. It’s not just that it sexualises children. Why do you need to teach sex education to five and six-year-olds? I didn’t need it."

We cannot comment on whether Rustem might have benefited from sex education. What we are sure of is that he is talking out of his backside. As the Schools Minister Jim Knight said in October: "We are not talking about five-year-old kids being taught sex. What we’re talking about for key stage 1 is children knowing about themselves, their differences, their friendships and how to manage their feelings."

Later in the meeting Bailey was asked to explain his comment in the Barking and Dagenham Post that £250,000 of taxpayers’ funding for Barking Rugby Club was a waste of money. Richard Barnbrook, Bailey’s deputy on the council, quickly chipped in to say that he had already told Bailey that he did not agree with his views on the subject and took the opportunity to boast about his rugby skills! Homoerotic film-maker to rugby player – truly a man of many abilities.