‘I quit over BNP’s back-stabbing’

| Thursday, 4 January 2007 Source: This is Bradford

A town councillor has quit amid accusations of "back-stabbing" by her colleagues in the far-right British National Party.

Angela Clarke has formally resigned from Keighley Town Council after claiming to have been "let down" by her party.

BNP chiefs in Keighley have sniped back, saying the party is not there to "hold her hand".

Miss Clarke, 37, of Bankfield Drive, Braithwaite, said the BNP had totally failed to support her.

After missing six council meetings she has been automatically disqualified from continuing as a councillor.

She said she did not want to return to the council and preferred to leave the political arena to "the men with big egos".

"My party membership has run out and I won't be renewing it," she said.

"It's not because I disagree with the whole BNP. I still support its politics. It's just all the back-stabbing from the Keighley branch that I'm fed up with."

She said BNP party leader Nick Griffin and Councillor James Lewthwaite, the BNP's leader on Bradford Council, had always supported her and she offered them her thanks.

Miss Clarke also used to be a member of Bradford District Council. She quit her Keighley West seat in March last year, following a personal dispute with another party member.

At the time she pledged to remain a member of Keighley Town Council, but was allowed a break from council duties by then town mayor Tony Wright.

Keighley BNP organiser Chris Kirby rejected Miss Clarke's claim that the party's local branch had failed to help her.

He said: "We've given her support when she needed it. But when people come into these positions they've got to stand up and represent themselves - otherwise there's no point at all in becoming a councillor. We're not there to hold her hand at council meetings."

He said Miss Clarke's non-attendance at meetings was a matter for the town council to resolve.

Keighley's current mayor, Graham Mitchell, said Miss Clarke surrendered her role as a town councillor when she disqualified herself from office by failing to attend her sixth consecutive meeting.

Mr Mitchell said: "Whatever one thinks of the party concerned, the people of Guard House, who elected her on a BNP ticket, had a democratic right to continue to be represented by the party for whom they thought they had voted."

Coun Lewthwaite said the Keighley BNP had no authority to expel Miss Clarke from the party without giving her a chance to defend herself.

"She was never asked by the Keighley BNP to attend a disciplinary hearing and give her opinion," he said.

He said a large chunk of Miss Clarke's absence from town council meetings could be explained by the fact that the former town mayor had allowed her to take a six-month break from her civic duties.