Christmas gifts broke rules

Sonia Gable | Tuesday, 7 August 2007 Source: Searchlight

Another BNP councillor has got into trouble with the Standards Board for England for bringing his office into disrepute. But no action will be taken against Paul Cromie, who represents Queensbury ward on Bradford Council.

Cromie was reported to the Board for sending £5 notes in Christmas cards to pensioners last December, only months before his wife Lynda was elected as a BNP councillor in the same ward by a slim majority. Most of the pensioners who received the gifts were appalled. The Board ruled that his actions could be considered an "inducement" for votes.

Cromie, who does not lack for cash, insists that the donations were made as a goodwill gesture out of his councillor's allowance.

It was not the first time Cromie's largesse had come under scrutiny. After his own election in May 2006 police investigated allegations, which he denied, that he bought votes by giving £100 to pay for a Christmas party at a sheltered housing complex.

Mr and Mrs Cromie are now the BNP's only councillors in Bradford after James Lewthwaite abandoned the ward he had represented for three years and failed to persuade the voters of a different ward to elect him. He had been the last survivor of the four BNP councillors elected in Bradford in 2004. They are certainly not missed. They were all prime examples of the BNP's "do nothing" councillors.