BNP councillor booted out for non-attendance

Nick Lowles | Wednesday, 7 November 2007 Source: Searchlight

The British National Party suffered a major setback in Sandwell when one of its councillors was kicked out for non-attendance. This is the latest disaster to affect the BNP branch in what was once considered one of the party's strongest areas.

James Lloyd, a councillor for Princes End in Tipton, has not attended a meeting for six months. In mid-October he was informed of his disqualification as a councillor. A by-election will be held in early December.

A few days after receiving the letter from Sandwell Council's monitoring officer, Lloyd conceded defeat, saying he had been "stitched up like a kipper". He hoped the BNP would select him again for a seat next May.

Lloyd was a controversial character and his antics have proved highly damaging for the BNP locally. In 2006 the BNP averaged 33% of the vote in the nine wards it contested in the borough. The party went into the 2007 elections boasting that it could win up to ten council seats, which would make the party the official opposition.

That it did not was due to a combination of a resurgent Labour Party and the antics of Lloyd and his family. He won election in 2004 promising to make parents respon-sible for the antisocial behaviour of their children. The promise did not stretch to himself, as two of his sons were repeatedly brought before local magistrates. One was named and shamed as a persistent offender by West Midlands police.

At that time he ran the Lagoon pub, which doubled up as the BNP meeting hall. In January this year the police petitioned the licensing authority to oppose the renewal of his licence because of a series of violent incidents at the pub. In June 2006 a man was badly beaten in the pub but rather than report the attackers, Lloyd threw the victim out.

The next day a man tried to shoot Lloyd in what police believe was a retaliatory attack. Lloyd did not inform the police and later refused to hand over CCTV footage. Last November Lloyd was attacked by a man wielding a machete and again refused to cooperate with police.

Searchlight focused heavily on Lloyd in its local election literature and it appeared to work. Even Lloyd acknowledged the damage our exposure had done him. The BNP did not win a single seat in Sandwell and saw its vote fall by a third in some areas.

A further blow to Sandwell BNP was the confirmation last month that councillor Simon Smith had formally left the BNP group and become an independent. He is believed to be courting the last two BNP councillors in the hope of getting them to join him.

The party's West Midlands regional organiser, Simon Darby, has publicly claimed that the loss of Smith and Lloyd will not affect the party's fortunes in the borough. That is clearly wishful thinking as opponents will seek to exploit the appalling record of the BNP councillors. Lloyd's BNP predecessor in Princes End was David Watkins but, believe it or not, he was even worse, earning a reputation as possibly Sandwell's worst councillor. He only lasted one year.

The BNP will undoubtedly throw resources into this by-election. While there is certainly a strong BNP vote in the area, many will wonder whether voting BNP is a waste of time.