Decision day for BNP parish councillor

| Friday, 27 June 2008 Source: Three Counties UAF

Bedfordshire campaigners are organising to confront the racist politics of British National Party parish councillor Simon Deacon and will be scrutinising his response to the Equal Opportunities Policy being laid before a parish council meeting on Tuesday 1 July.

On that day Simon Deacon, BNP councillor on Markyate Parish Council, will be asked to give his assent to its Equal Opportunities Policy. This will create an impossible situation for Deacon, the former leading National Front activist who told the St Albans Observer (25.4.07) on his election:

"England was a white country – we think it should be returned to that".

Caption: Deacon (left of centre) on a National Front activity before his election. The man giving a Nazi salute is Stuart Hollingsdale, an NF member who was jailed in 1998 for smashing up the Stephen Lawrence memorial plaque in Eltham, south London

The Equal Opportunities Policy contains many statements that are totally opposed to his racist ideology, particularly the clause on cultural diversity that states: "the council recognises that we live in a multicultural society and believes that cultural diversity should be viewed positively".

Apart from Deacon’s personal prejudice, this very mild and reasonable statement stands against the policy of the national BNP, which calls for “an immediate halt to all further immigration … and the introduction of a system of voluntary resettlement".

You can hardly value another culture if you want it moved out of town.

The policy sets very high standards for councillors, stating that "the principle behind the statement must be reflected in all of our behaviours and practices". Three Counties UAF feel that belonging to a party that undermines a policy in its everyday business is incompatible with being a parish councillor.

It is Deacon’s declared intent to get the BNP active in Hemel Hempstead and campaigners feel that his activity on the parish council is merely a smokescreen to further his wider electoral ambitions.

Markyate has shown itself to be a village free of prejudice. It returned an Asian woman, Jayshree Patel, onto the parish council long before Deacon walked into the post last May, when only nine nominations were received for ten vacancies on the council.

Three Counties UAF say that if Deacon agrees to the policy then he should resign from the BNP, but if he disagrees then he should resign from the parish council. This action is the first in a campaign of action by Three Counties UAF to raise awareness of the threat posed by the BNP to the well-being of the village.