BNP Councillor Suspended
Harlow Star (UK), Sept. 22
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A British National Party district councillor is to be banned from office for three months after refusing to attend race relations training he claims is “institutionally racist”.
Terence Farr was reprimanded by the Standards Board for England for bringing his office into disrepute following a complaint from the Commission for Racial Equality.
The complaint stemmed from a letter Mr Farr wrote to the commission in October last year referring to the view of its chairman Trevor Phillips that ethnic minorities felt out of place in rural areas.
“One solution for racial harmony is for them to stay in their self-created sweat shops and allow the rest of us to enjoy the English countryside,” wrote Mr Farr.
A separate letter to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in July last year suggested new housing in the south-east would go to ethnic minorities and illegal immigrants.
Epping Forest Council’s standards committee agreed on Tuesday Mr Farr had breached its code of conduct and ruled he must attend equal opportunities and racial equality training sessions or be suspended for three months.
Committee chairman Dr Derek Hawes hoped the decision would remind Mr Farr of his duty to respect others and uphold his office.
But Mr Farr, a councillor for Loughton Alderton, said yesterday (Wednesday, 21 September): “I’m refusing to attend these courses as they are institutionally racist and do not involve issues relating to racist attacks on white British people who are the majority victims of race attacks in Britain.”
(Posted on September 23, 2005)