From Expose the BNP

Barking and Dagenham’s disgraced BNP leader Bob Bailey may be suspended from his role as councillor for making racially offensive remarks.

His racist rant was made during a planning meeting in July last year, when the predominantly Nigerian Redeemed Christian Church of God, applied for permission to turn an office space at Rima House, Barking, into a place of worship.

Bailey’s outbursts included statements like “There are too many Nigerian churches in this place – you wait and see. Wait until next year’s election. You wait and see” and “We don’t want the amount of black children”.

He claimed to have visited a Nigerian church where he had seen “people eat off the ground.”Bailey then added: “There must be some hygiene regulations preventing this.”

The Alibon ward councillor faced the board of the authority’s standards committee last week after four borough councillors lodged a complaint about his disgraceful behaviour. The meeting heard that Bailey’s racist tirade was made in an “antagonistic and offensive” manner in front of a packed gallery of church members.

Bailey denied making most of those remarks in an interview with the monitoring officer. However, the officer’s report concluded that Bailey had breached the Members Code of Conduct because he had failed to treat applicants with respect, brought the council into disrepute and that he was in breach of equality laws.

He is now facing suspension from office.

The church’s pastor Thomas Aderounmu told the hearing: “What made it offensive was not just the reference to Nigerians but the attitude and the way in which it was delivered. There’s a way of saying Nigerian that’s very friendly. There’s another way of saying it that’s very offensive.”

Bailey’s legal advisor, former leading National Front member Patrick Harrington, cross-examined all four complaining councillors, Pastor Aderounmu and legal officer Winston Brown.

He asked witnesses a number of irrelevant questions which led to frequent interruption form the chair.

The decision had to be adjourned to a yet unknown date.

Harrington, who is general secretary of the BNP-affiliated trade union Solidarity, complained for 30 minutes about the extra travel cost incurred on him by a second hearing.

Bailey, who is also London organiser for the fascist BNP party, attended the hearing but did not speak.

Earlier this year, the councillor was thrown out of a civic reception in Barking for being drunk and last year was banned from driving for 18 months for failing to provide a specimen of breath. He later claimed he was set up because of his political beliefs.