Daughter of Eastenders star Mike Reid scraps BNP election bid over fears she would be branded 'a Nazi'

Until yesterday, Angela Reid, 50 - whose late father played car dealer Frank Butcher - was set to contest a vacant seat on Braintree District Council in Essex.

But in a dramatic u-turn, Reid scrapped her bid for a political career when the identity of her father was revealed.

Mike Reid supports his daughter Angela at the opening of her shop.

Before the last minute snub, the BNP had played up the famous connection, even bragging that the popularity of the late comic could attract more votes.

'Angela is a respectable, middle-aged woman and we will see what we can do with regards to what votes we can get,' said BNP deputy leader Simon Darby.

'It's not going to be a hindrance - Mike Reid was a very popular bloke.'

Ms Reid's husband Kenneth Gamble confirmed that his wife had withdrawn from her candidacy.

'She has cancelled her candidacy because she's Mike Reid's daughter and people would call her a Nazi and slag her off,' he said outside the couple's Braintree home.

'It's got nothing to do with politics, she is adamant about that. She is still a member and still agrees with everything we stand for, it's personal circumstances, family   circumstances that have come up.

'She feels she is not capable of taking on the extra responsibility being a councillor entails. It is really bad timing.

Famous father: Mike Reid played Frank Butcher in BBC1 soap EastEnders

'She is very apologetic but there is no need for her to be, there are always things you do not have control over.'

Mr Gamble said his wife was still committed to the party's platform.

Ms Reid is most concerned about migrants overcrowding Britain, the country being run by a European federalist government, high tax, the deepening crisis of the economy, and the high levels of crime.

Mr Darby hailed Ms Reid as an 'excellent candidate with a lot to say about where this country is going wrong'.

He said he was unsure whether or not Mike Reid shared his daughter's political views.

'Obviously he was an extremely popular bloke, he was a household name. It would not be fair to comment further because I do not know.'

Mr Reid shot to stardom playing car dealer Frank Butcher in the BBC1 soap EastEnders, after working as a stuntman, starring in The Comedians in the 1970s, hosting ITV children's quiz show Runaround, and appearing in Doctor Who and Minder.

The 67-year-old comic died of a heart attack in July last year just weeks after doctors had given him a clean bill of health during a medical.

He was living in Marbella, Spain, with his wife Shirley, 69, at the time of his death.

Last year Ms Reid described how she and her mother were finding it difficult to cope with her father's death.

She said: 'My mum went back to Spain but she isn't coping very well at all. One day she says she's coming back and the next she says she's staying.

'It's not going very well, we have good days and we have bad days, the past few have been horrendous.'

Ms Reid was unable to be contacted for a comment at her home, and at the shoe shop which she ran in Chelmsford before it closed recently.