Tonight:
8°c
BNP man blames dyslexia for murders claim
Ross Lydall and Katharine Barney24.09.09
A BNP councillor facing suspension for falsely claiming on YouTube that three people were murdered within three weeks in the borough of Barking and Dagenham has claimed he got his words mixed up because he is dyslexic.
Richard Barnbrook, a Barking and Dagenham councillor and London Assembly member, has told a disciplinary hearing that he also got confused when the bells of Southwark Cathedral sounded as he recorded the video clip.
Mr Barnbrook, the far-Right party's most senior elected politician in London, faces sanction after wrongly stating the murders had taken place last September.
He was accused of bringing both the council and the Greater London Authority into disrepute by critics who believed he was seeking to inflame concerns about knife crime.In an advance submission to a joint disciplinary panel, Mr Barnbrook blames dyslexia for his error.
He has delayed two previous hearings — one by claiming he was too stressed to attend, and another by presenting additional evidence at the last minute. He said dyslexia — which is primarily understood to cause reading difficulties — “caused myself and my statement to become confused and contradictory”.
He said he would not be answering questions from the committee and would use the condition as a ground for appeal if found guilty of breaching the authorities' code of conduct.
Mr Barnbrook said: “I have dyslexia and when placed in a formal question and answer investigation session... I am unable to verbally articulate what I am trying to communicate mentally.
“I knew what I meant to stay, but the words came out wrong.”
Speaking to the Standard, he added: “No account of my dyslexia has been taken. It doesn't mean I'm thick, but I do take longer to read things and I can get words muddled up.”
There was in fact one killing in the period in question— the manslaughter of a young woman, believed to have been from Dagenham, by a mentally disturbed man, but this occurred in Plaistow, in the neighbouring borough of Newham.
There was no evidence of two other murders, despite Mr Barnbrook insisting that two people had died after being placed on life-support machines.
A spokeswoman for the British Dyslexia Association said it was possible for dyslexia to cause problems for adults with verbal communication. She said: “That is a sequential memory difficulty or working memory problem or processing difficulty. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty specific to individuals. It stops them from achieving their potential.”
Murad Qureshi, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said: “The question is not whether he is a racist or fascist. It's whether he told a major porkie to the public.”
Mr Barnbrook said the complaint was irrelevant as two people had died from knife attacks in the borough since he made the recording.
An independent investigation in advance of today's hearing found he showed “wilful disregard for the truth”.
If he were to be found guilty, Mr Barnbrook could be suspended from both authorities for up to six months. His City Hall pay could also be docked. He is paid £52,910 as an assembly member and £10,006 as a councillor.
Reader views (25)
I am dyslexic and would not make such a mistake. It is time dyslexia was not used as an excuse for getting out of a political mistake. Why not just say sorry?
- Andrew, London
Shock horror a pol gets suspended for telling a pork pie. Are all pols going to face suspension when they tell fibs or just BNP pols? Tony Blair WMD & the mass murder of civilians comes to mind.
- Jmb, London
I heard he once confused the National Front with the National Trust and spent three years wondering they spent their Saturdays beating up Pakistanis rather than visiting old ruins.
- Nj, London
I don't think he should be suspended.
He made a mistake, that's what politicians do. Rather than shut him up, which would make him a martyr to hypocrisy, he should be free to open his mouth (and stick his foot in it again).
- C. Nichol, London
Frank being thick again. How can you turn a comment on a specious piece of nonsense from a known Fascist idiot into an attack on the EU and the labour party. what a crock.
- Kerry, Purley
Why not leave it to the electors to express their views at the next election - maybe it was mass dyslexia (if you can spell it you do not have it) in the polling booth that lead to the election of this guy in the first place.
- Dave Spart, London
Well what a surprise. This has been blown up out of all proportion which is ‘so’ obvious. If he had not been a member of The British National Party it would never have been noticed. London is a war zone; we all know that, people can’t wait to move out of it. Mr. Barnbrook made a mistake, compare this with the response Brown has taken with Baroness Scotland, and all the other unlawful MPs who stole our money, and that includes the Conservatives. Which is worse?
- Sylvie, Epping Essex
Apparently, he actually wanted to join the RAC anyway.
- Keith, Kings Cross
Dyslexic people muddle letters in words when reading or writing, sometimes also the order of the words. The meaning is fine once you get past the faulty spelling and grammar.
Everyone occasionally mis-speaks ("did I really say that?!") but if they don't immediately correct themselves when informed of what they said, you can then assume that they meant it, and are either ignorant or dishonest.
- Nigel, London
What a load of bull....If he had indeed made a mistake all he had to do was simply re-record the clip.
- Cee, london
Name one politician who will tell you the truth?
Labour promised us a vote on the EU Constitution. They blatantly lied, why have the Labour party not been suspended?
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
So he aparently got the stats wrong, mixing them up with the three weeks he was talking about. So what? Doesn't really alter the fact that London (where I lived for nearly two years before returning to England)has a terrible problem with knife-crime, does it? How many stabbings were there in the whole of London during the period he was talking about, by the way? Much more than three, I'd bet.
If indeed it was a deliberate lie - and what did he actually stand to gain from inventing two extra stabbings? - it hardly compares with "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction," "No more than 13,000 Eastern Europeans will come to Britain", "British Jobs for British Workers" (all Labour lies) and all the whoppers told by politicians of all parties in the expences scandal.
- Dave, Wigan, UK.
when placed in a formal question and answer investigation session... I am unable to verbally articulate what I am trying to communicate mentally.
like all the bnp then.
- Daveb, london
he also believes himself to be working for Banque Nationale de Paris.
- Squiz, Islington
The biggest mistake was limiting the geographical area to Barking and Dagenham.
Now if he'd said the whole of London....
Couldn't really argue with that could we ?
- Hantsboy, Fleet UK
What a gutless specimen. So not only are his views repugnant, but he doesn't even have the guts to stand by them.
As for his claim that because of his dyslexia "I am unable to verbally articulate what I am trying to communicate mentally", perhaps a career in politics wasn't the best choice for him to make.
- Adam, London
Hardly the most egregious lie to utter from a politician's mouth. Had he been a councillor of a political party other than the BNP, I suspect that precious little notice would have been taken of it.
- Anon, England
Its very simple really, this man will make stories up if it suits his political purpose. Clearly he has been found out on this occasion. It suits the BNP to spread fear and alarm.
- Alan Combe, London
If it is actually true, rather than a despicable ruse, then the fact that he suffers from this illness should be more then enough to render him totally unfit for this sort of public office, regsrdless of his political beliefs.
- Minority Working Person, London/England
The fact that he made this "recording" seems to be accepted by everyone. Indeed, he even seems to have the British Dyslexia Association agreeing that his verbal communication could be affected by this condition. OK!
So why, if he had become so confused by the bell ringing and "got his words mixed up" did he not re-record what he was really trying to say? Why did he not correct himself?
He seems to have been happy after the fact to use the recording as it was. This too me is damning and cannot be argued as being as a result of any condition.
I suggest that he selects a different carreer as politics (especially his brand) would seem to be incompatible with his inability to string his words together.
- Jon, london,England
proof were any needed that thw BNP are liars and unworthy of anyone's political responsibility
- Keith Price, Luton England
If Gormless Brown can get away with it, why can't he?
- Serox, London
Is that why he couldn't spell Fascist?
- Nolan, Londonist
Hmmm..so if he's dyslexic, how come he's never had any problem with public speaking prior to this? "I knew what I meant to stay, but the words came out wrong” is possibly the most facile, laughable excuse I have ever heard from any politician.
- Richard, London UK
Gosh, these guys really are getting ready for government: that's a fantasy story worthy of a cabinet minister!
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
