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A senior member of the BNP has been suspended as a councillor and ordered to undergo ethics training, but escaped suspension from the London Assembly.
Richard Barnbrook was found guilty of bringing the London Greater Authority and Barking and Dagenham Council into disrepute after posting a misleading video on the internet.
He falsely claimed on YouTube that three people were murdered within three weeks in the borough where he is a councillor and claimed he got his words mixed up because he is dyslexic.
Mr Barnbrook, who is also an Assembly Member, allowed the clip to remain online for four months, despite knowing it was wrong.
An independent investigation found he had shown “a wilful disregard for the truth.”
He told a disciplinary hearing that he also got confused when the bells of Southwark Cathedral sounded as he recorded the video. Defending his position he said: “I never meant to deliberately mislead anyone.
“I have tried very hard throughout my life and I have excelled despite it and I've always got on with the job.
“I did not realise that what I had actually said was inaccurate. With my dyslexia and the background noise I became confused.
“Unfortunately in wasn't taken down by my aides as it should have been. It was an unintentional mistake because of my disability.
“I would have to be a moron to leave the video up there.
“I do not apologise for bring the plight of knife crime to public attention.”
But standards committees from both Barking and Dagenham Council and the GLA separately found he had brought their offices into disrepute by misleading the public and inflaming fear of knife crime.
The Barking and Dagenham committee decided that he should be suspended for the month of October, during which time he would not get paid and he should make a “fulsome” apology on his website. If the apology was not made the suspension would continue.
The GLA committee said he would be censored, meaning a formal condemnation, and that apologies should be posted on his site and the GLA's own site and he should undergo ethics training.
The original complaint was brought by another Barking and Dagenham councillor, Valerie Rush, who told the hearing: “I firmly believe that he outrageously and knowingly lied on the video. I believe that he did that with the firm intention of whipping up fear on the streets of Barking and Dagenham and across London.
“We went as a capital city through about a year to 18 months of horrendous stories of young people losing their lives on the streets of London through knives and I think Councillor Barnbrook was trying through his video to whip up even more fear in the community.”
One the clip Mr Barnbrook claimed three people had been killed in the borough in as many weeks.
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.
Labour's deputy leader on the London Assembly, John Biggs, said: “Many people find the BNP's politics distasteful and their methods underhand, but the real issue is about trust and fitness for public office.
"Politicians are held in pretty low esteem as it is but to go out of your way to deceive and scaremonger, especially on such an emotive issue, is simply not acceptable.”
Mr Barnbrook said he would appeal against the findings and he has two weeks to do so.
Reader views (24)
Didn't Boris do the same thing in relation to bendy buses killing cyclists in his election campaign?
- Gordon, Slough, 25/09/2009 16:05
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Will, from London wrote "And how much is it going to cost us sending this racist idiot on a futile course telling him not to be racist?"
What's race got to do with this? I didn't notice it mentioned in the article...unless you're saying you think members of a certain race are particularly involved in knife-crime in London. Is that what you meant?
- Croyboy, Croydon, 25/09/2009 14:29
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I am still waiting for Tony B liar to be on a charge of lying to the British public and being responsible for the deaths of British soldiers and thousands of Iraqi women and children. But alas he picks up £50,000 per lecture for his deeds, while Barnbrook's minor discretion brings national condemnation, a media frenzy, sanctions against him and a bill to the London taxpayers in the tens of thousands. This "Alice in Wonderland" nonsense we all have to endure today is completely beyond the pale.
- Lorene Roberts, Benfleet, England, 25/09/2009 14:16
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Richard Barnbrook is an absolute disgrace and should be barred from office. We in this country are fed up with liars and people being economical with the truth. He stated his claims to deliberately mislead in order to make us believe that knife crime was worse than it is. Pensioners have to live on their own,and making false claims like this is not helpful to them whatsoever. So I call on Barnbrook to go and go quickly. We do not need people like you in this country, especially since my relitives fought against people like you in the 1st and 2nd world wars.
- James Brown, London England, 25/09/2009 14:10
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We should start banning ALL MP's who lie and discieve the public, not just the ones in the pc witch hunt; oh wait a minute, then most of the MP's would be missing from office!
- Brandon Thomas, SW7, 25/09/2009 13:46
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'I would have to be a moron to leave the video up there.'
How nice to find a point of agreement with the BNP for a change.
- Mdj E10, london uk, 25/09/2009 13:40
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What a pathetic witch-hunt this is. MPs rob us blind and yet all keep there jobs. Democracy is dead in this country, no wonder people are turning to the right wing. They are sick to death of the filthy politics that are being played out in this country. Half the cabinet are unelected unaccountable socialist Lords and Ladies, pathetic.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 25/09/2009 13:06
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A politician telling porkies.
I was so shocked I choked on my gruel this morning.
Surely a day of infamy.
'They've all got it in for me'
- Hantsboy, Fleet UK, 25/09/2009 12:44
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Funny never seem to hear the usual lefty liberals on here saying the same about labour MP's.
So what if he told a few lies, isn't that what politics is about under labour?
- P Staker, Londonistan., 25/09/2009 12:23
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Evan: Yes we do have a lot of morons in this country as they all voted Labour in three time, God help us!
- Sue, Orpington, Kent, 25/09/2009 12:19
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He should be careful of admitting he has a disability when the BNP's London European election campaign organiser publicly stated that disabled people were "weak and unproductive" and "there is not a great deal of point in keeping these people alive".
- Nolan, Londonist, 25/09/2009 12:09
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Baroness Scotland would make an excellent tutor.
- Mike Newland, London, England, 25/09/2009 11:51
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Richard Barbrook for Primeminister,a lion amongst poodles,to hell with you liberal lefties.
- General Lee 'Wright, Communist Britain, 25/09/2009 11:49
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Let's be honest only morons have anything to do with this party!
- Evan, Leeds, 25/09/2009 11:43
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Elected by the people deselected by cowards
- Steve, England, 25/09/2009 11:40
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And how much is it going to cost us sending this racist idiot on a futile course telling him not to be racist?
- Will, London, UK, 25/09/2009 11:34
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It is easy to forget what is on one's own blog after posting hundreds of posts on it like me. Clearly, councillor Valerie Rush was in for the political killing by wagging righteous her finger at Barnbrook. How can any council member be suspended when they are elected by the public and not be such a council that seems to serve itself and not the public more often then not? Even if this fellow got his murder facts wrong, either by fair or foul, so what? Politicans of ever stripe and colour do it all the time! Richard Barnbrook is a sitting duck for those who hate the BNP and so political revenge is always the key to such local council hacks as like Valerie Rush.
- John Lenhart, south bank, 25/09/2009 10:52
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This man is a self proclaimed moron, what does that say about those who vote for him?
- Mike, London, 25/09/2009 10:36
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So, he should make a "fulsome" apology, should he? Erm...fulsome means unpleasantly suave. It also smacks of insincerity. Probably just want the LA DOESN'T require. Idiots.
- Kevin Lynch, Dublin, 25/09/2009 10:18
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He should join the Labour Party - they also have “a wilful disregard for the truth.” Hans Blick can confirm this.
- Never Eat Tuna Again, London, 25/09/2009 09:42
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Never a truer word was spoken:
"I would have to be a moron to leave the video up there"
Which he did, for 4 months.
- Carl, London, 25/09/2009 09:40
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So the man who left the video up on his website for 4 months admits, “I would have to be a moron to leave the video up there."
I agree.
- Nolan, Londonist, 25/09/2009 09:36
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"the real issue is about trust and fitness for public office. "
As a current constituent of Hazel Blears, I'm shocked at the blatant double standards applied to different political parties.
- James, Salford (ex Tottenham) UK, 25/09/2009 09:07
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If this man is so easily confused maybe he should not be sitting as a councillor.
- Mark Myword, London, 25/09/2009 08:44
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