Bishop joins fight against nationalists

Apr 15 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal

THE Bishop of Durham is courting controversy by calling on clergymen and parishioners in the North to oppose the British National Party in May’s local elections.

In a message in the Durham Diocesan email Forum, the Right Reverend Dr Tom Wright highlighted “splendid work” done by several clergy in the region to oppose the BNP and called on other people to join the effort.

But he also called on other political parties to do more to address the concerns of voters who end up turning to the BNP after becoming “disaffected” by mainstream politics.

His comments have been criticised by BNP officials in the North, who said the Bishop should remain out of politics.

Bishop Wright had said: “With local elections coming up, we face again the unwelcome news of the BNP making potential inroads in our region.

“Splendid work has been done to counter this by several clergy working with local community leaders, for instance in distributing the pamphlet, ‘Hope Not Hate’.

“I want to urge all of you to get involved in this effort in whatever local sphere you can.

“This isn’t anybody’s fault in particular. But when a party like the BNP seems to be gaining ground we should all ask the question, ‘Why is there a vacuum there that the other parties aren’t filling? What frustrations are there that the BNP are exploiting, and what are the wise ways of reacting to, or even meeting, those needs?’

“It is one thing to point out, as many have already done, the neo-nazi tendencies of the BNP, and to warn with a shudder against our society even taking a small step in any such direction.

“It is another to say, ‘How can we drain the swamp so that this kind of ideology won’t breed again?’ None of us, in other words, can be complacent.”

Yesterday Ken Booth, who is standing for the BNP for Elswick, Newcastle, in the May local elections and is also the North East regional organiser for the party, said the Bishop has no business commenting on political matters.

He said: “If the Bishop wants to be a politician let him stand as a politician and take part in the local elections, but as a religious leader he should stay out of it.”

Suspended

A COUNCIL candidate at the centre of a fraud probe was suspended by her party just hours after going on the campaign trail with former government chief whip Hilary Armstrong.

Rose Seabury, of Bedburn Close, Hemlington Row, Crook, County Durham, was immediately suspended by the North East Labour Party on Friday when news of a probe by the Department of Works and Pensions relating to her widow’s pension became known to them.

Earlier on the same day Mrs Seabury, who is in her 40s, had been accompanied by local MP and former government chief whip Hilary Armstrong while canvassing on doorsteps in Crook for votes to elect her on to the new County Durham unitary authority.

Ms Armstrong was unaware at the time that Mrs Seabury was under investigation, and by the time party officials found out it was too late to withdraw her nomination to stand as a candidate in the May 1 elections.

A Labour North official confirmed it was too late to withdraw Mrs Seabury as one of Labour’s official candidates for Crook South, but that she would no longer have the services of party workers during her campaign.

The probe centres on widow’s pensions – thought to amount to £20,000 – claimed by Mrs Seabury after she remarried.

After she was suspended she quickly left her home for a secret hideaway in Yorkshire.

The DWP declined to comment.

A spokeswoman at Ms Armstrong’s constituency office in Crook referred all calls to Labour North headquarters.