Kenneth Francis (died 2011) was a British politician and a former leading member of the British National Party (BNP) in London. He was expelled from the party in 2002 because he had a foreign girlfriend.
Francis was the former BNP organiser for Newham in east London and had been a candidate for the BNP in the 1997 general election,[1] securing 3.6% of the votes.[2] His membership was withdrawn for living with teacher Annie Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Ecuador. The expulsion came despite party leaders, including chairman Nick Griffin and his then deputy Tony Lecomber, being regular guests at the couple's home. Hernandez also attended several party conferences.
Francis claimed that no one from the BNP criticised the relationship until November 2000 when he received a letter from Lecomber telling him he should leave the party. Francis said, "They had always made out that they didn't have a problem with her. Then they stabbed us in the backs."[3] However, Lecomber told The Times that he and other BNP officials had disliked Francis's relationship with Hernandez, but had not been able to act because Francis had powerful supporters within the party; they had since been ousted. Lecomber said: "I didn't like it one bit. I used to put up with it on sufferance."
According to the Evening Standard, Francis's departure damaged the BNP in East London, the site of its first success in local elections in 1993 when Derek Beackon was elected as a councillor in Tower Hamlets. Under Francis' leadership, the area had the highest number of BNP candidates anywhere in Britain for the 1999 European Parliament elections. However, in March 2001, the BNP was beaten by the Christian Peoples Alliance in a by-election in the Beckton ward in Canning Town, leading the party to withdraw from the area.[3]
^ abRichard Allen, "BNP man out over Ecuador girlfriend", Evening Standard, 30 April 2002
^. Archived from the original on 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
^. www.bnp.to. Archived from the original on 5 October 2000. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
September 01, 2023
kenneth, francis, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, june, 201. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Kenneth Francis news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message Kenneth Francis died 2011 was a British politician and a former leading member of the British National Party BNP in London He was expelled from the party in 2002 because he had a foreign girlfriend Francis was the former BNP organiser for Newham in east London and had been a candidate for the BNP in the 1997 general election 1 securing 3 6 of the votes 2 His membership was withdrawn for living with teacher Annie Hernandez an asylum seeker from Ecuador The expulsion came despite party leaders including chairman Nick Griffin and his then deputy Tony Lecomber being regular guests at the couple s home Hernandez also attended several party conferences Francis claimed that no one from the BNP criticised the relationship until November 2000 when he received a letter from Lecomber telling him he should leave the party Francis said They had always made out that they didn t have a problem with her Then they stabbed us in the backs 3 However Lecomber told The Times that he and other BNP officials had disliked Francis s relationship with Hernandez but had not been able to act because Francis had powerful supporters within the party they had since been ousted Lecomber said I didn t like it one bit I used to put up with it on sufferance According to the Evening Standard Francis s departure damaged the BNP in East London the site of its first success in local elections in 1993 when Derek Beackon was elected as a councillor in Tower Hamlets Under Francis leadership the area had the highest number of BNP candidates anywhere in Britain for the 1999 European Parliament elections However in March 2001 the BNP was beaten by the Christian Peoples Alliance in a by election in the Beckton ward in Canning Town leading the party to withdraw from the area 3 On 21 June 2011 he died from cancer 4 Elections contested by Francis EditUK Parliament Date of election Constituency Party Votes 1997 general election West Ham BNP 1 198 3 6 2 European Parliament elections Year Region Party Votes Result Notes1999 London BNP 17 960 1 6 Not elected Multi member constituencies party listLondon Assembly elections Entire London city Date of election Party Votes Results Notes2000 BNP 47 670 2 8 Not elected Multi members party list 5 References Edit The Guardian 3 May 1997 a b BBC West Ham a b Richard Allen BNP man out over Ecuador girlfriend Evening Standard 30 April 2002 Obituary Mr Ken Francis Former Newham Organiser London Patriot Archived from the original on 2011 11 08 Retrieved 2011 07 16 BNP Gla 2000 Website www bnp to Archived from the original on 5 October 2000 Retrieved 13 January 2022 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kenneth Francis amp oldid 1105990382, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
