This is a guest post by Epping Forest BNP Watch
Loughton Broadway’s district councillor Sue Clapp’s poor performance in the council chamber has prompted the BNP to exile her to a political wilderness for the far-right in the moderate, liberal-minded town of Saffron Walden, where the party has just three members.
Epping Forest BNP Watch had already received insider information suggesting that the BNP was preparing to ditch Clapp in favour of former London mayoral candidate Julian Leppert for the Broadway seat in the next district council elections. Despite desperate efforts to keep up her profile, Clapp failed to impress in the nomination process and instead Eddie Butler was nominated for the Chigwell and Broadway ward.
Clapp has been notable for her numerous blunders. At the last Epping Forest district council meeting, she fluffed the lines that had been written for her, repeatedly referring to local young war hero Georgie Sparks’ ‘erotic sacrifice’ while giggling into her papers. Sitting next to her, BNP Councillor Peter Turpin looked on in embarrassment.
A likely poor electoral performance in Saffron Walden would be the nail in the coffin for Clapp’s political ‘career’. Speaking to Epping Forest BNP Watch, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Uttlesford said that the BNP is unlikely to achieve any success in the district.
He said: “There’s no truck with racist politics here. People don’t like extremists. They gravitate to the political centre, even within the Conservative party. In the last European elections the BNP got less than 1% of the vote. It’s upsetting when the BNP gets just one vote, but I don’t think they will get more than a handful.”
Other candidates in Uttlesford are also from Loughton, indicating that the party could not encourage one of its few local members to stand. The candidates include Councillor Turpin’s wife and all are regarded as lightweights, revealing that the BNP has little interest in seriously winning over support in this quiet rural district.
