BNP man out over Ecuador girlfriend

The British National Party has expelled one of its most influential members for having a South American girlfriend.

Kenneth Francis, the former BNP organiser for Newham, east London, had his membership withdrawn for living with Annie Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Ecuador. The expulsion came despite the party chairman Nick Griffin and his top aide Tony Lecomber being regular guests at the couple's home for three years.

Teacher Ms Hernandez would chat with the group when discussions moved off party matters. She also attended several party conferences.

Mr Francis said that no one from the BNP ever criticised the relationship until November 2000 when he received a letter from Mr Lecomber telling him he should leave the party. Mr Francis said: "They had always made out that they didn't have a problem with her. Then they stabbed us in the backs." However Mr Lecomber told The Times that he and other BNP officials had disliked Mr Francis's association with Ms Hernandez, but had been unable to act until his powerful supporters within the party had been ousted. He said: "I didn't like it one bit. I used to put up with it on sufferance."

Mr Francis's departure has damaged the BNP's standing in East London where it had its first success in local elections in 1993 when Derek Beackon was made a councillor for Tower Hamlets. Under the stewardship of Mr Francis, who stood as BNP candidate for West Ham in the 1997 general election, the area had the highest number of BNP candidates anywhere in Britain for the European Parliament elections in 1999.

However, in March last year the BNP was beaten by the Christian People's Alliance in a by-election for the Beckton ward of Canning Town, sparking the party's withdrawal from the area.