‘Anti-racist’ councillor in fraud probe
Posted by admin978 on August 28, 2016 · Leave a Comment
Scandal-hit councillor and Hope not Hate organiser Sam Tarry (right) with his HnH boss Nick Lowles.
It’s been a tough summer for Britain’s anti-racists. First Searchlight had its website sabotaged; then its editor’s former partner in crime Manny Carpel was jailed for drug trafficking; then Hope not Hate‘s funding from George Soros foundations was exposed in a massive data leak.
Now another disaster for ‘anti-fascism’. Transport union official Sam Tarry was campaign organiser for Hope not Hate in Barking & Dagenham, once the BNP’s flagship borough, where Tarry no doubt believes he played an important role in turning back the fascist tide.
In fact that had already been achieved by the BNP leader himself, scuttling his own party, but at least Sam Tarry managed to get a seat for himself as a Labour councillor in Barking, where he has received £20,000 in council allowances.
Sadly this meteoric political rise might be about to end in yet another crash and burn. The main headline in today’s Sunday Times exposes an “electoral fraud row” involving Cllr Tarry.
In order to stand for Barking & Dagenham council, he had to be registered as living at an address in the borough (or work there). Yet according to the Sunday Times he actually lives 70 miles away in Brighton.
Tarry is presently director of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign.
As the Sunday Times points out:
Councillors are required by law to live or work in the borough they represent and must sign an official declaration to that effect. Making a false declaration is punishable by up to six months in prison. Making a false registration to vote carries a penalty of up to 51 weeks in jail.
Richard Smalley, formerly a Tory member of Derby city council, was last week sentenced to two months in jail for claiming he lived in Derby while living outside the city.
Note: The original story is behind a Times paywall so the full report can only be seen by subscribers. However a later version of the story can also be seen on the Telegraph website.
Tarry has denied the allegations, and his lawyers suggest that “any suggestion of criminality or breach of election law is defamatory and inaccurate”.
