BNP woman quits school

THE GOVERNOR of an Eastbourne primary school – who is also a BNP member – has resigned.
Josephine Macaulay became a Langney School governor two years ago after being appointed by the local education authority.
She was not appointed through the school and has no close links with the school. Ms Macaulay has not been active on the board of governors in recent months because of ill health.
Her name was among a number of people from Eastbourne who appear on a leaked list of BNP members published on the internet.
Ms Macaulay stepped down shortly afterwards.
She said, "I was going to resign about September as my health is not good now."
A spokesperson for the local education authority, East Sussex County Council, said, "We welcome the governor's decision to step down given the negative publicity it may have attracted and the affect that could have had on the school."
The spokesman said they had been unaware of her membership of the far-right political party led by Nick Griffin, who last week appeared on BBC Question Time for the first time.
Ms Macaulay describes herself as a 'lapsed member' of the British National Party and said she has not renewed her membership this year.
Asked her reasons for joining, the 65-year-old said, "I'm only anxious on mass migration. It is a middle-class protest vote."
Asked what black and Asian parents of Langney School children would think of a school governor who is a BNP member, she said, "It's not immigration as such, it's mass asylum that is my anxiety. It needs to stop for the interim and get sorted out with what we've got."
Ms Macaulay explained that she is not an active member of the BNP and said, "There is no branch in Eastbourne and I don't leaflet anything."
Her name does not appear on the electoral roll so she could not vote. She said, "I must get my name on the register and vote."
And her vote may not go to the BNP in the next election if anyone stands in Willingdon, where she lives.
She said, "I'm looking at another party that's not into Nick Griffin's politics."
She would not disclose which party but said, "I feel attacked as an individual. No one else has been victimised."
She said, "How could I possibly harm the school? I don't think I'm dangerous."
But not everyone will agree.
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper last month about fears that BNP councillors could become school governors, Chris Keates, the general secretary of teaching union Nasuwt, said, "The BNP stands on a ticket that breaches the Race Relations Act.
"There is therefore an inescapable logic: how can people who hold BNP views hold a public service like being a member of a school governing body without compromising the school?"
Ms Macaulay thinks it is the county council's responsibility to ask prospective governors if they do not want BNP members to stand.
But a county council spokesperson explained, "There are rules about what we can and cannot ask potential governors to disclose during the appointment process.
"By law we cannot ask anyone to declare political allegiance and even if they did tell us we would be unable to use that information to help form a decision about their appointment.
"However, there is a code of conduct which all our governors must follow and had that code been breached they would be dismissed."

Bexhill Observer