Derek Beackon - Beackon As A Councillor

Beackon As A Councillor

As a councillor, Beackon found it hard to discharge his duties effectively, due to his effective boycott by other councillors and staff, who staged a protest walk-out after his election and due to his own inexperience and lack of capability - resulting in the BNP press office having to speak for him, after he failed to distinguish between the housing and social service departments in a newspaper interview with the East London Advertiser. He also had to flee his flat in Wapping to live in hiding with his brother in Bethnal Green during which time his housing benefit was mysteriously cancelled. In addition, the expectation that he could influence housing allocation to benefit white constituents proved chimerical. Overall, during his time in office Beackon was characterized as a weak councillor who had trouble following the council agenda. Indeed at the time it was even suggested that Beackon was virtually illiterate and was unable to read council documents, although he would later strenuously deny the allegations, whilst admitting that he had trouble understanding their meaning.

When the seat went up for election again in 1994 a strong mobilization of voters against the BNP was undertaken by Labour, with the turnout rising to 65%. Despite Beackon's generally ineffectual performance as a councillor he added 561 votes to his total, although the seat was lost as the rest of the vote largely fell behind Labour, with the Liberal Democrat vote collapsing. He was the only successful BNP candidate during John Tyndall's tenure as party leader. The BNP did not win any more council seats until winning three seats in Burnley in 2002.