Additional reporting by Alex Taylor
A candidate representing the BNP in the St George’s Ward by-election this month has attacked the presence of minority groups in London and labelled the Jewish community a “bunch of string-pullers and financiers”, all while questioning his own suitability to become a councillor.
Walter Barfoot, 80, criticised what he said was a “well planned plot to destroy Britain” through immigration and called mixed marriages the “genocide [of] white Western Europeans”.
The BNP candidate said the British public were “like dummies” who had been “so brainwashed by the left that they’d believe anything the media tells them”.
Mr Barfoot made the comments in an interview with Islington Now this week after deciding to stand in the ward’s by-election following the resignation of Labour Councillor Jessica Asato.
But the former builder, now retired, said he gave himself “zero chance” of winning and in a bizarre twist even doubted his own suitability to be elected.
He said: “I’m too old to campaign on the street and I’m too old to be a councillor – at 80 you’re too old for anything.
“But I’m standing because I’m not particularly in love with the present system of governance in this country. These politicians are a lot of crooks and thieves and all they’re interested in is lining their own pockets.”
When given the opportunity to respond, the party’s press officer, Simon Darby, refused to hear Mr Barfoot’s comments or distance them from the party and said he was “not in the business of providing entertainment or amusement for people.”
Mr Barfoot confirmed he did have some policies of his own that he would campaign on.
He said: “One of my first actions if made councillor would be to seek the outlaw of ritual slaughter in kosher and halal practices. Farm animals have been very good to the British people over the years and I don’t see why they should be subject to such cruelty.”
A committed animal cruelty activist and vegetarian, the BNP member called the method of killing used by Muslim and Jewish communities as “mediaeval and savage”.
Other policies of the long-time Islington resident included the reinstatement of capital punishment for child murderers, drug dealers, and those who kill the elderly; more facilities and activities for the elderly; more police on the street; and the deportation of immigrants who commit crimes.
A cap on immigration was also a key concern.
“Immigration is a problem. That’s proven in every country where you get it. I don’t follow the immigrants’ culture and they don’t follow mine,” he said.
Mr Barfoot ran in the St Mary’s by-election in 2011, finishing last with just 22 votes. The St George’s ward hopeful blamed intimidation and the media for the party’s lack of success.
Labour Councillor Catherine West, leader of Islington Council, said at the time that the BNP’s decision to run was not welcomed, while a spokesman for the borough’s Labour branch told Islington Now it “doesn’t comment on them”.
