Tory collaboration with fascists in Hounslow -

GMB learns of former National Front activist now a member of the Executive Group in Tory council in Hounslow, west London

22 Jun 2006

GMB has learned that leading west London independent Councillor Phil Andrews is a former member of the fascist National Front has infiltrated Tory controlled Hounslow council. This raises fears that the Tories, in a multi-racial community in west Londoncouncil, have formed the first fascist-linked coalition to control a local council in Britain.

Andrews is a leading member of the Tory controlled Executive Group coalition, which holds the balance of power for Hounslow council, since last May's local elections. He is a member of the Isleworth Community Group and has responsibility for Housing and Community Safety.
The Labour Party in Hounslow has consistently refused to take part of any power sharing deals in order to win power and control.

Research provided to the GMB by Searchlight, the renowned anti-fascist campaigning organisation, has found that Cllr Andrews is a former leading light of the openly fascist and
overtly racist National Front. He was a former parliamentary candidate for the National Front, and was specifically trained as a "political soldier" with the intention of infiltrating local politics, and community groups, as described in an article in the fascist magazine Nationalism Today. Cllr Andrews will share responsibility for Housing and lead responsibility for community safety, which is surprising, as he was also given six months imprisonment in 1986 for causing actual bodily harm to a black police officer at a St Georges Day Rally.

GMB has thousands of members in Hounslow, many are of an Asian background, with the majority living in the community where they work. National Front activity, graffiti has been on the general increase for some time in Hounslow.

Mick Rix GMB National Official said "If David Cameron does not wish to be known as a political chameleon he must act today to put an end to this coalition, before his party further threatens the harmony of good race relations in Hounslow. David Cameron's rhetoric over the BNP prior to the May 2006 local elections has a very hollow ring when we find that his party in Hounslow, is in coalition with a group that has a former leading fascist, racist, Holocaust denier, and convicted thug at its head. The local Tory group has welcomed with open arms this known fascist, with a conviction, into their power sharing ranks of the local council."

(My cousin lives in Hounslow by the way, she must be horrified, LB)