BNP Sharon gets the boot

Oct 22 2006

FORMER BNP councillor Sharon Ebanks has been kicked out of the right-wing party - after the Sunday Mercury revealed that her father was black.

The mother-of-two won a seat on Birmingham city council in May after a ballot box blunder, but was later dismissed from the authority following a High Court appeal.

During her brief time in office, the Mercury revealed a family secret she had kept from her BNP bosses - her father, named Radwell, was black.

Now Ms Ebanks, 38 and from Handsworth, has been booted out by the extremists, although neither she nor her former party will discuss the reason.

But writing on a right-wing website, the failed politician claimed she had been fired over financial disputes and for making 'anti-Semitic' remarks.

"I'm sacked for speaking out about the lack of transparency regarding the BNP accounts," Ms Ebanks claimed. "And I am apparently being charged with being anti-Semitic.

"Freedom of speech? Having a joke, aren't they?"

Last night, the BNP denied her allegations about party finances and said there was no link between the Mercury's revelations and the sacking.

Simon Darby, the party's West Midlands organiser, said: "Sharon's dismissal has absolutely nothing to do with the claims about her family lineage.

"Disciplinary action has been instigated on a number of grounds. We cannot specify what they are until the process is complete.

"Unfortunately, she has made some wrong decisions and has not acted in the best interests of the party.

"As far as her claims about financial irregularities go, all our accounts are externally audited and open to public scrutiny.

"I think that when people are put in a situation like Sharon's they tend to lash out and blame others for their own failings."

Ms Ebanks was initially elected to the Kingstanding ward after a vote-counting blunder in the disputed election.

She was later kicked out by the High Court and was replaced by Labour candidate Catharine Grundy.

Soon after her doomed election, the Sunday Mercury told how she was the daughter of Jamaican-born Radwell and Jean Ebanks, who lived in West Bromwich.

Ms Ebanks admitted she was born during that mixed marriage - a relationship the BNP argues against.

But she claimed she was the result of her mum's extra-marital fling with 'a white, Scottish alcoholic who is now dead'.

Last night, Ms Ebanks was at a loss to explain her sacking.

"I've been betrayed," she said. "They said they were going to hang me out to dry, and they've done it.

"I've no idea why I've been kicked out, but I will fight it all the way.

"Friends have raised the cash for me to stand for election in Kingstanding again next year, although I've no idea who I'll be representing.

"But this has got nothing to do with my father. My father is not black. I know who my father is and he is from Glasgow - but I'm not prepared to tell you his name."