Lawrence Rustem

Lawrence Rustem is a political activist in Britain.

Born Timucin Rustem,[1] he later adopted the name Lawrence. Rustem is of half Turkish Cypriot and half English ancestry. In 1991 he joined the far-left Anti-Fascist Action,[2] but then subsequently joined the far-right British National Party (BNP).

BNP activist

Rustem was made Chairman of the "Ethnic Liaison Committee" of the BNP,[3] a group set up in 2001 to co-ordinate work between the party and "non-British people with similar aims".

He studied politics as a mature student at Greenwich University, where his presence caused controversy. The NATFHE, the university lecturers' union, called for his expulsion from the University, on the grounds that his presence could encourage racist campaigning there.[4]

He unsuccessfully stood for election as a local councillor in the Colyers Lane ward of Bexley.[5] He then stood for Parliament in the Dagenham constituency in the 2005 UK General Election where he received 9.3% of the votes. In the 2006 local elections he was elected as a councillor for the Valence ward of Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. In the 2010 General election, he contested the Greenwich and Woolwich constituency for the BNP[6] and lost his seat on Barking and Dagenham Council in the 2010 local elections.

Rustem supported Eddy Butler in the BNP leadership challenge in 2010, complaining of the negative impact of Nick Griffin on voters.[7] In 2011 he was suspended from the party[8] and left the BNP in 2011.

Later activity

Rustem is involved with the British Democratic Party.

Elections contested

UK Parliament

Date of election Constituency Party Votes %
2005 general election Dagenham BNP 2,870 9.3
2010 general election Greenwich and Woolwich BNP 1,151 2.8

London Assembly elections (Entire London city)

Date of election Party Votes % Results Notes
2004 BNP 90,365 4.71 Not elected Multi-members party list[9]
2008 BNP 130,714 5.3 Not elected Multi-members party list

European Parliament elections

Year Region Party Votes % Result Notes
2004 London BNP 76,152 4.0 Not-elected Multi-member constituency; party list

References

  1. ↑ Evening Standard 15 April 2008
  2. ↑ Birchall, Sean, Beating The Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action Freedom Press (2010) p329
  3. ↑ BBC website
  4. ↑ Phil Baty, "Union calls for ban on BNP man", Times Higher Education, 1 November 2002, accessed 20 March 2009
  5. ↑ Bexley Council Election Results 2002
  6. ↑ BBC Election 2010
  7. ↑ Interview on YouTube
  8. ↑ BNP Reform website
  9. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20040603082351/www.bnp.org.uk/freedom/regions/lonasscand.html

External links

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