Christian Party has questions to answer over ex-BNP candidate

By Symon Hill

April 30, 2010

This week it was revealed that the Christian Party's candidate for Croydon Central, James Gitau, was a member of the far-right British National Party (BNP) until less than a fortnight ago. This leaves the Christian Party with some serious questions to answer.

Gitau, a minister associated with the United Holy Church of America, was one of the BNP's first non-white members after they introduced a rule change to make this possible. He told the Croydon Guardian that he left after finding the BNP “too racist”.

But he also said that the Christian Party had approached him on 17 April to ask him to join them. This was only three days before the close of nominations, meaning they and he must have acted quickly.

If the Christian Party accept Gitau's account of events, they have some questions to answer.

Firstly, why did the Christian Party approach a BNP activist to ask him to switch sides? What made them think that a member of the BNP would share their values?

Secondly, has Gitau changed any of the views he held while belonging to the BNP? He says that the BNP were “too racist” (implying it's OK to be slightly racist) and that they were too extreme on immigration. On other issues, does he still agree with BNP positions?

Thirdly, the Christian Party claims not to be homophobic, but Gitau says that speaking out against “sodomy” is one of his priorities. Does the Christian Party think that this is appropriate language?

I am sending these questions to the Christian Party and looking forward to receiving their answers.